Derek Prince bio

Much of the information, an extract from here

But firstly, a question frequently asked on the Internet

Q. Is Joseph Prince the son of Derek Prince?
A. No, Joseph Prince is the son of a Sikh priest of Indian origin and a Chinese mother. Born in Singapore in 1963, he grew up in Perak, Malaysia and changed his birth name during his previous occupation as an IT consultant, just before being appointed a senior pastor in 1990.

Year ▲▼ Details

1915 Derek Prince was born on August 14, 1915 at Bangalore, India to a British military family.
1920 At the age of 5, returned to England. Attended Eton College and Cambridge University (B.A. and M.A.). Studied under famed philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, also turned to Oriental cults - yoga, theosophy, and voodoo. Read every word that Plato ever wrote in the original Greek, and wrote Latin and Greek poetry. Self-proclaimed agnostic. He was elected a fellow at King's College, Cambridge.
1940 Unwilling to bear arms, was drafted into the Army, as a noncombat soldier in the Royal Army Medical Corps. Before enlisting in the army, Derek realized that he would not have much room in his kit for books. He must think of one large, engaging volume - preferably on philosophy - that he had never read before. It must last him for months, and even be enjoyed for a second read, and it must make him a better philosopher in the end. He settled on the bible. His decision made, he went and bought himself a large black King James Bible, the first he ever owned. He began reading it from the beginning. By the time he got to the book of Job, he was tempted to dismiss the whole matter of religion as merely a condition of psychology and social class - a view that was popular at the time at Cambridge. Still, when he looked at his own life - he knew that he was indeed desperate for God.
One night when everyone in his barracks was asleep, Derek put an army issue stool in front of the window in his room, where there was a clear view of the ocean. He was determined to pray until "something happened." However, having never prayed before, he didn't know what to say or who to pray to. As he contemplated this, Jesus appeared to him dramatically. Derek was totally changed by this encounter. He was baptized in the Holy Spirit a few days later.
"From that day to this, I never doubted that Jesus is alive. I discovered what I had failed to understand for so long, that truth is not just an abstraction, religion or creed. Rather, it is a person. In Jesus, I finally resolved that awful conflict that had been troubling me for so many years. Jesus' life, words, teaching, but above all - his person, they were the answer to that unsatisfied craving that had driven me for so many years."

1941-1946 Derek was soon transferred from his training camp in England to his new post in the deserts of Sudan in North Africa. During this time, without a formal church, pastor or bible teacher, Derek came to know God personally through reading the bible. He learned to hear the Holy Spirit's voice and to discern his will. More than ever, he burned with a sense of destiny, with a message he knew the people of his generation needed to hear.
On a leave from the army in Ramallah, Palestine, Derek met Lydia Christensen, "mother" at a small children's home there. Their relationship was somewhat unusual, Lydia was born in 1890, a former schoolteacher from Denmark, and 25 years older than Derek.
In 1946 they married, and Derek adopted Lydia's 8 adopted daughters, 6 Jewish girls, 1 Arab and 1 English. The war had ended, and Derek was discharged from the army. Derek now entered the life of a newly married man, a father of eight, and a missionary.
"The Old City [of Jerusalem] spread out before me, I felt how dearly I loved [this city]. It seemed that the bible, history and the course of my life were all overlaid on the geography of Israel, that they all became one."

1948 However with the 1948 War of Independence, they left Israel and eventually returned to England. In the late 1950's, they adopted another girl while Derek was serving as principal of a college in Kenya.
1963 Derek and Lydia immigrated to the United States where he pastored a church in Seattle. Stirred by the tragedy of John F. Kennedy's assassination, Derek began to teach Americans how to intercede for their nation.
1968 In 1968 the Princes moved to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and in the early '70s Derek worked closely with other noted Bible teachers Don Basham, Ern Baxter, Bob Mumford and Charles Simpson. In 1973 published what was probably his most well-known book "Shaping History through Prayer and Fasting".
1975 On October 5th 1975 Lydia passed away.
1978 In October 1978, Derek married Ruth Baker, a single mother with three adopted Jewish children, a son and two daughters.
Ruth, born in 1930 in South Dakota, had joined the US Marines Corps when she was 20, and had converted to Judaism with her first husband, a fellow Marine, and then found herself on her own with the 3 children. During the late 1960's she received a revelation of Jesus Christ through a miraculous healing. For two years she struggled with her Jewish identity and becoming a believer in Jesus Christ. In 1970 she made a total commitment to Jesus Christ. At this time the Charismatic Renewal was influencing all area of the Christian movement in the United States and she became an active participant.
During a Christian tour of Israel she became convinced that God was calling her to live among the Jewish people. Again, after much struggle and prayer she took her youngest daughter and immigrated to Israel. It was while living in Israel that she met Derek.

Now, for the next 20 years she assisted Derek in his ministry. Ruth died in December 1998 in Jerusalem, at Derek's home there where they had lived (at least 6 months of the year) after 1981.

2003 Derek passed away at the age of 88 in Jerusalem on 24th September 2003.

Year ▲▼	Details
1915	Derek Prince was born on August 14, 1915 at Bangalore, India to a British military family.
1920	At the age of 5, returned to England. Attended Eton College and Cambridge University (B.A. and M.A.). Studied under famed philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein, also turned to Oriental cults - yoga, theosophy, and voodoo. Read every word that Plato ever wrote in the original Greek, and wrote Latin and Greek poetry. Self-proclaimed agnostic. He was elected a fellow at King's College, Cambridge.
1940	Unwilling to bear arms, was drafted into the Army, as a noncombat soldier in the Royal Army Medical Corps. Before enlisting in the army, Derek realized that he would not have much room in his kit for books. He must think of one large, engaging volume - preferably on philosophy - that he had never read before. It must last him for months, and even be enjoyed for a second read, and it must make him a better philosopher in the end. He settled on the bible. His decision made, he went and bought himself a large black King James Bible, the first he ever owned. He began reading it from the beginning. By the time he got to the book of Job, he was tempted to dismiss the whole matter of religion as merely a condition of psychology and social class - a view that was popular at the time at Cambridge. Still, when he looked at his own life - he knew that he was indeed desperate for God. One night when everyone in his barracks was asleep, Derek put an army issue stool in front of the window in his room, where there was a clear view of the ocean. He was determined to pray until "something happened." However, having never prayed before, he didn't know what to say or who to pray to. As he contemplated this, Jesus appeared to him dramatically. Derek was totally changed by this encounter. He was baptized in the Holy Spirit a few days later. "From that day to this, I never doubted that Jesus is alive. I discovered what I had failed to understand for so long, that truth is not just an abstraction, religion or creed. Rather, it is a person. In Jesus, I finally resolved that awful conflict that had been troubling me for so many years. Jesus' life, words, teaching, but above all - his person, they were the answer to that unsatisfied craving that had driven me for so many years."
1941-1946	Derek was soon transferred from his training camp in England to his new post in the deserts of Sudan in North Africa. During this time, without a formal church, pastor or bible teacher, Derek came to know God personally through reading the bible. He learned to hear the Holy Spirit's voice and to discern his will. More than ever, he burned with a sense of destiny, with a message he knew the people of his generation needed to hear. On a leave from the army in Ramallah, Palestine, Derek met Lydia Christensen, "mother" at a small children's home there. Their relationship was somewhat unusual, Lydia was born in 1890, a former schoolteacher from Denmark, and 25 years older than Derek. In 1946 they married, and Derek adopted Lydia's 8 adopted daughters, 6 Jewish girls, 1 Arab and 1 English. The war had ended, and Derek was discharged from the army. Derek now entered the life of a newly married man, a father of eight, and a missionary. "The Old City [of Jerusalem] spread out before me, I felt how dearly I loved [this city]. It seemed that the bible, history and the course of my life were all overlaid on the geography of Israel, that they all became one."
1948	However with the 1948 War of Independence, they left Israel and eventually returned to England. In the late 1950's, they adopted another girl while Derek was serving as principal of a college in Kenya.
1963	Derek and Lydia immigrated to the United States where he pastored a church in Seattle. Stirred by the tragedy of John F. Kennedy's assassination, Derek began to teach Americans how to intercede for their nation.
1968	In 1968 the Princes moved to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and in the early '70s Derek worked closely with other noted Bible teachers Don Basham, Ern Baxter, Bob Mumford and Charles Simpson. In 1973 published what was probably his most well-known book "Shaping History through Prayer and Fasting".
1975	On October 5th 1975 Lydia passed away.
1978	In October 1978, Derek married Ruth Baker, a single mother with three adopted Jewish children, a son and two daughters. Ruth, born in 1930 in South Dakota, had joined the US Marines Corps when she was 20, and had converted to Judaism with her first husband, a fellow Marine, and then found herself on her own with the 3 children. During the late 1960's she received a revelation of Jesus Christ through a miraculous healing. For two years she struggled with her Jewish identity and becoming a believer in Jesus Christ. In 1970 she made a total commitment to Jesus Christ. At this time the Charismatic Renewal was influencing all area of the Christian movement in the United States and she became an active participant. During a Christian tour of Israel she became convinced that God was calling her to live among the Jewish people. Again, after much struggle and prayer she took her youngest daughter and immigrated to Israel. It was while living in Israel that she met Derek. Now, for the next 20 years she assisted Derek in his ministry. Ruth died in December 1998 in Jerusalem, at Derek's home there where they had lived (at least 6 months of the year) after 1981.
2003	Derek passed away at the age of 88 in Jerusalem on 24th September 2003.

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