I was born on the 26th of May, 1943 at Otorohanga, the second child of my parents Ruth and Ray Brandon. I grew up on my parents' farm 3 miles north of Te Kuiti, a small (pop 5,000) town 2 hours drive south of Auckland. It was good growing up on the farm as part of a large family of seven children, always with plenty of jobs and recreation.

I attended Te Kuiti Primary School. Then, following my older brother John, I attended St. Kentigern College, Pakuranga, as a boarder from 1957- 1960. My final year of high School was back at the Te Kuiti High School, when I also helped with work on the farm.

Further education was at Massey University, Palmerston North, 1962-66, where I completed a B. Hort.Sc. It was during this time that I accepted Christ for myself, although my parents had passed on to me a good example of Christian faith and church involvement. Following University I accepted a job with the Department of Agriculture in Hastings as a Horticultural Advisory Officer, working with fruit and vegetable growers.

I met Elaine at an interchurch home Bible study group. We married at St. Andrews Presbyterian Church on the 10th of May 1969. Our first home was at Havelock North.

We both felt the Lord calling us to overseas mission. In 1970 we accepted a job at Christian Leaders' Training College, near Mt Hagen, Papua New Guinea. It was a great four years there, looking after the gardens programme and participating in other aspects of College life.

Returning from Papua New Guinea, I had already felt the call to train for full time ministry, so from 1975-77 we moved to Dunedin where I trained at Knox Theological Hall for the Presbyterian ministry and a B.Theol. degree.

I have served in three churches: St. Davids' Petone from 1977-83, Westside, Hamilton, 1983-90, and St. Martin's, Papatoetoe, from 1990. Each of these churches have been multicultural, with a mixture of Pacific Islanders and Europeans. I enjoy the great variety of work of a minister from preaching, visiting, organising, counselling, and involvement with important issues of faith. I have served on church national committees in Administration, Pacific Islands and Finance.

Elaine is a part time Primary School teacher, specialising in Reading Recovery. Elaine and I have three children, Sue (30), Derek (25) and Allison (23). Sue lives in Wellington, Derek is at home, and Allison has moved this year with her fiancee Boualem, to Brisbane.

Our home is on a busy and noisy corner, next to the church. Its handy, but we enjoy getting away to a quiet spot when we have holidays. We can feel the rumble from freight trains on the main trunk line next to the church, and we are under the flight path of Auckland International Airport.

My desire is to serve the whole church, and as a result I am involved in a number of interchurch ministries. I am a member of Presbyterian AFFIRM, a group of church people supporting biblical standards for our denomination. Arising out of AFFIRM, I have been involved with the founding of `Daystar', a monthly evangelical newsmagazine, which had its first issue at Easter 2001, and am a trustee and contributor for this.

Since 1991 Elaine and I have been involved with VMTC Prayer Ministry. This is a counselling ministry which provides training, in order to develop church prayer ministry teams. I am national secretary for VMTC, and a Director at VMTC Schools which are held each 6 months.

I am the founder of VisionNet, a website that serves the churches of NZ.

Added to this, during 2001, I am Moderator of the South Auckland Presbytery, where I help to look after 21 Presbyterian parishes.

My interest in genealogy began when I was studying in Dunedin through seeing a Brandon tree written by Viti Brandon. I enjoy writing, vegetable gardening, and computering.. I love watching rugby and cricket on TV, but haven't enough time to go to a game.

Because we are only 5 minutes away from Auckland International Airport, we can easily pick you up if you are travelling, so let us know.

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