Rev. Dr Richard Thornton believes in living life to the full.
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He has been a doctor, a vicar, a cricketer, an actor and singer.
But it wasn't always that way.
"I was a hostile young man," he admits.
"I was convinced that the church was responsible for all the problems in the world and Darwin had disproved it all."
"But God had other plans, chiselling away my resistance one piece at a time.
"In my youth, I joined a cricket team. When I got to the practice, I found them all praying!
"I put up with that. Especially since I fell in love with the scorer.
"Her father said, 'You can date Judy if you go to church'.
"So I put up with that too.
But I was still attacking Christians and avoiding Jesus.
Then one day the preacher asked the question in Mark 8:27 'Who do men say I am?'
"I was stimulated to find answers. I started reading the Bible.
"I found that the evidence stacked up and the lights came on for me."
Richard completed his medical training and worked as a GP in Parkes. But the hunger to know God more was growing.
Richard and Judy went to Bible College and were invited to join the staff at St. Paul's Church, Tamworth.
It has been a productive 30 years. Healing bodies and souls in regional towns, performing with Tamworth Musical Society.
Many will remember Richard as Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof. Richard was instrumental in starting the Country Music Gospel Tent and the Peel Street Pink Van ministry.
As head of palliative care at the hospital, he had a conviction that people with irreversible disease deserve to be well looked after.
It led him to go the second mile in offering support that was both medical and spiritual in their time of need.
Reflecting on his life, Richard attests, "It's not just about pie in the sky when you die. Jesus gives us a rich and full life here as well."