the Otter's Pool - web home of Ady Gould -

The time since I moved to Australia proved to be a real growth time for me. I originally went to the Four Square congregation in town, but after about a year, I felt that I was not being spiritually fed properly. Add to this I was (at that time) very concerned about something in the "eldership" which I could not quite voice.

It proved to be a turning point as I left the Four Square fellowship, and went about nothing for six months. This was a time of wilderness, reflecting the barren nature of the area around Kalgoorlie.

It was a time of emotional stress, and it turned out the start of my looking closer at my relationship with God. I wandered for these six months before finding a small congregation called Adullam Ministries.

It's whole responsibility was to minister to those spiritually abused by the church, or by individuals. The fellowship was interestingly led by a lady pastor who had been married once, and remarried to a wonderful man. Their story is one of God's faithfulness in it's own right.

The thing was when I first met them, I told the pastor "I cannot sit under a woman pastor". How wrong I was. I thank God for giving me Etta and Glyn. They have been wonderful people, and tremendous pastors to me at the time I was attending their fellowship.

I attended Adullam for about four years on a regular basis. The pastors took on a special role for me, acting, at that time, as first line "adopted" parents (as I was so far from my real parents) as well as spiritual parents. Etta remarked that she looked at me like another son. A blessing in its own right. This was a revelation, and as the time I spent with Glyn and Etta went on they placed more and more responsibility on my shoulders. Glyn was children's pastor, and it was recognise that I should spend time with Glyn as his assistant. This was fun, but also spiritually tiring. Some time later, I requested to come back into "big Church" as we called it.

The return to Big Church sparked new enthusiasm spiritually for me. The gift of prophecy was rekindled with even more brightness. Yet the one gift that took shape in this time was the ability for God to use me in music, especially in singing. I took a mantle that was resembling the Psalmists of the Old Testament. Music became almost more important than anything else. Yet it was always put in context by God.

It is a favourite memory of mine, when one Sunday we had been fellowshipping with God and each other, when at the end of the service our accordionist started to play...

I was stood besides her, and God told me to open up to Psalm 23, and sing. I was so nervous, that I did not know how to start. God's notes came forth as I opened my mouth, and unlike the hymn version of the Psalm, I was given a tune resembling Jewish praise. I stood there singing, crying, Spiritually lifted, and yet humbled.

It turned out that everyone had stopped their conversation to listen to what God had to say. Cups of tea had gone cold, and tears were in eyes. God had met us where we were at. It was a key point in my life with God. It told me He trusted me to lead people into a deeper understanding of who He is.