Jeff Percival, Lower Barrington
Mar 22, 2022
Ministry Profile
Jeff Percival
Jeff Percival was inducted at Lower Barrington Baptist on Sunday 6th February 2022. He is pictured above on induction day with Ann, their daughter Anitra, and Tas Baptists Mission Director Stephen Baxter.
But who is Jeff and what gets him excited? To fill the gaps, Jeff wrote his story. Read on!
The Royal Women’s Hospital in Sydney is where it all began for me. Dad was granted compassionate leave from duty with the air force in Darwin to see his eldest son, just after I was born. He spent most of time with the bomb disposal unit at the Darwin RAAF base. My parents moved to Cronulla in the Sutherland Shire NSW when I was five and I spent all my teenage years there.
My young sister died at four years old and that event
changed the life of the Percival family
Most of my time outside of school hours was spent surfing at Cronulla beach and sailing in Botany Bay with Dad and my younger brother.
My young sister died at four years old and that event changed the life of the Percival family forever. God intervened in a mighty way when my parents sought answers as to why she had to be taken from us. The long journey ended when they became Christians and joined the local Baptist Church.
Church became a major part of our lives from then on, and Church camps and Sunday school provided great times of fellowship. It was at one of the camps at Tahlee where I was convinced of my need to confess Jesus Christ as my Lord and Saviour.
Working and Ministry Life
Further study after leaving school centred on Accountancy and Purchasing Diploma, and led to a position of Purchasing Manager with a large multi-national company. The fast-paced life in the secular world took its toll after 20 or so years. So, Ann and I moved to the north coast where we built our home in a beautiful dairy valley. By that time, all our children had married, and we now have 15 grandchildren.
I had begun theological studies with Tabor College, and after several years we were called to Teen Challenge, a Christian drug and Alcohol rehabilitation centre. Our job there was as Camp Director/ Pastor and Counsellors.
We spent three years living with 10 staff and 30 “students”. Teaching was done at four Chapel services a week, and one on Sunday. Counselling was given on a needs basis, and the students lived on site for 12-months. Then, all those who graduated were sent out to supportive churches. There they were encouraged and supported to live drug free.
Never have I been so aware of the sovereignty of God in difficult situations and the changes in the lives of those students who graduated when they yielded their life to Christ. The Lord was so present with us and so real. So much so, it was difficult for all staff to readjust to “normal” life outside when they left.
How Will they Hear?
In later years I began an interim pastoral role with churches who were without a pastor. This brought us to Tasmania in March 2015. Here I have had an itinerant ministry, preaching from north to south, over approximately eight years.
A quotation from Charles Spurgeon I’ve applied to my life since first reading it in the mid-90’s is, “When God calls you to preach the Gospel , don’t stop on the way to become a King.”
I will never decline the opportunity to preach the Gospel of the good news of Jesus Christ. This is because I’ve seen captives set free from the most debilitating addictions. As well, “how will they hear without a preacher?” It is so exciting to see lives transformed by the Holy Spirit and the Word of God!
How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?
Romans 10:14
Blessing upon Blessing
What blessings the Lord has bestowed upon Ann and myself over the years! Here we are at Lower Barrington Baptist Church. It is our new Church family, who are hungry for the Word of God.
These are exciting times for those who watch for His coming to call His children home to be with Him. It is time to be diligent in the study of the Word and prepare ourselves for the Lord’s imminent return. Pray for those who, week by week, preach the unadulterated truth that they never compromise the God they serve.
In a few words: Jeff Percival
I look forward to worshiping the Lamb and crying, “Holy Holy worthy is the Lamb!”
“Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain,
Revelation 5:12 (NIV)
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength
and honour and glory and praise!”
I worry about, and am burdened for, the lost, those who have no living hope!
I am confident that the current world situation is encapsulated in Psalm 2.
Why do the nations conspire
Psalm 2:1
and the peoples plot in vain?
I am overjoyed the Lord has seen fit to bless me with an opportunity, at this end of my life, to preach the Gospel.
I am at my best when I am walking with my Lord, confident that He goes before me.
FIND OUT MORE: Lower Barrington Baptist Church
READ: Dan Evenhuis (Citywide) Ministry Profile