Mark Powell
Originally from the UK , up until 2005 I’d had a classic corporate career. In my 30’s I was promoted quickly to head large divisions of multi-national companies in the Logistics and Retail sectors, with responsibility for up to 14,000 employees and annual budgets of up to NZ$1.5 billion. I gained experience in North America and Spain , picking up an MBA on the way, before eventually emigrating to NZ in 2002. Once here I joined the Warehouse Group as Group Supply Chain GM and also spent six months as Interim CEO for their troubled Australian business.
However, in the mean time I’d also become a Christian and felt a strong pull to grow and develop in my Christian journey. Initially I did one paper part-time at Carey in early 2005 and this only made me hungrier. So in mid-2005 I resigned from The Warehouse and started as a full-time student on the BApTheol degree at Carey. God has a funny way of pulling you to things you don’t expect and the next thing I knew I was not only doing the degree but was also on the Pastoral Leadership Track. The training is excellent and while I am learning a lot about the Bible and theology, just as importantly I believe my Christian character is being developed. I’ve done two post graduate degrees, an MSc in Logistics and an MBA, plus a Strategic Retail Management program at Harvard and I would say the quality of the lecturers and courses at Carey is as good as anything I’ve experienced and by far the most important and transformational. I don’t know where this will lead me but it will prepare and equip me to serve God’s purposes, combining all my previous experience and training with the Carey experience.
Brendon Lambert
One of the real highlights for me personally was the work we did on vision. The lecturer gave us time and space to articulate our vision for our lives in the form of a drawing. I did not need much time as I have thought about this idea before. It amazes me when I stop and reflect on how far God has taken my passion and vision over the past year or so.
The basic outline of my picture was me standing in a living room of a single parent family of nine. In one hand I had a bible to symbolise the offering of God’s Good News and in the other I held shopping bags filled with groceries to symbolise the provision of the basis essentials that a lot of families go without. This is the basis vision for my life – to become so accepted by those who are hopeless that I may become a part of their family and they part of mine.
I guess this vision has been shaped by reading awesome testimonies such as The Cross and the Switchblade and The Church that Never Sleeps. Stories of pastors that saw a community with no hope for a future and decided to sacrifice parts of their lives to provide that hope. This is my vision for the poor and downtrodden in Manurewa. It doesn’t hold much grandeur in relation to mega churches or world crusades but I hold this vision close to my heart and I know it cannot be diminished by anybody anywhere.
The class of 2005 (Diploma of Pastoral Leadership students)
