I grew up a Roman Catholic and attended parochial school until the fifth grade. As a child of seven or eight, I loved the Lord Jesus, but had never heard the gospel about receiving the Lord into me. In my teenage years I rejected Catholicism and began a search for spiritual truth. Every weekend I and a few friends would choose a different religious group to visit. We attended Baptist, Episcopal, Pentecostal, Hindu, Buddhist, Hari Krishna, Rosicrucian, Sylvan Mind Control and I AM meetings to name a few. I read Philosophy, Spiritism and Chinese Taoism—everything from Confucius to Kierkegaard. At the same time I was fully involved with the “counter-culture” life-style of the 60’s and 70’s, experimenting with many different and often self-destructive ways.

In my early twenties two events happened which began to change my life. First, I read the New Testament, initially as a book of philosophy, but eventually I became extremely impressed with the person of Jesus. I was drawn to Him and thought that if I had been alive at His time I would have followed Him. Second, I heard a more complete gospel on television, which included the “Sinner’s Prayer” about receiving Jesus Christ as your personal savior for the forgiveness of sins and asking Him to come into your heart. Around the same time, my father asked me to come back to Catholic Mass with him, and as I had always loved him to the uttermost, I agreed. In order to return to the Catholic church I had to go to confession, my first in many years. During the confession I expressed to the priest my need for new direction in my life, as nothing had ever really satisfied me and I was quite desperate by this time to know the truth and understand the meaning of my life. He told me that if I would “dedicate my life to Jesus Christ,” that I would “know a peace and a happiness unlike anything I had ever known before.” “Could this be true?” I thought. Yet, he did not tell me how to do what he recommended.

I went home in distress and begged God to let me know if He existed. The words of the “Sinner’s prayer” came to my mind and I prayed them earnestly. Immediately, I knew something profound had happened to me. A great weight seemed lifted from my shoulders. I felt the unconditional love of God for me, and I gave the rest of my life to God right then. I had no idea how to proceed, but I determined to become the most devote Catholic there ever was. As I began to attend Mass regularly with my father, I looked around and noticed that the other people did not seem to be in love with the Lord Jesus as I was. While I was burning inside for Jesus they seemed like good people, but rather bored. I became desperate once again, and realized that to survive as a Christian I needed to be with people who loved the Lord intensely. My concept was that I would probably have to join a monastery as no one could live and work in society and still love and serve the Lord with their whole heart. I prayed continually, “ Lord, where are Your people?; where are the people who love only You above everything else?” Within two months the Lord had led me to a meeting of the church in Irving, Texas.

I had an interview for a job that I really needed at the time and wanted to make the best impression possible. But, for some reason during the interview I stated matter-of-factly, “ I have dedicated my life to Jesus Christ”. My first thought was, “there goes this job”, but to my first astonishment the interviewer’s eyes grew large and he said “So have I.” This was brother Dominic Fisher from the church in Irving. At this point the interview ended and I got the job. During the three hour lunch that followed we talked about many topics. I explained to Dominic how wrong I thought it was for Christians around the world, who have the same God and the same Bible, to be divided or hate and kill each other as in Northern Ireland. Again, his eyes grew wide as he said that his church had found a practical way for all Christians to be one by lifting up only the name of Jesus. “Just stop right there” I said, not believing that such an impossibly great thing could be true, “When and where is your next meeting, I will come and see for myself.”

During my first meeting I did not understand what most of the people were saying. So, I began to pray to the Lord that if these really were His people, who truly loved Him more than anything else, He would give me a sign. Right then a young man on the front row loudly shouted, “O Lord Jesus we love You!” Silently, I bowed me head to hide the tears and thanked the Lord for answering my prayer. I began meeting regularly with the church in Irving and enjoyed the wonderful fellowship of all the young single brothers in many of the believers’ homes. An older brother gave me The Genuine Ground of Oneness by Witness Lee, this was the first book I had ever seen by him or by Watchman Nee. I was enjoying the Lord and the church life to the uttermost and was daily receiving revelations from the ministry. The Bible was opening up as never before. Only one serious question still remained, “Who was this Witness Lee?”

I knew that Watchman Nee had gone to be with the Lord, and that Witness Lee was still ministering to the churches. Many books were authored by him and many churches raised up by him. While the meetings of the church were wonderful, I knew nothing of Witness Lee, and being completely ignorant of the Bible, was unsure whether his teaching was sound. My main concern was that he might be some kind of mini-dictator or cult leader. This question had to be settled before I could fully enter the church life. Knowing that Witness Lee lived in Anaheim, California, and that he had never been to Dallas, I began praying to the Lord to somehow, someway, get me to California to meet Witness Lee. This seemed virtually impossible, yet I prayed none-the-less. Within one week a brother said to me, “Have you heard the news? Brother Lee is coming to Dallas to hold a conference.” I rejoiced at how unexpectedly and marvelously the Lord had answered my prayer. This was my chance to meet and fully examine Witness Lee.

During all of the meetings of the conference, besides listening carefully to his words, I studied brother Lee’s demeanor and body language. Did he strut or swagger? How did he treat other people? Did others kow-tow to him? How was he dressed? Did he seem to be money hungry, or on a power trip? Did he lift himself up, or Jesus? I met him briefly and learned he stayed at one of the member’s homes while in Dallas. In everything: word, gesture and content he impressed me as a loving grandfather who was completely uninterested in any personal exaltation. His only concern seemed to be to bring Christ to the believers and the believers to Christ. I became convinced I was in the right place. After almost 20 years in the local church and having had much more contact with Witness Lee, both personally and in the meetings, I can honestly say the correctness of my initial impression of the man and his ministry has been repeatedly confirmed and strengthened. He was the single greatest person I have ever met in my entire life to this point and his passing was a great sorrow to me. Also, I have spent almost 20 years studying his ministry and comparing it to the Bible and to other expositors. In my estimation, he stands in the first rank of the most important Bible expositors in history. He and Watchman Nee are virtually unique in combining the highest spiritual insights with the most practical real-world applications. Their ministry is, according to my study, genuinely in line with the Apostles’ teaching found in the New Testament. This is seen in the fact that their ministry not only reveals the high truths in the Bible, transforming lives like mine, but also produces New Testament patterned churches where all people can find Christ and where all believers in oneness can enjoy Christ in a rich and fulfilling church life.

Truly the Lord has shown great mercy to me. Over my years in the local church I married and had a family while the Lord added my mother and father to the church so that three generations of my family are enjoying the Lord together with the other believers. The Lord continues to be merciful and to bless my family and me in every way. Thank You Lord Jesus.

John Dunn

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