No-one?

yes, I have heard Jan Aldridge speak a few times and met her , I can see the power of the Holy Spirit work threw her as she speaks, so totally powerful is she. She also has a powerful testimony of a visible physical healing. 

http://janaldridge.org/

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-490696570695602890#

My mother

The Sunday School superintendent and teachers in the little country church I attended as a child.

YPU in Montreal

Retreat weekends to Five Oaks

Teaching Sunday School

The Fredericton Institute for Christian Studies

several different ministers over the years

Father Tom. When I was a child he inspired my belief that faith can be a beautiful thing.

My dad. He always encouraged spiritual curiosity and exploration and to keep an open mind.

My Cancer. I've given up on the notion of God. I don't care one way or another. I figure, if God is all-knowing He'll know and understand why. Unconditional love means I don't have to worship Him for Him to love me. And I've made peace with that.  

Hmmm... I would have to go with all of the ministers I have had at the two congregations of which I have been a member. Also, the chaplain at the University of Victoria, and the incredible presbytery youth worker who held the position when I was a teen. Add to that two summers of working at Naramata Centre where I got to meet some incredible people. I would also add to this list some of the hymn writers that I have gotten to meet and see in concert including the Strathdees and Linnea Good.

I fondly remember Father Smith, priest at the Roman Catholic church in the town where I went to college a 'few' years ago.  He did a weekly 'folk mass' on campus, to which all and sundry were invited, RC or not.  He'd serve communion to anyone who wanted to receive, not bothering with the niceties of if we had been baptized RC.  (He knew very well that a lot of us weren't, but that didn't seem to bother him in the least.)

He had such a welcoming way, and such an informal, conversational style of preaching, a style that has influenced the way I preach to this day.  God bless ya, Father!!

Reverend Phil McCready when at our mission church (Crystal Springs UC) in Montreal. He was a dynamic person who could involve everyone in church life. He was also the best preacher I have ever heard. It was he who talked me into studying for the ministry (from which the church was saved only by my failure to finish high school.)

(He later went to (I think) Metropolitan United in Toronto, then left the ministry to open The Framing Gallery on Bloor which may still be in operation under his son.

Reveend Jim Schaffner, formerly of the United Churches in Port Elgin and Baie Verte, New Brunswick, now retired to the Glasgow area in Nova Scotia. He is a man of profound faith, and an outstanding  example of the Christian gentleman. I am very grateful for having had the opportunity to know him. He also gave me invaluable help and comfort in a time of terrible stress.

The Church person who influenced me the most was Edmund Fono, the chaplain of the Bavarian village I grew up in.

Although I was Lutheran and did not belong to his flock, the kind chaplain opened for me the doors to his Catholic parish library and thereby opened my mind.

These are wonderful remembrances.

I learned the technique of the Jesus Prayer from Eastern Orthodoxy.  It really helps relieve stress.

I like all the rituals in Orthodoxy, I guess that is part of what attracted me to it.

Graeme - I didn't realize that Jim was in Port Elgin the same time as you were.  He and his wife are friends of mine, and I agree that he is a man of profound faith and an outstanding example of the Christian gentleman.  He is also a very caring person.  He went into the ministry late, after retirement from another successful career, but during his short time in ministry he has obviously touched someone.  And yes, he has been one of the 'church influences' in my life - although I met him as a fellow lay person. 

He was the one who most made me realize I was and always had been a Christian. He remains my warmest memory of church life. ( Actually, I first met him on the village street, and mistook him for an anglican. But even with that misunderstanding I still thought he was okay.