In 2017, Cairns Pastor David Drage started his quest to walk 14,500 kilometers around Australia. Along the way he’s been visiting Churches, helping where he can, and delivering a simple message: “It’s time. The Kingdom is here.”
His journey along National Highway 1 has hit a few snags along the way, but mainly he’s been taking his time because that’s what God called him to do. When Neil Johnson asked him when he thought he’d reach journey’s end, he chuckled. “If you have an answer, let me know.”
“The exciting thing is, God never gave me an end date,” he said. “I had my own thoughts, and my own ideas, of maybe 12 to 18 months as a timeframe. But you know what? I’ve done a thousand kilometres, and walked out to a little place called Burketown, out in the Gulf of Carpentaria. And God has just been doing so much along the way, that’s as far as we’ve gotten.”
“We don’t just blow in and blow out. We ask God what do you want done here? And we work with the local Church and say how can we help, and what do you need help with? Some places we stay for a few weeks. Some places, like Normanton, have been many months over multiple stays. When we feel like the timing’s right, it’s time to put the laces back on, and head back out on the road again.”
One of the ways Drage can help is by giving fellow Pastors a rare holiday. “Many outback Ministers just don’t get that opportunity. And while they are small congregations in smaller towns, they’re very active, and they’re very central. If there’s a funeral or something in town, there’s only the Minister that takes them.”
Some towns don’t have Pastors at all. With Churches boarded up, Drage has gathered local Christians in parks and even at the pub. His music is a drawcard, and his testimony in the songs helps make connections. “The music I think is just a great inroad into letting people know that we’re real, and all our songs really connect to a lot of our life story.”
As he travels, Pastor Drage is encouraging the Church to “stand together” and “act together”. When a town has only one Church, everyone has no choice but to get along. “You can have Anglicans, Uniting, Pentecostals, evangelicals, and conservatives, and radicals, all in the one little Church, yet they all commune together, love one another.”
“We are one body. We are one Church. We are many parts. And we need to work together. We cannot do this alone. Fingers need a hand, and a hand needs an arm, and an arm needs a shoulder.”
Dave is currently gathering supplies for the next leg of his journey. However long it takes, he’s committed to walking the walk, because he knows relationship with Christ is the answer people need to face the many challenges of today’s world. “We may still need to walk through things, but we don’t need to walk alone.”
“It doesn’t take away necessarily our troubles, and turmoils, and the consequences of our decisions that we make. But He can help us to walk through it, and be restored, and be free, and be uplifted in it, and gain wisdom through it. And of course, ultimately, our salvation through Him as well. There’s more than just this life. So it is exciting, and it is time. It’s time for the Church to rise up and get out there amongst it.”
Tune into 20Twenty and join the conversation with Neil Johnson, weekdays on Vision Christian Radio. Click here for your local times.
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