18th October, 2007

CHOE BRERETON

Matt Madigan confesses to be an ordinary man spurred beyond normality into extraordinary circumstances by a God-inspired 40 day fast. He also confesses that he is no writer.

“I have never written anything over 3,000 words before,” he admits. So when he felt God speak to him about writing his new book This Chosen Fast - a 200 page account of the gripping and inspiring journey he experienced over 40 days of fasting, he never dreamt that the outcome would cause countless lives to be irreversibly transformed.

The story began at ‘The Call - New York’. The prayer and fasting gathering held on the 29th June, 2002, in New York’s Flushing Meadow saw 100,000 people gather in the 37 degree heat of peak summer and crying out en masse to God for the city and the American nation. Among the multitudes were Mr. Madigan and his family who, stirred to go by God in November 2001, had made their way to the Big Apple.

A LIFE TRANSFORMED: Nothing, says Matt Madigan author of 'This Chosen Fast', could have prepared him for what to expect when he began his fast. "From a fast that begins as an act of reverent obedience, moments of grief, humility and deep joy rapidly ensue as Mr Madigan finds himself in a place where God actively - and sometimes painfully - refines his character while teaching him to remain faithful in the midst of impossible circumstance."

Forty days of fasting preceded the gathering and, inspired to join in, Mr. Madigan embarked on a fast that drew him to a place of total dependence on God. His book, This Chosen Fast, depicts a bare-knuckle journey that revolutionised Mr Madigan’s perception of prayer and fasting and is now revolutionising that of countless others.

In the opening chapter of his book, Mr Madigan speaks of a desire to see people stirred to action from the pages that follow; that a passion for seeking God and walking out His calling would grip readers in such a way that they are forever changed. "That desperation," he writes. "would grip your soul with a yearning to see the Kingdom of God manifest in every corner of the planet."

True to his vision, This Chosen Fast carries a stirring and engaging message that will challenge the walk of anyone drawn to its pages. From a fast that begins as an act of reverent obedience, moments of grief, humility and deep joy rapidly ensue as Mr Madigan finds himself in a place where God actively - and sometimes painfully - refines his character while teaching him to remain faithful in the midst of impossible circumstance.

Nothing is too sacred for the reader. Through extracts from his personal diary, Mr Madigan openly gives access to his most intimate thoughts including some real and personal battles.

“I knew that God wanted me to use my journal entries because so much that is written these days is about the product and not the process,” he tells Sight. “I felt it was key not just to write about how somebody must pray and fast but to also share what happened to me, both highs and lows while fasting and praying. It is about the process as much as anything.”

And the process is an intense one. Nothing, he says, could have prepared him for what to expect when he first started fasting. “My personality is fairly phlegmatic, so I didn’t spend much time thinking about what it might be like except that physically hunger is really painful sometimes. I had no clue about the way I would become acutely aware of God’s presence.” Yet early on in the book, the reader is left in little doubt of Mr Madigan’s already heightened sensitivity to God’s prompting. Although the book provides little in the way of how Mr Madigan's personal history influenced his character, he claims the rudiments of his now solid conviction first became evident in childhood.

“I was born in Epping, a suburb north west of Sydney,” he recalls. “I had a happy childhood and mum and dad were faithful to each other and the kids. Dad was a real model of servanthood, and always had time for us on the weekends. Mum worked very hard at loving us and always being there. With two brothers and a sister, I always had somebody to play with. We had family holidays every year, it was really important for us, and we all attended church together as a family every week.”

At the age of eight and still a fledgling to the faith, Mr Madigan attended a Billy Graham crusade at Randwick Racecourse, east Sydney. It had been two decades since the renowned evangelist had made his inaugural visit to Australia in 1959 and the first day of his arrival had drawn 50,000 to the stands.

“It was there that I gave my life to the Lord Jesus Christ,” says Mr Madigan. “I was eight-years-old and was serious about it. Then later, at Christian Community High School in Regents Park Sydney, things really came together and my faith grew. This - and a really progressive and influential ministry at Beecroft Uniting Church.”

Planted north-west of Sydney’s central business district in Beecroft’s idyllic community, the Uniting Church had been shaped by the 1970’s charismatic movement that swept through countries like Germany, Kenya, South Africa and New Zealand before eventually hitting Australia. It was while attending there with his family that Mr Madigan began hearing God’s voice in the instant and frequent manner depicted throughout his book. That ‘small voice of the Lord’ as he describes it, is to him a voice of immediate response and clarity, and his ability to tune in to it originates from foundational teaching that promoted openness to its existence and guidance.

“It seemed normal within charismatic groups that God spoke to you personally about things you needed to know,” says Mr Madigan. “Far and away the greatest influence in this area was the teaching of Youth With A Mission. Their teaching on the subject was insightful and highly practical. There was never an intercession time in which God didn’t lead us moment by moment through his voice. From that time on it was normal, especially when God would tell you things that were going to happen and they did.”

A postgraduate venture at 23 with YWAM - an international Christian movement dedicated to global evangelism - led to years of outreach and development that Mr Madigan nostalgically reflects on as "golden". “A truly wonderful experience of community,” he says proudly, “with up to 100 people all sold-out to the same thing; the spread of the Gospel.”

It was also where he met his wife Kate. “We met in the organisation in 1993 and fell in love,” he recalls. “Early the next year we were engaged and we married at St. Paul’s Cathedral Tamworth that December. We went back to YWAM in late 1995; we had been married only 10 months. I definitely wouldn’t recommend that to anybody. We are convinced that a longer period is needed before throwing yourself back into community living.”

Nevertheless, it wasn’t until three years later that Mr Madigan began to feel an alternative pull on his life. Their final year in YWAM had moved the couple to Darwin and Melbourne. There, Mr Madigan's nascent gift for intercessory prayer was identified and released when he attended the YWAM School of Intercession. At the same time God was also began prompting them to make a move that would take them away from their place of familiarity.

“God led us to a youth ministry in Tamworth - a large rural town 410 km north of Sydney - in 1998," Mr Madigan explains. "We were planning to go back to YWAM in western Sydney after our intercession school in Melbourne and head up a ministry that focused on highschools around Mount Druitt. During the school however, God got our attention about a youth ministry in Tamworth. It was the last place I wanted to go because I really suffered from that 'Sydney syndrome' that sees Sydney as the centre of the universe and was hence very apprehensive about leaving. However we went for the interview in Tamworth and got the job.”

The move proved to be a fruitful one. As a youth worker for St. Paul’s Anglican Church, Mr Madigan was influential in the growth of the youth ministry and saw it become the largest in the city, drawing close to 100 youth every Friday by the time he left to take up another ministerial post. It was while in service in his new role at Oxley Vale Anglican Community Church that he accepted God’s invitation to fast for ‘The Call NYC’ and, ultimately, to take steps toward deepening their relationship.

In the aftermath of incredible change that Mr Madigan says gave him a renewed assurance of God’s faithfulness, writing a book is a bonus he had not expected. In recollecting the events that led to this endeavour he says: “It was about a year after we had been to New York City and we were visiting my parents on the central coast. At the end of their street is an 80 metre cliff above the ocean. I would often walk down there to worship and pray. One day as I sat on the cliff edge I felt the voice of God speak to me. He said to write a book about the 40 day fast and ‘The Call’ and that he would get it published and would also use it powerfully. I was very excited. I asked a good friend who was at uni doing this sort of thing to help me get started. I began writing and it took about a year to complete the manuscript. When it was time to send it to somebody, I didn’t know who. I was tempted to worry but God kept saying to trust Him to open the door.”

For a year-and- a-half the manuscript lay dormant and then, in late 2005, Mr Madigan was introduced to Ark House Press, a book publishing company recently formed by Media Incorporated - publishers of Christian Woman - to promote and encourage Australian Christian authors.

“ I sent the manuscript and waited the six months they said it would take to read it. After six months I rang them and they had no idea who I was. They hadn’t lost it but hadn’t got around to reading it either. Three months later the update was that they had scheduled it for mid-2007. I naturally thought that they meant they would read it then, but they really meant that they liked it and were considering publishing it. They had said at some stage that only two percent of what they are sent gets published. In early 2007 I was sent a contract and This Chosen Fast was released in August. The whole process has been a real journey in trusting God.”

In the concluding chapters of his book it is plain to see that Mr Madigan’s take on the necessity for prayer and fasting has been radically altered. A new passion has been birthed in him to see cities and nations saved through dedicated prayer and fasting. In a little over a year since ‘The Call - NYC,’ he has organised and led fasts for Oxley Vale, Tamworth, and ‘The Call - Australia’ which took place in Sydney’s Showgrounds on 2nd October, 2004. And it doesn’t stop there for the father of four. Having moved his family back to Sydney in 2006 the good work continues. This time, Mr Madigan has his sights set on a grand-scale revival.

“The burning thing that is on my heart since moving to Sydney is to call the city to pray and fast for revival," he says. "It has been 50 years since we saw something close to revival with just fewer than two per cent of the city getting saved in a two-week period while Billy Graham was here in 1959. The prayer movement before this visit was astounding. Prayer meetings were filled to capacity, standing room only. It seems that they really understood the reality of needing to pray for the harvest.

"So, since we arrived I have personally had two 40 day seasons of prayer and fasting, asking for revival in Sydney. But I know that the time is coming to broadcast the call louder and further. This is a desperate matter. If we do nothing we will pass onto our children a completely godless society. We need a revival like we have never seen before. My real desire is to call all the Christians of Sydney to fast and pray for Sydney for 40 days each year starting on the 15th February each year. We live in desperate times and desperate measures are needed. “

'This Chosen Fast' is on sale now.