Early years
Jeff was born at Gosford, NSW on 7 June, 1954, second of four children. He grew up at Terrigal, NSW where his father was self-employed joiner and cabinet maker (now retired). His parents, two brothers and sister all live in New South Wales.
Jeff was educated at Terrigal Primary School (1960-1966) and Erina High School (1967-1972). It was at the end of his high school studies that Jeff came to faith in Jesus Christ and was baptised in July 1973. Soon after he commenced training as a primary school teacher at Mitchell College of Advanced Education in Bathurst (1973-1776).
It was at Bathurst that Jeff met and married Susan. Together they led a large Christian student ministry on campus. During this time Jeff felt God's call to be a pastor.
After college Jeff was accepted as an ordination student with the Baptist Union of NSW. He taught for just 5 months before entering the Baptist Theological College of NSW in 1977. He was ordained by the Baptist Union of NSW in Sydney on 23 September, 1981.
Family
Jeff and Sue married at Doonside NSW on 18 January, 1975. They now have three sons: Scott (married to Joy) who works in Brisbane as Principal Information Design Officer for the Queensland Ambulance Service; Ben who works with Scripture Union based in Launceston and Nick (married to Robyn) who is training to be a community youth worker and lives in Longford.
Ministry
Jeff served as student observer at Doonside Baptist Church (NSW) in 1977. Since then he has served as pastor of three NSW Baptist churches: Leichhardt Baptist Church (in the inner city of Sydney) for two years, 1978-1979; Kurri Kurri Baptist Church (in the Hunter Valley) for four years, 1980-1983 including part-time industrial chaplaincy at the Alcan Smelter; and Regents Park Baptist Church (in the western suburbs of Sydney) for 6.5 years, 1984-1990 including leadership, teaching and pastoral care roles within Christian Community High School.
In 1990 Jeff and Sue moved to Tasmania to pastor Longford Baptist Church where they served for fourteen years, 1990-2004. In that time Jeff founded The Helping Hand Association Inc (an interdenominational welfare agency), developed a diverse ministry team and guided the construction of the Riverlands property. Jeff's primary functions at Longford were leadership, leadership development and preaching.
Over the past decade Jeff has had a growing interdenominational training, mentoring and consultancy role in Tasmania. He has ministered in a total of nine denominations and traditions. In 2004 he joined the staff of Southland Ministries in Sheffield and, upon Southlands' closure, commenced Deeper Place Ministries to carry out this work. Jeff is a trainer of Christian mentors, a trainer of Christian retreat facilitators and a trained church consultant.
During the past three and a half years Jeff has provided part-time interim ministry with three Tasmanian Baptist Churches: Taroona Baptist Church, July 2004 to June 2005; City Baptist Church, Launceston, October 2005 to March 2007; and Wynyard Baptist Church, April 2007 to January 2008.
An ordained and accredited pastor within the Baptist Churches of Tasmania, Jeff has served in various ways amongst Tasmanian Baptists including as President.
Jeff will commence as pastor of City Baptist Church on 1 February 2008.
Interests
Jeff's interests include bushwalking, watching movies, reading, some basic maintenance and gardening at home, family time, social justice issues and watching sport (especially rugby league and cricket). (Jeff has had extensive experience playing, coaching and administering rugby league in NSW and Tasmania.)
Philosophy of ministry
Equipping - Jeff believes in trusting, resourcing and releasing the Body of Christ to do its ministry. It is ok to fail or to be messy sometimes. A key part of his role as pastor has been to release, equip, encourage, resource, facilitate and guide ministries through their key leaders.
Leadership - God raises up leaders who function in teams as servants to the body of Christ. Both the leaders and congregation must be willing to allow the leaders to lead whilst being inclusive of the contribution of all. In a Baptist Church setting this may take place through the Church Meeting delegating authority for appropriate decisions to the elders and the deacons. As senior pastor Jeff has served as the leader of the leaders and as the primary vision-bearer. A key task of leadership is the encouragement and nurture of potential leadership. Pastors and elders are to trust and release ministry-leaders to do their tasks.
Contemporary - At any time in history, faith communities must be culturally relevant to their context if they are to be faithful in its proclamation of the gospel. "Contemporary" does not mean "trendy". God calls local churches to discern the culture of those to whom they are called, so as to be an increasingly culturally-relevant expression of the Kingdom.
Holistic mission - As well as a strong commitment to evangelism, faith communities are called to share God's passion for world mission, social justice issues and spiritual warfare. None of the gifts of the Spirit (including the so-called "charismatic" ones) are to be rejected or neglected, but are to be tested and given their healthy place under the leadership of the local church.
Faith - To do God's work God's way both individuals and faith communities are to sometimes step outside their comfort zones and beyond their human resources. Jesus will build His church in His time and in His way.
Personhood and relationships - God is more concerned with who we are becoming than with what we are doing for him. Love and unity ultimately matter more than spiritual gifts. Relationships mater much more than do programs. Christians may often need to differ with one another and should do so with love and respect.
Word of God - Jeff believes in the authority and the power of the Scriptures and of the preached Word.