John worked in a gold mine and the telecommunications industries since the mid-1980s. After that, he went on to work with Life is Full of Choices as a missionary with his wife Sally, where he also authored a book on addictive behaviour and his experience in and through it. He then went on to lead the Recovery Ministry at All Souls Langham Place, where he and Sally wrote a new addictions/recovery course rooted in the book of Galatians, which is now the central component of the forthcoming charity Free! Recovery, which reaches out to those in addictive and life-controlling behaviours.