Mark Keown

In October, I preached at a new church plant in Newmarket, the Journey. It was a pleasure to have an opportunity to speak to an enthusiastic group of believers there. As a part of my message encouraging people to share their faith, I told the story of my conversion. I shared how I had grown up in a home where neither of my parents was involved in church life. I attended Tereora College in Rarotonga and was in the fourth form. One of my friends invited me to come with him to an afterschool Christian group run by a man by the name of Brian Chitty (that is him in the photo above). I explained how I had come to faith, found it hard to maintain that faith through my teens and early twenties, but then recommitted my life to Christ in my mid-twenties some ten years later. I went on with the message which was well received. I was stunned after the service to be approached by a woman, Rhema, who told me that she was Brian’s daughter. Unbeknown to me she attended this church and w...