Fleet Street
Dan Wooding worked Fleet Street — the heart of British tabloid journalism. Writing for the Sunday People and the Sunday Mirror, two of Britain's most widely-read papers, he operated in a world of exposés, deadlines, and the kind of aggressive reporting that British tabloids are famous for. It was high-pressure, high-stakes, and spiritually barren.
Wooding had grown up as the son of a Pentecostal pastor, but the world of Fleet Street had its own creed: get the story, whatever it costs. Faith was something he'd grown up with but largely set aside for the demands of the job.
The Gangster Story
The turning point came through the job itself. Wooding was covering a gangster story — the kind of deep investigative piece that Fleet Street thrived on. But this one went wrong. Threats were made. His life was in danger. The consequence of aggressive journalism had become personal in a way that no byline could compensate for.
In that moment of genuine physical danger, something that had been dormant since childhood came alive. Wooding didn't just remember his faith — he was confronted by it. The gap between who he was and who he'd been raised to be became impossible to ignore.
He rededicated his life to Christ. Not in a church service, but in the pressure cooker of a story that had turned dangerous.
ASSIST News Service
What followed was a career pivot that turned journalism from a spiritual obstacle into a spiritual tool. Wooding founded ASSIST News Service (ANS), a news agency focused on reporting stories of faith, persecution, and the global church that mainstream media consistently ignored.
For decades, ANS became the primary news source for stories about persecuted Christians worldwide. Wooding used every skill he'd learned on Fleet Street — investigation, source cultivation, clear writing under deadline — and pointed them at stories that mattered in ways tabloid gossip never could.
He covered stories from closed countries, reported on underground churches, and gave voice to people who had no other platform. Fleet Street had trained him for exactly this — he just didn't know it at the time.
What This Means for You
Dan Wooding spent years in one of the toughest media environments in the world, and it was a life-threatening moment on the job that brought him back to faith. Then he used everything that environment had taught him to tell stories that actually mattered. Your professional skills aren't separate from your purpose — they might be the exact preparation you needed.