I did not grow up religious and never visited a religious building until I was 18. During that time, while working on a farm in the Swiss Alps, I accidentally found a Bible (I had never seen one before!). As I began reading it entirely on my own, I became fascinated with the Gospels and immediately fell in love with this Jesus I knew nothing about. A few months later, I met a group of traveling Gypsies who baptized me. From that time on, I knew I wanted to proclaim Jesus to ALL the nations of the earth!
So, since 1985, for over 40 years, I have been planting and pastoring churches in 9 countries, 4 continents and in 6 different languages. Some congregations had hundreds of members, while others were smaller. (In most countries, I spent an average of about five years. The following below is not in chronological order)
North America
• Boston, USA
• Vancouver, Canada
Europe
• Geneva, Switzerland
• Zurich
• Berlin, Germany
• Paris, France
• Odessa, Ukraine
• Voronezh, Russia
Asia
• Irkutsk (Lake Baikal) — Eastern Siberia
• Barnaul, Bysk — Central Siberia (near Kazakhstan)
• Gorno-Altaysk — Altai Republic (near China/Mongolia)
Middle East
• Jerusalem, Israel
• Ashdod, Ashkelon, Kiryat Gat
• Rishon LeZion, Nazareth
• Beersheba
In all of this, I have always been driven by two questions: “How can the church be more like the early church, and how can I be like Jesus in every possible way?”.
I have seen countless conversions and incredible miracles, but I have also faced persecution, the challenge of starting churches, and the humbling process of learning new cultures and languages.
As a result of my passion to restore the New Testament model, I have twice lost everything – work, position, and relationships – and walked through two painful “deserts”. The first was leaving a radical church that was at that time the fastest-growing in the world. As it became extremely legalistic and sectarian, I chose to leave, letting go of 10 years of my life there. The second time came when I had a radical encounter with the Holy Spirit, which unfortunately forced me to leave the Non-Charismatic denomination I had been part of for eight years. Despite these traumatic experiences, I hold no hard feelings toward either group and view those “losses” as valuable steps in my spiritual growth.
My intellectual and professional pursuits have all been been shaped around my missionary purposes. I initially studied agriculture and worked in that field for a few years, but when I was on the mission field, I studied the geopolitics of Eastern Europe, linguistics in Russia, and learnt half a dozen languages. Most of the time I lived as a supported missionary, but on the rare occasions when I had to leave my denomination and lost everything (see above), I temporarily took side jobs – in business, as a substitute teacher, or even in construction.
Later, I completed a master’s degree in Global Leadership from Fuller Theological Seminary in California.
=> My spiritual gifts include leadership, healing/prophecy and contextual theology.
=> My daily ritual: a run with my three dogs, followed by a plunge into ice-cold water
=> I agree with almost every theological view of Greg Boyd (https://reknew.org)
=> The three lives that had the most profound spiritual influence on me were those of the Sadhu Sundar Singh, H.A. Baker, and Richard Wurmbrand.
I was born and raised in Geneva, making me Swiss, with a German mother and a Swiss French father. While changing planes, I met my Russian wife, Anna, in an airport. I immediately fell in love with her and three months later, on November 6, 1994, we were married!
She grew up in the Soviet Union and, like many Russian Jews of that time, had never attended a synagogue or read the Bible. In 1991, after just two weeks of translating Bible lessons for American missionaries, she became convinced about her Messiah and was baptized.
Our two American sons are strong believers and work in North America, one in the film industry and the other in politics.
In 2019, we made Aliyah to Israel, becoming Israeli citizens. We have started numerous congregations across the Holy Land, encouraging messianic assemblies and teaching nations about restoring the Jewish roots of the early Church.