MARTIN JOHNSON, a long-time colleague of Rev Dr Gordon Moyes who died this week at the age of 76, reflects on his friend’s life and legacy…
In December, 1982, I started work as media manager at Wesley Central Mission, Sydney. (The name was changed to Wesley Mission a few years later).
I have my wife Janine to thank because she saw the job advertised soon after we returned to Wagga Wagga after spending a year studying film and television production in the US.
Rev Gordon Moyes was the mission’s superintendent which is a cross between a CEO and senior pastor. My job was to manage the media ministry of the mission.
This was a real answer to prayer for us both as we had wondered where my year long study at San Diego University would lead. I was soon to find out.
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A LIFE REMEMBERED: Top – Gordon Moyes filming on location during his days as Wesley Mission’s superintendent; Middle – In Rome during a film shoot with Martin Johnson (right) and Gordon Moyes (rear, fourth from right); and Bottom – Gordon Moyes at radio station 2GB where he recorded Sunday Night Live with Gordon Moyes. PICTURES: Martin Johnson “Working with Gordon and Wesley Mission changed my life. Gordon was not only passionate about using the media, he was one of Australia’s best television performers and radio broadcasters. When we were shooting in the Middle East, he rarely needed to do a second take. He could do a four or five minute sequence to camera without a mistake or a fluffed line.” |
Gordon had succeeded Rev Dr Sir Alan Walker who had been a pioneer in using the media for the Gospel. It was Sir Alan’s lobbying prior to 1956 that helped secure what was known as the statutory time clause. This clause in the television broadcasting act required commercial television broadcasters to provide an hour of broadcast and associated production time each week for religious programs produced by churches, free of charge.
When Gordon took up the position of superintendent in 1978, he quickly announced his intention of starting a weekly television program on one of the commercial networks.
Turn ‘Round Australia (TRA) – a weekly 30 minute program first aired on the TEN Network and then at the invitation of the management of Channel Nine, it became a Sunday morning staple on Nine for almost 25 years. Rev John Graham, my predecessor, was TRA’s first producer. I took over producing and directing the program and did so for the next 20 years.
In 1983, Gordon did a deal with 2KY, a Sydney radio station owned by the Trades and Labour Council. Every Sunday night for two years, the Sunday evening service was broadcast live from the Lyceum theatre followed by interviews and talkback. A Christian presence on a station better known for its racing broadcasts.
It was around this time that the Australian government made changes to the tax act which allowed quite generous tax deductions for investors in qualifying Australian films. This created a resurgence in the Australian feature film industry but also allowed Gordon’s vision for the media to expand even further.
By this time TRA was seen in every state of Australia on the Nine Network and its affiliates. “Rather than talking about the life of Jesus in a studio, why don’t we go to Israel and film on location,” Gordon said. And so Wesley Film Productions came into existence.
During 1984/85 we raised more than $2 million to shoot three, 12 part documentary series on location in Israel, Turkey, Greece and Italy.Discovering Jesus, Discovering Paul and Discovering the Young Churchwere shown around the TRA network of stations and released on VHS and Betamax. The series were also dubbed into Italian and seen in the US and Korea. The series was a resounding success and I now knew why I had undertaken that training in the US.
During 1985, Gordon was offered a four-hour slot on Sydney’s top rating radio station, 2GB. For the next 18 years, Gordon and I spent Sunday nights in the 2GB studios. I counted it a privilege that when he went on four weeks leave each January, he allowed me to host the program.
Working with Gordon and Wesley Mission changed my life. Gordon was not only passionate about using the media, he was one of Australia’s best television performers and radio broadcasters. When we were shooting in the Middle East, he rarely needed to do a second take. He could do a four or five minute sequence to camera without a mistake or a fluffed line.
One of his tricks was to write down his key points on ‘Post-It’ notes and stick them on whatever was handy. They were always hidden from camera, but he could see them as he walked towards the camera, telling a story.
During a lunch break filming at the synagogue ruins in Capernaum on the shores or Lake Galilee in Israel, a group of tourists walked through our ‘location’, looking at Gordon’s notes with great interest. They thought they were part of the exhibit!
As well as TRA, every Easter I worked with Gordon to produce and direct a live hour-long telecast of the Easter Sunrise Service from the Sydney Opera House. Initially held outside, I moved it inside the northern foyer where we could still see the sunrise but be out of any bad weather. That service continues to this day, as does the successor to Turn ‘Round Australia.
For 10 years we partnered with the Darling Harbour Authority and Mary Lopez Productions for an outdoor Christmas pageant called An Australian Christmas. Hosted by Gordon, An Australian Christmas told the story of the first Christmas with wise men on real camels and shepherds herding flocks of real sheep. It was broadcast nationally on the Seven and then the TEN Networks.
Gordon was an inspiration to work for, although I always felt as if I was working with him, not for him. He often said to me and to other senior managers, that we were there to help him do the things he couldn’t do. “I’m not a television producer,” he’d say to me, “so if there’s something I’m not doing right, you tell me,” he’d say.
Like all CEOs, Gordon was often approached by letter, phone call or email by people who said they had a great idea. His philosophy, was that if possible, he would always take the time to listen, or set up an appointment to meet them. “You never know,” he told me, “what sort of an idea someone might have that will expand our ministry. If I have the time, I’ll always listen,” he said. Wesley Institute was one idea that came out of such a meeting.
Gordon loved his family and I was privileged to get to know Beverley his wife, his daughter and three sons. Two of his sons were involved as volunteers with the mission and with the radio and television ministry.
He always loved it when my eldest son Andrew came in to 2GB on a Sunday night during school holidays. After hanging out with Dad and Gordon, Andrew would curl up on the studio floor at 11pm until we finished at midnight. Andrew has gone on to a successful career in television and now feature films.
Gordon was a great story teller. His 11pm stories on Sunday nights on 2GB were listened to by thousands every week. We were often asked to put them on earlier, but commercial radio needs ratings even at 11pm on a Sunday night. For most of the 18 years on 2GB, Sunday Night Live with Gordon Moyes was the number one radio program in Sydney.
I left the mission around the time Gordon entered parliament to be involved with another Christian outreach in media. But I’ll never forget my time working with Gordon. His need for a media manager brought me to Sydney over 30 years ago – a move that has influenced my life ever since.
He will be sadly missed but his legacy will live on in the thousands of lives he impacted through his lifelong Gospel ministry.
Every Sunday night, he ended Sunday Night Live with these words:
May the road rise to meet you
May the wind be always at your back
May the sun shine warm upon your face
And the rains fall soft upon your field.
And until we meet again, may the good Lord hold you in the palm of his hand.
Good night now to you, to you and especially to…you
Goodbye Gordon – we will miss you.
Martin Johnson has previously worked for both the Wesley Mission and the Bible Society and now runs his own communications consultancy in Sydney – Martin Johnson Communications.
