from flickr by freefotouk It was fantastic to hang out with J John today. After 32 years of frontline evangelism, he is still going strong! John’s given himself to 4 things: a) Preaching the gospel, b) Equipping the Saints, c) Mentoring Evangelists and d) Producing Resources. We met at his offices in Chorleywood, where the Philo Trust staff are based.
Here are some of the things I see that have made John such a success: a single-minded focus on being an itinerant preaching evangelist, a clear sense of call, courage, zeal, and in season and out of season commitment to his own personal evangelism, the time he’s given to raising up others, a meticulous search and precise delivery of material that works, a regular use of humour, every sentence has been crafted, refined, honed and sifted, staying within your personality type (not trying to pretend to be something you are not), and making sure you hit the ball out of the park every time. It is quite awesome to consider how many people God has given John the opportunity to speak to about Jesus. I think he’s been into 63 nations, but his passion remains for the UK.
I remember visiting his Just 10 mission on Clapham Common about 6 years ago, and the night I went he was speaking about Sabbath Keeping. That evening Gary Grant, the founder of The Entertainer chain of toy shops was interviewed (Gary has kept all his shops shut on Sundays, but still managed to grow his business despite trading for one day less than all his competitors.) Anyway, I invited Gary to do an Alpha launch at Christ Church, London a few years later. Today, John told me that every year Gary puts a 1,400 seater marquee up in the grounds of his house in Latimer, and that of the 1,400 people who came to the tent to hear John speak, 197 responded for salvation!
So that was a very inspiring beginning to our lunch together. When we had finished our pizza, I asked him what he was doing next? And he said he was going home to write the study notes in the Soul Survivor bible on Jesus!
We talked quite a lot about Carol Services, and how to make the most of them.
He told me that he bought 12,000 chairs for Just 10 in Newcastle. I’ve never met anyone who’s purchased 12,000 chairs before!
We talked about O. Hallesby and how our preparation in prayer makes such a difference.
I also bumped into Killy John in the office, and thanked her again for taking Julia onto the retreat she organized last year, which was a real high point in our calendar. John and Killy’s boys are doing really well, one is working at Holy Trinity Brompton, another is a professional dancer and is very involved at St Mary’s Bryanston Square.
I also met up with Tim Saiet, who has had an amazing life as a soldier, professional magician, Anglican clergyman and now an evangelist with the Philo Trust. I’ve seen Tim perform his illusions on two occasions and it was quite extraordinary. He used to be the official club magician at Arsenal FC, and if you meet him, you must ask him about teaching Tierry Henry to do magic!
I also saw Dave Withers, who is John’s media, books and communications guy and a key man in the world of Christian books. We talked a bit about future book projects.
That’s enough reporting, it’s now homework time!