Billy Graham? Who he?

Last Sunday I preached at a small Baptist church in the nearby town of Narromine. It's a small, warm gathering of local Christians and they made us feel very welcome. It's the first time that I've preached on foreign soil so that now means that I can put 'International Preaching Ministry' on my CV. I have increased my fee accordingly, from nothing to 50 cents (about 20p). I think you'll agree that I'm worth every penny.

I'm preaching again this Sunday at The Gathering, which is the monthly Cornerstone service that I wrote about in an earlier post. I thought that, knowing Australian history, I would preach on "Thou Shalt Not Steal".

The Mat Exchange means that I spend a little time with local business owners every day. You begin to get a little bit of a feel for the situations that they face and the things that are important to them. I think that contact was something that I lacked when I was in the ministry. In a town like Narromine, where the main industry seems to be agricultural (such as cotton farming), you soon learn that the drought really impacts people. Dubbo has a greater industrial base so perhaps struggles a little less. However, I'm not sure how true that is when a lot of your industrial business seems to be aimed at supporting and providing resources for the local farmers. Even I have begun to appreciate the need for rain and how blessed we are in the UK. This unselfish awakening didn't last though. It's been raining solidly for the past two days and I'm all out of sympathy - especially when I read about "Record Breaking Temperatures" in the UK. Stupid Brits.


At the end of June we will be going up to Queensland (the state north of NSW) to a Scripture Union camp for young people involved in leadership in school Christian unions and so on. Ian, one of my fellow students who used to be an SU chaplain in Queensland, invited me to help him with the teaching sessions. The camp is in a place called Mapleton and will last for a week. Soon I'll be able to add "International Youth Ministry" to my CV and then NO-ONE WILL BE ABLE TO STOP ME. We're hoping, as a family, to take the week after that off as well so that we can have a bit of a holiday up on the Sunshine Coast. Apparently we'll only be about twenty minutes from Steve Irwin's Australia Zoo. Crikey!

Calvin has become something of an artist recently. Here is a picture that he drew. According to the artist himself it is a picture of him and Reid dressed as octopuses and swimming under water. Something of a surrealist in the making I think.


Ruth has just bought a breadmaking machine so that we can live as we used to in Haywards Heath with tailor-made bread rolls and pizza bases every day. Since our stuff arrived it's really beginning to feel a lot more like home here. The last couple of months have been an absolutely mammoth change, but God has been very good to us. I'm very excited about what the future holds. I'm glad that you're interested enough to keep reading too. Thanks!