Cornerstone Community
Our National Director
Paul Roe
Paul was co-founder of Cornerstone Community along with Laurie MacIntosh. Laurie and Paul had shared a number of years in mission and ministry with young people in Sydney, and the idea of Cornerstone grew out of those experiences. After several years of teaching in state schools and biblical studies at Regent College in Canada, Paul and Robyn joined Laurie and Elvira in Bourke in 1978.
During his 27 years in Bourke, Paul was involved in the town in an array of roles ... as a pastor of the Bourke Christian Church, principal of Pera Bore Christian Community School, radio broadcaster, local historian, tourist officer, elected member of the local shire council, musician and as a member of a number of committees active in progressing the life of the community. His particular interest in putting 'story' to work saw him involved as the chairman and consulting historian in establishing the Back O' Bourke Exhibition Centre. This in turn has led on to his undertaking doctoral research for the purpose of establishing a National Christian Heritage Centre in Canberra.
The majority of Paul's time and energy, though, has gone into the development of Cornerstone's communities and mission. He served a number of years as the Dean of our Pera Bore campus, and the Roes also spent a year at Broken Hill, establishing our training campus and community there with Peter and Penny Volkofsky. In more recent years, he has led the Burrabadine Mission Community, our campus for our Advanced Diploma training in Dubbo, until his appointment as National Director.
Paul's greatest delight is leading people into a deeper understanding of the life of Jesus both in the Cornerstone context and speaking at schools and conferences. His heart is given to training men and women to embrace the adventure of following Jesus together in communities that model the life of the kingdom of God as he taught it.
Paul enjoys reading widely, is an ageing rock and roller who loves a good riff, is easily distracted by sport, collects good stories, and warms to good conversation. He is still in love with his first wife, and is proud of his sons and son-in-law, daughter and daughters-in-law, and is especially fond of his five grandchildren. He once served as an ambassador for the Outback, but primarily he now wants to serve Australia as an ambassador of our Christian heritage.