Thirty years ago, Joel A’Bell sat in a typical-looking classroom in a typical Sydney high school, kicking himself for forgetting a letter from his parents to exempt him from attending a Tuesday afternoon scripture class.

But during that class, Joel, a 14 year old year 8 student, heard the gospel for the first time and became a Christian.

Hillsong’s Joel A’Bell embraces his scripture teacher on the Hillsong Conference stage, who introduced him to Jesus over 30 years ago.

Now, all these years later, he is lead pastor of Hillsong, Australia’s biggest church, and he’s committed to getting Christians more involved in Scripture across Australia.

“I only have one memory of Scripture, really,” Joel told Eternity. “I wasn’t supposed to go, but I’d forgotten my parent’s exemption note. So I had to go. And I heard Neville, this electrician who took Tuesday’s off to take the Scripture class, talk about the Gospel and the love of God, and Jesus dying for our sins. He said that if we would repent and turn to Jesus, we would have eternal life. And that was it. That one class, that day, I got saved.”

At Hillsong’s annual conference this year, Joel decided he wanted to honour his scripture teacher, Neville. “What a great way to highlight scripture in schools and use this platform as an opportunity to encourages churches who come from all over Australia to get back into schools,” said Joel. “We wanted to make a short film about his scripture experience to show at the conference. “

So Joel and a film team headed to Narrabeen High, to film Joel talking about his conversion at the scripture class, and the importance of Scripture in Australia. But while he was there, a series of fortuitous meetings led to an unexpected reunion.

“In the middle of filming, we met a few teachers who, by coincidence, knew someone who goes to St Faith’s Anglican Church, where I knew Neville, my scripture teacher went all those years ago,” said Joel.

“He dad was the minister there, and I asked whether they knew of Neville. She said ‘Yes! He still goes to our church.’ And she went and got his mobile number. We called him right there, and he was still living in the area and said he could meet us that afternoon. So off we went. That was our reunion.”

Joel described an emotional meeting with Neville.

“He didn’t recognise me, but I recognised him. I said thank you, I tried to express my gratitude to him. He started crying, and I started crying!”

Neville’s example to Joel was practical too: Joel became a scripture teacher himself, seeing the impact of scripture in schools on individual children and the wider community.

Joel calls his scripture teacher, Neville, who goes to St Faith’s, Narrabeen in Sydney’s north, a hero. He imagines all the thousands of students that sat in that classroom in all the years Neville taught scripture, and the impact that had, with the message of Jesus ruminating in their lives beyond the classroom. It’s clear Joel was fundamentally changed through Scripture, and with one teacher telling him about the Gospel, Joel goes on today to teach thousands of Australians about Jesus every week.

“There are so many heroes, really, as scripture teachers around the country. Talking to kids at school has got to be one of the scariest jobs around. But it’s also one of the most exciting, rewarding, challenging and dynamic jobs in society. They’re rock stars.”

Joel recalls one experience he had as a scripture teacher.

“A young guy who had been in my scripture class in Wollongong a few years before had a surfing accident – hit his head on a reef and drowned. The community was hit pretty savagely by that. But I had this connection through scripture teaching, and in the surfing world down there, and I could help bring comfort to that family, through the school.”

To date, Hillsong has 82 volunteers and staff involved in teaching or facilitating scripture classes in 63 schools in Queensland and New South Wales, and Joel says they’re working on building up scripture in Victoria this year too. The church that attracts approximately 30,000 attendees every week says it reaches an additional 5,040 students with scripture classes each week, and Joel wants to see that number grow.

“It’s definitely close to my heart because I became a Christian in scripture. So we want to set a example and show that scripture is a big thing for us at Hillsong.”

At Hillsong Conference in Sydney this year, Joel got Neville up on stage in front of thousands.

“He was overwhelmed, speechless,” says Joel. “It was such a great moment.”

Watch Joel’s video about his scripture experience, and reuniting with Neville: