Faith sharer and soul winner now Alumnus of the Year

Pr David Currie

Ask 10-year-old David Currie what he wanted to do with his life and his answer would have been to bring people to Christ and to the church. Now 80, the Seventh-day Adventist minister and evangelist is still doing that with as much passion as in his first years of denominational service. And wife Gaya (nee Wilton) is still by his side.

The two married in 1956, the year after David graduated from the Australasian Missionary College. The union has produced four children—Delphine, Kelvin, Adelle and Althea. All were born during a period in which David served as a minister and evangelist for the Adventist Church’s conferences in Tasmania, Western Australia and South New Zealand. He returned to Avondale in 1971 to teach practical theology and to study for his bachelor’s degree. A call from the church in the United Kingdom to serve as the minister’s minister and as evangelist followed.

David transitioned into administrative roles after accepting a call as president of the church in northern New South Wales in 1980. He drew on previous experience as Ministerial Association secretary and added a new role as Spirit of Prophecy director for the church in the South Pacific before heading the church’s Trans-Australian Union Conference. Between these appointments came perhaps David’s most significant: as coordinator for the church in Europe’s Global Mission ministry.

Retirement has seen David return to local church ministry, at first in Victoria and now in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

David presented the Alumni Lecture at Homecoming in 2008. His historical review of evangelism in the South Pacific served as a reminder of the characteristics of successful outreach—evangelists as skilled speakers and marketers, the ability to adapt, the use of new technology, and the courage to share and publicly defend your faith. David noted the decline in number of evangelists and the lack of connection Adventist Church members now have with evangelistic programs. “Where are the reapers?” he asked.

The Avondale Alumni Association honours David for a lifetime of faith sharing and soul winning.

Brenton Stacey

Author

Brenton Stacey

Brenton is Avondale University’s Public Relations and Philanthropy Officer. He brings to the role experience as a communicator in publishing, media relations, public relations, radio and television, mostly within the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the South Pacific and its entities.