After serving as the Australian CEO for 12 years and International Director for 12 years, Graydon Colville will be passing on the baton to Tim Strauss in April 2024. Tim was elected to the role late last year at our International Council meeting but delayed taking it on while working on a doctorate.
Graydon is not retiring. He will continue to be a member of GRN Australia and to serve from the Australian office. He will probably work with a combination of international and local responsibilities.
We are very excited to have Tim Strauss join us as International Director. He looks to be uniquely gifted and well prepared to take it on. I will let Tim introduce himself in his own words:
"I was born in Huntsville, Alabama and accepted the Lord at a very young age. I grew up in Escondido, California where we moved to when I was 8 years old. My father was the pastor of Emmanuel Faith Community Church. He was a tremendous example to me of giving his life whole-heartedly to the Lord while maintaining a healthy balance between ministry obligations and his role as a husband and father. He passed away from cancer in 1993.
"I met my wife at our home church and got married in 1990. We have four kids all of whom are grown.
"It has been both my life's joy and passion to serve the Lord in whatever job, circumstance, or location He has placed me. For the last 30 years I have been a missionary with Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) in the countries of Lesotho, Albania, Kazakhstan and the last 4 years in Istanbul, Turkey. While each new role and location had its own set of challenges and joys, without a doubt the most fulfilling aspect of my mission career is the deep friendships I've been able to develop with people from countries and cultures all over the world.
"For the last 20 years my leadership roles have included building and leading teams to accomplish mission and strategic planning, identify organizational culture issues, and impact lives in a varied range of circumstances and settings. My mission experience covers 13 countries and multiple languages. The large portion of my experience has been focused on some of the most unreached countries in the world, working closely with a wide variety of denominations, nationalities, mission organizations and staff of all ages. Through these relationships, I have seen and experienced successes and failures of ministry. I have a developed a deep appreciation for the daily struggles of serving outside of our comfort zone, which has led me to a strong belief in integrated ministry."
Please pray for Tim as he gets to know us and settles into the role. He will be based in San Diego, USA and travelling a lot.