David was born in London in 1932, the younger twin son of Rev and Mrs. WG Hathaway and dedicated to the Lord as a baby by George Jeffreys, the founder of the Elim Pentecostal Churches in Britain. At the time, David’s father, a great Bible teacher, was working with Jeffreys to establish these churches.

As a boy of 15, David was on holiday with some friends in Brighton, when one Saturday night, walking alone along the beach, he felt God begin to speak to him. He knew that God was calling him. You may ask, was he called as an evangelist, called as a pastor? No! God simply put His hand on David’s life and said, “I want your life, everything, not just an hour, not just a day. I want everything.”

At age 18, whilst still in Bible College, David pastored his first church in Dorking, Surrey. After 10 years as a full-time pastor and evangelist in Britain, David’s ministry to Russia and Europe began in 1961 when he organised the first ever post-war overland expedition to Jerusalem – through the Iron Curtain countries.