Tim Worton is going to Bible college. On its own, that doesn’t sound particularly unusual or significant – or the fact he’s giving up his secular career to move into ministry. So how about this? He’s 64 years old.

“I’m a 100 per cent commitment person,” he says with a laugh. “I’ve always put 100 per cent into my career, marriage, family – anything I do – and I just feel like I need to put 100 per cent into this. 

“At some point in time I’d have had to retire, but I’ve decided to leave on my own terms to go into something I think is much more important. 

“I feel like I still have a lot of energy and can do even more to help people, to support people, to mentor people and to encourage people. These are things I’ve always done in my workplace, but I’m going to be doing them in the general community in a faith context, and it will mean more.”

For decades, Mr Worton’s secular job has involved the oversight and management of a range of stadiums and arenas. He’s enjoyed meeting entertainers and professional sportspeople but, as a music lover, always got the biggest kick out of the musicians who came across his path. 

One of his big music loves is progressive or “prog” rock, with lengthy songs that have a classical twist. In listening to what he loved, he came across a singer named Neal Morse – who had become a Christian and then felt called to leave his band to strike out on his own.

“His solo music is all about his conversion and about his life since,” Mr Worton says. “They are in-your-face Christian lyrics – I loved them musically, but the lyrics went in one ear and out the other. But I was listening to Neal’s music relentlessly.

“One Saturday night after we’d played his music all day... I said to my wife, ‘I can’t explain why, but I feel this strong desire to go to church tomorrow’. I think she almost fell off the lounge! But without hesitation, she said, ‘Yes, of course... where would you like to go?’” 

Mr Worton decided to attend Menai Anglican, which was nearby and was the church where his grandson had been baptised some years earlier.

“I felt very nervous about it and I thought, ‘Do I even belong here?” he recalls. “But everyone was so welcoming and friendly… you could tell they would love it if you came back but there was no pressure at all. I actually think the first person who came and spoke to me was [the rector] Andrew Barry.

“I started going every week from then. At the time I couldn’t really understand why I was there, but I felt there was a reason... and if I don’t know what that is, why don’t I just keep going while I’m enjoying it and stop going one day if I don’t? And it never happened!”

Chosen by God

Mr Worton’s first Sunday at church was in January 2022. By June he had given his life to Jesus and decided to be confirmed in his faith. After that, he was hungry to learn – doing courses such as Christianity Explored – and on a visit to Moore College to watch a young friend take part in the Mark Drama, discovered people his age and older enrolled at college. He determined he would be among them, and began studying the Preliminary Theological Certificate.

He was a changed man, but realised some people who already knew him might find this hard to grasp.

“Like a lot of people who aren’t Christian, I was hardly a saintly person beforehand – let’s put it that way!” he says. “I felt that people who knew what I was like, this sometimes crazy guy, would see that for me to go down this path was such a dramatic 180.

“When I told the first person who wasn’t a Christian about what had happened, I was petrified. I was scared that they’d think I was completely different or ask me what had gone wrong. But happily, the response I got was, ‘Wow, that’s fantastic, I’m so happy for you’. After that, the second time was easier, then the third time, and now – try and shut me up! 

“I love telling people what happened, how it’s changed my life, and now what I want to do is to go deeper into it, to develop my faith, my biblical knowledge and expertise more, because it’s still rudimentary, and then go out into the world and make a difference with it.”

Initially, Mr Worton planned to finish up his job at the end of 2025 to go to college, but his wife Claudia saw the overflow of joy he had in telling people what God had done for him – particularly in sharing it with his musical idol, Neal Morse, after they saw him play live in the US last year – and she encouraged him to make the change sooner.

A new beginning

So, on December 20, Mr Worton will wave goodbye to his secular career, with thanks and great memories but without regret. He’s also busily finishing the final subjects in the PTC so that he’ll be ready to go when he begins the one-year Diploma of Bible, Mission and Ministry at Moore in February.

He already co-leads a Bible study with Dave Jensen, and takes part in Menai’s music ministry, but he will do that and more next year as Mr Barry has also signed him up as a student minister. There are thoughts about a future role in chaplaincy, or parish ministry, or evangelism – whatever God wants him to do.

“I feel like it’s not my decision,” he explains. “God’s obviously got a plan because it involved opening up my heart to him at the ripe age of 62. There’s something special I’m going to do with this passion for my faith, I believe he knows it and he’ll tell me when he’s ready. But I’m open to everything, though I have a desire for evangelism.

“And I’m excited! I’m anxious and I’m nervous and I’m bittersweet about what I’m leaving behind – 33 years of a fantastic work life – but this next phase of life is much bigger. To work for God, to grow his kingdom and to work for his glory, is such a privilege. 

“He could’ve picked someone else. But he picked a wretch like me. So, I feel like that’s the greatest thing that could ever happen to anybody – that you get called by God to work for his glory. That’s my new mission statement, I think.”