|PIC1|Through his vision, backed up by his theological and practical intuition, Mark Tronson was able to build a sustainable structure for the Sports and Leisure Ministry. He had the ability to seek out those key people in Sports administrations who saw the benefit of chaplaincy while the chaplains appreciated Mark's wisdom and heart.
Delma Tronson commented, "Mark's monthly newsletter to the chaplains and our financial supporters was one hallmark of his 'relationship' skills. He was always on the phone, and away from his young children much more than we would have liked. Although people were generous with 'faith' monies given to us personally, we used only a portion of this, redirecting the rest to help the ministry and many chaplains' expenses.
"Mark was tireless in building good relationships with the Sports (coaches and administrators) and Heads of Churches released us to a less stressful ministry after eighteen years." [Since 2000 as chairman of Well-Being Australia his ministry centres on athlete respite].
He has decided to re-tell some of his experiences of those remarkably heady years of development, for a wider audience, although he notes they are recorded in his 1994 book 'No Orchestra, No Trumpet' (now out of print).
M V Tronson was invited to Hong Kong in 1982 for an international congress on sports mission where his vision to develop a ministry to Australia's professional sports gathered momentum. The trip was endorsed by both the Baptist Churches of New South Wales and the InterChurch Trade and Industry Mission (ITIM) for which he was a part-time industrial padre at Shell Australia in Sydney.
That initial period after Hong Kong was devoted to establishing a theological foundational for such a Mission to professional sport along with meeting with Heads of Churches in order to base such a ministry under their umbrella.
In 1984 Mark and Delma Tronson moved from parish based ministry into 'faith finance ministry' so as to develop the Sports and Leisure Ministry, a term coined by ITIM director the Reverend Kenneth L McDowell. That first year involved meeting with professional sport administrators with a theologically sound marketing strategy and then a US sports ministry study tour including the LA Olympics.
"We realised the nature of voluntary chaplaincy to a major industry such as Professional Sport required a strong philosophical housing where boundaries were very clearly defined within an InterChurch ministry framework," M V Tronson noted. "Otherwise, it could very easily have hived off into an isolated, individualised ministry that could have become self-serving and grandiose."
Reverend Roger Reid, the inaugural sports ministry chairman, explained that Heads of Churches recognised Mark Tronson's sporting links at the highest level. He mentioned also that Mark and Delma exhibited three 'unquantifiable' factors - also see previous article published in Christian Today Australia: http://au.christiantoday.com/article/roger-reid-reveals-the-due-diligence/3891.htm
Firstly, Mark and Delma convey a spirit of expectancy that others eagerly want to embrace;
Secondly, Reverend Roger Reid observed they had a remarkable family stability. He commented, "As you observe the way they have overcome Mark's speech impediment and Delma's hearing impairment, you find any encounter with them and their children memorable and delightful";
Thirdly, there was an intuitive feeling that 'only God' brings about such a thing as this. Heads of Churches believed that the Spirit of the Lord was initiating a new paradigm of ministry across the nation. There was confidence and excitement that this new venture would 'open up' vision for 'ministry outside the church walls' in many other people across the Christian landscape.
Observing these things coming together gave Heads of Churches an opportunity to house such a 'high profile ministry' under its own wing. There was a sense in which there was a need to ensure that political gamesmanship was in no way going to derail such a venture from which so many other things might spring forth, and so a sharp vigilance was maintained.
This was a unique situation in so far as Top Sport plays such a dominant place in Australian history and culture.
"This was one of the invaluable insights that came from my mentor of Canberra Baptist Church the late Reverend F P McMaster who was part of my foundation group and had been an experienced Army chaplain," explained M V Tronson.
Another of his insights was the clear advantage for such a structure in that the Denominations provided fully accredited and highly skilled personnel (the sports chaplains). Moreover there was a clear line of denominational authority where lay ministry was likewise accredited.
In this way, the Sports Ministry did not need to spend countless hours and money re-training personnel, which has often been a bane for many ministries and missions.
"Another aspect that proved critical in the exponential development of the Sports and Leisure Ministry was that I determined that a uniquely Australian model was necessary," Mark Tronson mused. "My experiences from studying the various USA and UK sports ministries made me realise we could not just export another culture into our situation."
Over several years M V Tronson undertook overseas study tours to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Athletes in Action, Pro Athletes Outreach, World Sports, Christians in Sport and many others and each was either too highly specialised or would not easily fit into an Australian ministry context.
"The home grown 'Australian chaplain' welcomed a good long look at his or her ministry. This is a habit that Australians have developed over their history, where they abhor 'putting on airs and graces'. Being seen as 'ordinary' yet performing 'extra-ordinarily' is a key to Australian ministry integrity," M V Tronson noted.
Reverend Russell Hinds' ministry as the inaugural Queensland cricket chaplain was an example of this, M V Tronson noted. Russell's late father taught him the finer points of playing pool and, in relaxed mode, the cricketers found Russell hard to beat. "There is a great deal of camaraderie established around a pool table," M V Tronson mused.
