Listening to him preach, Stott was a study in a man who never wasted a single word in the pulpit. He became, for me, one of the greatest living Bible teachers, pastors, and evangelical statesmen of all time, beloved in the UK, and later in the US where he was regularly featured at Inter-Varsity rallies.

Nearly every book he wrote wound up on my bookshelf. Basic Christianity and The Cross of Christ became the mainstays for informing others about The Faith and for keeping me focused on Christ's death and resurrection as central to the message of Christ. There was and is "no other name..."

A number of us were deeply and forever changed by "Uncle John". They included Ted Schroder, an assistant of Stott's at All Souls who went on to be an Episcopal priest, chaplain and devotional book writer in the US. Dr. David Wells went on to become a Distinguished Research Professor at Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary. Os Guinness became a world-renown author, speaker and social critic with a long list of books. I became a scrappy, theologically trained Anglican journalist with an eye for theological and ecclesiastical BS and heretics. (Both Schroder and Wells have written tributes to Stott. They can be found here http://tinyurl.com/3h9ztru

Over the years, our paths would cross in different countries; two spring to mind. I once asked him in the back seat of a car travelling in Pennsylvania what he thought of the emerging Charismatic Movement and the necessity to speak in tongues as a sign of a believer's sanctification. His reply was brief, "None". On another occasion we met in Madras (now Chennai) India, where my wife Mary and I were staying at the SALT Institute on St. Thomas Mount. We were there to celebrate 40 years of SALT'S ministry and to reconnect with my brother in the faith from London days, the Rev. Roopsingh Carr, known affectionately as Roops.

My wife and I recall how Uncle John got up early every morning to have tea, prayer and Bible study. He was totally consistent and he did it without hoopla. He was viewed by the people around him as something of a "rock star", but he hated that kind of adulation. He was aware of his own failings and shortcomings. He did not want to be seen as holy or better than he was. Humility was one of the more obvious hallmarks of his life. Another aspect of his personal life was bird watching, his favorite form of relaxation. (He later wrote a book The Birds Our Teachers'). We would go up on the roof and, with his binoculars, he would point out what he would see to us. It was a unique experience for my wife and me.

Stott never yearned for ecclesiastical preferment. He was once considered for Bishop of Winchester but withdrew his name. He rarely wore a dog collar. He was a rare breed of clergyman most of whom seem always to be looking for the next rung in the ecclesiastical ladder. Stott neither sought nor cared for preferment. He sought only to preach and teach the word to anyone who would listen. His evangelistic forays to universities were thoughtful, unemotional, rational, logical presentations of the gospel. He did not dodge the hard questions.

After leaving his post at All Souls, he launched onto the world stage and became an international Bible teacher touching the lives of millions. John Stott Ministries was formed in the U.S. It was a chapter of the Langham Partnership International (LPI), a network of three integrated programs- Scholars, Literature and Preaching. He set about equipping Christian leaders and pastors for mission who were prepared to believe, study, expound, and apply the Word of God. A Scholars Program provided scholarships for theological Ph.D. studies to evangelical leaders who would have strategic influence in their home countries. A Preaching Program built movements for biblical preaching in the Majority World (now called the Global South).

Stott's considerable influence in evangelicalism in the world grew over time. So much so, that a November 2004 editorial on Stott by New York Times columnist David Brooks cited Michael Cromartie of the Ethics and Public Policy Center as saying that "if evangelicals could elect a pope, Stott is the person they would likely choose."

Brooks, a secular Jew, marveled aloud that the reason why so many people are so misinformed about evangelical Christians is that there is a world of difference between real-life people of faith and the made-for-TV, Elmer Gantry-style blowhards who are selected to represent them. Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson are held up as spokesmen for evangelicals, which is ridiculous. Meanwhile people like John Stott, who are actually important, get ignored.

Brooks, in his piece "Who Is John Stott?", bemoaned the fact that the media always chooses the wrong people to represent evangelical Christianity, putting the microphone in front of people who are, in his opinion, "buffoons." If reporters were smart, Brooks said, they'd look to John R. W. Stott as the voice of evangelical Christianity. It is a voice that is "friendly, courteous and natural. It is humble and self-critical, but also confident, joyful and optimistic." Brooks went on to reflect on why this evangelical preacher is so compelling to him, a Jew. It had to do with Stott's uncompromising "thoughtful allegiance to scripture." Brooks concluded, "Most important, he does not believe truth is plural. He does not believe in relativizing good and evil or that all faiths are independently valid, or that truth is something humans are working toward. Instead, Truth has been revealed."

Stott was a man who lived as simply as possible, writing some 50 books in a simple cabin in Wales. He never married, and was called "Uncle John" by hundreds of younger people to whom he was a mentor.

When he spoke, it was with firm conviction. He never wavered in the pulpit. He was not a topical sermon preacher. He focused on Scripture and the big issues of the faith. He always kept his eye on Christ as the author and perfector of our faith.

Someone wrote that he was polite, not because he was an Englishman, but because the grace of Christ requires it. "Stott demonstrated spiritual leadership not because he built an organization or led an institution. He led by planting the seeds of truth-widely, deeply, continually, over a period of decades. In John Stott's final public address he raised the question: what are we trying to do in the mission? In his mind the answer was unambiguous: to help people become more like Christ."

As Os Guinness wrote to VOL, "What a man, what a brother, what a leader, what a friend, what an example."

Well done, thou good and faithful servant.

Amen.