I met MRA through my parents whose lives were changed when The Forgotten Factor visited New Zealand in 1952. I was nine at the time. At 14, I asked Jesus into my life. At 21 I had a transforming experience after seeing The Ladder, a Peter Howard play, at an MRA conference in Wanganui in 1965. After completing a B.Sc. in Maths and Physics, I worked full-time with MRA initially for a year, then for 25 years after I felt God say to me, The World needs more bridge-builders rather than one more computer programmer. Over those years, I worked in Papua New Guinea 1967-70, was a Member of Council of Management in NZ 1975-2013, and was invited in 1990, along with Alan Weeks and Mohan Bhagwandas, by the PNG prime minister Michael Somare and Minister of Justice Bernard Narokobi to build relationships on board the HMNZS Endeavour helping the Bougainville negotiators and PNG Government come to an agreement.
I helped manage book-publishing operations at Grosvenor Books, London (writing, editing, proof-reading, printing, publishing, ordering, marketing, packing, invoicing, accounting, and employing staff); and helped manage volunteer staff on a 40-acre estate, Tirley Garth.
I am a former NZ Veteran Chess Champion, and a former Secretary/Treasurer for MRA in NZ, and am currently serving as treasurer for Livingwaters Church and Waiheke Hope Centre, and Chairperson and bookkeeper of Waiheke Musical Museum Charitable Trust.
After completing a second degree, B.A. in History and Maori, I published the story of my family's discoveries about our Maori ancestry, now in its sixth printing.
I married Jane (née Bygott) in 1978 and again in 2017 after 15 years' separation and divorce. We now live on Waiheke Island, New Zealand. We have two children and two grandchildren.
Publications
Nga Uri o Pourewa: A Pakeha Family discovers its Maori Ancestry, 1990/2005/2021
The Bougainville Land Crisis of 1969: The Role of Moral Re-Armament, Macmillan Brown Centre for Pacific Studies, University of Canterbury, 1990
A Bank Manager with a Heart, Lawrie Cooper's Memoirs, 2021
