About Ben
Role: Youth Minister (PULSE Youth)
Background: Completing my final year at Monash studying a Bachelor of Politics, Philosophy and Economics with the desire to begin studying at Ridley in 2026!
Passionate about: I love to teach young people from God’s word about the wonderful God it reveals and to help them understand its relevance for their lives. Watching young people meet Jesus and seeing everything click into place—perhaps over many years—is a great delight.
Hobbies: I’m a big sports guy with a particular passion for soccer. I play the game myself whilst being a keen Newport County supporter. Cooking, reading and hanging out with friends are also up there.
Ben’s Story
I grew up overseas in Laos as a missionary kid and was taught about Jesus throughout my childhood, forming a strong belief and understanding of who Jesus was. Moving to Melbourne and starting high school, I struggled to translate what I knew about Jesus into an active relationship with Him that would affect how I lived my life. I began to build my life on things that I thought would bring me meaning and a sense of being known & loved but in reality were not solid – things like pursuing status, friendships and romantic relationships, academic achievements, etc. Accompanying this was a deep sense of shame in coming to God, as I believed he was angry and disappointed with all the ways I failed to live well.
With the arrival of the pandemic, my foundations were knocked out from under me as I was forced to complete VCE through Lockdown. I simultaneously realised that:
a) I needed the security of finding meaning, hope and love from a foundation that couldn’t be knocked down, a foundation that couldn’t be found in this world. And,
b) God wasn’t angry at me, but was in fact so determined in His love for me that He was willing to send His only Son, Jesus, to die a horrifyingly excruciating death to mend our broken relationship. To transform a wretch like me who often was God’s enemy into His treasure.
Since coming to terms with the truth of who Jesus is, and what He accomplished on the cross and through His resurrection, my life has been completely transformed and I deeply desire that others might come to know the God who loves the world too.
