In Brooklyn, New York, in the late seventies, my then new wife and I lived in an apartment owned by a graduate of Fuller Theological Seminary. This landlord, who was involved in church growth initiatives in the greater New York City area, brought in Peter Wagner, whom he had studied with previously, to address pastors and cell-group leaders. Peter, in turn, had brought someone with him named John Wimber. That night, John slept in the basement bedroom of our three-story apartment. Little did I know how much a part this man would play in what would become known, because of his seminal influence, as the Third Wave movement.

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This narrative of John’s journey by Dr. Connie Dawson both draws you in as a reader and gives you a front-row seat to the unfolding of a life that has impacted millions for Christ and the kingdom of God. Connie’s writing brilliance shines as she carefully and faithfully takes the reader from John’s beginnings all the way through his sustained and arduous journey as a pioneer and father in a movement whose impact continues to this day, even after his homegoing. Connie tells the whole story, including the sufferings and challenges John faced both as a preacher of the gospel and as one who saw many healed, while he himself was beleaguered with much physical suffering.

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Connie’s work is masterful, historically faithful, and theologically insightful. For the lay reader and the academic scholar alike, there is much here to glean and contemplate. Connie is indeed a scholar, and yet her writing makes this work accessible to all who are hungry and interested in an important part of Pentecostal history. My prayer is that the emerging generation will take time to become acquainted, through the pages of her book, with the life of one of the twentieth century’s most compelling and cogent voices in the kingdom of God.