He's been called a modern day prophet. Aiden Wilson Tozer was a pastor, author, magazine editor, conference speaker and spiritual mentor to thousands.

Although he was born in the United States and worked most of his life in that country, he also has a Canadian connection. He spent the final years of his life pastoring Avenue Road Church in Toronto, which later morphed into Bayview Glen Church.

Tozer was born in 1897 in western Pennsylvania. In 1919, without any formal theological training, he accepted a call as pastor of his first church in West Virginia and began his 44-year ministry with The Christian and Missionary Alliance.

He was editor of Alliance Weekly, now known as ALife or Alliance Life, the denominational publication of the Alliance in the United States. He later received an honourary theological degree from Wheaton College.

Tozer's prayer life was exemplary. He was often seen walking the aisles of a church sanctuary or lying prostrate on the floor praying for the congregation. He once said "as a man prays, so is he!"

To him, the worship of God was paramount in his writings and his ministry and is the ultimate purpose of Christians. His devotion to worship and prayer was such that his biographer commented that "he spent more time on his knees than at his desk" and that his writings and preaching were merely an extension of his prayer life.

He authored more than 40 books and at least two of them, The Pursuit of God and The Knowledge of the Holy, are now acknowledged as Christian classics.

He lived a simple life of humility, eschewing the materialism of modern life. He and his wife never owned a car and he signed away much of his book royalties to those who were in need.

On May 12, 1963 A.W. Tozer ended his earthly pursuit of God when a heart attack took him into the presence of the God he loved. His grave in Akron, Ohio bears the simple inscription "A Man of God."