David Hathaway

From his earliest days, David Hathaway has been driven by a desperate, impatient desire to experience personally and to demonstrate publicly who the REAL Jesus is. Everyone knows about religion, but so few people know who the REAL Jesus is.

After 10 years as a full-time pastor and evangelist in Great Britain, David’s work in Russia and Europe began in 1961 when he organised the first post-war overland expedition from the UK to Jerusalem, travelling behind the Iron Curtain, through communist and then Arab countries and into Israel. Everyone from the motoring organisations to the British Foreign Office said it was too dangerous: there were the hazards of crossing the Iron Curtain countries, on unknown roads, without suitable hotels – in Turkey they could be killed by bandits, and in Syria shot as spies – and it was impossible at that time to make the two-way crossing by road in and out of Israel. This overland expedition generated so much interest that David was almost forced to set up his own travel company to Israel. With official licenses to travel all over Eastern Europe, it was whilst crossing through these communist countries that David saw the desperate spiritual need. As a result he began smuggling Bibles in a secret compartment on his buses – he could take in two tonnes of Bibles every time! But on Midsummer’s day 1972, after taking in over 150,000 Bibles and New Testaments, David was stopped at the Czechoslovak border with 5000 Bibles. He was arrested, tortured and sentenced to prison.

After his miraculous release from prison, David’s heart continued to burn for Eastern Europe. David went into the underground churches to preach until eventually, in the 1980s, he began to hold meetings in the communist countries openly. Over the last 20 years David has travelled all over the former Soviet countries holding meetings celebrating the ‘Power of Faith in Jesus Christ’. David passionately believes that a simple faith in Jesus will change your life – give hope to the hopeless, strength to the weak, and the courage to overcome every problem, every obstacle that life can throw at you.

In 2008 David held the first ever Christian meeting in the Baltic States, in the Saku Arena, Tallinn, Estonia – many thousands came and heard about Jesus and His love for them.