The year was 1999 and John stayed in that pew after the music finished to hear the preacher. What he said gave rise for the Holy Spirit to speak into the very soul of John Ioane, and even as the alter call was being made, he was already at the front in response.
"That preacher was speaking to me directly, it was as if there was no one else in that church," John Ioane explained. "The Holy Spirit was speaking into my heart and I knew the Lord was going to do something with my life, it was as clear as that."
He loves music. His life revolves around music. His soul shouts music. John is a bass player and a drummer, and now worship music has become his passion.
John Ioane was one of the New Zealand delegates at the recent Baptist World Alliance Living Water Australasian-South Pacific conference held in Cairns where he gave a video testimony for Australian Missionary News IPTV.
"Giving my life to Jesus Christ and accepting Jesus as my personal Saviour changed my life, it turned it around forever. Yes: ask my wife, a beautiful Maori woman from Hawkes Bay; ask my family," John Ioane told Mark Tronson of the Australian Missionary News IPTV."
John's family is precious to him. He and his wife have four children, a boy who is 15 and three girls aged 14, 13 and 8. The young lad is a drummer and is learning bass guitar. John, smiling widely, announced that he is also teaching his girls to play guitar.
"A lesson that I believe God taught me resulted from being struck by a vehicle as a pedestrian," John Iaone remembered. "This is something that only comes from the experience of such a situation."
Somehow this traffic accident had a major effect on his life and witness. After having been bowled over, John recognised how fragile life was and how quickly this wonderful gift could be taken away.
"Whatever else was in my life, that experience gave me a very special impetus to be walking in His ways. It has now led me to be appointed the Assistant pastor of the Hosanna World Harvest Church in Auckland," John Ioane stated proudly.
At the Cairns conference John was the only guitarist. Thus, although he was playing a bass guitar, he was necessarily playing lead guitar and his music in worship with the Hosanna Music Team was one of the highlights of the conference.
Thank you Lord Jesus for John Ioane.
Interview can be seen on the web: tv.bushorchestra.com or www.safeworlds.com