St Thomas' Church Team

The Team at St. Thomas’ Church

Rt Rev Keith Slater, Anglican Bishop of the Grafton Diocese, has appointed Rev. John West, as rector.

The assistant ministers Rev’d Mike Perrott and Rev’d Leanne Smith have both come from within the parish. Studying through the School of Christian Studies hosted here at the parish, they have obtained their respective Diplomas leading to ordination, and have completed further studies. Mike’s focus is small groups and ministry to the elderly.

Leanne’s focus is on baptism ministry and our new play centre. Leanne is also a chaplain at the Port Macquarie Base Hospital.

Mel Hanger is our Young Families Minister. She holds a Diploma in Theology gained at Youth Works – Sydney, and is currently studying an Advanced Diploma. Mel’s focus is ministry to children, youth and their families.

The newest member of the team is Rev’d Ken Fenton. Ken studied theology at Moore College – Sydney, and draws on over 20 years of ministry experience. His focus is on planting a new congregation in the growing western area of Port Macquarie.

The ministry team is supported by the Administration team. The Parish Administrator, David Blackmore, comes from a service and engineering background and has turned his hand to heading up the administration of the parish.

Marilyn Nosworthy has served the parish as parish clerk for many years and continues to do so with an amazing knowledge of people and processes. A recent addition to the Admin team is Lorryl Rumble-Fuller. Lorryl brings with her many years of experience from the worlds of personnel and administration and also works as a parish clerk.

These teams work together to assist the parish in fulfilling its vision and mission of:
Loving God; loving neighbours; and making disciples of Jesus.

St. Thomas’ Church Ministry Team

	Rev. John West .
	Leanne Smith To be Christ-centred is important for me. Jesus gives my life meaning and purpose. To be a child of God is to live a life of being the person God has created me to be. Jesus is the foundation on which my life is centred. I am passionate in my ministry, to share the good news of Jesus. That lives can be full and rich when we have a relationship with Jesus. He has taken out sin and separation from God and replaced it with total love and acceptance. It is who we are that matters to God not what we do.
	Micheal Perrott Jesus Christ is my Lord, Saviour and Friend. Through his life, death on the cross and resurrection, my relationship with my heavenly Father has been restored. I am passionate about the Gospel Message and about people coming to know God through acceptance of Jesus and to see them nurtured in their faith walk and to see them share their love of God with others.
	Ken Fenton I am very impressed with Jesus! It is a privilege to "do life" with our God through his son, the Lord Jesus. God has changed everything through Jesus' life, death and resurrection. I'm sad that, though we all enjoy God's gifts of life, many don't know God to say "Thank you". So, I'm always keen to share Christ with others.
	Mel Hanger Knowing my Creator and Saviour is important for me. As I get to know God more, particularly through Jesus in the Bible and the work of God’s Holy Spirit, I understand more of who I am and my purpose. My passion is to walk alongside children, youth and their families. I believe God can breathe new life into any situation of despair and that he can heal deep brokenness. His grace, love and compassion blow me away!
St. Thomas’ Church Administration Team Left to right: Lorryl Rumble-Fuller, Marilyn Nosworthy and David Blackmore.
	David Blackmore I am saved by Grace, God’s free gift of love and acceptance of me as I am right now, because of what Jesus has done for me 2000 years ago - Jesus’ life, death and physical resurrection from the dead for the forgiveness of my sins and the Gift of Eternal Life. I am passionate about becoming the person God created and intends me to be. This passion motivates my quiet times with God, my relationships with others, my work here in the Parish Office and my preparation for ordained ministry.
	Marilyn Nosworthy It’s only by the grace of God that I am here today and ever so thankful for that. God loves and accepts me for who I am, but loves me too much to leave me the way that I am. God is always there for me. I am passionate about caring for the parishioners of St Thomas’ family and it’s a real privilege to be able to serve God in this way.
	Lorryl Rumble-Fuller Knowing that God loves me ‘anyway’ is important for me. Life without God would be unbearable. I am passionate about creating an efficient working environment that the Ministry Team enjoys and is supportive of their work and which presents an encouraging and proactive image of our church to the public.