CHRISTIAN TESTIMONIES OF
THE SHOALHAVEN AWAKENING
(NON-PROFIT) ASSOCIATION COMMITTEE
Trevor Aspin has been a believer in God all his life. From Sunday school to youth group then to church and community leadership. His youth group went to a Billy Graham crusade in 1979 and there for the first time he learned that he had to accept Jesus as saviour to be a true Christian and so he did. It was a radical salvation and he then threw himself into church work, becoming leader of various groups. At age 26 he felt a strong call to full time ministry but was discouraged by the church leaders of that denomination. Some years later, after having become a church elder and lay preacher, Trevor attended Bible College followed by correspondence college.
He was called to pastor a church in Shoalhaven Heads as well as be associate pastor of a church in Nowra. During this time he was also Chaplain to the NSW Ambulance for the Illawarra and Shoalhaven for a period of three years.
Fr. George Condookala, in his own words: “I am a Catholic priest, originally from Kerala in southern India. Even when I was very small I wanted to be a priest... By the grace of God, till today I have not regretted it...I thank God everyday for this call…When I look back to my childhood days...I was an altar boy, something that I remember with nostalgic feelings even now, and I was involved in Catholic youth movements in the parish as well as in the University.”
Fr. George recently arrived to be Assistant Parish Priest at St. Michael’s Parish in the Shoalhaven. At his last Indian placement he was in charge of 23,000 Catholics from 180 villages and was school principal of a school with 2,500 students and 180 borders and an orphanage that cared for 140 children. Fr George also has 6 university degrees, WOW! He has worked in ecumenical movements like the Shoalhaven Awakening in Campbelltown, NSW as well as India.
Fr. George Condookala
Rod & Jill Rose have served the Lord in various ministries together and individually over many years. They have led many non-denominational praise and worship gatherings in the Shoalhaven and work toward helping believers from local churches join together for the good of the City and to strengthen the Church.
As Directors for 15 years with Marriage Ministries International (now named ‘2 = 1’) they have ministered to many marriages and families from local churches and elsewhere in Australia. They served as Senior Pastors of OneWay Christian Fellowship at Tomerong for three years and over the past two years have been pastors and now elders in Victory Christian Fellowship at Bomaderry.
Fr. George cannot think of even a single day when his entire family did not pray together. As a young boy he found their 1 - 2 hours of daily prayer too long, mostly all kneeling down. But today, when he looks back, he thanks his parents who were good role models as "the family that prays together stays together". Today he is so happy to see all his many brothers and sisters living so happily - serving the Church and society in varied ways. Two of his 4 sisters are nuns, two married, two out of the 4 boys are priests (including him), the other two married. As well, two nieces are nuns and two nephews are missionary priests. “I can see the blessing hand of God on our family, “ says Fr. George smiling happily, as usual.
Rod & Jill Rose
Trevor Aspin
Rod & Jill have been on short term missions to South Africa, Fiji & Vanuatu. As a Director of a large consulting firm, Rod is passionate about marketplace ministry, and he and Jill hope to help local communities and businesses grow stronger within our Shoalhaven City.
Lisa Rickard in her own words: “I grew up in a Catholic family and first really got touched by God at a Baptist youth camp when I was 13.” At 19 she was healed of severe migraines in a church and gave her life to Jesus. At 20 God gave her a vision to start a kindergarten from scratch, and it ran very successfully leading to her winning several business awards for youth, including a finalist in The Australian Financial Review “Young Business Person of the Year” and winning the Manly Daily newspaper’s “Give Youth a Go” business award. She wrote and published the children’s book, “My Kindy” after she saw a need for a book to help settle children into kindergarten through a story that went through the daily routine. The book was warmly welcomed with nationwide TV and radio publicity and a print run that went to main stream shops selling out very quickly.
After running several businesses and being very involved in church on Sydney’s northern beaches, she and her husband Justin felt the Lord lead them to the Shoalhaven. In 2008 the Lord gave Lisa a vision to organise united praise and worship at The Shoalhaven Entertainment Centre.
Lisa Rickard
Lisa sees the Body of Christ standing together as one today worshipping our Almighty God and declaring His praises and Lordship over our city. This can literally impact the atmosphere of our region.
Her vision is also that the churches grow in unity in various ways in a spirit of love to be a stronger beacon of light for the Shoalhaven and beyond and that the love and kindness of Jesus through his people will flood the Shoalhaven. Lisa loves setting up environments that create space and room for God to be present and has experienced her most life changing moments as a Christian in worship meetings.
Justin Rickard first remembers falling into a total peaceful love with the quiet order and holiness of God at his first Holy Communion in Boston, USA when he was about 6 years old. His love for Jesus has grown ever since. He vividly remembers becoming tangibly close to Christ at a lunch-time school Mass when he was about 13 and seeing into the passionate emotions of a Christian through the poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins at high school and university (he is still awestruck by his poetic vision in lines such as "The world is charged with the grandeur of God. It will flame out, like shining from shook foil").
Then, one monsoon soaked night in Hazaribagh, India at 23, Justin again powerfully encountered God at a Jesuit Catholic mission whilst reading “Leave Your Life Alone” by Hubert van Zeller. Totally new dimensions were added to Justin’s Christian life at a Pentecostal worship service led by the Shoalhaven Awakening’s worship leader Christine Moussa in the Sydney Entertainment Centre about 10 years later.
In fact Chris’ husband, John, introduced Justin to his wife Lisa, just a few weeks later! Christ has been a central part of their marriage and family life ever since as God blessed them with 3 gorgeous children; Liam, Grace and James. To this day, magnificent worship music of any Christian faith brings Justin as close to Christ as prayer itself.
“I have great pride and enormous admiration for my wife Lisa’s envisioning, founding and growing of the Shoalhaven Awakening. The skills I’ve developed as a lawyer for 25 years, and now a budding writer and property developer, have melded with Lisa’s many talents and gifts and by the grace of God, we have been part of today’s event occurring. I am a very blessed family man and strive to bless our community.”
Justin Rickard
For over 15 years Trevor’s heart has called for unity amongst Christian denominations and for awakening in the Shoalhaven. He has been on the ministers Association executive for the past 10 years and liaison with Shoalhaven Council for 5 years about this. Although Trevor has retired from his Shoalhaven Heads church he is now on the pastoral team at Nowra City Church and active on many, many community committees.
The Association on stage at the first Praise and Worship event in May 2011
(Justin & Lisa Rickard, Fr George Condookala, Ps Jill & Rod Rose and Trevor Aspin)
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