Rowan grew up in Toronto and Mississauga with his parents and four siblings. When he was in his grade 12 year, he was feeling depressed and seeing a social worker. Things around him seemed to be falling apart, but in January of that year Rowan cried out to the Lord, knowing that he didn’t have the strength to live this life on his own and he willingly turned it over to the Lord.

Rowan had heard the gospel before and thought he had accepted Christ as his Lord and Saviour when he was 12 from a tract, but this was different! He felt a hunger to know God and His Word like never before, which led him to worship and serve in a variety of ministries throughout the years (e.g., within his local church as a Sunday School teacher and youth group leader and at Bible Camps in Muskoka and the US, as a cabin leader, teacher, director and board member).

After earning his degree in Communications from the University of Windsor, Rowan spent a miserable year at a public relations firm in Toronto before heading back to Windsor with his bride-of-one-year to pursue a teaching degree. His natural love of teaching was an asset to his career choice and he has since been (mostly) happily teaching at elementary schools within Toronto.

Rowan & Joy were married in 2004 and have been attending Harvest Durham since 2012 with their 4 bright and precocious children: Malachi, Gabrielle, Sean and Andrew.

Rowan desires to serve and encourage others to pursue the Lord with passion and for all to grow in their obedience, joy and knowledge of the Word. He desperately yearns for people to actually want to be like Christ and not just be passive participants in their sanctification. Rowan longs to spend and be spent in the Lord’s service (2 Corinthians 12:15a).