My Baptist pastor, Ernest Rudman, was a wonderful preacher who made the Bible come alive. A man of prayer who taught his church to pray, and a man zealous for world mission.
In the 1960s a Pentecostal pastor laid hands on me and I was filled with the Spirit and spoke in tongues. I also read A.W. Pink's book, The Sovereignty of God, and was thoroughly convinced of its argument. So in the '60s I became what might be called a Charismatic Calvinist. Pretty rare you might think, but I note that Paul claimed to speak in tongues more than the Corinthians. He also taught us a lot about such things as the sovereignty of God and predestination.
A longing for revival was put in my heart through the preaching and writing of Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones and Arthur Wallis.

It seems that the apostle Paul founded a number of churches which he related to personally. Some, like the Colossians, were not actually started by him personally but came within his sphere. Although Paul is an apostle to the whole body of Christ, he had a fatherly relationship with what the theologians call 'the Pauline churches'.

We have used the title Newfrontiers in connection with the churches with which we personally work, though we have excellent relationships right across the body of Christ.

For more information about Newfrontiers visit the website »

In short, because we felt God told us to. I was probably more surprised than anybody.

(a) Newday gathers thousands of teenagers with an aggressive evangelistic focus and a high standard of preaching, training and worship. A new generation is arising.
Visit the Newday website here »

(b) Together on a Mission gathers approximately 5,000 mostly leaders, who are drawn from over 50 nations, and between them represent more people than Stoneleigh gathered.
Find out more here »

I started by marrying Wendy, a remarkable woman, who wholeheartedly and enthusiastically embraced my calling and mission. We both also wanted a large family. We worked hard at training the children when they were young and included them as much as possible in our mission. Ultimately, God will assess whether it was a naive disaster, or enjoyed some success, or was somewhere in between.

Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones, JI Packer, John Stott, John Piper, Gordon Fee, Alec Motyer, Leon Morris, NT Wright, and many biographies, especially of pioneer missionaries such as Hudson Taylor.