November 1853 a member of the historic New Park Street Chapel in London (where famous Baptist ministers such as Benjamin Keach, John Gill, John Rippon and Joseph Angus had served) heard Spurgeon and reported his impressions. On 18 December 1853 the nineteen-year-old minister preached his first sermon in London. He preached as a guest for the first three Sundays of January 1854, and was subsequently called as pastor. New Park Street Chapel began to grow immediately under Spurgeon’s preaching. To say