One hundred sit-ups. Sixty push-ups. Running two-and-a-half kilometres in ten minutes, and at least six chin-ups. Not exactly the normal requirements for a pastor and Bible teacher. And we haven't even mentioned jumping out of a plane at 10,000 feet! Meet the Rev Tim Booker, the latest recruit into the ranks of chaplains to the Australian Defence Force, and a man who will soon be doing all of the above on a regular basis.

Margaret Fuller is program manager for Anglicare Counselling in the Illawarra. She has 30 years’ experience in the social work and counselling field. In recent years Margaret has witnessed a significant increase in the number of people seeking help for depression. Here are some tips she offers to those of us struggling to know how to help a friend or family member showing signs of depression.

Cathy McKay was diagnosed with depression last year. But as she looks back over her life she realises that depression set in much earlier.

It's easy to take the ministry of Katoomba Christian Convention for granted. It is such a part of the landscape of Christian ministry for many Sydney churches, and has been a blessing to countless people across Australia, and beyond.

There is a delicious new addition to the genre of female detectives. She is Precious Ramotswe, founder of The No 1 Ladies Detective Agency to be found in Gaborone, Botswana.

The cover of Labor MP Lindsay Tanner's book Crowded Lives is filled with an unattractive, blurry photo of an overloaded power outlet, symbolising the author's message. Tanner, also the Federal Opposition spokesperson for communications, persuasively argues in little more than a hundred pages that our lives are in overload with insufficient alternative energy sources to draw upon. We are driven by agendas of economic and personal advancement and are consequently increasingly diminishing the web of relational support that is vital for a healthy society. Tanner asserts that the key is to reverse the undervaluing of relationships.

There are many books of the Bible that challenge seekers of any age. One such book is the Old Testament narrative Job.

As of January 1, the parish of St Paul's, Cambridge Park and St Thomas' Cranebrook will be resigned to the history books, with Cranebrook becoming a separate parish. It is an exciting prospect, says Archdeacon Ken Allen, who says the split has been quite a few years in coming. “When a parish becomes its own unit there is an immediate encouragement to continue to grow,” he said. “It's going to be a great encouragement to the locals; it's [also] a challenge to them. It's saying, ‘we want you to work really hard to reach the area and build it up'.”