Bio

I am privileged to have a long Christian Baptist heritage going back to the 17th century including the family of William Carey the missionary pioneer to India, and a long line of pastors. Brought up in rural Bedfordshire among a Strict Baptist family, I first studied practical Agriculture. Having rebelled as a teenager, I was converted at Agricultural College through the witness of a fellow student.

God clearly called me to the ministry and after a theology degree at London Bible College (now London School of Theology), I spent 20 years ministering in Greenford, N.W. London, before responding to God’s call to move to Sheffield in 2003 to lead Rock Christian Centre. In 2025 we celebrated 40 years of full time pastoral ministry.

It has been a wonderful privilege to lead this multi-cultural, inner-city church as it has grown and developed in exciting ways spiritually and numerically. The church has birthed many outreach projects including: Burngreave Foodbank; The Lighthouse project reaching homeless and addicts; Burngreave CAP debt centre; the Word4Weapons gun and knife amnesty bin etc.

In 2016 the church was able to purchase our own site and buildings on Spital Hill and the Lighthouse building on Handley Street in the heart of the Burngreave community. We rejoice that the Church is now debt free with all the purchase loans now paid off! All our Church services, groups, and community projects are now reunited on these sites. We are currently fundraising towards the ‘Link Building Project’ that will join the two buildings at Spital Hill providing a central concourse, reception and community resource. We look forward to how The Lord will continue to ‘build His church’ physically and spiritually in the multi-cultural community of Burngreave.

Burngreave Foodbank has grown so substantially that we have formed it as a separate charity which I chair. In March 2026 I dropped one day a week for RCC to give more time to my City-wide role as co-chair of ‘Together for Sheffield’, and the mentoring of younger Church and Charity leaders. I am also a trustee of ‘Kinetic Network’, a charity that seeks transformation through reformed theology and charismatic experience. I have a heart for City transformation and am a ‘Facilitator’ for City Vision, a movement that is promoting Kingdom transformation in cities across the UK and Worldwide.

I’ve been married to Tricia for the past 43 years! We met as students when she was training to be a PE teacher in Bedford and we were both involved in student outreach with UCCF. Tricia has retired from part-time teaching and is now our ‘Teams Pastor’ and an Assistant Manager for Burngreave Foodbank. Tricia is also the Street Pastors Coordinator for Sheffield. We have 3 adult children; 5 wonderful grandchildren; and Barney our much-loved big dog! Hobbies include – gardening, DIY, cars, driving, travel etc.