OUT OF A SUITCASE AND INTO ALL THE WORLD – Part 1
The Story of Reach and Teach Devotions
Romans 10:17
“So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”
Romans 1:16
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.”
Zechariah 4:10
“For who has despised the day of small things? For they shall rejoice and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven; they are the eyes of the Lord, which run to and fro through the whole earth.”
Habakkuk 2:14
“For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.”
So why do I share what I do?
The Lord has brought me a long way.
When God saved me, it was just before my 16th birthday. To be honest, I was a hopeless case—the laughingstock of my school, someone who stammered and struggled to speak clearly through life.
I was bullied incessantly at school. Did I deserve it? I certainly asked for some of it, as I tried too hard to impress everyone.
So I was converted to Christ, but I wondered: how could God ever use this poor, stammering, tongue-twisted young man?
I always wanted to be at the front. I saw people reading the Bible in church and, even more daunting, preaching.
Some of my friends were already preaching, and I thought, “Why not me?” Keith would shout that out often. Keith has since preached—but that is not his main gift.
As I grew, I started attending the Keswick Convention, about 60 miles from my home in Morecambe, UK. There I developed a deep love for preaching. I was greatly impacted by a sermon from Eric Alexander on 1 Peter 1 about biblical holiness.
The meetings at Keswick were recorded on cassette tapes and were relatively cheap, so I bought many of them and listened to them on my car stereo on the way to work… this really dates me—haha.
A good friend suggested I start a tape library for the local Christian young people’s group, which then grew into a church tape library. I began by storing them in a small tartan suitcase—much to my mother’s disapproval. Later this was replaced by a large brown box that barely fit into my little Mini.
People were blessed—I don’t know how many—but praise God, they were.
Then came my wilderness years from 1986 to 2001. I still had a few tapes at home, but I stopped listening to sermons altogether.
In that sense, I had lost my faith, my ministry—everything seemed gone.
I remember at Keswick on a Friday morning we had a meeting for those committing to the mission field. I went forward many times, thinking the Lord had forgotten it. But He had not.
When I returned to the Lord in 2001, within a few months He helped me to start writing. Remember, this is someone who still longed to preach.
After a rather dry house group meeting on Esther chapters 8–9, I decided to write my first devotional. It was not very good, but people read it, and some were blessed.
So I continued. However, I was later drawn away again, wasting three years in the USA before returning to the UK.
After that, I began writing again. I still remember walking near my home when the Lord impressed on me that I would have a worldwide ministry.
Fast forward to 2011: I now had my own website, and I was receiving visits from all over the world—including some from Nanjing, China (we all know how that ended up).
By this time, I had discovered SermonAudio on the internet and was beginning to listen to many sermons.
When I came to China, that platform became my lifeline, as I was no longer able to attend weekly church sermons—except through my wife translating them for me.
Now I have a small ministry and the privilege of sharing my devotions and writing this book.
Both SermonAudio and JohnKnoxInstitute.org have become precious treasures to me. They have inspired me to dig deeper into Holy Scripture.
I am deeply thankful to some very kind Chinese believers who have translated for me completely free of charge—you know who you are.
Thank you for listening to my story.