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.
[4] This retreat, the Duquesne Weekend, in turn spawned 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 spawn the Word of God community.
[2] Martin was invited to Belgium by Cardinal Leo Joseph Suenens to help jumpstart the Catholic charismatic renewal in Europe.
[5] In 2011, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Martin to a five-year term as a consultor to the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization.