Zac Poonen

Zac Poonen is an evangelist in India, born on 5 November 1939. He resigned as an Indian Naval Officer when he was in his twenties and started serving god through Bible teaching. Zac Poonen visited many countries for evangelism. His stands and his Church's stands on money matters keep him as highly regarded personality in Indian Christianity. He wrote more than 25 books in English language and made various audio and video records for which he does not ask for royalty. His works have been translated to various foreign languages. A church called Christian Fellowship Centre was formed in Bangalore with few families including Zac Poonen's family in August 1975. Now, the church has a big congregation. He also has responsibility for many churches worldwide.

Before Evangelism
At the age of 15 years Zac Poonen had joined the National Defense Academy at Khadakvasla (Pune) for training to be a naval officer. He passed out as the First among the Naval Cadets from the National Defense Academy in December 1957. He received an award for “Best All-Round Cadet” in May 1958 which was the first step to becoming an Admiral. In early 1963 he was posted in the Naval Base at Cochin. He resigned as a naval officer in order to get in to God's service.

Marriage
Zac poonen got married to Annie, who is a medical doctor. Annie renders free medical assistance to poor people in villages. She has also written books for young girls and mothers.

Children and Grand Children
Zac Poonen and Annie are blessed with four sons. All their sons are married. They are born again and active in their local churches. They are also blessed with adorable kids making Zac and Annie go merry with their grand children.

God's Service
Zac Poonen has has written more than 25 books, mostly on the deeper Christian life. He was a regular speaker on radio on Bible teachings. Over 100,000 audio-tapes of his messages were recorded during many church services in many countries and have been circulated in many countries. An audio CD that contains 70 hours of teaching was made covering every book of the Bible which helps the listners with the deeper understanding of the distinctiveness of each book. He travels frequently for conferences in Asia, America, Europe and Australia.

No Dependence on the West
Zac Poonen had an encounter with a refined Hindu gentleman in Madras 40 years ago (in 1967). He was engaged in open-air evangelism and offered the gentleman a book written by an American Christian. He immediately asked him if Zac Poonen was a paid agent of America. Zac Poonen was certainly no agent of any country, preacher or organization – Western or Indian. That man did not know that Zac Poonen had quit a well-paying job in order to serve the Lord Jesus – and he was certainly not preaching to earn his living!! But Zac Poonen realized that he was giving his countrymen a wrong impression when he promoted books written by Western Christians. That incident challenged Zac Poonen considerably and opened his eyes very early in my ministry as to how he was to serve the Lord in India.