Martin was raised Catholic, but having fallen away from religion as a youth, he was reconverted to Catholicism by a
Cursillo retreat he attended as a college student. Martin and
Stephen B. Clark, who would also become a leader in the charismatic renewal, worked for the National Secretariat of the Cursillo from 1965 to 1970. During a Cursillo retreat in 1966, Martin and Clark recommended
The Cross and the Switchblade to certain retreatants from
Duquesne University. The book inspired one of these retreatants,
Ralph W. Keifer, along with history professor
William G. Storey, to lead a retreat on the
Holy Spirit for Duquesne students. This retreat, the
Duquesne Weekend, in turn gave rise to the Catholic charismatic renewal, through which Martin was soon
baptized in the Holy Spirit. Martin and Clark then began hosting prayer meetings in Ann Arbor, Michigan, which would eventually develop into the
Word of God community. In 2011,
Pope Benedict XVI appointed Martin to a five-year term as a consultor to the
Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization. Martin is currently the president of Renewal Ministries, and lives in Ann Arbor with his wife, Anne. ==Selected works==