A Leader’s Story
An insight into the past and present of one of our extraordinary leaders.
Isaac Rees
Isaac Peter Rees is the Content Coordinator and Manager across all of Faith Family, both for churches and early learning facilities, having formally held this role for the past 1 - 2 years, but with development and training in relevant departments since 2018, the same year he graduated high school in Coffs Harbour. His role covers such needs as capturing and editing photos and videos, graphic design for series concepts and events, facilitation of the Online Service and scheduling, creating and distributing all social media content for Faith Family Churches and Faith Family Early Learning Centres.
Isaac was born in Blacktown Hospital, Sydney and spent his first 6 years living in the small suburb of Riverstone, Sydney. His two older siblings, one brother and one sister in Josh and Larissa, respectively, are both married - Josh and his wife Tahlia have a daughter and Larissa and her husband Toby are expecting. Having moved to Coffs Harbour in 2007 alongside his family, Isaac fondly recalls how encouraging and faith-driven most of his family has been during his upbringing. Throughout high school, Isaac recalls that most of his learning was “off-syllabus”, saying that though he didn’t necessarily do well academically, he did find a very solid friend group who were supportive and caring and he did help to positively impact younger year groups during his time at school - interpersonal development that he felt was more aligned to his values.
Following graduation, Isaac took part in Harbour Church’s Internship program of 2019. He had this to say about his experience:
“I loved Internship. Coming out of school, it was very freeing - we had those 6am prayer meetings, bible reading, reading through the whole bible in a year, things like that. It was good to develop some consistency, especially in a time where, after school, not many people have consistency - we often just want to be free, to be able to do whatever we want when we want to. It was good to have that path and those goals set before the end of the year.”
Having toured over 20 different INC locations and participating in a Missions Trip to Indonesia in late 2019, Isaac was heavily equipped with an understanding of other churches’ experiences, especially when it came to their ability to utilise tools like social media. When asked about how other churches should value the role and responsibilities that he carries for Faith Family, Isaac had this to say:
“In my personal opinion, most churches that are of a regular attendance size of 100 people and under don’t necessarily need to devote their time and resources into content creation - to be clear, though, that is from the assumption that a pastor is fulfilling this role. If someone in a smaller church really wants to do it, is showing a lot of enthusiasm and wants to volunteer or grow their skills and passion in this environment, then let them go for it - content creation is a great way to reach more people and to grow the church. But if it’s a pastor, which oftentimes it is, or if it’s a really small team, then there are many other aspects of church that are more important than social media, content creation or graphic design. You can get away with lower-quality graphic design or photography or things like that if your preaching is exceptional, if your outreach is exceptional, if your music is amazing; it’s about devoting the right resources into the right place. So I think most churches don’t need someone to do this job.”
Isaac has always been incredibly appreciative of those that have supported him in this role - “I’m really thankful everyday to have the job that I have - I love this job that I have and I recognise that it’s only because of the church’s generosity and the Legacy group’s vision for the future that we would invest this much time and effort into something that not everyone would see as an important part of church or the most valuable use of time or money. I’m just thankful that I get to do this and serve in this way.”
Always eager for a chat, espcially about the realm of content creation and its relationship with the Church, you can contact Isaac at isaac@faithfamily.com.au!