A Pastor’s Story
An insight into the past and present of one of our amazing pastors.
Phil Campbell
“Pastoring is always about people. You can run meetings and very large events, but they don’t tend to be the things you look back on. The people are always the things most memorable to me.”
Philip James Campbell is one of the Senior Pastors of Faith Family Church, currently residing in Coffs Harbour with his wife, Justine, and their three children. Phil is also a member of the International Network of Churches’ National Executive, is a mentor for pastors and leaders within Network 200 of the International Network of Churches (INC) and is an advisor for the education sector of INC, offering input towards the INC’s various daycares, schools and colleges. Phil was also INC State Chairman for NSW, overseeing and directly caring for 50 churches across the 10 years he held the role.
Phil was born in Woodville, New Zealand. He grew up as the eldest of six siblings and around the age of 15 moved to the Gold Coast with his family, then a year later to Brisbane, where Phil’s father became a pastor - Phil’s uncle was a pastor in the Gold Coast at the time, working for Clark Taylor at a Christian Outreach Centre (COC) location. After graduating, Phil studied Accounting on a part-time basis while working for Westpac; this would last for 3 years, including a brief employment opportunity at World Expo 1988, before he eventually sold everything and went travelling. Six weeks into his venture, Phil met in Hawaii with a family friend, Marcus Arden - a travelling pastor Phil had known in the past - and travelled on-and-off with him for the next 3 years. They would go on to visit 70 churches in the US, as well as various churches across Europe, especially within England. The pair would return to Australia, landing in Perth, where Phil met Justine. They married April 13th, 1991 and moved to Kalgoorlie later that year to accept a job in the mining industry.
After spending some time renovating and selling their first house in Perth, Phil and Justine moved back to Brisbane, where Phil began working for the church by making documentaries before taking on a role heading up their bookshops. In this role, Phil met Matthew Rees, as well as Steven and Donna Fairall; these three people and their families would all one day unite to serve the same location in Coffs Harbour. During their time together, Phil and Matt started a mail-order business and advertised through the early-morning Christian programmes on television; they found great success in retailing for televangelists such as Benny Hinn (whom they became the host church for), tripling his regular bookstore sales. Phil later worked for Benny Hinn for a further 3 years, in which he completed his MBA (majoring in Entrepreneurship) at Queensland University of Technology during his final year.
Phil would go on to start a business with his brother-in-law around remarketing computers and technology that had been leased, working in partnership with Macquarie Bank - this was a 3 year venture, with the business continuing successfully today. At that point, Phil and Justine were approached by David MacDonald while Phil was speaking at a business conference in Daydream Island with both David and Neil Miers attending. They were asked to consider Coffs Harbour - they spent time praying together and eventually made the decision to move to Coffs Harbour, completing the move on Australia Day weekend of 2004.
When asked about what he looks back on most from his time so far at Coffs Harbour, as well as how we can be encouraged to develop the ministry of Faith Family Church, Phil had this to say: “Pastoring is always about people. You can run meetings and very large events, but they don’t tend to be the things you look back on. The people are always the things most memorable to me.”
It is this very investment in people that has excited Phil about one particular event coming up this year: Coffs Harbour’s 40th Anniversary as a church! This mid-year event is an invitation to any and all who have been involved with Coffs Harbour Christian Outreach Centre, Harbour Church and Faith Family Church across the past 40 years. Be sure to look out for more information about this event in later issues!