⇐ Pohang Iron & Steel, South Korea
At the time of my Korean trip, I was not aware that the Lord was preparing me for a life changing step of faith. I had resigned my position with the company that sent me to Korea. I was also unaware that my wife and two other women had been praying for some time to this effect during their weekly prayer triplet sessions. I had walked into my office on a typical Monday morning, sat down, picked up a piece of paper and without any consideration as to what might be the consequences, wrote out my resignation. Without a second thought I personally deposited it on the desk of the company’s Managing Director. That evening I was entertaining a group of company clients at a local restaurant and as was his occasional want, the MD was present. Nothing was said during the evening about my resignation until he and I walked together to the carpark. He expressed his regrets regarding my resignation, to which I did not reply, and that was it until the end of the week when I was called into his office and asked to remain in post for an extended and unspecified period of time. The reason given was to allow sufficient time to find a suitable replacement since the position I held was somewhat unique within the company.
I was still working some four months later when, without prior notice, I was asked to vacate my office with immediate effect, hand in my company credit card, keys to the premises, I was a key holder, and leave the company car which was used exclusively by myself and get out. The circumstances surrounding this dismissal are of no particular relevance here other than to say that I subsequently received advice from a Christian friend who had been similarly treated to take legal action and appeal to an Industrial Tribunal. Bearing in mind that I was then 56 years of age, still had a mortgage and not in possession of a particularly healthy bank balance, the advice seemed rather attractive and financially to my advantage as it clearly had been for my friend. I did consult a top London solicitor who had previously represented my friend. She said she was prepared to take the case on but on reflection I felt it was not what the Lord had in mind, so I did not pursue it further.
The following month was indeed interesting and probably the most joyful that I had experienced for a long time. I felt the Lord saying that He did not want me to sign on the dole or any executive register, moreover, not even to seek full-time paid employment but to set myself up as an independent consultant. This I investigated, the name of a certain New Testament prophet was suggested as a business name and for which confirmation was received from three independent unsolicited sources within one week. Progress it seemed was being made until I had the distinct impression from the Lord that I was not to canvas potential clients. Naturally speaking none of this made sense and I am sure that if I had approached a bank seeking a business start-up loan my request would have been met with a certain degree of mirth.
Within a month of leaving full time employment a VAT registered, fledgling company, Agabus Associates, was ready to take off, destination unknown. The accuracy, or otherwise, of the prophecy of Agabus is today a matter of hot dispute among Biblical Scholars in the ‘Continuationist v Cessationist’ debate. If Agabus did get it wrong I felt it rather amusing the thought that to the discerning client, by association, I too may not always get it right!
There were no clients, potential or otherwise, but I was still as peaceful and joyful as I had been from the beginning of this new uncertain phase in my life. Exactly a month after exiting my office, and the one-month salary I received in lieu of notice had run out, I received a telephone call from a member of the church my wife and I attended. He was in business on his own account and needed someone for a month or so, “Could I help?” Needless to say, I was quite happy to oblige! The Lord’s timing proved, once again, just perfect!
Those days were some of the most interesting of my entire life. This is not to say that my life up to this point had been rather dull or uninteresting, far from it. My earlier career had provided me with a very broad electrical and electronic engineering experience, so much so that when a seemingly devastating period found me as a single dad, I was able to use my engineering experience teaching in the Further and Higher Education sector, so enabling me to better care, holiday wise at least, for my two very young children.
My Christian experience had also been enlarged and enriched through the ministry of people like David Watson, John Wimber and St. Andrew’s Church, Chorley Wood. We would frequently travel a couple of hundred miles round trip to attend a Sunday evening service there. It was during one particular service that I felt the Lord calling me to something quite different, although I had no idea what, other than it was definitely not the ‘Ordained Ministry’ which a certain Bishop thought. Someone in our home Church had also ‘Prophesied’ that He, the Lord, was going to move me from a small pond to a very large ‘Open water’, or words to that effect since I can’t remember the detail exactly, probably due to my somewhat reservation with ‘Prophetic Words’!