SG Australia's First PC Graduation

An update from Riley Spring, Lead Pastor of Sovereign Grace Church Parramatta, Australia…

Last year we embarked on establishing a year-long ‘Pastors and Planters Academy’ with the aim of helping guys discern and pursue a calling into Pastoral ministry. In December, we had the joy of graduating our five Academy students who all excelled this year in their studies, character and serving in their local churches. 

The Graduation Dinner was a special night as we spent time reflecting on where God has been most at work in their lives personally and as a family unit and how we’ve seen God use them at Church. We had a beautiful moment where each wife was given the opportunity to publicly honour their husband and identify evidences of God’s grace in their lives and thank them. Austin Loke was the top of the class and special mention goes to Andrew Leung who completed every page of the reading list for the year! 

Four out of the five guys will go onto to serve in their church either as an Intern (Austin Loke SGC Wahroonga, Joel Seric – SGC Parramatta) or to pursue ordination (Andrew Leung – SGC Wahroonga, Richard Song – SGC Parramatta). Our final student, Jack Packham (SGC Wahroonga) will continue serving faithfully as a church member. 

Brendan Willis, Pastor at SGC Wahroonga, did an incredible job as the dean of the Academy for the year. He compiled a fantastic curriculum, reading list, and assessment tasks to both educate and form the guys as well as stretch them. Dave and Emma Taylor, served the Academy by hosting monthly ‘Cohort’ nights which brought the husbands and wives together to look at Marriage, Family, and Ministry Life. They studied great material and received fantastic real world wisdom from this experienced, wise, and loving Husband/Wife team!

We’d also like to thank the various Pastors who jumped on for our monthly Leadership Link Ups (Jon Payne, Jeff Purswell, Mark Prater, Mickey Connolly, Josh Blount, Bob Kauflin, Jared Mellinger, Brian Chesemore, Eric Turbedsky, and CJ Mahaney). These two-hour long interviews were very helpful for both their content and the chance for our guys to make a connection and friendship with some of the best Pastors in our family of Churches.

It was truly a fantastic year and we hope that we can continue to have the chance to invest in more and more future Pastors and Planters. Please pray that God would bring in many more workers for the harvest!