Meet Pete Greasley.

My friend Pete is a jolly Englishman, an erstwhile rock musician, and a would-be sailor, who serves Sovereign Grace Ministries by traveling to Asia, Europe, Africa, and Australia preaching the gospel and serving churches for the glory of God. And today you get to meet him.

Peter is based out of Christchurch in Newport, Wales, where he has served as senior pastor for 14 years. He and his wife Jenny have been married for 26 years and have been blessed with three children.

So how does Peter order his devotional time? What does he do for fun? Why the distain for watching sports on television? Why does he collect old, broken watches? Let’s find out.

Pete, please describe your morning devotions. What time do you wake up in the morning? How much time do you spend reading, meditating, praying, etc.? What are you presently reading?

I wake at different times, all dependent upon what time I get to bed! I’ve never required a lot of sleep; if I get to bed at midnight then I’m normally wide awake around 5:00 am. Sometimes I’ll get up right away, but if it’s been a late night, I’ll lie there for a little while so as not to disturb my long-suffering wife who needs more sleep than I!

My mornings have been going through a change recently. In the past, I was regularly spending around 30 to 40 minutes in my devotions and then spending much longer on emails before heading to the office. This wasn’t working; I was arriving at the office more aware of my workload than the Savior, so I determined to not switch on my computer for the first two hours after I woke (bit of an Edwards’ like ‘resolution’). This has proved fruitful for me. Rather than ‘getting through my devotions’ in order to ‘get on with business’, I have far longer to read, think, pray and ponder. The emails still get done; but they no longer take the priority of time. God has been kind to me in this.

My devotional reading consists of three things:

Reading scripture. I’ll just spend some time reading through a book. I try to alternate between Old and New Testaments.

Reading books that will help my soul. At present I’m reading Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross edited by Nancy Guthrie; Whiter than Snow by Paul Tripp and re-reading The Bruised Reed by Richard Sibbes; The Great Exchange by Jerry Bridges and Bob Bevington.

I always spend time in the scripture from which I’m preaching the following Sunday. This helps me to meditate upon it and live in it prior to preparing the message or going to any commentaries, which I do on Friday and Saturday.

What book(s) are you currently reading in these three categories: (a) for your soul, (b) for pastoral ministry, (c) or for personal enjoyment?

Books for my soul are the ones mentioned above. Together with these I spend most time with my dear friend Mr. Spurgeon. How I love him!

I’ve four books on the go at the moment: The Great Work of the Gospel by John Ensor; The Future of Justification by John Piper; Simple Church by Rainer and Geiger; and Minority Report by Carl Trueman.

I like to read histories and biographies. I’m on volume 3 of Simon Shama’s History of Britain; The Calvinistic Methodist Fathers of Wales by John Morgan Jones and William Morgan (a gift from C.J.); Somme Mud by E.P.F. Lynch on the experiences of an infantryman in WWI France; and The Ascent of Money by Niall Ferguson.

Apart from Scripture, what book do you most frequently re-read and why?

No one book in particular, but I always have Mr. Spurgeon to hand. Why? Because his love for the Savior at the cross together with his passion for the lost keep me on track.

When you finish a book, what system have you developed in order to remember and reference that book in the future?

Every now and then I will scan in a quote to my computer, but apart from scribbling all over my books, the truth is I’ve no decent system for reference and remembering. OK, I’m convicted…thanks for the question!

Join me next time for the second part of my interview with my friend, Pete Greasley.