KERRY Medway is celebrating 60 years since what he calls “the day that changed my life.”
On 6 June 1965, at just 17-years-old, he said he experienced a spiritual awakening that would set him on a lifelong path of Christian ministry.
“This was the day that Jesus came into my life. I was dramatically ‘born again’,” he said.
His journey began unexpectedly at a youth camp in Gerroa.
He’d joined a youth group at St Michael’s Anglican Church in Wollongong, motivated by the prospect of meeting girls.
“I asked how many [girls] were going? The answer I got was 24 girls and six boys [so] I immediately signed-up.”
But a sermon during the camp took Kerry in a very different direction.
“I forgot about the girls and walked Seven Mile Beach into the night trying to figure out if there really was a God.”
The following morning, he made a decision that changed his life.
“When an invitation was given to give my life to Jesus, I rushed to the front, knocking two chairs over.”
From that moment, Kerry’s life became a mission.
He read the entire Bible in six months, “not bad, considering I only read comics and Biggles books.”
He went back to night school, then to Moore College, and into ordained ministry.
He served in Moree, at Port Macquarie’s St Thomas’ Anglican and GRACE Churches, and even out on the opal fields of Coober Pedy with Bush Church Aid.
Alongside his ministry, Kerry has authored 11 books.
Two of the most popular, Bush Preacher Bites the Dust and Is Ned Kelly in Heaven? published in Port Macquarie, continue to resonate with readers, particularly those behind bars.
“The Ned Kelly book is in prison libraries around Australia and New Zealand and has impacted hundreds of prisoners’ lives.”
Looking back, Kerry offers a simple yet profound prayer of gratitude: “Thankyou God for an amazing 60 years”.
By Sis HIGGINS
