My summary, his words. Here's James Akin, in his own words from the thread A TRIUMPH AND A TRAGEDY:
He was born in 1965, and attended a Church of Christ congregation until "five or six" (1970-71).
"I was born in 1965 in Corpus Christi, Texas, and grew up in Fayetteville, Arkansas. My mom and dad took me to a local Church of Christ until I was five or six, but then quit going."
Started reading "end times" parts of the Bible at "thirteen or fourteen" (1978-79, age 13 or 14).
"When I was thirteen or fourteen, I started reading the Bible, but only those parts I thought dealt with the "end times.""
Turned to the New Age Movement for "about five years", but broke from them in his "first year of college" (1983-4, age 18 or 19).
"As a result of what I read in the Bible, I got scared, seeing terrifying visions of God's wrath and judgment without having them balanced by the message of his wondrous grace and mercy. This helped drive me into the next phase of my religious development: the New Age movement....I was a New Ager for about five years. But in my first year of college I broke with the New Age movement...."
"Some time later" he starts listening to Dr Gene Scott, and "six months later" he joins Scott's televised church (approx. 1986, age 21).
"It was not until some time later that I found a preacher who acted enough like a non-Christian for me to be able to listen to him. He was a hum-dinger. Dr. Gene Scott was a late night TV preacher and end-times guru based in Southern California. I discovered him on my television late one evening after work and was entranced....After listening to him for about six months, I called up and joined his church—the first one I had ever been a member of."
[It is worth pointing out here that at this time Akin is in Arkansas, and Dr Scott's "Faith Center" church was in Glendale, California. Thus, Akin's "membership" was of the mail-order variety, not one of actual baptism, church attendance and communion].
Decides on life goal of becoming "a pastor or...a seminary professor." (1986, age 21)
"After becoming a Gene Scott devotee, I voraciously read books on theology. My greatest desire was to enter full-time Christian ministry, either as a pastor or as a seminary professor, but something intervened: my marriage."
Akin claims his wife's Catholicism stopped his career goals (1986, age 21)
"I suffered the disappointment of giving up my career because of Renee's Catholicism."
Meets future wife, who converts from New Ageism (back) to Catholicism (1986, age 21)
"I met my future wife, Renee Humphrey, at a party shortly after I became a Christian. Although she was a Catholic who held many New Age beliefs, I dated her anyway....Before we could be married, there were a couple of issues I had to get settled with Renee: her New Age beliefs and her Catholicism....I was pleased at having convinced her not to be a New Ager; now all I had to do was to convince her to not be a Catholic."
Akin says that J Leon Holmes' family, and others, became Catholics at the PCA church he will later attend (approx 1986, age 21)
"....some of the groundwork had been laid when Leon's family and a number of other people from my church had become Catholics."
tries convincing future wife to quit Catholicism, she becomes Anglican (approx. 1987, age 22)
"I decided to try this strategy again and loaned her a book which tried to put the Vatican in a bad light. After reading it she quit identifying herself as a Catholic and began to speak of herself as an Anglican."
Changes "religious affiliation" from Gene Scott to the Presbyterian Church in America. (approx 1988, age 23)
"My fascination with Gene Scott lasted for some time, but when his organization fell on hard times and his program was taken almost completely off the air in my area, I decided to find some other religious affiliation. I settled on a conservative denomination, the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA)."
A "former attendee" of his PCA church sends a Catholic article to friends in his home town (approx 1988, age 23)
"Leon wrote a paper on Mary and sent it to friends in Fayetteville; I was one of the people who read it....Leon used to attend the Protestant church where I worshiped, but some time before I started attending there he and his family had moved away."
[Note: "Leon" here is Federal Judge J. Leon Holmes. At the time of Holmes' supposed PCA attendance, he was an attorney with Wright Lindsey & Jennings LLP in Little Rock, AR, and president of Arkansas Right To Life. Holmes was and is a staunch Catholic, and has never been a Presbyterian.]
Marries his wife in a non-Catholic ceremony (approx 1989, age 24)
"During Renee's Anglican period, she and I were married"
Akin reads more Catholic materials (approx 1989-90, age 24-25)
"A year or two after reading Leon's paper on Mary, I read a book by a Catholic author who gave a long quote from Matthew 16 in his section on the pope."
Akin begins having "problems" with the fundamental doctrines of sola fide and sola scriptura (approx 1989-90, age 24-25)
"I also began to have problems with the two fundamental doctrines of Protestantism: sola fide, the claim that we are saved by faith alone, and sola scriptura, the claim that Christians are to use only the Bible in matters of doctrine and practice."
wife converts back to Catholicism (approx 1989, age 24)
"shortly after our wedding Renee reverted to Catholicism."
Akin leaves the PCA, and begins attending a Catholic parish (approx 1991, age 26)
"...over the next year I began reading Catholic doctrine intensively. During this time I softened my stance on Catholicism. I began taking my wife to Mass and also became willing to be married in the Church. "
they later remarry in a Catholic ceremony (1991, age 26).
"On December 1, 1991, she and I were married by Fr. Mark Wood, the priest of the parish Renee and I attended."
Akin considers converting to Catholicism (1991, age 26).
"As far as Renee knew, my view of Catholicism had softened but I still remained opposed to the Church on theological grounds. I decided to keep hidden from her the fact I was actually thinking about converting."
A month after their re-wedding, Akin announces his thoughts, says seeds planted back at PCA church (1992, age 27)
"In January 1992 I let Renee in on the secret I had been keeping and told her I might be joining the Catholic Church....some of the groundwork had been laid when Leon's family and a number of other people from my church had become Catholics."
Six months later, wife takes ill (1992, age 27)
"In late June 1992, shortly after her twenty-seventh birthday, Renee became ill. "
Akin formally converts to Catholicism (1992, age 27)
"I called my parish and left a message for the priest, who came to our hospital room that night. He and I talked about Renee's condition and about my coming into the Church. A week or so earlier I had told him I was virtually ready to join. I had been more or less ready intellectually for some time....The next morning I spoke to Scott Hahn on the phone about 10:30 a.m. The two of us had become phone friends during my conversion process. "
In summary, Akin was associated with Dr Gene Scott's "Faith Center" church for about two years. Church attendance did not begin until he joined a local PCA church, where he attended for another two years or so. Akin began his move towards Catholicism around 1988, after reading J. Leon Holmes' Catholic apologetics letters to the members of Akin's PCA church, some of whom are Holmes' relatives. So Akin (according to his own autobiography) had been a Christian for at most four years, the most influential of those years being those when he was not in attendance at a local church. Akin's conversion is not that of a stable, mature Protestant who decides to become Catholic. Akin's story is more that of a spiritual drifter who ends up joining his wife's faith.
Akin wrote "A Triumph and a Tragedy" prior to April 1995, when it was published in Catholic Answers' "This Rock". Any discrepancies between this and Akin's biography as found in Surprised By Truth are his to explain.