God has amazing ways of leading people into his service.

 

Michael Lilikakis with football trophy

Michael Lilikakis
Michael Lilikakis was a professional footballer with international experience before being called to Avondale. In 1990 he received a contract to play soccer for South Melbourne Hellas Р every Greek kid’s dream! After five years with the club he moved to Greece, where he played professional football for a year. After returning to Australia he moved to the Northern Territory, in time becoming head of the then Central Australian Soccer Association.

His professional football career ended with a knee injury from a motorbike accident in Alice Springs. While living in The Alice Michael joined the local Adventist Church, becoming active in youth ministry. But a personal crisis led in time to a decline in his spiritual life.

Then he met an English girl who was backpacking in Australia. They fell in love, began living together, and had a baby girl. Michael had stopped attending church and was embarrassed to go back because he felt that after leaving the church, he wouldn’t be accepted. However, his partner Joanne began asking questions about the Adventist books he was reading. She also observed him praying. In response to her questions about Christianity, he started reading Bible stories to her from his books.

After moving to Melbourne they decided to attend church, Joanne taking Bible lessons from the church pastor. The church members were warm and receptive, and Michael and Joanne grew in faith, becoming active in church life. They married in 2007.

In Melbourne Michael started a successful goalkeeper academy with thirty-five kids from various football clubs in training. He was good at it, like everything else he had worked for, but somehow felt empty doing it. He had often talked about going to Avondale, but had never been able to make up his mind. One night Joanne said with some vehemence, ‘Why don’t you do it!’ At first he thought of the difficulties Р until God stepped in.

One day while Michael was driving his car a voice said unmistakably: ‘I want you to go to Avondale.’ After wavering for some time, he asked God for an incontrovertible sign. Within minutes an SMS message appeared on his mobile phone from a person who had invited him to preach the previous week. ‘I don’t know why I’m writing this,’ he said, ‘but I had a sudden urge to tell you that you need to go to Avondale.’ Soon afterwards Michael and Joanne were baptised and decided to go to Avondale.

Michael is now in his third year of ministerial training. ‘Avondale has been a wonderful experience,’ he said. ‘The course of study, while challenging, has been a real eye-opener.’ His practical ministry training has involved him in a nearby church as assistant youth pastor and as a member of the personal ministry team. After graduating Michael would love to take up youth ministry.

Gustav Hoffman
Gustav Hoffman left a career in the music industry to study for the ministry at Avondale. With exceptional talent in piano and voice, Gustav had made music the all-consuming centre of his life Р until one day a stranger called at his door with a leaflet advertising a series of seminars on prophecy. Gustav had grown up in a new age environment and was fascinated by the idea of predicting the future; so he went to the seminars in the Galston Adventist Church, Sydney.

From his early childhood his father had spoken of the need to discover God, and as the seminars progressed, Gustav realised Christ was the One he had been searching for all his life. One evening as the seminar speaker told of the love of Christ, Gustav responded, ‘I accept the consciousness of Christ into my mind and heart.’ He felt a physical sensation of peace pouring into his heart and mind, which he described as ‘like warm water melting a block of ice.’ At home that night he reaffirmed his decision, and experienced again the sensation of warmth and peace he had felt during the seminar. He started reading the Bible every day, looking for flaws at first, but with growing conviction.

In time he began to feel vaguely unsatisfied in the music industry, questioning the direction his life was taking. The Galston minister suggested that God might have other plans for his life. About this time he attended some seminars by Louis Torres, a pastor, evangelist, and vice-president of the Institute of Mission, California, who had himself left the music industry for the ministry. Before his conversion, Torres had skyrocketed to fame as lead bass player of the rock bands ‘The Vampires’ and ‘Bill Haley and the Comets.’ After hearing Gustav’s story, Torres astounded him with the words, ‘You too should become a minister!’ Р a call that later came with increasing conviction.

For some time Gustav resisted. Sony-BMG had offered him a song-writing contract that seemed too good an opportunity to forego. But one day someone in the studio said to him, ‘What would you do if you had a million dollars?’ Gustav surprised himself and astonished his questioner with the answer that came out: ‘I’d go to Avondale and study for the ministry.’ In July 2008 he applied to Avondale and was accepted.

Now in the third year of his studies, Gustav performs music as part of his ministry. For practical ministry training he was assigned to the Toronto Adventist Church, where he became teen leader, coordinating weekend teen programs and conducting baptismal studies. He is now at the Central Coast Community Church.

Caption: Michael Lilikakis with football trophy.