First and foremost, I became a committed follower of Jesus Christ in 1976, previously having had ‘strong leftish/ atheistic tendencies’.
I have been in Christian leadership in various positions: An elder (eleven years) at Bournemouth Community Church with oversight for mission & apologetics; a deacon at Lansdowne Baptist Church Bournemouth (nine years) –working with international students and co-leading the Young People’s Work [then YPF] with my wife Jackie. I was a founder director of the International Training Network, Bournemouth, training centre for the teaching of English as a foreign language and the principal/director [1996-2010] of the Christian English Language Centre in Bournemouth and Christchurch, England. Since December 2014 my wife and I have been attending St Mary’s Church Ferndown, where we are seeking to use our gifts for the Mission of Christ.
Publications:
‘Beyond Eden: God, Evolution & The Problem of Evil’, which is an adapted version of my Master’s research degree work (MRes) taken at the University of Exeter (2011-2014), was published in January 2016.I am also the joint author (along with Rosemary Griffiths) of a book entitled ‘Walls that Divide’, which is due to be revised/re-edited–sometime soon.
My ‘academic’ background includes forays into the world of: Sociology,Theology, Philosophy,English-Language pedagogy,linguistics and Philosophical Theology in The Open University, The University of Sheffield, Canterbury Christchurch University, Trinity College, Newburgh USA, and The University of Exeter.
On a more personal note: I’ve been married since September 1963 [one of God’s miracles] and have four [grown] children and nine grandchildren—the latest born in 2015.Four of the grandkids live, with their parents, in Australia. We also have two great-grandsons…
Some of the family at our son Gerald’s (2014) graduation from Moorlands College
My main research degree supervisor, Dr Chris Southgate, July 2015
My son, Gerald, also a theology graduate