01Temperament and early life
The life and soul of the party, until the room became formal
Among school friends and workmates in his teens, Keith was loud, lively and bombastic. Yet when a teacher asked him to read the next paragraph of Robinson Crusoe aloud, embarrassment could leave him coughing, spluttering and refusing. He came to recognise a personality that was socially extroverted but formally and deeply introverted.
Looking back, he also wonders whether he lived with very little awareness of how his behaviour affected the family who raised him. What others observed in him, both negatively and positively, often came as a surprise.
21 April 1967
The day after his eighteenth birthday, everything changed
Keith turned from what he describes as his Godless past and claimed the biblical promises of forgiveness offered by Father, Son and Holy Spirit. He did not speak frequently about his new faith at home, but his family quickly noticed the difference.
His grandmother, whom he naturally called Mum and who had raised him as her son, asked Pastor Jack Glass what he had “done to our Keith”. The young man who had been argumentative and socially awkward was now reading the Bible at the dinner table, on the way to the bath, and whenever another spare moment appeared.
“I was astonished to learn that the transformation had been noticed so clearly by the family, when I had hardly noticed its impact myself.”
Fathers in faith
Pastor Jack Glass and the influence of John Glass
Pastor Jacob “Jack” Troughton Glass became the closest thing Keith had experienced as a familial father. Though the relationship was present for only around eighteen months and involved meetings several times each week, Keith remembers his fatherly love, care and guidance as one of the greatest formative influences of his life.
Pastor Jack’s son, John, also invested hours in discussion and shared faith, helping Keith finally cross the line into committed belief in Christ.
A hunger for Scripture
From hesitant reader to student, preacher and teacher
Away from home and within his spiritual peer group, Keith became a devoted reader and student of Scripture, following the biblical story from Moses and Genesis to the Apostle John and Revelation. He developed a hunger for preaching, teaching and explaining the truths he believes save and redeem people throughout the world.
He first preached around Manchester, then while studying at Elim Bible College in Surrey and in churches around England. Ministry followed in the Rhondda Valley of South Wales, Ballymoney in Northern Ireland, North London, Derby and finally Ikotun Egbe in Lagos, Nigeria.
