WILLIAM “WINKIE” PRATNEY (1944 – PRESENT)

After more than three million miles of global travel and having spoken to hundreds of thousands face-to-face and multiple millions via radio and television, Winkie has wide experience in motivating leaders, ministers, educators and young people. Winkie is a mavin: a researcher and public communicator with the ability to take existing ideas, break them down to simpler forms and make them practical and freely available to others. His technical background in organic research chemistry and lifelong involvement with musicians and in the arts, has helped him analyze the bottom line of many key areas as diverse as popular youth culture, music, movies, classic and modern revival history and emerging communication and information
technology.

Leadership training for youth workers in Europe, North America and the Pacific made him an advisor and consultant to church, civic, educational, government and social welfare leaders on the needs and problems of modern teenagers. A featured speaker and guest on both radio and television talk shows in New Zealand, England, Canada and the United States, his wealth of knowledge combined with a keen sense of humor has made him a favorite among adults and youth alike.

Winkie has authored fifteen+ published books; manuals like the best-selling Youth Aflame!, the contemporary devotional apologetic The Nature And Character Of God (used in Bible schools around the world), books on contemporary and historical issues like Devil Take The Youngest – The War on Childhood, Healing the Land – A Supernatural View of Ecology, Revival – Principles to Change the World, and many other published works. He helped helm the groundbreaking international Revival Study Bible, with over a hundred contributors from many streams of the church, the first to contain stories, segments and studies from 2,000 years of revival, evangelism and missions history gleaned from multiple nations, callings and visitations.

His audio and video lectures carried by many effective Christian youth ministries helped train hundreds of thousands around the globe. His participation with five key leaders in the series that came to be known as, Conversations with Fathers of the Faith, demonstrates his willingness to work with many different “streams” of the Church, and broad-range of ministry associates. Winkie’s work has been used in Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America with some key materials translated into other languages such as Filipino, Korean, Spanish and Russian. He and his son Williams’ innovative youth training work, The Daniel Files, along with many other resources, are available on-line in digital format.

Having spoken in annual leadership training seminars for over four decades, and to young people for over five, Winkie has worked with many leading international youth movements including, Champions For Christ, Chi Alpha, Operation Mobilization, Masters Commission, Teen Challenge, Teen Mania, Youth With A Mission, Youth For Christ, Young Life and Youth Alive. A featured speaker at major conferences, conventions, festivals and other gatherings, his “scholarship on fire” approach has impacted multitudes around the globe, and resulted in the creation or formation of new works to effectively reach, encourage and train young people.

He, his wife Faeona, and son William are New Zealanders (his son is a US born dual-citizen), and maintain a permanent residence in Auckland, NZ and low organizational profile.

Winkie is sometimes known to reply to mail, (especially from teenagers) but his frequent travels discourage lengthy correspondence and he leaves personal counseling to pastors and churches.