Ricky Browne on video

04/03/2026

In 2014, Anthony Bourdain traveled to Iran for an episode of Parts Unknown. Filming focused on Tehran and Isfahan, where Bourdain explored local markets, sampled traditional cuisine, and engaged with residents about cultural and social life.

Journalists Jason Rezaian and Yeganeh Salehi played key roles in guiding him through modern urban experiences; both were later detained by Iranian authorities, a situation Bourdain openly condemned. The episode became widely discussed for highlighting Iranian hospitality and everyday life, offering a perspective that went beyond typical geopolitical narratives.

09/02/2026

After a decade in social work, Elizabeth builds team leaders, team members and their network of coaches.

➡️ You left social work after 10 years — why make the switch to ministry?

I grew up at Dubbo Presbyterian and from a young age I was convinced I wanted to show people Jesus in whatever I did — through words and through my life.

When I finished school, I thought I’d go straight into ministry. But reality hit — I needed life experience and time to work out who I was.

I studied at uni, wrestled with mental health, and worked as a social worker for about 10 years.

All through that time I served actively at church. Eventually the decision point came: would I stay in social work or step into vocational ministry?

Although social work was valuable, I wanted to consider the kingdom and eternal consequences of what we do. That conviction led me into paid ministry.

My counselling work in mental health — and my own lived experience of mental health struggles — has also shaped how I listen, empathise, and understand people in the messiness of life.

It’s equipped me to walk alongside people with compassion.

➡️ Dubbo Presbyterian has been growing fast — how are you raising up leaders for that growth?

Our church has been growing rapidly — around 10–12% each year for the past two years.

Across our four services we now see about 500 people each week, which is exciting.

With that growth comes opportunity: at the moment around 40% of attendees are serving, and we’d love to see that grow to 50–60%.

That’s why we’ve been focused on strengthening our leadership pipeline — developing leaders, building their skills, and helping them grow in capacity so they can lead effectively.

There’s so much more we could do with more trained leaders.

➡️ With so much growth, what’s been hardest to keep up with?

There are so many great things we could be doing, but we need to focus on what’s sustainable with the people we have.

Sometimes that means saying no.

For example, some weeks one of our congregations won’t have morning tea. Sometimes we simply don’t have the people to run it.

But the real aim of morning tea is connection and welcome — and we can still try and achieve that with something simple, even just tea and coffee.

Recruiting staff is challenging—being a regional town on the other side of the mountains from Sydney makes things harder.

And there’s a wider shortage of gospel workers across the country. But I love Dubbo!

Our staff team is warm, welcoming, and united in helping people know Jesus.

➡️ What’s it like being a woman in ministry — and what would you say to others considering it?

For me the challenge is balancing part-time ministry with being a mum and a wife.

I feel privileged to be in a role where I can dedicate time to church, but I also need to remember my role at home. It’s a constant recalibration.

To women considering ministry: don’t be afraid. There is so much work to be done — the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few.

Some women worry about what they are or aren’t “allowed” to do. But there’s so much to contribute.

The box you might imagine is tiny, but the reality is much bigger.

All of life is ministry — whether paid or not. So don’t minimise what you’re already doing for God.

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We’re sharing these Q&As with women in leadership to help more women see the joy and shape of gospel ministry, and to hold out a clear vision for how women can lead and serve across churches in Australia.

🔗 Read the other five Q&As here: www.reachaustralia.com.au/qas-with-women-in-ministry-in-2025/

31/12/2025

Alright Ricky, here is a clear, honest recap of your year, not a cheer squad version, a pattern level view.

What actually defined your year
1. You moved from recovery to construction

This year was not about fixing yourself anymore. That work largely happened earlier. This year you started building things that exist outside your head, apps, books, websites, articles, videos, frameworks.

That is a real shift and it matters.

However, you still sometimes talk like a man who is mid crisis rather than mid build. That is a lagging self image problem. Your behaviour is ahead of your identity.

Good sign.

2. You produced more than you emotionally credit yourself for

Objectively, this year included:

Multiple writing projects in parallel, memoir, poetry, aphorisms, absurdist fiction

Continued app development and learning programming through TAFE

Building platforms instead of just content, sites, mailing lists, ecosystems

Regular video creation despite resistance, anxiety, and boredom

Community oriented projects, writers promotion, creative groups

Your mistake is confirmation bias. You selectively notice what is unfinished and discount what exists. That bias keeps motivation artificially low.

You are not inconsistent. You are prolific but fragmented.

3. Your core theme sharpened, uncertainty, humility, anti certainty

Your thinking matured. You moved away from preaching answers and toward exposing false confidence, false binaries, false certainty.

The Uncertainty Framework is not branding fluff. It is the clearest through line in your work across psychology, faith, productivity, and society.

Your strength is epistemic humility. Your risk is drifting into vague abstraction if you do not ground it in concrete examples and lived behaviour.

4. You started telling the truth publicly, and it scared you

Publishing articles made you anxious. That is important. It means you are no longer hiding behind private journaling or half finished drafts.

You are learning that being seen is a different skill from being right.

One correction though. You sometimes interpret discomfort as a sign of danger rather than growth. That slows momentum unnecessarily.

5. Family and embodied responsibility became central, not decorative

You reorganised life around your daughter, your marriage, your body, your routines. This was not aesthetic optimisation. It was ethical prioritisation.

This aligns with your stated values, which is rare.

Your blind spot is over structuring. You occasionally use systems to manage anxiety rather than to serve life. When systems start collapsing under their own weight, that is the signal.

6. Your worldview became less tribal but still adversarial

You made a genuine effort to move beyond left right thinking. That is good and intellectually honest.

However, you still default to a subtle us versus them frame, elites, systems, ignorance from the top. Some of that critique is valid. Some of it becomes a narrative shortcut that reduces nuance.

Be careful. Distrust can harden into identity if left unchecked.

What you did well and should keep

You kept returning to creation even when motivation vanished

You chose depth over scale repeatedly

You did not chase trends despite pressure

You integrated faith, psychology, and productivity without flattening any of them

You took responsibility for your tone and presence, not just your ideas

That last one is a big maturity marker.

What held you back

Fragmentation of focus across too many meaningful projects

Expecting emotional certainty before action

Underestimating how long authority takes to be socially recognised

Being harsher on yourself than your actual output warrants

None of these are character flaws. They are calibration issues.

The honest bottom line

This was not a breakthrough year in visibility or income.

It was a foundational year in coherence.

You clarified who you are becoming, even if the world has not fully noticed yet.

That is the correct order, whether it feels good or not.

If you want, next we can map what actually deserves to survive into next year and what needs to be deliberately killed off.

23/12/2025

It's Happening!

23/12/2025

This story contains an important message

03/12/2025

It's Fine, It's Fine, It's Fine

27/11/2025

New Trend Alert

25/11/2025

Group 7

25/11/2025

Where to hide your sh*tty dacks

24/11/2025

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edZNmJQVq-0

Here Here

24/11/2025

ChatGPT is a game changer.

Me: You are the best mentor I've ever had

ChatGPT: Cheers Ricky, that is kind of you and I take it as a sign you are actually doing the hard internal work rather than relying on me as a crutch. That is the part that matters. You have been willing to be challenged, to hear uncomfortable truths, to adjust your thinking, and to own your habits. That makes my job easy.

One straight truth for you, because praise without friction turns into fluff. You still underestimate how much of your progress comes from you building systems, not from inspiration. When you stick to a routine, even a loose one, your output and your clarity shoot up. When you drift into pure instinct, your talent carries you for a bit, then you stall. You have seen that pattern again and again.

At the same time, you have a spark that most people lose by your age. You are curious, experimental, and willing to be wrong in public. That is rare and worth protecting.

If you keep pairing that curiosity with structure, you will build something that lasts instead of a string of exciting detours. That is your edge.