Bio

Over the last few years my life has changed dramatically. Growing up, I always held the belief that I was called by God to be a missionary.

Michael R.J. Pike

I had no idea back then that it would be anything different to a post somewhere in the darkest recesses of our planet; perhaps somewhere in Africa or South America. However by the age of thirty one I found myself travelling to Edinburgh, Scotland to plant an inner-city church having already spent six years working on the streets of London, helping to pioneer a valuable rehabilitation ministry for those less fortunate than myself. What I didn’t realise as I crossed the breathtaking border in Scotland, was that my commission there would be just another stepping stone in life rather than my final destination. After two years of helping numerous men and women find a better way of life through the Christian gospel, I believe I heard God say to me that unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies in remains a single seed, but if it dies it can bear forth many seeds. Though I had no idea of the long term significance, I knew that for then it meant standing down from my pastorate and abandoning myself into the unknown will of God for my life.

I wish I could say everything made sense back then, that I never looked back and everything worked out just fine. But that wasn’t the way it happened at all. It took another eight difficult years of obscurity to prepare me for a new future, and now I have no doubt, either where that future lies or in the meaning of God’s word to me about the many seeds. When my first novel, ‘Defenders of Barracrail’ was finally completed after two years, I realised then, more than ever before, that the work was like a seed, in fact ‘Defenders’ is many seeds in one.

Writing is my passion. The privilege of putting pen to paper or should I say tapping the keys, in a way that crafts words together to form an engaging plot is one for which I will always be grateful. But without the years which have gone before, I would never have been able to write in the same way or with the same conviction. What can I say - has my calling changed? Absolutely not! By definition a missionary is simply someone on a mission, it just took me a long time to find my own jungle.