Peter Palmer became BCA’s first fly-in-fly-out (FIFO) chaplain in 2011, having previously served with BCA in Wyndham and Coober Pedy. Here he tells us how God is still mining through his work 10 years on…

Being a FIFO chaplain meant getting up early on Monday morning, driving to the airport, meeting up with miners and flying with them to their mine. I would fly home on Wednesday, head out again on Thursday and then be home on Friday. I was with Oz Minerals, Peculiar Knob, Carapeteena and Honeymoon mines. I also did ad hoc work with other mines as required.

I spent two nights on site, visited miners and talked with them when they had time, and it was safe to do so. I was fully inducted for underground, as well as being an advisor to emergency teams.

I did this for five years until the dollars fell out of mining and I was made redundant.

At the time it seemed a very hard, rocky road. There was not much response to the Gospel. Or was there? It is 10 years since I have been on a mine site. But I still have contact with a lot of the miners.

The questions are: Did this work glorify God? Was the Gospel transmitted into these situations?

Was the money spent on this ministry worth it?

STORY ONE
A bloke rang me five years ago at 6am. “Rev” he said, “I have become a Christian! I was on holiday when I saw a man drowning. I went out to save him. He was panicking and trying to get on top of me. So, I moved away, until he was almost dead then I towed him back to shore and gave him mouth-to-mouth. He responded and his friends took him away. I sat on the sand thinking about what had happened and remembered you saying that God wanted me. That is what God has been doing with me, isn’t it? He sent you to save me and I kept pushing you away. God saved me, because of you all those years ago.” He is now in a church praising God. I will see him in heaven.

STORY TWO
When I first met one bloke on-site, he was smoking a bit of weed and drinking lots. He said he was a Christian but did not portray this in his work, play or attitude to life or  others. He came to church services that I ran onsite and renewed his commitment to the Lord. Over time he went down some bad roads. He repented. Again, he started down the wrong road but this time his wife gave him an ultimatum. He repented and has been sober for a long time, going to church regularly. We still talk and he is very thankful to me and BCA for my FIFO chaplain role.

STORY THREE
A bloke who did not want anything to do with me rang one day to ask for a Bible verse to read at his niece’s wedding. One I told him was Song of Songs. He rang me back, “I can’t read this. It is nearly R-rated!”
A couple of months later he rang me and said “Thank you for your support. I read from Song of Songs. At the reception people said they were going home to read the whole book. I bought a Bible at the airport on my way home and read it on the plane for eight hours straight.”

There are many other stories like this, and I have started to write a book. So, was it worth it? I will let you decide.

It has been a real adventure working for God and being part of BCA for nearly 25 years.

Without your support the Gospel would not find roots in remote places and bloom in unknown ways. May the Lord bless you as you have blessed the work Joy and I do for him.