Two awakenings led James Muir to the work for which he is being recognised with a Queen's Service Medal for services to the community in the 2020 New Year Honours.
The first awakening was spiritual. It was 1987 and he was living in Tauranga and had a career in insurance broking when he realised something was not right.
"I realised I was lost. That's when I made a decision to commit myself to Jesus Christ. I have never looked back."
The second wake-up came just three years later, in 1990.
As a 47-year-old Pakehā man, he realised he was ignorant about the Treaty of Waitangi – the intentions of it and the breaches.
He would go on to study and teach at the Faith Bible College in Welcome Bay and become both a marriage celebrant and a counsellor, and helped found Te Kohinga - a network of Christian people dedicated to the faith-based reconciliation between Māori and non-Māori - in 1995.
He has been its facilitator for 15 of those 24 years.
Muir was deeply involved in the efforts that culminated last year in the Anglican Church publicly apologising to Tauranga Moana iwi for its role in ancestral land being lost to the Crown 151 years ago.
The church was serious about putting things to rights, he said, and Muir hoped to continue to help keep it accountable.
Now 75, Muir lives in a tidy unit in Gate Pā.
He chose the location of his home deliberately - it is a suburb where he would like to see ownership of and mana restored to Māori one day. He helped arrange the Battle of Gate Pā 150th anniversary commemorations.
Muir also founded Tauranga Moana Marriages Trust, an organisation that has worked with some 400 couples, helping them to prepare for and strengthen their marriage.
"I have been divorced myself, it was a wake-up that people need counselling before they get married."
Muir has three daughters and four grandchildren all in Tauranga.
Muir said he was always happy to give the people he worked with through his many roles, past and present, a nudge towards a more spiritual life.
"I am not afraid to nudge people to rethink their values but I work with where they are."
Muir said his mission in life was to make a difference in people's lives.
"It is to make a spiritual difference in my community and leave a legacy for my children and grandchildren."
After initially feeling "shocked" to learn of his honour - "You just do stuff, you don't keep track of the stuff" - he was hoping it might open doors for his work.
Flights from Auckland and Wellington were among those cancelled.