Sutherland Shire 'Greats' - Brad McIver
Fit for service
Brad McIver's life was spiralling out of control until, as he tells NAOMI SINGLEHURST, he allowed God to show him a new direction.
Working up to 15 hours a day, smoking and drinking heavily and with his weight ballooning, Brad McIver, who at the time was overseeing operations for a national corporation in the Northern Territory, says he was “living two lives”.
Brad, who is about to be commissioned as a Salvation Army officer, admits that for many years he was “the classic Sunday Christian”. He would attend church on the weekend and display all the outward signs of a healthy God-centred life, yet inwardly his spiritual, physical and mental condition was in turmoil.
“I said all the right things, did all the right things, but during the week I was living a completely different lifestyle,” he says.
While working in the Northern Territory, he suffered a stress-related breakdown. “I was 140 kilos, drinking heavily, working far too many hours six days a week, just ridiculous stuff. I was smoking heavily, did no exercise and had a poor diet," says the son of Salvation Army officers.
“It was affecting my relationships with my wife and kids. I was not a nice man to be around.”
Brad, whose weight now hovers around 81kg, explains that his old lifestyle also triggered fibromyalgia. The condition meant significant discomfort and he was on heavy painkillers, but it was a stress-related breakdown that finally prompted him to surrender to God.
New direction
In the aftermath of the breakdown, Brad had a conversation with his wife, Joycelyn, during which he said, "I don’t know what God wants me to do, but I’d like your permission to find out".
"At the time we had significant debt, four children and for her to be able to do that was miraculous and she showed love, compassion, faith and trust,” he says.
After working on an “amazing” assignment mentoring young Indigenous students, Brad secured a job with Mission Australia and spent more than five “wonderful, wonderful years” with the organisation, ultimately managing its community service programs across the Northern Territory.
Brad also began to lose weight during that time and started regularly walking. Then, in October 2010 at a Salvation Army conference, he rose early one morning, went out and ran 6km.
“I was doing the Cliff Young gumboot shuffle and I’ll never forget it – a group of cyclists rode past me and they just laughed," he recalls. "It was hilarious, but I ran non-stop for 6km and I had never done that in my life before.
“And,” adds the man who completed a marathon earlier this year, “I just really found that God was there. And every time I run now, God’s there ...”
Brad, a second-year cadet at The Salvation Army's School for Officer Training at Bexley North in Sydney, says running has also helped his self-discipline.
“I always struggled with [allowing for] a quiet time and regular prayer times, but I have found a place where I can meet with God,” he says.
“Now, each morning I get up somewhere between 4.30 and 5, have a coffee and a devotional time and then I run with the worship music on.”
Call to ministry
While out running one day, Brad remembers God “very clearly gave me a vision of my future and that was in full-time ministry".
“I sat on that for about 12 months, which I’d never done before," he says. "I basically said, ‘God, I need to know if this is really you or is this me again wanting to take control? So I’m going to wait and I’m going to pray and if this is what you want, then you’ll let Joycelyn know’.”
A year later, Joycelyn approached Brad saying she believed she had been called to ministry. The couple entered the School for Officer Training in 2012.
“I always thought that theology had little to do with what happened in the real world. How wrong I was," Brad says when talking about what he has learned in two years at the training college. "I have been able to use every element of my college experience in practical ways during our practical ministry placements so far.
“My greatest passion is seeing others reach their God-given potential. To help someone come to a realisation that God has a plan for their lives and grasp hold of that with all their being is an incredible privilege. I am humbled by the fact that God has chosen us to share the journey of others as Salvation Army officers.”
Brad has now competed in Sydney's iconic City to Surf a number of times, done a half-marathon, and then in July this year ran the Gold Coast Airport Marathon. “I’m 43 and the fittest I’ve ever been in my entire life,” he says.
Running is deeply personal for Brad, but he also sees it as an opportunity to talk to people about his faith.
“I’ll keep running for as long as I can and I’ll keep running marathons for as long as I can, for my personal benefit, because it’s part of who I am now, but also to encourage others," he says
“I enter events and put that information on Facebook and I tell everybody I can about my weight loss and running. I have been able to share my testimony just so many times already, it’s unbelievable.”
* This article appeared in the November 2013 edition of Pipeline
