My Story

In 1969, I was 15 years old and starting my life as an apprentice Electrical Fitter in Melbourne.  It was a big year for me after leaving school the previous year.  I had a tremendous upbringing, but now the grown up world was beckoning.  Working with adults was far different to the what I was used to at school.  For example, kids at school rarely swore, a far cry from the people I was now associating with.

During the course of that year, I began to question what I was experiencing in my new life.  I began looking for answers and thinking about the important questions of life.  It was the era of the Vietnam war, and of course the Cold War, the Peace Movement and  Hippies.

We were a generation rebelling against authority, and to a large extent getting away with it.  I began to be drawn to the religions of the day.  The Beatles were our pop idols, and we wanted to do what they were doing.

During 1969, I heard about an American preacher who was coming to Melbourne to conduct an evangelistic crusade.
When we were young we sometimes attended a local Sunday school, but that never lasted for long.  In primary school everyone had to attend religious instruction, so we heard Bible stories, but we weren't really interested in religion.  We were more interested in football and getting into mischief.

Anyway, I began to get the feeling that I wanted to go and see this thing they called a crusade.  I talked my grandparents into taking me to the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) as I didn't know how to get there.

I remember entering the MCG on that Sunday afternoon.  I was overawed by the amount of people who were waiting to here Billy Graham speak.  It was a beautiful sunny day as the Billy Graham choir began singing, then the crowd joined in.

Billy spoke about man's sin, and about how we were all guilty of sinning against God.  As a result of this sinful nature, we were destined to spend eternity separated from God, in Hell.  Then he spoke about Jesus Christ, the son of God who came to earth to die for my sin.  Why would He do that for me?

Billy said that because God loved me, and Jesus died in my place, I could know His forgiveness if I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Saviour.  We were then invited to come out of the stands and on to the field, where there were counselors who would pray for and with us.

My heart was pounding as I listened to the message, my sin weighing heavy on my mind,  I remember looking at my Grandmother and saying that I wanted to go forward.  I didn't know what lay ahead, but I knew that I had to respond to that call.

Since that day, things have at times been difficult, but God has always been there to help me.

Mark