About Me

My name is Matt. I’m a Baptist pastor in Hobart Tasmania now, but when I started writing Faith Reflections in 2010 I worked with a Christian mission organisation called Fusion and never planned, or wanted, to work in a church.

As I sat writing my first blog entry in our Poatina loungeroom a decade ago, I hoped that Faith Reflections might be a place to try and make sense of the journey I was on.

At that time I was part of the international leadership of Fusion, and had worked with the organisation my Dad started (back in 1960), since 1992.

Our four young children were adjusting to being back in Poatina after living in a community that cares for homeless people on the Mornington Peninsula for five years.

At that point, I had been married to Leeanne for 16 years. Our marriage was then, and is now, one of the most important foundations of my life.

‘I know that no matter what happens, Leeanne will be at my side. I also know that as best we can we will be seeking to live from the verse we had engraved on the rings we exchanged on the 9th July 1994 :

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Matthew 6:33

When we exchanged those rings we thought that verse meant working with Fusion. As I began writing Faith Reflections it was becoming increasingly apparent that our time in Fusion was coming to an end in a confusing and painful way. We felt lost and simply weren’t sure what to do next.

As I was trying to find my bearings I took some time to write my book, 6 Radical Decisions. The book was a way of naming what I remained committed to as I adjusted to a different future than I anticipated.

At the end of 2012, thanks to the remarkable generosity of Fusion Canada, and a series of truly remarkable “coincidences”, we moved to Edmonton, Alberta where I commenced a Master in Theological Studies degree with Taylor seminary.

As our kids adjusted to sub-zero temperatures and a new schooling system, Leeanne and I finally came to terms with the idea we would no longer be working with Fusion and started to consider whether it might be right to work with a church.

Little did we know that while God was gradually helping us adjust to the idea of working in a church, He had been preparing a church to work with us. St. Albert Alliance church had been looking for a Mission and Community Engagement Pastor for 18 months and every time they thought they were getting close to an answer God had shut the door. At one point one of their elders had suggested that perhaps the right person was not yet even in the country… he was right.

Working under the leadership of Jeremy Peters and with the team at S.T.A.A.C. was a gift from God for both Leeanne (who became the church receptionist) and I. In those four years God took us on a gentle journey of healing and identity reformation. By the time I was ordained I did sense a very clear call to ministry in the local church.

The whole time we were in Canada we were trying to settle there but it felt like we just couldn’t. There was always a sense of dislocation and not quite being in the right place, no matter how hard we tried… and we tried hard. We even went through the complicated and expensive process of becoming Canadian residents.

The sense of dislocation came to a head in October 2016 in the idyllic setting of Lake Louise, where the Alliance has its annual pastors retreat. Leeanne and I both had a strange and growing sense that we didn’t quite fit. We weren’t sure what was going on. We asked for prayer and there was a sense that God was going to take us to the next step soon.

A week later I received an email from Stephen Baxter congratulating me on the ordination and just double-checking that we were not interested in the lead pastor role at Citywide Baptist church. When Stephen had first enquired a few months earlier, it was clear that we needed to stay in Canada for at least a bit longer, but this time my heart leaped as I read his words. As Leeanne and I spoke and prayed we sensed that God might be calling us home to Hobart, where our ministry journey had started.

There was deep grief in saying goodbye to so many precious Canadian friends who had been such a big part of the trajectory of our lives changing, but it was increasingly clear we would be moving back to Tasmania. Again a whole series of “coincidences” fell into place as we started to consider what it would mean. On Canada Day 2017 (July 1) we boarded a plane bound for Hobart and prepared to meet a new church family.

Citywide Baptist Church is very different from St. Albert Alliance in many ways. What both churches do have in common though, is that they are full of people who care about living faith authentically. Both are also not bound by tradition and want to follow wherever Jesus leads.

It has taken a couple of years at Citywide to start to get my bearings, but I am excited about the future as we seek to follow Jesus on the adventure of whole life and authentic community.

I hope that Faith Reflections will continue to be a place where I can think through the implications of my faith for every part of my life and also the implications of leading a church.

Thanks for your company on the journey.