by Alan Langstaff

This month is my 90th birthday month. So this week will not be the normal Langstaff Letter but will be related to my ninety years. I want to start off with a look at my life.

EARLY YEARS

I was born in 1935 in the middle of the Great Depression (young people don’t know much about it). My father was from Yorkshire in England and my mother came from Stirling in Scotland. They both migrated to Australia in the early 20th century, where they later met.

My father was a soldier in the First World War and was highly decorated. However, it left him with physical problems for the rest of his life and he ended up with one leg shorter than the other with a stiff hip, so he could never run. I had two brothers. George was in his final year in Civil Engineering when he contracted cancer and he died at an early age. My other brother Ken went into school teaching and eventually became a school principal.

When I was to be born, my mother wanted a girl, but I became the third son. I was initially rejected by my mother and you can read all about it in my wife Dorothy’s book “Called Together.”

SCHOOL, ARCHITECTURE, & MARRIAGE

My two brothers were excellent students, and both were at the top of their class. I, however, came in second. I eventually went to Canterbury Boys High School and after High School, I studied architecture at the University of New South Wales (Sydney). I became a registered Architect.

During those years I went to a small Methodist church called Moorfields Methodist Church. It was there that I met my future wife, Dorothy, and we started to go together when she was only 14. When my daughter was 14 I wondered “what were we doing!” We were married in November 1958. We had two daughters – Beth born in 1961 and Joy born in 1967.

I should mention that earlier I had been “born again.” While I was at University a student, a Salvation Army young man, invited me to an Evangelistic meeting and I heard the hottest hell fire sermon I have ever heard. I gave my life to Jesus that night.

METHODIST MINISTRY

In 1962 I candidated for the Methodist Ministry and went to Leigh Theological College in 1963. I eventually graduated with the equivalent of an M.Div. on top of my Architecture degree.

I served 5 years as a student pastor in Punchbowl Circuit in Sydney then two years at West Bexley.

It was during this time that Dorothy became very sick during her pregnancy with Joy. She was sick for the whole 9 months and at one time she was put in the hospital for a week to try and stabilize her.

From there we were sent to be Associate Pastors at a church in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, Bondi Junction.

It was during this time that in answer to our cry out to God in a time of need, we prayed “there must be something more” that we entered into the Pentecostal experience of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. That experience changed my ministry.

Soon after that, I did a world trip. Initially, going to David Wilkerson’s Teen Challenge in New York. On the way, I attended Michael Harper’s Conference in Guildford, England, that in turn would introduce me into the charismatic renewal.

In 1972, we took a group of young people to the YWAM outreach to the Munich Olympic Games, and then the next year I left the Methodist church and together with Dorothy began a new ministry called The Temple Trust.

In 1973 we held our first conference in Sydney and for the next seven years we held Annual conferences all over Australia, culminating in the Jesus 79 Conference in Sydney which had some 15,000-20,000 people attending.

We sponsored speakers to Australia including Jim Spillman, Dick Mills, and many others. We started Vision Bible College and were also involved in Christian television with Jim Bakker and the PTL Club from America. Also, Dr. Yonggi Cho, Pastor of the largest church in the world in South Korea, invited me to be on the Board of Directors for Church Growth International.

CALL TO AMERICA

Then our life changed. At the height of our ministry God called us to move to Minnesota in 1980. Both Dorothy and I received separate calls to move, like Abraham of old to go to another place. With the help of some friends, and North Heights Lutheran Church, we settled into the Twin Cities. Then for three years we were in Cambridge, Minnesota.

I began to travel in ministry both in America and other countries. Then another change occurred and I became the Pastor of Cathedral of Praise Church in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. I was the Pastor for 14 years during which time I continued to travel, we acquired a new church building and we started another Bible College – Antioch Christian Training School – “Acts.” I was also involved with a group of people who bought a television station and was co-host for a number of years on a television program called “Crossroads”. Also, I was invited to be the presiding elder of a ministerial network that was originally in Cleveland, Ohio. I led the organization for 10 years.

When I was 70 years old, I resigned from that organization and then with a group of ministry friends began a new one initially called “Omega Team” which I led for some years and then handed it over to another minister and it became “Global Apostolic Alliance.”

Dorothy and I started Kairos Ministries in 1984, which involved my traveling ministry and the regular newsletter, which eventually became “The Langstaff Letter” and to today is published weekly.

HERE I AM

So here I am turning 90 and I have to say that God has been good. Dorothy and I experienced a wonderful marriage of almost 65 years and a ministry that went with it.

You can read all about it in two books. Dorothy’s book “Called Together” the story of our life in Australia prior to moving to America in 1980. Also my book, “The Best is Yet to Be” the story of our life for the last 45 years in America, which is now ready for publication.

ONE LAST THOUGHT

As I have got older and I am now in the last period of my life. I have had time to think back on my life and my marriage and ministry with Dorothy.

I started off as an Arminian who emphasized free will, and now of late I am more Calvinist in my thinking. I have realized that God was at work in our lives and ministry in ways that at the time we were not always aware of. I have realized that it was primarily His doing and for this I give Him all the glory for He has done “exceedingly more than I could ask or think” according to Ephesians 3:20. God is faithful and to Him I will ever give thanks for what He has done.