His wife Carol Ann (née, McDearmid) moved from Virginia in the United States at an early age with her parents, who were Assemblies of God missionaries.
Carol's father, Andrew McDearmid served in India as an Assembly of God minister for 25 years in Lucknow and Bangalore and as President of the Southern Asia Bible College.
[7][8] Houghton completed undergraduate and postgraduate degrees, eventually earning his Ph.D. in South Asian History from the University of California, Los Angeles with a dissertation titled "The Development of the Protestant Missionary Church in Madras 1870-1920: The Impoverishment of Dependency."
Students come from many parts of India, and other nations such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Nepal, Myanmar (formerly Burma), Sri Lanka, Thailand, and also Australia and New Zealand.
In the past year a number of Indian Students from the United States have also chosen to come to SAIACS in preparation for working in the sub-continent.
[citation needed] In 2001 Dr. Houghton was invited as a part of a group to establish a department of Christianity at Peking University, Beijing, People's Republic of China.