and under special circumstances still wears it.
There have been numerous books, television programs and on-line histories of Australia. In some respect they all have some mention of Christianity. We might highlight school education, hospitals, political movements to mention just three where Christianity played ‘the’ role.
Some years ago I added to the ABC's new project 'The Making of Modern Australia' an On-Line project which was set up to record ordinary Australians’ stories since 1945. I submitted Australia's sports chaplaincy story which was approved for the section entitled 'Religious / Faith'.
The story of the development of this chaplaincy which I established from 1982 is recorded in a number of places, including my 1994 book, 'No Orchestra, No Trumpet' (now out of print), several web sites including PSI (Press Service International), at least three separate doctoral dissertations, numerous published articles and television interviews.
That initiative of the ABC takes the public awareness of the Lord's mighty hand in those endeavours to a new level, in that this social history of the nation recognises Australia's religious and faith heritage.
The article initially deals with the pioneering work undertaken by my wife Delma and I when we were leading the Sports and Leisure Ministry from 1982 to 2000. It went on to describe how our ministry since then named ‘Well-Being Australia'.
Another highlight of the program was the SafeWorlds IPTV television interview of myself by host Dan Wooding in February in Los Angeles.
The ABC required the rights to upload this interview and SafeWorlds IPTV President (he late) Mr Alan Metcalfe from Los Angeles hurriedly sent off the formal requirements so that this could be facilitated.
The technical aspects to get the interview down to a 75 MB size was done by the SafeWorlds IPTV technical department and in a format the ABC required. Mr Warren Armstrong of the ABC then courteously saw the process through to its conclusion.
Dan Wooding's interviewing style allowed me to tell my story for the 'Faith Hope and Charity' Missionary News Service Channel on SafeWorlds IPTV television. The 26 minute television interview had a mission rather than a commercial flavour.
A friend of Well-Being Australia, Dr Ang Ang, wrote of this television interview:
“I've just enjoyed watching your excellent interview with Dan Wooding. What a tremendous testimony, both personally and for your ministry! Your brief description of Australian Rules Football is the best I've heard! God bless. Ang”
Dr Mark Tronson is a Baptist minister (retired) who served as the Australian cricket team chaplain for 17 years (2000 ret) and established Life After Cricket in 2001. He was recognised by the Olympic Ministry Medal in 2009 presented by Carl Lewis Olympian of the Century. He mentors young writers and has written 24 books, and enjoys writing. He is married to Delma, with four adult children and grand-children. Dr Tronson writes a daily article for Christian Today Australia (since 2008) and in November 2016 established Christian Today New Zealand.
Mark Tronson's archive of articles can be viewed at http://www.pressserviceinternational.org/mark-tronson.html