John was born in Alberta, Canada. His parents loved the Lord and his father, a pastor, served in several churches in Western Canada. When John was about 12 years old, he put his faith in Christ and His finished work on the cross for him.
As a teenager, he became aware of tribal groups in remote areas of the world. God stirred his heart with the knowledge that these people had no understanding of salvation without someone going and teaching them. Upon hearing of a ministry that worked exclusively with tribal people, John stepped out in faith believing God wanted him to be involved in reaching these people with the Gospel.
Beginning in 1973 and continuing for the next four years, John trained in Bible and Cross-Cultural Communications with NTM. Upon completing training, John taught the same courses for the next 3 ½ years.
From 1980 to 1988, John was International Coordinator for NTM’s short-term ministry, during which time he saw over 5,000 people reach out around the world, helping in building clinics, schools, airstrips and drilling water wells. Many are now involved in full-time ministry. In 1989, John conceived and helped bring into being a college-level Bible and Communications Course based in Papua, New Guinea.
In 1989, John directed the award-winning video, “EE-Taow!” This video told the story of a remote tribal group coming to the Lord as they were taught the Bible from Creation to the Cross. Subsequent to this, John directed other videos, telling similar stories in Asia and South America.
In 1996, John and his wife Janice, along with three other couples and one single man, founded an educational organization call GoodSeed International, which focused on creating tools and teaching the Bible using the Creation to Christ approach. From the beginning, GoodSeed placed a priority on translating these tools into other languages as well as providing onsite training. Increasingly, this unique approach to learning has proved helpful around the world in explaining the central message of the Bible.
John has authored numerous books and written and directed a number of videos. He resides with his wife, Janice, in Canada and has two grown children and three grandchildren. His passion is to equip others in explaining the Bible in a meaningful way, a passion that he shares with the entire GoodSeed team.
GoodSeed International is an equipping ministry. It creates tools and provides training for believers around the world in preparation for a lifelong lifestyle of evangelism and discipleship.