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How It Begin -

The Birth of Deaf Pentecostal Ministry in Australia?

 

This webpage is a brief story of how God poured out His Spirit on the Deaf, that sparked the Pentecostal work among the Deaf Australia wide (and spilled over to New Zealand). This unfinished story is based on the personal experience of Ps. Laurence Hough. We acknowledged several other persons had a role in the revival. We will eventually incorporate their eyewitness accounts as well as more photographs. If you were either eyewitness or play a role in the initial outpouring, please email me.

Click on photograph to zoom. Please note that these photographs are not in order.
DCF group before the Outpouring

1977 - a small group of Deaf Christians called Deaf Christian Fellowship (DCF) under the eldership of Ps. Keith Southwell gathered weekly for Sunday School and interpreted service at Salisbury Baptist Church. Anita Herlaar was the interpreter in the hearing service.

November 1977 - Lyle Holland, upon heard about the group through Women's Aglow, visited the deaf group at Salisbury. She invited Anita and myself to another church (Mt Gravatt AOG) for night service.
Fellowship at Howard's November 1977 to May 1978. Anita and I went to deaf group at Salisbury in the morning and to Mt Gravatt AOG at night interpreted by both Anita and Lyle. After the church, we fellowship and have coffee at Lyle's place. We shared  the Word especially the Baptism of the Holy Spirit for hours till sometime 3am, sometime 4am. We went home and I started work at Rocklea Fruit Market at 6am.
Paul Miles in 1978 Coming Soon: Link to Key Eyewitness of the Outpouring (testimony)

Paul Miles
Laurence Hough
Stanley Grimmett
Lloyd Janetzki
Lyle Holland
Yvonne Hartley
 
Fellowship at pat

Meanwhile, Rev. Paul Miles of California, USA answered a call of God to Australia. He arrived in Western Australia to replace a leader of DCF who passed away. (At the same time, Kari and Pauli Tick moved with their father to Perth to work in the building industry. There, they taught Paul Miles Australian Sign Language (AUSLAN).

May 1978 -- DCF of Australia organised an Eastern Tour for Paul Miles to minister at Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. Paul boarded a  plane from Perth to Brisbane, first stop.
Paul and Laurence

5th May 1978 - Paul Miles arrived at Brisbane Airport and we greeted him with much anticipation.

7th May 1978 - Paul Miles preached at DCF gathering under Salisbury Baptist Church and in the afternoon, we went to Botanic Gardens for BBQ. At the conclusion of BBQ gathering, I asked him to come to night service and he accepted. Lloyd Janetzki came along too. At that service, Lloyd became born again.
Fellowship at Lyle's

After the service, as usual we all went to Lyle's place for fellowship. Lyle explained to Paul that I have been studying the Baptism of the Holy Spirit for months. Paul came around and asked if I want to be baptised in the Holy Spirit. I jumped up and ask him to pray right away. This was the start of the move of Holy Spirit (1 saved, 1 baptised in the Holy Spirit first night).

 

 
Baptsim Service late 1978 14th May 1978 - The following Sunday Paul preached again at DCF in the morning. This time Stanley Grimmett wanted to come to night service at Mt Gravatt. That night, both Lloyd and Stanley got baptised in the Holy Spirit. Paul has to leave for the next stop (Sydney).
Paul leaves for USA Jan 1979

From May till August 1978. More deaf heard of the move and wanted to come. Many got saved and also baptised in the Spirit with speaking in tongues As result, the night service at Mt Gravatt grew. Because it grew, we decided to have BBQ fellowship at some place occasionally.

During that time, Paul after completed the Eastern Tour quitted Western Australia DCF and joined us in the new ministry (He drove to Brisbane via Darwin in a his faithful Charger).
Worship Service 78-79 August/September 1978 - We gathered at Kari and Pauli Tick's residence at Mackenzie (by this time, they returned from Perth). A vote was put to the group to formally move from DCF to Mt Gravatt AOG. Mt Gravatt AOG officially began that night. Prior to this, the group met to worship with DCF at Yeronga in the morning and at Mt Gravatt AOG at night.

21 October 1978 - A rally was organised at the Deaf Society's Chadwick Hall where Paul ministered the Gospel. Many more were saved and healed.

From there, the move of the Spirit spread to all over Australia and New Zealand.  Today, there are around 15 Deaf Churches or ministries of the Pentecostal faith. in addition, first bi-annual Australian Deaf Pentecostal Convention commended  with first convention at Burleigh heads, Queensland (see www.adpc.org.au)

Paul Miles finished his two-year missionary visa early 1979 and departed for California. That was not the end of him because since then, he had made several more trips to our beloved land.

On a large scale, 7th May was the beginning of the manifestation of the present move of the Holy Spirit on Deaf (or the beginning of Deaf Pentecostal Work) but on a smaller scale, around August/September 1978, is the official beginning of Mt Gravatt AOG Deaf Ministry, now Garden City Deaf Church under the auspice of Garden City Christian Church.

It is unanimously agreed among us that  the move did not come without God working on other persons. We believe someone or some group somewhere prior to the move interceded for the outpouring. It is to those intercessors I gave the credit.

  • God used Paul Miles and Laurence Hough to spark the revival.

  • God used Kari and Pauli Tick to teach Paul Auslan at Perth before the Eastern States Tour.

  • God gave Ps. Reginald Klimonok (Senior Pastor of Mt Gravatt AOG) a vision of Deaf work.

  • God prepared Anita and Lyle in area of interpreting skills for 6 months before the actual breakthrough.