Recollections of how the faith and vision of a man from Ireland ensured the establishment of a great ‘well of life’ church and outstanding Christian college both of which would touch surrounding communities and many hearts.

Author’s Note:

This is not just my story… merely my recollections, my reflections on a remarkable journey of faith willingly undertaken by many ordinary people who caught the vision of a man from Ireland – Gerry McCoy, who along with his English wife, Maureen – had heard from God to establish and build a great Pentecostal church and notable Christian college in the Kwinana region southwest of Perth, Western Australia.

That was 30 years ago – and I’m still thrilled to be associated with what became known as Freeway Church and The King’s College both situated on Bertram Road, Wellard, WA.

And with my spiritual mentors Dr Gerry and Pastor Maureen, truly anointed apostolic leaders, who continue to hear God speak to them and who encourage His people in these troubled times.

Freeway Church, Wellard Statement:

We exist to be ‘a city on a hill’ and a ‘well of life’ for those in the surrounding communities of the southern suburbs.

Freeway Church is a thriving community-minded church with lots of activity for everyone. We believe that in helping our community by fulfilling practical needs, we can also meet spiritual needs by leading them to their heavenly Father.

We believe in reaching our community by bringing Jesus to the community in ways that we believe are God-given ideas designed.

Early Days…

After living in Port Hedland, the second largest town in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, for seventeen years I moved to the Rockingham area south of Perth, a single mum with the youngest two of my five children.

Having been heavily involved in a small Pentecostal church back in Pt Hedland which also ran a private school, I looked for and found another such church in Medina, a southern suburb of Perth – El Shaddai Kwinana Christian Fellowship. It was founded and led by Gerry and Maureen McCoy, who both proved to be wonderful pastors and great visionaries regarding the future of this great church and the Christian college it would birth.

Challenged personally

Getting to know Gerry and Maureen McCoy and witnessing their strong faith in action as they trusted God in every aspect of life was to challenge me. They helped my own faith develop strongly and they really changed my life. But I’m getting ahead of myself in this introductory preface…

After attending the church for a while I happened to share that I had once worked in a school similar to the one run by this church. To my surprise I was asked if I would like to be involved in El Shaddai School.

Actually I had been shortlisted for a position in Bunbury Women’s Prison, had been accepted into a Bible college, and now came the offer to work as a volunteer in the school. I remember driving along Dixon Road on my way home from the school and felt the Lord was showing me that I was to participate in the school. I accepted in faith, although I was not qualified in anything!

Immediately I was not only involved in everyday subjects but teaching art and music. I produced two musicals which were very successful. I now look back with interest on those musicals as the cast included two of the pastors’ talented young children, Mihael McCoy and his sister Maighread, who would both in later years become able pastors themselves.

In the church I discovered that only one person was counting the offerings, doing the banking and keeping the books. She was above reproach and answerable to one of the pastors, Paul Cant, who was also a businessman and could only work part-time. With my ‘only’ qualification being the twelve months lessons in bookkeeping as a 15-year-old, I started helping by sharing with the counting. By God’s grace and leading I was to take over the banking and bookkeeping, and answerable to Pastor Paul. Page 9

Pastor Gerry was a successful businessman with his own construction company. Called by the Lord to pray for people for needed healings and miracles, they began happening! With his ministry growing he had firstly hired, then bought an empty local church in Medina which would soon also house the school which had first started in Sloan Cottage, a historic monument in Leda to Kwinana’s pioneers of a century ago.

Soon I started working for Pastor Gerry typing letters and would usually drop off mail to him at his home in Medina, on my way home in the afternoon.

Once when I was babysitting one of my four-year-old granddaughters I took her to work with me and at the end of the day drove to Pastor Gerry’s to drop off mail. Leaving her in the car one day, I knocked on the door and Pastor Gerry came, took the mail from me and stood there while I went back to the car. My granddaughter, yet unable to fully pronounce Maighread’s name, said, ‘M’waid’s dad isn’t Jesus.’ I replied, ‘Isn’t he?’ and she said, ‘No, he hasn’t got a blue thing over his arm – he’s just God.’ A lot of children’s illustrated books showed Jesus with a blue shawl over His arm.

Prayer was the foundation of the fellowship. Mainly the men would meet every morning at 5am and pray mightily in the Spirit. They also went up Chalk Hill which gave a view of the whole area, and sometimes prayed throughout the night. Many people were saved and delivered from problems, including spiritual ones. Numbers in the congregation and in the school grew to such an extent that our pastor started looking for an alternative venue.

I remember going with him to Mortimer Road. It was an area of market gardens and there was one property for sale; 26 acres and had been a pig farm. There was a farm house and a huge pig shed and other outbuildings. Pastor Gerry felt the Lord say that this was the land for the fellowship and an offer was made on the property. A few of us, led by our pastor walked over the land claiming it for the Lord’s work and an offer was made.

Mad dash to Perth

Pastor Gerry then went on a pastors’ retreat – ‘somewhere in the hills, up in the country’ – and while he was away we received notification that the offer on the land was accepted. However, there was a problem – the signed papers needed to be lodged in Wellington Street in Perth before 4pm that day and our pastor was the only one with the authority to sign but he was not around and it was now already about 1pm.

No one felt there was any point in trying to find him and then get into Perth before 4pm – except me! So I took the paperwork, jumped in my car and drove off.

Now, I had lived in Pt Hedland most of my adult life and only been in Perth a couple of times at this stage and knew little about places ‘somewhere up in the country.’ I vaguely knew there was a road called Pinjarra Road in Mandurah and guessed that Pinjarra would be at the hills end of that road.

So I drove to Rockingham and headed south down to Pinjarra Road and turned left driving on down to Pinjarra. On reaching Pinjarra I turned left towards Perth. Now all I had been told that Pastor Gerry was in a timber workers camp over a railway line and there was a white stone house that was a shop was on the corner of the street I needed to go down.

Suddenly I noticed my petrol warning light had come on! I was out of fuel and had very little money on me! Then, praise God, a shop with a petrol bowser appeared on the left. I went in and scraped up a few dollars and prayed that it would be enough. It was! I kept driving and then I saw a house on my right and hoped it was the right one. I turned and drove past it and kept looking for a track on my left with a railway line. Then I saw it! I drove over the railway line and into a timber workers camp. But was it the right one?

There was no one around! But as I got out of the car a man appeared. I asked him about the whereabouts of a Gerry McCoy and, a real gentleman, he went and got him for me. With the paperwork all signed, off I went again heading south to find my way to Perth.

Time was moving on, it was after three o’clock already. I kept driving, passing through Armadale, Kelmscott and then Victoria Park and onto the causeway. This was more familiar because when I was a child my aunt had lived in Victoria Park.

Now to find Wellington Street and the right building – it was nearly 4pm.

There it was – about opposite the railway station – and there was a parking space! I raced into the building just at 3:55pm – and yes, the papers were lodged and the purchase of the land happened. Not that I’m anyone special but I recall this as one of many major incidents where the Lord proved himself faithful to us as we moved in faith under Pastor Gerry’s inspirational teaching to trust God.

Mortimer Road

We moved the school into the farmhouse on the property on Mortimer Road, Wellard. Across the road were numerous market gardens and on ‘our’ property that had been a pig farm. There was no deep sewerage and no water. There was only one toilet on the back veranda of the house and the student intake of our new school was expected to be around 25 to 30. Linda Sommerville (now Butler) was the pre-school teacher using the old garage. Sandie Smith was the teaching assistant to the rest of the school.

Early in what was the preparation time the principal, who was also a pastor, arranged for the school to visit another school in California. Accompanied by the principal, the older students, Marie Bryan and I all flew to USA via Honolulu. We had a wonderful time and were also taken on a trip to a school camp in Mexico.

Meanwhile, back in Australia, Ken Smith headed up the team that cleaned out the ‘pig shed’ with its two deep troughs that held old pig excrement. Sounds terrible now, I know, but I honour those who worked tirelessly to establish the beginnings, the foundation of want has become an outstanding Western Australian college – The King’s College, in Wellard.

Once cleaned, the troughs were filled in and the whole floor re-concreted and walls and windows put in place. We also had to upgrade the water supply as the Kwinana Town Council said we needed a huge water tank – but, as with many other challenges, this proved no problem as God honoured our prayers as we follow Pastor Gerry’s vision. At one end of the building were two rooms – one for the office, the other for the staff room – and the school moved in!

Later we were visited by the governing body of private schools who questioned Sandie Smith who was now the principal, and me who was now the administrator. We passed with flying colours making us eligible for government funding!

Early days – growing in trust and faith

These were early days indeed and there was an excitement about them. Every step was a move of faith. Pastors Gerry and Maureen were great encouragers and taught us from scripture to always trust the Lord, that God always has a way when there seems no way.

The church grew, the school grew, we grew.

Reflecting on those early days still thrills my heart – but this isn’t my story, I just happen to be the storyteller of many of the amazing things that happened when a man from Ireland and his wonderful English wife discovered Jesus Christ as Saviour and friend and became born again. And in yielding their lives to God found themselves on an incredible journey that, along with challenges and opposition both personal and corporate, has touched the lives of many people and has had far-reaching effects.

These are my reminiscences and yet, there’s so much more to tell…