Biography
The following list of dates is a very selective and potted history of some of the major events in my life, and I hope that they will give you an idea of the things that have shaped me so far!
17th April 1965: Born in Leicester Royal Infirmary. At the time my father was priest-in-charge of 3 village churches to the east of Leicester.
June 1966: My father died from lung cancer. A heavy smoker for most of his life he had been very ill for some time. We had to leave the Rectory in Tugby, and we moved back to East Sussex, where my mum had grown up and still had family living.
1970: My mum was diagnosed with cancer of the kidney. The prognosis was very poor, but after prayer for healing no trace of cancer could be found.
September 1973: Went off to boarding school – St Edmund’s School in Canterbury, Kent – courtesy of the Clergy Orphan Corporation. Realized on day 2 that this was not going to be quite as much fun as the ‘Jennings and Darbishire’ books had suggested they should be! The next ten years were to contain many highlights and moments of great fun, but are remembered more as a miserable time of being bullied and missing home. I emerged with a good education, but with very little self-confidence and having learned to be fiercely independent and self-sufficient – neither of which served me well in my marriage or my ministry!
3rd March 1978: Confirmed in the school chapel. Very clear at this time that ‘being a Christian’ required me to ‘go to church’ and ‘live a good life’. Had no choice over the former, but found the latter significantly more of a challenge! Tried to give up swearing for a week, but failed miserably after two hours. Decided that ‘living a good life’ was very hard work and not much fun, so resorted to making sure I wasn’t caught instead!
26th January 1982: Finally dawned on me that God wanted me to be in relationship with Him, and that meant investing time and energy in that relationship. Read ‘Journey into Life’ by Norman Warren and prayed the prayer at the end.
August 1982: My first youth camp at Lee Abbey in Devon. Two weeks that changed my life. The vision for 6:19 was given to me. While I was at the camp my mum had tests that revealed that cancer had returned, this time in her ribs.
Autumn 1984: Sat entrance exams for Oxbridge and Cambridge Universities while also studying to re-take one of my A-levels which I had flunked the term before – not an ideal combination, and with the rather inevitable result that neither university found room for me that year (or any other year for that matter)!
January 1984 – April 1985: Worked at the Lee Abbey International Students’ Club in Earls Court, London, variously on the maintenance, kitchen and house teams. During this time I was encouraged to pursue a calling to ordination and was accepted to read Theology at St Chad’s College at Durham University. I also went to the first John Wimber meetings at Westminster Central Hall, which I found both exciting and challenging. Remember very clearly watching the prayer ministry team praying for people and thinking ‘I could never do that!’
April-August 1985: Worked at St Margaret’s School for Girls in Maseru, Lesotho in Southern Africa.
1985-88: Read Theology at Durham University. Attended St Margaret’s Church which in those days was described as an ‘Anglo-Catholic, charismatic, evangelical church’! It was all of those things, and while far from perfect, it was a wonderful mix, holding in tension the richness of each tradition.
4th July 1987: I took monastic vows for three years joining the ‘Little Brothers and Sisters of Christ’, which had been founded by the then Bishop of Lewes, Peter Ball, and which was based in Litlington, East Sussex. For some time I considered that this would be a lifelong vocation.
1988-90: Theological training at Trinity College Bristol. Felt very certain that I was called to be an itinerant evangelist/preacher/teacher and not a vicar, and resolved to serve one 3 year curacy before moving into full-time evangelism.
29th May 1989: After a long illness my mum died from bone cancer. Her health had gradually deteriorated since 1992 and on a number of previous occasions we had thought that she was about to die.
26th December 1989: Met Sarah, who I was later to marry, for the first time at Lee Abbey in London. (During the previous six months I had become convinced that it was right not to renew my monastic vows, and that I would marry a girl called Sarah. I had gone to London on this day to speak to the only Sarah I knew, whom I assumed must be the one I was to marry! I was somewhat bemused when she turned me down, and I learned a lesson about allowing God to work things out in His time rather than fix them for Him! A lesson that I continue to have to re-learn on a regular basis)
1990: Ordained in Durham Cathedral. Served my first curacy at All Saint’s Church, Eaglescliffe on the edge of Stockon-on-Tees. Deeply impacted by my training vicar’s passion for parish life and the local church, and his heart for the lost.
20th April 1991: Married Sarah at her dad’s church in Plymouth
1993-99: Served a second curacy at St Mary and St Cuthbert’s Church in Chester-le-Street! Pastored two church plants on the outskirts of town. Six wonderful years at the end of which I thought it must be time to move out of parish ministry, and certainly had no desire to move back to the crowded south-east of England, and definitely not a rural parish!
August 1994: Went to our first New Wine summer conference. It was the year of the ‘Toronto Blessing’ and it was an interesting time to say the least! God spoke deeply into my life about the call to evangelism/renewal in the church, and the need to be prepared to persevere when things got tough in the future.
2nd November 1985: Esther Ruth born
19th April 1998: Joel Benjamin born
July 1999-2005: Rector of Ardingly in West Sussex, a small village of 1500 near Haywards Heath.
4th July 2001: Miriam Joy born
3rd March 2004: Sarah was very ill with post-natal depression. In all she spent the next 10 months away from home. I had nearly two months off work and then worked part-time for the next year. In March 2005 I was signed off work with stress and in July offered my resignation.
1st February 2006: Moved to Hassocks to be part of The Point church, a recently planted ‘fresh expression’ of church. At the time we were living on benefits and miracles! This was a season of re-building our family life and seeking God for what was to come next.
13th September 2006: 6:19 was launched as a part-time ministry
April 2007-June 2009: Having thoroughly enjoyed being a church member for nearly two years I was invited to become the part-time Associate Pastor at The Point.
21st June 2009: 6:19 Trust launched as a full-time ministry.
Watch this space…!
