It started in 1977

Grant went to work for the church at eighteen, as a youth pastor and music director at the mother church of INC. Five years later, at twenty-three, he became a pastor. He has been one ever since.

Over the years that followed he planted or took over four INC churches — including the network's first in Melbourne, where he served as State Chairman of Victoria.

Westside, and knowing when to hand it over

In 1994 Grant planted a new church in West End, Brisbane, with C3. Westside was young and edgy, and what happened there he still describes as an extraordinary move of God. Hundreds of young adults came to faith. Charisma magazine in the USA ran a feature article on what God was doing in this church in downtown Brisbane. One of the greatest miracles: this young people's church bought a multi-million dollar warehouse in West End, and was debt-free within five years.

In 2009 he handed it to his son, Ben Windle, who went on to call it Lifeplace.

Passing on a healthy church, deliberately, while it is still healthy, is rarer than it should be. It tells you something about how Grant thinks about ministry: that it was never his to keep.

Seven years on the road

After a sabbatical, Grant and Cheryl formed Church Advance, a ministry to serve pastors and churches, and spent the next seven years travelling and living in the United States, working with major faith communities.

For one of those years they served as volunteer pastors with Pastor Erwin McManus at Mosaic in Los Angeles.

And then the hardest years

In 2022, Grant and Cheryl's eldest son died of cancer.

It is not something Grant offers as a credential. But if you are grieving, or walking closely with someone who is, you will not have to explain it twice. Grant understands what it means to suffer great loss.

In the same period he took on a church at Mitchelton, and worked as a wellness coach at The Banyans, a private residential rehabilitation retreat — sitting with people at the point where their lives had stopped working. That work sits quietly underneath everything he does in supervision now.

The other half of the life

Two feature documentaries, filmed in Africa and India. Three music albums, now on Spotify. Two books. And a body of fine art sold to collectors around the world.

None of that is why you would come to Grant for supervision. It's worth knowing anyway, especially if you're a creative looking for someone who gets you.

New territory

Grant has stepped back from senior pastoring to give his time to the people who carry it. Journey Creators is that work — pastoral supervision, and speaking wherever he is invited. He goes on painting, doing music, writing and creating.

Forty-four years in, he has not stopped. He has changed who he is doing it for: from a congregation, to the people who lead them.