TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO, GILES WAS A YOUNG British ex-pat in Hong Kong, the financial capital of the Asia Pacific. From a natural point of view, the future looked bright.

However, within a year, he would find himself on the remote islands of the Philippines holding evangelist rallies with the help of a string of light bulbs and a basic sound system.

He had left England, as an Oxford graduate, to pursue a career in finance. Now he wanted to try and win as many souls as possible. Why the extraordinary change? His decision certainly shocked others, including his bosses and family. But for him, it was the obvious thing to do.

Three years earlier he had heard the Gospel whilst on a trip to Australia and had an encounter with the presence of the Holy Spirit at midnight on a beach in Melbourne. He says: "The lights came on! Eternal life was within my grasp. God existed. Jesus had made grace available to all. He was indeed the true way to life!"

The first time he spoke to a group of friends about the Lord the same heavenly presence came into the room and he realised that there seemed to be a stamp of divine approval on what he was doing.

Now, back in Asia, he was invited to speak at an event in a poor Filipino village. He got up on the back of an old truck and told the locals about the Lord. That same glorious presence seemed to light up the place. He was both shocked and delighted as, with both tears and smiles, the whole crowd was saved.

"Heading back to my office in Manila, I realised that God has called me to invest my life in His business rather than continue with my own business," he says. Within a year he was holding these events, full-time, from island to island. Now 25 years later he's still doing the same.