Ray Comfort

From Freepedia

Ray Comfort is a New Zealand-born minister and evangelist. Comfort heads Living Waters Publications in Bellflower, California, and has written a number of evangelical christian works.

Ray was born on December 5, 1949, to a Jewish mother. Formerly from the surfing crowd, Ray became a Christian in April 1972 at the age of 22. For many years he served as an itinerant minister and associate pastor in his former hometown of Christchurch, going around New Zealand and Australia. In the early 1980s, he began open-air preaching, which he has since done several thousand times, and using the principles of what he calls "biblical evangelism" (see below).

In 1989 he accepted an offer from Hosanna Chapel in Bellflower, California to introduce begin full-time ministry in the United States. He believes that evangelizing the lost is the main reason that the Christian Church exists, and that the church has used evangelistic methods to gain many backsliders over the past century or so.

In recent years, Ray Comfort has paired up with celebrity Kirk Cameron to launch a ministry called "The Way of the Master" to teach Christians how to biblically, simply, and effectively share their faith, "the way Jesus did." The key component is using the Moral Law of God (The Ten Commandments) to show people their sin before presenting the gospel of Christ to them. He is also a traveling preacher and speaker at many churches and evangelism seminars, including "Worldview Weekend" events.

The ministry sells some 80 styles of tracts through its livingwaters.com website. They have eye catching themes and styles on them such as a "Million Dollar Bill" or "Full House Trivia," a written testimony by Candace Cameron, a star of Full House and sister of Kirk Cameron.

Ray Comfort's ministry has been commended by Franklin Graham, Josh McDowell, Dr. D. James Kennedy, Bill Gothard, David Wilkerson, Joni Eareckson Tada, and many other Christian leaders. He has written for Billy Graham's Decision magazine and Bill Bright's Worldwide Challenge. His literature is used by the Moody Bible Institute, Leighton Ford Ministries, Campus Crusade For Christ, Institute in Basic Life Principles, and the Institute for Scientific & Biblical Research. He has also written more than 35 books and is a regular platform speaker at Southern Baptist State Conferences. His videos were seen by more than 30,000 pastors in 1992, and he has spoken in more than 700 churches, from almost every denomination.

He is expected to be, with Kirk Cameron and radio personality Todd Friel, a co-host to a new "Way of the Master Radio Show," to begin airing on January 1, 2006.

Ray lives with his wife Sue in Southern California, and they have three grown children, Jacob, Rachel and Daniel.

Books

Ray has written almost 50 books. Some of the more recent books he has written include:

Spurgeon Gold: Pure. Refined. (compiled by Ray) (2005)
Overcoming Panic Attacks (2005)
What Did Jesus Do? A Call to Return to the Biblical Gospel (2005)
How to Bring Your Children to Christ ... and Keep Them There (2005)
What Hollywood Believes: An Intimate Look at the Faith of the Famous (2004)
Hell's Best Kept Secret (updated 2004)
The Way of the Master (2004), an revised and updated version of Revival's Golden Key
The School of Biblical Evangelism Textbook (2004)
101 Things Husbands Do to Annoy Their Wives (2004)
Out of the Comfort Zone: The Authorized Autobiography (2003)
God Doesn't Believe in Atheists (2001)
How to Win Souls and Influence People (1999)