Every day of Jeremy Kidd’s life, his grandfather has prayed for him to become a ‘soul winner for Christ and a faithful preacher of the Bible’. These faithful prayers and the testimony of his grandparent’s faith have made a huge impact on his life now.
Today, Jeremy is studying at Sydney Missionary & Bible College (SMBC) and working at Lighthouse Church on the Central Coast as a ministry intern. Lighthouse is also where he did his two-year MTS ministry apprenticeship, an experience he exhorts as having “impacted the next 20, 30 or however many years I’m in ministry for.”
Taking the gospel seriously
As a teenager, Jeremy attended public school in Greystanes where he lived with his family. He had been living thinking he was a Christian but was forced to really consider if he was because of his sister.
Jeremy reflects, “My older sister, Georgie, said to me ‘Jeremy, you know, that being a Christian is not just about going to church on Sundays, but living for Jesus 24/7.’”
This sparked something in Jeremy, and he began to think less about pleasing everyone and more about pleasing Jesus. This, in connection with understanding the death of Jesus in a new way – changed his life.
He shares, “Those two things came together when I realised to be a Christian means living for an audience of one. To actually understand what Jesus has done for me is to know that I’m fully known by him, all of my sin, and I’m fully loved by him.”
Jeremy started attending the Christian lunchtime group at his school, Greystanes High, and his leader there encouraged him in evangelism while in high school. Jeremy eagerly took to this, thinking, “I should give as much of my life as I can to help people know Jesus.”
After school his conviction continued, and he got the opportunity to do an internship with Scripture Union in Sydney.
He shares, “That just fueled my convictions more to think, wow, if I could just use all of my time, people would get to know Jesus. It’s just a question of why not? Why wouldn’t I do that?”
Eager to know the Bible, supported to learn ministry
After his internship Jeremy felt he needed to know the Bible better, so he enrolled in the Bridge Gap Year offered by SMBC.
He says, “Then at the end of that, again, just really fuelled by a heart for the lost and an even greater understanding of the needs globally for people to become workers for the harvest I went straight into the second year of a four-year degree at SMBC.”
Quickly Jeremy, still only a couple of years out of school, realised that this was too much of a step and he was missing something else.
Enter Connan O’Shea, Senior Pastor at Lighthouse Church. Jeremy knew Connan well from holidaying every summer on the Central Coast and attending Lighthouse Church while there. He had also served under Connan as a leader on Summerfest, Lighthouse’s summer youth and kids ministry.
Jeremy says, “While talking to Connan it became clear that a more helpful step for me, instead of going straight through Bible college, would be to stop to do a ministry apprenticeship and think about whether it’s a wise thing for me to go toward full-time ministry. But also to be trained in a way that Bible college wasn’t training or testing me.”
The church in Greystanes that Jeremy was a part of didn’t have the capacity to take him on as an apprentice, and he was also eager to go somewhere to learn that he saw evangelism ministry at work, by God’s grace Connan invited him to Lighthouse!
Apprentice, intern, student
Jeremy did his apprenticeship at Lighthouse Church with Connan as his trainer from 2021 to 2022. It was an amazing experience that stretched Jeremy and delivered on teaching him skills he hadn’t been able to learn at college!
One particular highlight of the experience started as a big challenge.
He shares, “Connan picked up pretty quickly that I was keen on evangelism. But part of a really good MTS experience is you have a go trying something new and have a go in a situation you’re not naturally comfortable with. And so he got me to start a ministry called Junior Jivers, which was for mums and bubs, who I had no experience whatsoever with. But the whole purpose was to help love the lost mums and kids of the coast. And so throughout MTS I got to start that ministry and then lead a team of mums and they were fantastic. That was a big learning experience.”
From this ministry, Jeremy kept stepping more into the mission side of ministry at Lighthouse. Initially, he started by simply being present and learning at their evangelistic ‘Life Series’, then moved on to emceeing and coordinating invitations. Now that he’s finished his apprenticeship, Jeremy is working part-time as a Ministry Intern and his biggest responsibility is the mission ministry. Which he describes as “all about loving the lost.”
In 2023 after he had finished his apprenticeship Jeremy returned to SMBC and has also been studying part-time to finish his degree. He is due to complete his study in 2025, after which, he’ll stay on staff at Lighthouse and move to full-time.
Reflecting on his experience of college before MTS versus afterwards, Jeremy says it is so much richer. He explains, “I can actually connect what I learn at college to the real-life situations of people at church because I’ve done MTS. That’s been so good and so helpful. Even the questions that I bring to college are so much deeper because I’ve had the experience serving within a church context. That makes me go deeper to know how it lands pastorally in the lives of people.”
Jeremy thinks every person considering college should do MTS before enrolling, saying “I would recommend anyone to do a ministry apprenticeship before college. But even if you’re at college to do a ministry apprenticeship after knowing how impactful and helpful it has been.”
‘How will you live for Jesus?’
Jeremy’s conviction that the most important thing is making Jesus known to the lost has grown his passion for advocating for how others will spend their lives too. Each year he encourages as many people as possible to consider this – and loves bringing people along to the NSW MTS Recruit Conference!
He shares, “I once heard someone say at an MTS Conference – ‘We don’t have to decide whether to give up our whole lives to serve Jesus, we just have to work out how we’re going to do it.’ And so the line I think about myself and that I want other people to think about too, is how are you going to be the most effective tool in God’s hands?”
If someone is showing signs of being godly in their character and convicted of the deep truths of the gospel, then Jeremy thinks MTS is the perfect thing for them. It will test their character, conviction and aptitude for ministry and shape them to be that ‘effective tool’ in ministry or simply in life!
Jeremy says, “MTS gives all of your time to a work that is not in vain and is going to have an impact for eternity. And what a joy to have all your time to see people move from death to life! It’s better than becoming a brain surgeon or amazing lawyer or travelling the world. Better than catching the best wave on the most beautiful beach you’ve been to. It has so much joy because it will last for eternity.”