John grew up on the plains of rural Iowa as part of a good, but unbelieving family. After he, his sister, and his father nearly died in an asphyxiation accident, his mother began seeking God. A few years later John's sister came to personal faith in Christ through the witness of friends. She in turn led John to faith in Christ while he was in junior high school. Later, as a young adult, John sensed God’s call to ministry and began training for His service.John studied at St. Paul Bible College (now Crown College), earning a BA in Bible and Theology and then at Columbia Biblical Seminary (Columbia, SC), receiving the MDiv. From 1987 to 2001 John served as the senior pastor of the Plymouth Alliance Church (Plymouth, Wisconsin). During that time John earned the DMin from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. In the fall of 2001 he became the Senior Pastor of the Stow Alliance Fellowship (Stow, Ohio), a congregation nestled amid the bustling communities of Cleveland and Akron, Ohio. By God's grace John has taught God’s Word beyond the local church, in countries like Argentina, Belarus, Burkina Faso, Japan, Mexico, Mongolia, and Russia and in the United States in conferences, camps, seminars and on college campuses.