Small update from original writer blog page … https://geoffbaron.wordpress.com/2007/08/28/a-year-in-austria/#respond
A year in Austria
Posted: August 28, 2007 | Author: geoffbaron |
My year in Austria could arguably considered the best of my life…
but some other highlights included:
Becoming friends with my mentor Billy Strachan
Billy Strachan
Posted: November 10, 2006 | Author:geoffbaron
I wish I could introduce everyone to my friend Billy Strachan… unfortunately, he is busy pranking people in heaven.
Billy was the first person to show me Jesus Christ.. not tell me about him… but actually show me.
Billy went to play pranks on Jesus. He touched thousands of lives for Christ. Well, I suppose it helps that this blog post has the top spot on Google when searching for him. So.. I’ve decided to spruce the page up a bit. I will add his picture. Voila. Also.. I will put a few links to some of his sermons/lectures: Via Capernwray Store (a little expensive for digital downloads if you ask me.. but Capernwray is a good cause.. and his lectures are worth it). Ahh.. here are a few free ones. https://www.sermon-online.com/search.pl?d1=Billy+Strachan&lang=en&author=262
Please.. if you have any great Billy stories to share.. please leave them in the comments below. They are encouraging to me and to others who loved Billy.
Here’s more of my story with Billy. I was in Austria working at Tauernhof. I had had Billy as a lecturer in Germany and in England a few years before and I was immediately drawn to Billy and his lectures. His lectures made me want to stand up and scream “FRREEEEDDOOMMM!!!” after every lecture. He was the embodiment of freedom in Christ and I loved it. His stories set Christ free in my life. I was drawn to Billy then but I wasn’t one of this chosen ones.. those few people he discipled. I tried to strike up conversations with him but they didn’t go anywhere. It wasn’t till I met him in Austria that we hit it off. We were watching Fawlty Towers in the staff lounge.. having a good laugh (he was laughing more then I was). At one point he stopped.. turned it off and spoke directly into my life. He nailed 3 things I was struggling with in my life without knowing a thing about me. He looked, and spoke into my soul through the Holy Spirit (later I came to find out this was fairly common for him to do). I got all weepy. We went on to have a long chat about all sorts of things and he told me to email him regularly. I didn’t.. I didn’t feel I had anything to say and I knew how busy he was. I met up with him again that summer at a friend’s wedding. It was an honor to stand in a kilt next to him. He locked eyes with me and said, “You need to email me more”. Dang. So, I did. We had long email conversations. I was amazed at how much he wrote.. pages. Amazing. Then I didn’t get an email back.. odd. I got a phone call from a friend in Austria.. Billy had died as all good Scots die.. of heart disease. Man, I miss that guy. It was like having God himself stop what we was doing while creating the Universe to reach down and say “Hello”.. in a nice Scottish accent.
Milo 
If anyone considers themselves touched by the life of Billy Strachan and considers themselves to be part of the intimate group of young men that knew Billy on a more deeper level than most, please please contact me. I know there’s a silent fraternity called “Billy’s Boys” that exists and I cannot be the only one. He told me about you in the stories he would regale me with. Please reach out to me if you’d like to talk about anything.
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I only knew about billy through YouTube, our daily bread channel were they showed some of Billy’s videos that I thought were very good like the stuntman:)
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Greetings. Ah yes even knowing him that way would leave an indelible impression. Do you know of anyone who might have known him on a more personal level and is like myself a former student?
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https://geoffbaron.wordpress.com/ I only know of this one man who knew billy personally
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Hello. I too, was touched by Billy’s life. I was a Caperrnwrey student in the 87-88 year. There was no great reason for me to be at the school that year. I was escaping and I have learned that I was not the only one. After quite a few incidences where I had shown my clear intent to get kicked out and this decision backed by most staff, Billy grabbed hold of me (not sure how he did this as nobody was ever able to do so) and took me on a road trip to Wales. We arrived there and the next day (Sunday) he introduced me as somebody who had something to say to the congregation. To this day, I have no idea what I had said, except that Billy had full confidence that it was what needed to be said. Billy was a man who truly believed, that God was in charge. I will never forget that. It will always give me pause and belief that God has a plan. Thank you, Billy, for your belief that God could somehow work though me.
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What a testimony:) the video that touched me most was the one about when Billy returned to his old child hood house and talked about life growing up with his father the bar tender and how one morning at Caperrnwrey as a student a friend had asked him how his time with his father went (of course the friend meant his Heavenly Father) and because Billy had bad memories of his own earthly father he responded kinda angrily to his friend but anyway Billy realised just how different and good God as his father was compared to his earthly father, I’m sure Billy loved his father but was purhaps disappointed that his father was not more loving and kind, purhaps over the years Billy realised that being born into poverty and various situations brings out the bad in some people, none of us really knows what cards we have been dealt to go through this life with. “If you being evil know how to give good things to your children when they ask for something- and I tend to pause and think About Jesus finish up answer was- Then How much more Good do you suppose that God Our Heavenly Father really is “ 🙂
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Hi. I don’t…know if an earlier reply to you got sent or not but I was a student at Capernwray in 1976/77 and Billy became a unique and special influence in my life. There are always tales to share!
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I met Billy at a Keswick conference in Birmingham, Alabama in the mid-80’s. In his first message, it was as if he was speaking directly to me. Later I called a friend to tell him about Billy and he said Billy would be speaking at his Church the following week. I said your Church isn’t as big as the Sunday School class I teach, but he assured me that was so. I called another friend who attended that church, for verification and that friend told me Billy was staying with him. I said I needed to meet with Billy to
pick his brain because the things he was teaching were so new to me. He arranged for Billy to come to my home for lunch and when Billy saw my train collection,, it was a common bond. He was building a layout for his son. That became a lifetime relationship between us. My oldest son attended Capernwray, Billy’s son, Dixon, came to visit with us for a couple weeks and another of my sons stayed with the Strachan’s for a couple of weeks.
He was my spiritual mentor and I have a nice collection of the classes he taught on cd, but because I lost my hearing, I am unable to hear them. A big disappointment.
His teaching changed my relationship with the Lord and I was shocked and disappointed to hear of his passing.
Bud Weber
alesterweber@outlook.com
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Hi Stuart , just wondering if my reply got through to you? I’m new to this site and a bit of a technophobe but would like to talk more about BS if you’re willing, Steve Stapleton
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Hi, please email me mohrstuart@gmail.com
Id like to talk to those that knew Billy personally
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Hi there,
glad to have found this page in the world wide net of not so pleasant things, there is always good stuff in bad things though :-).
Billy Strachan literally opened my eyes for a life with and in Jesus. I had absolutely no clue how to go about this life with the King of kings. Searching for answers i ended up as a volunteer in Austria at T-hof. One special brother in Christ (he is probably cracking jokes with Billy and Jesus right now) pointed me to the tapes of Billy. From that moment on, i was “caught” in the truth Billy shared about his King Jesus. I spent the day cleaning rooms with my headphones on, soaking up every word that our wonderful Abba Father had laid in this mans mouth.
He must have died shortly before i got there, its a shame i never met him in person. But we will meet at our final destination and Jesus will be so happy to have us all home.
Milo stay hooked on Jesus and thanks for putting together this little page of a great Scotsman and brother in our Lord Jesus.
Cheers and blessings
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just read this. As a new Christian i heard Billy Strachan at an C of E Evangelical Church in Flixton, Manchester around 1984. He was a brilliantly clear preacher. I bought 2 tapes of his: ‘From Footlights to Faith’ which was his testimony and ‘Church-the Place for RottenPeople’ Sadly my car was stolen soon after so the tapes went too! They were amazing. Definitely one of the best speakers of the Gospel.
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I heard of him on the rbc ministries YouTube channel, I think they still have some billy videos on there , I just checked YouTube our daily bread and rbc ministries but can’t find the old videos but there are a couple from caperny bible school https://youtu.be/ra29W54PC0U?si=A8m2jR70HX32-qwo
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our daily bread doesn’t seem to have them anymore on their channel, they had at least 4 if I remember correctly and each was great, one I remember was called the unknown stunt man with a biblical message, he used to be familiar with some Hollywood stunt men who played parts in the old western movies from yesteryears and the other I remember just now was about his hometown growing up with a father who didn’t have much time for him as a boy who ran a pub in Scotland and someone at capperny bible school when he first attended was asked one morning about how did he get on with his father that morning and billy didn’t realise immediately that he had meant his Heavenly Father who was altogether completely different than his earthly father.
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Hi Bud,
do you happen to know what happened to Grace, his wife? I always wanted to thank her for supporting him through all these years of traveling and preaching.
Also would you consider putting the sermons you own on sermononline or any other sermon platform? I tried getting some more sermons from the capernwray centers all around Europe bit they do not really have any left. You probably have some that do not touch the copyright of let’s say Capernwray Hall or Bodenseehof.
A lot of people would probably benefit from the teachings of Jesus through Billy.
Thanks for considering this idea and be blessed brother!
Greetings
Tina
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Check this website https://www.sermon-online.com/search?author=262 , I didn’t know him personally, first heard about him rbc ministries YouTube channel a lot of years ago were they had him doing some teaching videos that were very good
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Yes I searched Capernwray as well and couldn’t find any either but thankfully there are a few other sites that allow streaming him for free:)
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It‘s great to see the thread still being active. I didn‘t know Billy Strachan personally, I‘m probably also too young being born in 1993 but I first came across videos of him teaching biblical principles on the Day of Discovery youtube channel. I loved his teachings on the gospel of Mark (The link came up earlier). Then I also emailed Capernwray Bible School and bought a few MP3s of him teaching. There is a lecture recordings catalogue on their website for anyone interested.
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I never new him but watched him in this video…. George Muller – The man of prayer (Christian Library) on Youtube.
What aan impact and impression Billy Strachan made on me. I would have loved to spend time with him.
God uses people to open up our hearts to Him through people
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Yes I would have liked to have met him too, but still we can still hear and see him in videos and audio he left behind for people like you and me find and listen to:)
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