Gary has been the Principal of Queensland Theological College since the start of 2012. After studying chemistry in his home city of Belfast, Gary moved to Aberdeen in Scotland to study theology, before completing a D.Phil at Oxford on Deuteronomy. Gary worked as a pastor for the next 17 years in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland and was involved in both church revitalization and church planting, before moving to Brisbane to lead the team at QTC. Gary teaches Old Testament, Biblical Theology and Preaching, and preaches most weeks in college chapel. In 2013, along with Phil Campbell (see below), Gary wrote Saving Eutychus, a highly acclaimed book on preaching. He is currently working on a major commentary on 1 & 2 Kings. He is married to Fiona, and they have three daughters, Lucy, Sophie and Rebekah.
TGCA: What books are currently on your bedside table?
Sweet Caress by William Boyd, Margrave of the Marshes by John Peel (the autobiography of an iconic British broadcaster), Crime and Punishment by Fyodr Dostoevsky, The Plantation of Ulster by Jonathan Bardon and Football Cliches by Adam Hurrey.
TGCA: What was the last book you left unfinished?
Crime and Punishment (It was getting too depressing!).
TGCA: What’s a book you feel guilty for not reading?
Augustine’s City of God.
TGCA: Do you read commentaries straight-through or dip-in?
Both – when I’m preaching through a book, I tend to choose one technical commentary and read every word, and then dip in and out of several others.
TGCA: What’s a book that someone needs to write?
Understanding the Irish.
TGCA: What books did you/do you read to your children?
The Rattletrap Car, Hamish the Highland Cow, everything by Julia Donaldson, and many others!
TGCA: What was the last book you gave as a present?
Luther on the Christian Life by Carl Trueman.
TGCA: What book made a big impact on you during adolescence?
David Watson’s Discipleship.
TGCA: Best biography you’ve read?
George Marsden on Jonathan Edwards/ Philippe Auclair on Eric Cantona (former Manchester United footballer).
TGCA: What 10 books would you take to a desert island?
Calvin’s Institutes
Works of Jonathan Edwards (Is that cheating?)
Thomas Bartlett’s Ireland – A History
Augustine’s City of God
The Complete Calvin & Hobbes
John Owen’s On Sin and Temptation
Herman Bavinck’s Reformed Dogmatics
Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina (can’t see myself getting round to reading it any other way!)
Jim Packer’s Knowing God
The Complete Illustrated History of Manchester United Football Club
(Plus I’d like to sneak in a copy of The Valley of Vision!)
TGCA: Is there a book that you wish you’d written?
Wisdom in Leadership by Craig Hamilton.
TGCA: Most overrated book?
James Joyce’s Ulysses.
TGCA: What’s your favourite time and place to read?
At my desk early in the morning/in bed late at night.
TGCA: What is a book in the area of Old Testament that you’d encourage everyone to read?
Either A Biblical History of Israel by Iain Proven, Phillips Long and Tremper Longman – a beautiful antidote to historical skepticism, or Richard Pratt’s He gave us stories.
TGCA: Which book, apart from the Bible, has most shaped your approach to ministry?
John Stott’s I believe in Preaching or John Piper’s God is the Gospel.
