But in this life, Daniel's wild and wonderful journey brought him to the sprawling suburbs of Sydney, thousands of miles from war-torn Burma, now called Myanmar. It was there in Myanmar that Daniel and Esther met and married. Daniel did indeed join the military and graduated to become a bombastic captain, familiar with the ways of force. A bullet still protrudes from his forehead, and eight shrapnel scars lace his flesh.

Esther was one of six siblings, all doctors from a well-regarded family near Rangoon, the country's capital. Wed in 1988, the Wins enjoyed the privileged life afforded by Daniel's military post and Esther's promise as a physician.

In 1989 the honeymoon ended, as military unrest forced the Wins to flee to the "safe" refuge of bustling Bangkok, Thailand. Life turned dark and difficult. While Esther practiced medicine at a United Nations clinic for refugees, Daniel did not find meaningful work. The combative captain stayed in their townhouse and smoked cigarettes, drank alcohol and left the chores to an already-exhausted Esther.

Leading by Example | Daniel leads his family in prayer (above) and pastors a small Burmese congregation.

"Daniel was an arrogant man," says Bob Cole, an Australian missionary to refugees in Thailand. "If not for the Holy Spirit, my wife would have thrown him out of our home 12 times over for the [disrespectful] way he treated women."

Because of his former military position, Daniel also found himself an outcast in the Bangkok refugee community. Most of those fleeing Myanmar did so because of their hatred for the very ideals Daniel championed, and because their lives were threatened by Daniel's cohorts. "He was an alien among his own people," remembers Bob.

Still, the Wins attempted to help their countrymen. In 1991, they opened their home to a young refugee student, and Esther arranged work at the clinic for him. Instead of showing gratitude, however, the student began chattering to strangers about Daniel's former position in the military—ultimately placing Daniel in a life-threatening situation. "I was very, very angry," says Daniel. "I had helped him, and now he was insulting me; it was very unfair." An irate and betrayed Daniel confronted the student, who ran away.

For three days and nights, Daniel unsuccessfully hunted the "traitor," intent on evening the score.

Three nights later, Daniel came to the end of himself. Desperate and exhausted, he found all the fury and frustration of the last few years festering in his mind and heart. His thoughts turned back to his childhood. Though he considered himself a non-devout Buddhist, he was familiar with the teachings of Jesus from his years at a British missionary school in Myanmar.

Desperately, he offered a prayer to God: "If You are alive, show me the truth. Where is Your justice? I have tried to help this man, and now he is trying to kill me!"

Later that evening, Daniel accompanied Esther to dinner with a former medical-school classmate, Dr. James Sing Zar Khine, and a handful of missionaries who were teaching the refugees English. "Daniel's eyes were filled with confusion and sadness," remembers Bob Cole, one of the missionaries present that night.

But Bob and the rest of the dinner party were unaware of the real agony behind Daniel's dark eyes. Nor did they know of the weapon behind Daniel's jacket: a jagged knife, awaiting an encounter with the student who had jeopardized his life.

As the Wins entered James' home, the doctor addressed Daniel unexpectedly, "Brother Win, you will find truth. God is speaking to you: Those who take up the sword shall perish by the sword."

All of the guests were wide-eyed and perplexed by James' comments, but none more than the one carrying the "sword." Does he know about the knife in my pocket? Daniel panicked. Why did he say that? Agitated and confused, Daniel insisted he and Esther leave immediately.

Back in their townhouse, Esther went to bed while Daniel picked up the Burmese Bible that Bob had given him. Hour after hour he turned the pages. And the Word of God, sharper than any two-edged sword, judged the thoughts and intentions of Daniel's heart. "I was terrified," he remembers. "God knew everything—even what I was thinking."

The troubled man stumbled onto Jesus' claim to be the way, the truth and the life. And he located the verse about perishing by the sword. Daniel felt naked and exposed.

Then he remembered his prayer. "Jesus was showing me Himself as the truth," says Daniel. "He answered my prayer and I gave myself to Him that night." The next day Esther found crushed cigarette cartons strewn on the floor and thought Daniel had drunkenly stepped on them. But the new believer had destroyed them, having already lost his desire to smoke and drink.

In time, Daniel's radical conversion won Esther to Christ as well. The Wins began helping Bob translate Christian materials, and they helped lead many responsive refugees to Christ.

In 1994, Bob arranged for the Wins to come to Australia—his homeland—and attend Southern Cross Bible College, an Assemblies of God school. There Daniel adopted a new battle plan for his redeemed life. "My vision was like that of Paul's: first the Jew, then the Gentile," he says. "I am responsible to my people first. And then to the rest of the world."

He began a Burmese church of about 15 families and today reaches out to the more than 2,500 Burmese in his city.

Giving away JESUS | Once a week, he and his associate pastor, Dominic Din, go door to door sharing their faith in Christ and giving away JESUS videos.

From sunup to sundown, Daniel, now a Campus Crusade staff member, soldiers on tirelessly, encouraging pastors, challenging church members, organizing outreaches. His goal: uniting the body of Christ in Australia. One of the most successful outreaches is a JESUS-video distribution in Cabramatta, a drug-infested suburb outside Sydney.

"Cabramatta is the dregs of Australia," says Cabramatta pastor Ken Hawley, who shoos strung-out addicts off his church steps each Sunday. "Daniel's initiative forced the question for our church: Do we avoid the hard places or go there first?"

Eventually Pastor Ken and 12 other pastors united their congregations to take the gospel to the mostly Asian people of Cabramatta. Never before had these churches worked arm-in-arm, so for three months, they simply prayed together. Volunteers from Spanish, Chinese, Polish, Russian, Vietnamese and Cambodian churches left behind their logos for the sake of the city. And God began to break down the walls of denominationalism, isolation and nationalism.

"Worshipping with your brothers and sisters can bring unity," says Daniel, who pounded the pavement each day, rallying involvement and deploying the church forces to the streets.

The army of volunteers visited 8,500 homes (80 percent of the community), distributing 4,500 JESUS videos in 25 major languages. One volunteer knew five languages, so she was especially helpful as each household spoke a different tongue. Sixty percent of the homes did not speak English at all, so each team carried videos in eight languages and, if need be, returned to the "base" (a van full of videos) to retrieve the appropriate language.

Because of the recipients' Asian backgrounds, says Pastor Ken, this was the first time many people heard of Christ. So the results of the initiative were difficult to measure right away.

Still, new life began to spring up in Cabramatta: A police officer showed up at the home of a regular offender only to find him watching the video. And the attendance of Cabramatta Jesus Family Church, a multicultural congregation, grew from 40 people to more than 110 as a result of new believers.

"The greatest result is the unity among the churches," says Daniel, who continues to enlist Christians of different denominations and nations to work together. Daniel also takes command of training leaders, as he did at a recent pastors conference for 87 multicultural leaders of 20 nationalities. "From businesses to the local church, there are leadership problems in Australia," says Bob Cole, who now directs the Bible League. "But Daniel's leadership qualities stand out."