As far as breakfast speakers go Reverend Phil Zamagias ticks most of the boxes - a unique story, intermittent humour, a great passion for his work and a smooth delivery befitting of an accomplished presenter.
The Echuca Anglican church minister shared the story of his Flying BibleMan work, and a long history of commitment to remote central and northern Australian communities, at a Rochester Uniting Church men’s breakfast at the weekend.
Rochester Uniting Church Reverend Brian Morgan hosted the pilot minister at the breakfast, which attracted more than 20 men to listen to Reverend Zamagias’ condensed life story.
Reverend Zamagias has dual ministry responsibilities. He is also the rector of Fred’s Pass Anglican Parish in the Northern Territory, which is an open air church in a wide spread Parish that includes Litchfield National Park, parts of Kakadu National Park and borders with Arnhem Land.
The former missionary pilot, and his family, spent many years working to bring the Christian faith to areas of Australia that had never seen a bible.
“My kids thought that flying was normal and travelling in the car was exciting,” he explained to the gathering.
Reverend Zamagias made his ministry work a priority while working as a pilot in the remote areas of the country.
“People used to tell me to chase the charter work first and then do the ministry work secondary.
“But we ended up with three aeroplanes, one working solely for the ministry and two doing charter work.
“We take the bible for granted, but when you see what happens when people hear the bible for the first time and in their own language - it was amazing,” he said.
Reverend Zamagias witnessed the bible being translated for the remote communities and, at the wheel of his plane — aptly named Veritas (a Latin word for truth) — was responsible for its delivery to these regions.
But working with the aboriginal people of the Northern Territory has not been his sole focus during his years of ministry, having also worked as a Motor Racing Chaplain for 20 years, with horse racing and in other specialised fields.
He and his wife Leanne developed a children’s resource book named God’s Story for the Outback, enlisting the support of musician Colin Buchanan to promote the book, and creating a compact disc with the nine time Golden Guitar winner.
"It is a very simple story and picture book we created and then Colin added the musical element for its delivery, “ Reverend Zamagias said.
From spreading the word to the remote regions of Australia to a blessing of the animals service that included snakes and crocodiles, Reverend Zamagias had the gathering enthralled with his delivery.
Nowadays, his flying is limited to a simulator in his home that was built for him by his son.
“I can pretend to be landing a 747 in Sydney now,” he said.
After first becoming a pilot in 1982, he added the ministry component of his skill set in 2008 and became involved with the Missionary Aviation Fellowship
The overlap between the pilot and minister’s role sat neatly with the Echuca based minister, who spent two stints in the north- from 1989-96 and then again from 2002-2011
He arrived in the Campaspe region only last year.
Reverend Morgan’s Uniting Church men’s breakfasts have a 10 year history and have attracted a variety of guest speakers
They are held on the first Saturday of the month from 8am to 9am, and in November Peter Gibson will be the guest of the church.
He will be explaining his use of music in aged care and dementia