He nodded and then I asked him what he would like to say to Chuck Smith.

“Well, somebody once asked me who were the people that have influenced me the most in my life and I tell them, my mother and then I say, Pastor Chuck Smith and the missionary George Verwer [founder of Operation Mobilization, for which K.P. once worked],” he said.

He then turned to Chuck Smith and said, “I do not know anybody on earth that I can say publicly and privately that I can follow and walk in your footsteps, but you, Pastor Chuck. This is not because of the largeness of the work, or the missionaries that have gone out around the world from Calvary Chapel. Yes, that is all wonderful, but it is just your quiet, godly, and devout walk with the Lord that has touched me and changed me and influenced me for us to start the church movement and I love you so much for that.”

I then asked K.P. how large that church movement now was and he replied quietly, “We have 30,000 churches and fellowships in ten countries. When we say a church, we mean at least twenty baptized believers. In some churches, we have a thousand believers, three-hundred believers. A fellowship is anything that’s less than twenty baptized people.”

I concluded by saying to Chuck Smith that all this began in a tent across the way from where we were talking.

He smiled and said, “It is just so exciting what the Lord can do when we stay out of the way and let Him work.”

Note to the media: A MP3 file of this interview is available for broadcast. Please send your request for it to be e-mailed to you to Dan Wooding at danjuma1@aol.com and add your name and the radio station or network you represent.

* I would like to thank Robin Frost for transcribing this interview for me.

© 2007 ASSIST News Service, used with permission