Exciting New Initiative in Mallacoota

When the fires came through in January, my family headed north. We couldn’t get back home for four weeks and when we finally arrived home I could see God's protection - a wind change turned the fire 200m from my home.

It took six days for my adrenaline generated energy to calm down. For others who lived through the intensity of the fire, the adrenaline stayed for six months - six months of inability to focus, make decisions, or see beyond the next minute, activity or day.

Living locally and having lots of experience in community-based youth work with at risk young people and community engagement, my role as a catalyst, will enable me to put time and energy into building bridges between people so that Jesus can walk over. I will be working with Rev Jude Benton and the Cooperating Parish of Croajingolong to help to facilitate events of peace and joy utilising craft and creativity, tend a growing environmental concern and become a fisher of folk with fishing skills (Mallacoota is a fishing mecca and it also helps that I currently hold the winning title in the Gipsy Point Fishing competition!). I will be a local contact and support for the SU summer mission teams and I hope to be invited to support children at local schools as a chaplain.

I would love to see the wilderness region re-united as a whole, strongly resilient, welcoming, innovative, developing employment in synch with its natural beauty and diversity, producing local food, promoting its creativity and encouraging its young ones to stay on in the region. I hope we will move from fear to acceptance and preparation before the next fire season this summer. I hope the security and peace I feel, because of my relationship with Jesus, will give rise to questions of faith. Most of all I want to see people recognise God's love for them and feel free to respond.

I would value your prayers, asking God to prepare the hearts of those He calls to respond to His love. I ask that God will guide me to trust He is working and help me respond obediently to His still small voice. And of course protecting us and our bushfire affected region from COVID!