Melbourne

I got married.

I became a coeliac.

Now I’m leaving Sydney.

In two weeks.

If you’re gonna change one thing, change everything. That’s always been my life motto (it hasn’t).

Ever since Recom folded I’ve been on the lookout for a new job. I have very much enjoyed my current job, travelling around to schools, speaking about Jesus. However what I’ve been really keen to do is to get back to church ministry. So I was looking for jobs and found one that looked perfect. A Youth and Young Adults Pastor role where I look after a youth ministry and oversee and regularly preach at an evening service. It was pretty much exactly what I wanted. I get to do youth ministry, which I love, I get to put all the thinking about church I’ve done for Recom into practice, which is great, and I get to preach regularly in a logical, long-term series structure, which I’ve been hankering for since becoming an itinerant preacher. The only downside to all this was that the job was in Melbourne – Cold, wet, hipster, AFL-loving, 900kms from the greatest city in the world – Melbourne.

Still, what can you do? Jesus travelled from heaven to earth, I can travel from Sydney to Melbourne. I chatted to Em and she thought Melbourne could be alright, so I applied for the job.

A few interviews, visits, prayers and discussions later, the church voted to call me to the role and I accepted (I got the job). This means, we’re moving to Melbourne.

To be honest it’s both exciting and terrifying at the same time. Exciting to do new things, meet new people, build a life for ourselves, do church ministry again. Terrifying because we don’t know many people in Melbourne so we have a much smaller safety net if things go terribly wrong. We might just be lonely. We’re also sad to leave Sydney. We’ll miss our friends and family. We’ll miss knowing how to get places and just generally feeling comfortable.

But all up it seems like a good challenge. It’ll grow us. And I think we’ll get good stuff done. Em’s got lots of new opportunities there to do artisting. I’ve got lots of opportunities to learn to enjoy AFL. It’s gonna be fun. Plus, it’s not like we’ll be on the other side of the world. Sydney is just up the road.

Here’s to adventure.