Ramon Williams, Australian Christian media powerhouse, decides it’s time to retire

Ramon Williams, the unassuming one-man Christian media powerhouse behind Worldwide Photos, has tonight announced, on medical advice, that his ministry will conclude.

Dan Wooding at IPA News published a profile of Ramon in July 2017 –

“Now 86, Ramon Williams has been supplying news articles and photos to the Christian media from ’down under’ for more than 50 years, and he is considered by many, including myself, as one of the great heroes of the Australian Christian media.

This self-effacing former missionary has, for more than half-a-century, been running the equivalent of a Christian AP (Associated Press) news wire…” – Read the full article at IPA News.

Ramon and his wife Dorothy, both graduates of SMBC, served as missionaries with WEC (Worldwide Evangelisation Crusade) in South East Asia from 1959 to 1967, and originally established Worldwide Photos as a department of WEC.

In this June 2017 profile in The Salvation Army’s War Cry, Ramon explains –

“… the mission called for someone to open a new department to produce good-quality audio­visuals. I accepted the challenge and (with wife Dorothy) came home to Australia in November 1967, to start the work.

I noticed in the ministers’ meeting, prior to the 1968 Billy Graham Crusade, that nobody was photographing the event for the Christian media. New Life, an Australian Christian newspaper, was willing to accept my offer to photograph the crusade but they could not pay. Afterwards I found The Australian Baptist was willing to accept photos but could not pay. I’ve been doing it ever since—supplying photos to people who cannot pay! …”

Astute observers will notice that the ACL website is one of many beneficiaries of Ramon’s cheerful generosity, and it is only appropriate that we publicly thank him here, through our website.

We are sure that many will echo our heartfelt thanks.

Photo courtesy IPA News.

Michael Kellahan next guest on The Pastor’s Heart

Freedom for Faith’s Michael Kellahan is the next guest on The Pastor’s Heart – to be streamed live on Facebook tomorrow (Tuesday 30th January 2018) at 2:00pm.

From Dominic Steele:

“With submissions to the Ruddock inquiry into Freedom for Religion being given amazingly tight deadlines, Michael’s been responsible for co-ordinating a ‘heavy weight’ response to the inquiry on behalf of a series of leading Protestant churches.”

Watch live, and also see or hear replays at The Pastor’s Heart on Facebook – or thepastorsheart.net.

12 Rules for Life – A Christian Perspective

“I have been asked so much about my article Is Jordan Peterson the New Messiah? … that I decided to … write a full review of 12 Rules for Life, complete with quotes so that you can judge  for yourselves –  Peterson is not a preacher but there are enough quotes here to keep a preacher happy for many sermons!  of course reading the book is better.

The following is my review from a Christian perspective. I have to say it is a long time since I have been so excited about a book!”

– At his blog The Wee Flea, David Robertson reviews Jordan Peterson’s influential new book.

Related: Jordan Peterson interviewed on Channel 4 in the UK. (via Rod Dreher.)

Phillip Jensen on his long ministry and lessons learned

At Nexus Conference 2016, Dominic Steele interviewed Phillip Jensen on his long ministry and lessons learned.

The video and audio files have now been posted at The Pastor’s Heart.

Take the time to watch or listen, be reminded of what’s really important, and give thanks for faithful servants like Phillip. Much to think about, and lots of wisdom.

Vale Bishop Chuck Murphy

“Charles H. Murphy III, retired bishop and founder of the Anglican Mission in the Americas (AMiA), died Jan. 9 … He was 70.

Through his organization, created in response to liberal drift in the mainline Episcopal Church, Murphy gained acclaim from conservative Christians for taking a public stand against liberal theology that rejected the authority of Scripture, the divinity of Christ, and other orthodox doctrines. AMiA provided a new institutional home to marginalized conservative Christians, churches, dioceses, and bishops in the US and Canada. …

By September 1997, Murphy and other conservative Episcopal clergy believed that their denomination had thoroughly embraced false doctrine and was resistant to reform. These clergy drafted and signed the First Promise statement. It declared the church had “departed from ‘the doctrine, discipline, and worship of Christ as this church has received them,’ and we declare their authority to be fundamentally impaired, and that they are not upholding the truth of the gospel.”

– Full story at Christianity Today. (link via SydneyAnglicans.net.)

Related:

Archbishop Foley Beach of the Anglican Church in North America:

“The reformation of Anglicanism in North America owes a great deal to his courageous and visionary leadership, and I am thankful for the ways in which God used him to spread the message of Jesus Christ.”

Here’s how the Editorial of ACL News, March 2000 reported the developments at that time. It gives a sense of the turmoil being created by the actions of the Episcopal Church, and varying thoughts on how best to respond –

On Saturday 29th January, Archbishop Emmanuel Kolini of Rwanda and the Most Rev. Moses Tay, Archbishop of the Province of South East Asia, together with other bishops, consecrated two American Episcopal clergymen, John Rodgers and Chuck Murphy, as bishops.  Read more

Isesomo: God’s Servant in Congo

“In this short book we are introduced to Bishop Adolphe Isesomo, second bishop in the Diocese of North Kivu in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

While the book is essentially a biography in the style of a ‘missionary biography’, Josh Maule neatly intertwines three different but interrelated histories. Isesomo’s story is told in the context of the development of the Anglican Church of Congo, especially the Diocese of North Kivu, but also the sad account of the country that was Zaire and is now the DRC. …”

– At SydneyAnglicans.net, CMS NSW ACT General Secretary Canon Malcolm Richards points us to a book worth reading.

(The book is available locally here, as well as from other sellers.)

Tim Challies in Sydney next month

“I will be in Sydney on February 22 [2018] and would love to meet you for an informal drop-in event at the Reformers Bookshop! I am dedicating 2018 to traveling the world for my EPIC church history project and am making a stop in Australia. …”

– Canadian blogger Tim Challies will be in Oz next month. More here.

Interview with Richard Chin

Richard Chin, National Director of the Australian Fellowship of Evangelical Students, is the main speaker at this year’s NSW/ACT CMS Summer School at Katoomba.

David Ould interviewed him yesterday. A very encouraging 29 minutes. Listen here.

Richard makes reference to the article Thank God for the Gift of Cancer, written by Bronwyn Chin for Equal but Different’s journal: June 2012.

Also at the Summer School, CMS revealed their new logo – see their website.

(Image: AFES.)

Collected writings of Mike Ovey to be launched 18 January

The Goldilocks Zone, collected writings of dearly missed Mike Ovey, will be launched at Oak Hill College in London on Thursday 18th January 2018.

Once it’s available, we’ll add a link for ordering.

Thousands spoke his language in the Amazon. Now he is the only one.

“Now Garcia lives alone in a clapboard house behind the town’s water tower, spending many of his final days drinking.

Desperate to speak and hear whatever Taushiro he can, he sits alone on his porch in the morning, reciting the only literature ever written in the language – verses of the Bible translated by missionaries who sought to convert the tribe years ago.

Ine aconahive ite chi yi tua tieya ana na’que I’yo lo’, he reads aloud one morning. It is the story of Lot from the Book of Genesis. …”

– The Sydney Morning Herald republishes this article from The New York Times, where the online version is much fuller, and the NYT has a must-watch video.

The story is a sobering reminder that the gospel is for every tribe and every language, and that all need to hear.

Mark Dever: Remembering R.C. Sproul

Mark Dever and Jonathan Leeman give thanks for R.C. Sproul in Episode 32 of their “Pastors’ Talk” podcast.

There are also links to two interviews.

R.C. Sproul and the Gospel

Tim Challies has published links to a number of tributes, as is fitting, giving thanks for R.C. Sproul, including the video compilation above.

They are linked here.

In addition, Albert Mohler speaks about R.C. Sproul in today’s issue of The Briefing broadcast, the last for 2017.

A Bright and Burning Light: Robert Charles Sproul

“He was one of the great defenders of historic Christianity of our times. It is fair to say that R.C. was the greatest and most influential proponent of the recovery of Reformed theology in the last century. He was a stalwart defender of the Word of God, and one of the primary architects of the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy in 1978. His tapes were soon accompanied by his books and the vastly expanding influence of Ligonier Ministries.

When he taught about the holiness of God, a generation of evangelicals was rescued from the emaciated and desiccated theology of cultural Christianity. …”

– Albert Mohler thanks the Lord for R. C. Sproul.

So do Tim Challies:

“Ligonier Ministries has just announced that R.C. Sproul has passed away. But I don’t think he would want you to cry about it. “You can grieve for me the week before I die, if I’m scared and hurting” he once said, “but when I gasp that last fleeting breath and my immortal soul flees to heaven, I’m going to be jumping over fire hydrants down the golden streets…” So, to honor his memory, I won’t cry. But I will write. …”

Justin Taylor:

“Presbyterian minister R.C. Sproul, one of the most influential popularizers of Reformed theology spanning the late 20th and early 21st centuries, entered into the joy of his Lord and Savior on December 14, 2017, following complications from emphysema. He was 78 years old.

Because he preached the whole counsel of God and had a heart to equip God’s people to live before the face of a holy God, he often taught on suffering and death over his five decades of ministry. …”

Rick Phillips:

“We grieve today at the news of R. C. Sproul’s departure from this life, while so blessed at the knowledge that he basks in the glory of the Savior he served and loved.

In mourning our loss of this great preacher and church leader, my mind searches back to the early 1990’s, when what is now called the Reformed Resurgence was only an envisioned hope. I was converted to faith in Christ in 1990 under the preaching of R.C.’s close friend, James Montgomery Boice. This meant that I soon was exposed to the live phenomenon of R. C. Sproul in the pulpit in the prime of his vigor. I had never and never will see again such a combination of passion, intellect, and theological courage. …”

and Michael Horton:

‘The death of a saint always fills fellow pilgrims with inner conflict: joy in their being in the presence of the Lord, without the pains and struggles of this fallen existence, and sorrow at losing a dear brother or sister. These mixed emotions overwhelmed me as I sat next to R.C. Sproul as we shared in the memorial service for our friend, James Montgomery Boice. ‘A mighty general has fallen on the field, in valiant service to his Lord,’ I recall R.C. repeating in his message. And now, with so many others around the world today, I feel the sharp sting of that realization.”

Dr. R.C. Sproul, Called Home to the Lord

“Dr. R.C. Sproul went home to be with the Lord this afternoon around 3 p.m. surrounded by his wife, Vesta, and family in his hospital room in Altamonte Springs, Fla. He was 78. He died peacefully after being hospitalized twelve days ago …

Known to millions of Christians as simply “R.C.,” he was used of the Lord to proclaim, teach, and defend the holiness of God in all its fullness. Through his teaching ministry, many of us learned that God is bigger than we knew, our sin is more deeply rooted than we imagined, and the grace of God in Jesus Christ is overwhelming.”

– Ligonier Ministries has this announcement.

Director General RAAF Chaplaincy retires

Moore College graduate Kevin Russell, Director General RAAF Chaplaincy, has retired, and is thanked in this post from Defence Families of Australia.

It’s a good reminder to pray for the Defence Chaplains. Perhaps you could use their Prayer Diary.

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