Paul grew up on an airplane. Not really, but he felt like it! He split his childhood between Hong Kong, Malaysia, India, and Singapore while his parents, David and Jan Watson, planted churches as career missionaries with the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention.
Paul remembers evacuating India during the Gulf War. When the kids on the street started throwing rocks at his little brother, the Watsons figured that they’d better move to a safer place. They landed in Singapore.
After graduating from the Singapore American School, Paul returned to the United States to attend university. While attending Ouachita Baptist University, he met Christi. They fell in love, married in 1998 and transferred to the University of North Texas. They both graduated from UNT – Paul with a BA in English Literature and a minor in Business Administration.
In the years after he graduated, Paul managed a copy center for Office Max, directed communications for a non-profit organization, started a LAN café, started a book distribution and publishing company, and consulted with small non-profit organizations about marketing. Needless to say, he learned a lot during those years.
In 2007, Paul served on an editorial team for a series of curricula CityTeam (http://www.cityteam.org) developed to train their church planters. Quite naturally, Paul transitioned within CityTeam and started training and coaching church planters and church planting organizations around the world. In 2010, he traveled 75,000 miles and trained people in the UK, France, Indonesia, Malaysia, Lebanon, Egypt, Germany, and in many states in the USA. In 2011, Paul traveled 85,000 miles. He also used Skype to coach people in countries he couldn’t visit.
Toward the end of 2011, CityTeam asked Paul to become the City Director of CityTeam’s Recovery Center in Portland, OR. CityTeam, Portland, feeds 72,000 meals a year (6,000 per month). They help, on average, 84 people per night, 365 days per year, get a shower, find clothing, and a have a place to sleep. Paul would be responsible for leading the team in Portland as they met the physical needs of the homeless, addicted and alcoholic while seeking to catalyze disciple-making movements in the Pacific Northwest.
After prayer, Paul and Christi agreed with CityTeam that God wanted them move. In 2012, Paul, Christi, and their children (Yahel, John Paul, and Keturah) celebrated the New Year, in a new city, in a new state, 2,250 miles from their extended families and the place they once called home. They enjoying the opportunity to make disciples in the Pacific Northwest and see the transformation they know will come. Paul is published in ‘Perspectives on the World Christian Movement, 4th Edition.’
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