Business owner, father of 4, husband to Shelley, absolute charger & downright legend… James Forrest currently resides in Sydney & is shining the love & light of the Lord by living as authentically & as Christ-like as he can… this is a snippet of his story.
As a surfer, what does the ocean mean to you?
The ocean to me is a place where I can challenge myself & hear Gods voice in the most authentic way I know.
You've been involved in CS since 2003 & it's been pretty life changing hey?
Yeh for sure, I couldn’t find an expression in a corporate sense for my childhood- not a real & living understanding of God until I found Christian Surfers #ifoundmytribe. CS was & is wild, open, authentic & releasing.
2022 came with a lot of heartache for businesses within the building industry- as the owner of Forrest Engineering & Forrest Small Homes what was some of the challenges you had to face during that time, and continue to...
6 months of rain on the East Coast, 300% increase in material costson existing contracts & massive material shortages. Interest rate rises resulting in slowest 3 months of trading in residential construction since the GFC…
How does your faith keep you afloat & positive throughout these trials?
From the beginning of faith there is a letting go, the truth is you never know if it’s all going to work out, I have a mortgage & 4 kids, pressures are real, I don’t know if this is going to work out, but when I was a boy God was real, now that I am a man it’s no different. Knowing God has helped me to understand myself, I am made in his image, I am made like him as he is my Father. The outcomes of this season don’t change that, it’s a cycle of unlearning that’s beautifully forced itself on me many times before, so in this challenge I can say, ‘I’ve been here before and God is faithful.’
You've seen mates folding under the pressure & the high stress environment of working in the building industry, how do you share with them the peace and hope of Jesus?
Firstly, I share their suffering.
Secondly, I pray.
And again, I pray. I let them watch my life & hide nothing from them & live in the hands of God as faithfully as I can.
A verse of scripture that is hitting home at the moment...
Psalm 27: 13-14
I am still confident of this:
I will see the goodness of the Lord,
In the land of the living.
Wait for the Lord;
Be strong & take heart
And wait for the Lord.
How do you best see God at work?
I see God at work most clearly in my own fragility.
You & your wife Shelley have four beautiful kids. How has dad life changed your perspective, what has the Lord shown you?
When you get married you become second priority, when you have your first child you become 3rd priority & so on and each of these moments are a step closer to understanding how Jesus lived his life, one must lose his life to find it….. it’s a beautiful & inglorious process. The mystery of being born again.
Favourite worship album?
Oh geeeezzz I could rock out to Maverick City music all day long, particularly the Isaiah Song & love is a miracle, or hang on the 6min 58sec moment of the Hillsong “New Wine” by Brooke Ligertwood.
