From Persecution to Passion

Vocational Bible College has welcomed a bunch of new students this year. So what sorts of people have started training in 2024?

Julie Tran was born into a Buddhist home in Sydney, but it was actually through her mother that she came to know Christ.

“Her work colleague invited her to church one day,” Julie explains, “and she just felt so much grace from God that she was one of the people that raised their hands up when the pastor was preaching at the end of the sermon, asking who would like to accept Christ as their Saviour.”

Julie’s mum came home and told her all about Jesus. At the time, she’d had a lot of questions about the meaning of life—and she felt like what the pastor was saying about Jesus answered a lot of them.

“All of this happened during a time when my dad was overseas to visit his parents in Vietnam,” Julie says. “He was away for that whole month while we were learning about Christ. So when he came back from his trip, my mum shared the gospel—and it was very unfortunate. He said, ‘No.’”

What followed was years of persecution for Julie and her mother.

“It was quite traumatic for me, because I was transitioning from year six to year seven,” Julie shares. “So I was trying to find my feet in high school life, let alone coming home and experiencing the persecution that we had to suffer for following Christ.”

Julie was forbidden from praying. Her Bible was taken away from her by her father and her sister. They wouldn’t let her speak to any Christians. And even worse—they wouldn’t let her speak to her own mother.

 “They were just afraid that she would talk about Jesus to me,” Julie explains. “And so our relationships have been quite hard right from that time until now. It has been 30 years now. All I can do is just pray for my dad and my sister to come to know Christ.”

Julie can’t speak highly enough of her mother’s example to her.

“I just remembered my mum's words about trusting in the Lord,” she says. “She told me I could cry out to the Lord inside my heart. They don't know that you are praying to the Lord. And so I did.”

Julie is grateful to God for the way He sustained her through those difficult high school years. Earlier this year, she attended SWEATCON, a Bible training conference in South-West Sydney.

“I never really got that foundation of learning about the Bible until this year when I had the opportunity to go to SWEATCON,” Julie explains. “It was so rewarding. God spoke to me through the speakers, through the workshops, through the songs. I felt so convicted, so compelled by God's love. And therefore, when SWEATCON finished, I had the blues.”

Julie’s strand group leader during the conference was Andrew Beddoe. When Julie asked him how she could learn more about the Bible, he directed her to a suitable course at VBC—and she started training in the first training block this year.

“It has been so good,” Julie says. “I get so super excited every single time when we meet online. We have all these brothers and sisters in Christ from around the world. It's amazing how God has just brought all of us together.”

Julie can’t stop raving about her training experience so far.

“Everything has been just so amazing,” she says. “I found the online classes to be very helpful as it gets recorded, so I can revise anything I may have missed in my notes the first time round. The portal is user-friendly. The trainers are wonderful and knowledgeable.”

Julie has found when she’s at Bible study and attending Sunday services, she now understands the content on a deeper level in a biblical context.

“I'm learning and applying it,” Julie shares. “It's just been so rewarding. I'm absolutely loving it. One of my sisters at church said to me, ‘I can see how it's changing you and transforming you.’ So I keep thriving to learn more and more.”

For more information about training through VBC, head here.

Meet Bruce Bennett

Vocational Bible College is blessed to have a Community Liaison Officer working with us to grow partnerships with local churches. So who is this person who hopes to increase awareness of VBC?

It’s safe to say that after more than 30 years in ministry, Bruce Bennett has gained a few connections. VBC is grateful to Bruce for using those connections to get the word out about its existence!

Bruce grew up in Bilipin in the Blue Mountains. He was one of seven children, and he feels deeply grateful for the way his parents brought him up to know and trust the Lord.

“I don't think there was ever a time I didn't know about or trust in Jesus,” Bruce shares. “I look back and think, ‘What a privileged life I've had.’”

After finishing high school Bruce trained as a carpenter, but his heart was set on farming.

At 20 years old he moved to the Nyngan district, west of Dubbo, where he started share farming. He eventually ended up buying land with his dad and his brother. 

During that time, Bruce became increasingly involved in church ministry. In the end, after the church he was part of stopped faithfully teaching the Bible, he started a church on his own.

“The church I grew up in was actually started by my grandfather when he became a Christian,” Bruce explains. “So I thought, well, that's what you do when you need a church that teaches the Bible—you just start it.”

He led the church for about seven years, and during that time Bruce learnt that he did in fact have gifts in ministry. He also learnt that gospel ministry was worthy of his time.

“It taught me that there are more important things than growing wheat and sheep,” Bruce says. 

He was certain that if he was going to move into full-time ministry, he wanted to be equipped. 

“I knew that I needed to know the Bible well, and I needed to be able to understand it and explain it,” Bruce says. So Bruce and his wife Robyn decided to sell up and move to Moore College. 

It was a huge life change.

“I knew that I wasn't dumb,” Bruce laughs, “but I’d never written an essay in my life. I’d lived in the country all my life. It was a big change—from working hard physically every day, to sitting down and thinking every day, and learning how to write.”

Bruce says the change was worth it because there was a purpose to it.

“We really felt that it was something God wanted us to do,” Bruce explains.

After graduating, Bruce says he was “talked into becoming an Anglican.” He ended up in pastoral roles at churches in Tamworth and Warialda. Nine years later, he accepted a role as Senior Pastor at Orange Evangelical Church.

It was while he was ministering in Orange that Bruce realised the need for something like VBC.

“In a country town, we were quite a professional church—we didn't have a lot of tradies,” Bruce explains. “Because I'm basically a tradie, we started to attract everyday people like myself. I saw the need to be training them.”

The courses that Bruce offered, however, weren’t quite the right fit for this demographic.

“I realised that the academic tilt to it just scared them off,” Bruce shares. “They didn’t want to do exams. They didn’t want to write essays. They were a bit daunted by that.”

So Bruce started thinking about how he could provide training for these everyday people. In the process of thinking it through, Bruce met Andrew Beddoe.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Bruce has been on the board of VBC right from the beginning. Last year we realised we needed someone to start connecting with more people. We created a role called a ‘Community Liaison Officer.’

“When we created this position for VBC, I thought, “This is a big job. I don't know anyone who can do this.’ And then I thought, ‘Yes, I do—it’s probably me!’”

So Bruce applied for a job that he helped create. He’s very much looking forward to seeing how God will use him in this role. 

“Because we're delivering training online now, I realised the vast potential of VBC being able to train people right across Australia,” Bruce explains. “People can join from anywhere and be taught, be encouraged and get a different vision for life.”

His advice to anyone on the fence about training with VBC?

“Whatever the barrier is, jump over it and start doing it,” Bruce says. “Jesus made disciples who made disciples who made disciples—and every one of us needs to extend our discipleship past ourselves.”

A Reluctant Journey: Meet Pete Ritchie

Vocational Bible College is blessed to have a number of dedicated trainers working with us to deliver our practical Bible training. So what sorts of people come to work at VBC? 

After initially fighting “tooth and nail” against the prospect of going into ministry, that is exactly what Pete Ritchie has been doing for the past 17 years.

Pete grew up in a Christian home in the Blue Mountains. After finishing high school, Pete wanted to enter the police force—so he started off by joining the Navy.

“Because I grew up in a Christian family, and went to a Christian school, my world was insulated,” Pete explains. “I thought, ‘I want to be a cop, but I have no idea what the world's like, so I’ll join the Navy, get some experience, and leave a little bit better equipped for the police.’”

When Pete left the Navy, he actually ended up doing a two-year MTS Apprenticeship through his church in Narellan. He spent the entire two-year period planning to leave full-time ministry and head into the police force instead.

“At the end of six months of MTS I was like, ‘Yeah, I'm out of here,’” Pete laughs. “At 12 months, I said to the pastor, ‘I'm gone. I don't think full-time ministry is a good fit for me.’ He just said, ‘Hang in there another year. Everyone finds it hard.’ At the 18-month mark, I had my application in with the police—and then God did a big number on me.”

After Pete was fully convinced about where he could best serve the Lord, he spent three years studying at SMBC before beginning a role with FOCUS Military Ministry in Albury in 2007. This year, he’ll continue his role with FOCUS Military Ministry while also taking on a role as Trainer with VBC. 

Pete is really looking forward to it.

“I think what VBC is doing is unique in the theological education landscape,” Pete says. “There is a uniqueness in its accessibility, both in content delivery and assessment, but also the fact that it’s online.”

The role of trainer at VBC seems like a natural fit for him.

“In some ways, it feels like an extension in some ways of what the ministry has been with FOCUS,” Pete says. “Because it's getting alongside everyday people—raising up, training up, and equipping, which God-willing will then just release these guys like ninjas into the world for the gospel. So I'm pretty pumped and excited about getting everyday people to lead disciple-making ministries.”

Pete will be taking two Diploma-level subjects on a Tuesday evening this semester.

“You know those little lightbulb moments when you see the lights come on in your own life, and you understand God's Word at a deeper level and it transforms you?” Pete asks. “I’m looking forward to seeing those moments, God-willing, and then God-willing those moments will transform into people who are really confident handling God's Word to get out there, and share the good news of Jesus in whatever circumstances they're in.”

Q&A: Hear from a Mentor and a VBC Ministry Apprentice

Tara Fryar undertook VBC training through her local church before becoming a Ministry Apprentice. Read on for an insight into two sides of the same coin: the Mentor and the Apprentice.

The Apprentice: Tara Fryer

Q: How did you end up as a Ministry Apprentice?

I never really imagined myself in ministry or as someone who would do a Ministry Apprenticeship. I was working in childcare when Rosemeadow Anglican Church where I was attending started offering Vocational Bible College Subjects and I knew that I wanted to know God better, so I started doing a couple of subjects while I was working full time. I also found that the style of teaching that VBC offers really suited me because it focused more on practical training rather than essays and written assessments, which was quite similar to my childcare traineeship.

As I got closer to finishing my Certificate IV in Ministry and Theology our Senior Minister, Brett Hall encouraged me to start thinking about doing a Ministry Apprenticeship and after thinking and praying about it with my husband we decided that I should do it, and I’m so thankful that I did! 

Q: How were you challenged during your apprenticeship?

I found that by doing a Ministry Apprenticeship I was constantly pushed out of my comfort zone. I’ve never thought of myself as a confident public speaker, but all of a sudden I found myself doing kids talks and preaching to women. I think it was really helpful for me to give things a go that I wasn’t confident at because it meant that I found gifts that I didn’t know I had and became easier to be okay with the times I failed.
The other thing that I was challenged by was the flexibility of work when you are doing an apprenticeship. Having the freedom to choose what you want to work on in a particular time slot is both a blessing and a curse and it took time to get used to working in that manner.

Q: What did you learn while you were an apprentice?

I learnt that God uses you for his good in whatever way he wants. Often the things I thought I messed up the worst (and probably did) were things that people were challenged or convicted by and that is a humbling experience, that God still uses you in your least polished and prepared moments. I think it also gave me an appreciation for all of the hard work and effort our ministers put into making a church run, and how thoughtful they are about everything they do.

The Mentor: Brett Hall

Q: What are the rewards and challenges of training a VBC Ministry Apprentice?

The rewards of training a VBC Ministry Apprentice are clear: you spend a couple of years investing deeply in another person's discipleship, and especially their ability to serve the Lord Jesus and his people. You potentially get to see someone else grow profoundly in their understanding of God and the Gospel, in how they live as a follower of Jesus, and in their service of others. Their wins are your wins.

I was conscious of two key challenges: as your apprentice imitates you, as you seek to imitate Jesus, you become especially self-aware of your own faults and flaws that you hope they don't imitate! The whole thing requires vulnerability. Secondly, apprentices aren't in any sense, 'cheap labour'. You have to go into training an apprentice realising that there will be a cost on your time—a very worthwhile cost— but still a cost. You have to be deliberate in carving out time to make a significant investment.

Sharing these challenges of training with VBC Trainers doing some of the work helps lift some of the burden. There are other experienced, trusted gospel ministers investing in your apprentice's training and growth at the same time.

Brett & Von Hall, Tara & Adam Fryar

VBC helped us identify people that should be doing ministry apprenticeships. Having a range of people undertaking the Certificate IV in Christian Ministry and Theology part-time gave us the opportunity to work out who might be a good fit to step up to continue their study and undertake an apprenticeship. I'm not sure that we would've ordinarily identified Tara to do a ministry apprenticeship, but seeing her enthusiasm for learning theology with Vocational Bible College, and trying out some ministry, helped us to see that it would make a great fit. I'm thankful to God for how VBC helped make this happen.

Q: How have you seen your VBC Ministry Apprentices skills develop?

During her apprenticeship, Tara had the opportunity to grow in existing skills and develop some new ones. Part of her role meant spending six months learning everything she could about helping new people integrate into church, and then implementing what she learnt in our church. She did an outstanding job. As we spent time reading the bible together every week, it was clear that Tara was growing in her understanding of God and the gospel. We had an emphasis in our staff team on growing in soft interpersonal skills, like how to recruit for, support and grow a ministry; it was great reflecting with Tara at one point how these were things that she was growing in. 

This was all a team effort. Tara's training in our church was wonderfully accompanied by her training at VBC: Sometimes what Tara was learning was directly relevant to what was happening at church. Other times, Tara took initiative in ministry because her VBC training required her to get experience in certain areas. Most memorable was seeing how Tara's confidence grew over those two years—especially that God could use her in significant ways for the building up of his church. 

Celebrating God’s Kindness in 2023

As the year draws to a close, we thought we’d ask a bunch of trainees to share their thoughts on their training with VBC this year. We hope you are as encouraged as we have been to read these testimonials.

“In the midst of a life full of challenges, VBC has been a rock of biblical, spiritual, emotional, and ministerial support. It is aligned to equip the learner to develop as a disciple in modelling Christ in the wide variety of situations that life with the Lord takes us. I have been blessed to sit under several godly and learned teachers who love God and are true ministers of the truth in His Word; who with God have shaped a well-pitched practical learning environment where I have been blessed to grow in ministry and friendship with several other like-minded students.”

—Greg Brooks

“I love VBC training because it is something I can relate to and it’s self-paced. VBC has helped me to serve God and grow as a Christian, because when I go out in the community I can now share with people what I learnt.”

—Catherine Ryan

“I know God has grown my own knowledge of God's Word. Which is helping me to be able to answer questions more clearly to Christians and non-Christians. I am more confident in sharing the gospel with the kids. I know God has grown me in different areas of my life.”

—Sarah Albury

“If you are serious about doing ministry in your local church or community, VBC is the place to learn how to do it more efficiently. The trainers, the structure of your learning will make an amazing change in your life. I am 65 years young and still learning and growing. You can do it. Give it a go.”

—David Ponnuswamy

“I have always enjoyed the ground work in ministry whereby I am able to journey with people and care for them as a shepherd cares for the sheep. But this year I felt an obligation to understand the Bible and theology on a deeper and richer level, to therefore be able to work with that understanding to disciple and help others in their walk with Jesus. This course has helped me to develop in these areas, and I look forward to putting it into practice within ministry life. The culture, the conversations, the fellowship and the learning are all 5 stars!”

—Sean Huggan

“I studied the subjects of Early Church History and Old Testament 2. VBC training is very inclusive, where differences in areas such as age or academic ability are not seen as barriers. It is a relaxed learning environment, where questions are encouraged and expectations are both realistic and adaptable to each students’ situation. VBC presents a wonderful opportunity to learn and grow in your Christian faith.”

—Diane Julien

“I have been to uni and achieved a post-uni qualification, however I have not studied for over 30 years, nor done any formal Bible training. I have found the VBC modules to be easy to do and understand, however full of blessings to me in my knowledge of the Bible and of God.  I am starting to see how that knowledge can be used to have better conversations with people about the Kingdom of God. Thanks, VBC.”

—Rodney Cosier

“Anyone could do this training!”

—Sue

“Andrew is an excellent teacher. He is clear, patient and knowledgeable. I enjoyed the interactive classes, with genuine sharing, caring for each other and prayer.” 

—Anonymous

 “Unlocking Revelation has grown my knowledge and confidence in my learning journey in God’s Word.”

—Anonymous

“I enjoyed that we were able to share our own views on different topics. We were able to show grace towards each other. Col was a great teacher and explained everything well. He knows his Bible well.”

—Anonymous

 “I always find having to prepare a talk means I have to understand the subject matter more. It is the hardest, most frustrating, most time consuming and best part of each subject.”

—Anonymous

“Col would make sure everyone understood everything. He would keep asking us questions to make sure everyone understood what we were talking about was clear.”

—Anonymous

“Thank you, Andrew. You have been a faithful and fabulous trainer.”

—Anonymous

“I feel privileged to have had Stephen as my teacher. I felt the course was really well taught, was suitably thorough with a great text book, great content, good opportunity for discussion, prayer, and solid course notes. The course also provided helpful ongoing feedback in both class discussion and with assessments.”

—Anonymous

“Col allowed time for us to share about how weekends were. It was a great subject to do. The Bible is so detailed and it is amazing how it all comes together.”

—Anonymous

“I know it has helped me to understand God’s Word more. I'm confident in sharing more in Bible study. I want to keep reading His Word. I want to keep encouraging people to grow in their love with Jesus. Encourage people to come to know Jesus. Jesus is so good.”

—Anonymous

From Window Cleaner to Church Planter: John Delezio's Unexpected Journey

Graduates from Vocational Bible College are serving in a variety of fields. John Delezio is one of them.

John Delezio never expected to end up in full-time ministry, let alone church planting. 

Initially, the reason he started studying at Vocational Bible College was because he wanted to get to know the Bible better. At the time he owned a commercial window cleaning business and was teaching SRE one day a week in a local primary school.

“I loved teaching little kids about Jesus,” John says. “I then wanted to know more about the Bible, because I hadn’t been able to as a young boy. I had no intention of selling my business or moving into ministry.”

After trying out a few different options for theological study, John was told about VBC.

“I went along and did one subject and I was hooked straight away, because Andrew (Beddoe) was teaching in a way that was similar to the way I had learnt my trades,” John explains. “I had learnt like that at TAFE. It was side-by-side learning; it was round table learning.” 

John also recalls how he had a mentor in his church who helped him put into practice what he was learning and grow in godliness. It wasn’t long before he realised that his training at VBC would turn into a lot more than growing his knowledge of God’s Word.

“Andrew tapped me on the shoulder after the first semester and said, ‘Look, you should think about doing this more seriously,’” John says.

John Delezio (centre) with Ben Pfahlert, MTS National Director (L) and Andrew Beddoe, Principal of Vocational Bible College (R) at John’s ordination as a Deacon in the Sydney Anglican diocese

John can’t speak highly enough of his VBC trainer. Andrew spent time investing in John outside of classes each week.

“Andrew and I would meet weekly before College and he would mentor me,” John shares. “My childhood was pretty messed up, so there was lots of baggage to work through with that. VBC ended up being a place where not only was I learning about the Bible, but also growing in my character as well.”

Eventually, John ended up selling his window cleaning business and undertaking a Blue Collar MTS ministry apprenticeship through his local church. 

John did his apprenticeship over three years and was able to do so through supporters funding his work. After finishing his apprenticeship he still had faithful supporters wanting to enable him to continue in ministry, into a more formal assistant ministers role at Church At The Peak in Peakhurst, Sydney.

After being ordained as a Deacon in the Sydney Anglican diocese, John and his family are about to take a new step of faith and plant a church.

“I’ve been trained under Stuart Maze, and he’s done a really great job of helping me to be a bit more proficient with preaching and pastoral care and running a church,” John explains. “And now I’ll be planting myself in Warilla North starting next month.”

This church will be planted through Evangelism and New Churches (ENC). The hope of ENC, John and all involved will be to reach the 10,000 people who live in the area, and share the hope of Jesus with them.

“I want to train everyday people to be leaders in my church,” John says. “I want to find church planters from the everyday people. It’s not going to be easy, but we’re going to trust God and just welcome people in.”

The Joy of Remote Learning: Meet Kim Wright

Vocational Bible College is able to transcend geographical boundaries by delivering its training online. So what sorts of people enroll in remote learning at VBC?

Kim Wright juggles being a wife, a mum to two teenage boys and a part-time job as an Occupational Therapist. She’s also a student at Vocational Bible College.

“I've always wanted to do some further study,” Kim says. “I wasn't sure whether to do it in health or whether to do it in theology. But because life's busy, I thought I needed to be quite motivated to do it.”

Kim lives in Baranduda, regional Victoria, where she is involved with her local church. Late last year she joined a few others from her church in attending the annual FIEC (Fellowship of Evangelical Churches) conference in Stanwell Tops.

During the six-hour drive home from the conference, Kim mentioned that she had been challenged to consider doing some kind of theological study. Her pastor told her about a few different options, and one of those was Vocational Bible College.

By the time Kim got around to investigating VBC earlier this year, she realised that first semester was about to begin online that very night.

Her pastor told her that she could attend classes for five weeks with no obligation to continue or pay course fees, so she decided to give it a go.

“I had previously been considering university study,” Kim explains. “And to do one subject at uni takes about 10 hours per week. A VBC subject takes roughly three hours.”

Kim soon discovered that VBC would be a much more manageable option.

“It’s also more cost efficient,” Kim says. “It’s nowhere near as much money as a uni subject.”

It didn’t take long for Kim to realise that training through VBC was perfect for her, so she has enrolled in a Diploma of Christian Ministry and Theology. The nature of remote learning is one of the things she appreciates most.

“I think we all got a bit Zoomed out during COVID, so people might feel as though they don’t want to go back to online learning, but I think we learnt a lot during COVID as well,” Kim says. “We learnt that we can do things where we don't have to drive somewhere and be there in person.”

For Kim personally, if VBC only held classes in-person, she wouldn’t be able to access the training. 

“Sydney is six hours away, and we don’t have anything like it locally,” Kim says. “So online makes it really accessible for me. I have found it surprisingly good.”

Kim also appreciates the convenience of remote learning in her role as a mum. “The kids can be here in the background doing their homework,” she shares. “And often I’ve done the dinner prep beforehand, so all I have to do when class is over is warm it up.” 

Something else Kim appreciates about training through VBC is the nature of the classes.

“The smaller class means that we get to have discussion,” she explains. “It's not just a lecture, it is an interactive class. We get to pray for each other's needs. We get to know each other a bit.”

Kim can already see her training benefiting her ministry at church, where she serves as a growth group team leader. She doesn’t yet know whether she will end up in full-time ministry at some point, but that doesn’t worry her.

“It’s never not going to be useful doing Christian study,” Kim says. “I don't know where it's going to lead, but God does.”

Kim is enjoying her training through VBC so much that she has already encouraged someone else to do it, too.

“From one mum to another, I was able to say, ‘Practically, you can do it. This is what it looks like,’” Kim says. “The cost effectiveness, the smaller time investment and the fact it’s online all means it’s really accessible for people in my situation, whether you're rural or whether you're a mum or you're just busy.”