When I wrote my first book I felt it was important to have a brand name publisher on it. It felt like it maybe it gave it a little more credibility and gravitas than a random self publish.

But this time I have decided to figure out how to go it alone and self publish – not that I now feel famous and ‘out there’, but simply because I don’t think it actually matters that much. Using a publisher also means they take 90% of whatever $$ are actually made from the book. In my case that isn’t a huge amount, but I’d still rather take that 90% and pocket it myself.

So I’ve worked through the KDP process and the same with Ingram Spark (a bit more finicky). Findaway voices (Spotify) are my go to for audio-books and right now I reckon I am just a few days of final checking away from hitting ‘publish’.

The simple reality is that even if I ‘co-published’ again with some kind of better known name, they aren’t going to be marketing my book anywhere, or trying to help me spread the word.

It will get known in my own circles and through word of mouth, rather than clever advertising. I imagine more and more authors will take this route. I know some of the better known authors are already moving away from big name publishers for this exact reason.

So here’s a kind of ‘preface’ I have slotted into the book that gives you a feel of its focus and intent. If you know of someone who would find this book valuable then please spread the word.

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A Quick Word?

So who writes a book and calls it Hi-Vis Faith?  

Who intentionally pitches a book at tradies, manual workers and other people generally not typified as readers? Because that is exactly what I am doing here.

Well… Someone who has lived in that world for 20 years and knows it from the inside. 

Someone who understands that hi-vis workers—both men and women—want to follow Jesus faithfully in their workplace. 

Someone who knows theology needs a practical edge if it is going to carry any real currency in everyday life.

For the last twenty years I have operated three different trade-based businesses while also pastoring churches and reflecting on the challenges of a practical working life.

I have read many books about work and deeply appreciated the way others have articulated the importance of our work in God’s world, but I’m yet to come across someone who writes with the gritty realism of having been immersed in a rough-edged trade environment for an extended period of time. 

So this is my attempt to bridge that gap. My hope is that it may empower and inspire these people to make better sense of their work in God’s world.

I could have landed a gig as a full time pastor—but for various reasons as I entered my mid forties, I found myself working in irrigation and landscaping. It was hard work, often done in the brutal summer sun. And it was unfamiliar territory to me. I had always worked in ‘white collar’ jobs, as a teacher or a pastor. Initially I was a fish out of water. These weren’t my people.

But I soon found myself enjoying the different culture—the conversations that happen on a worksite that are quite distinct from those in a church foyer or a school staff room. I appreciated the raw and unfiltered questions about “religion” that were often tossed at me.

I enjoyed doing a hard day’s work and then feeling proud as I looked at the lush green lawn, as I saw the smiles on the faces of the property owners.

As you read—or listen—to this book, I hope that you will feel equipped and inspired to go back to work knowing what your role is as a Christian.

I won’t be teaching you clever ways to convert people. That isn’t why you go to work. I will be helping you develop the conviction that your work matters. And I hope you will receive encouragement to represent Jesus well in tough and sometimes toxic work environments. 

Because when you “make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and work with your hands”, as Paul said, people will notice. And if you live that life with integrity and faithfulness, you will win the respect of your co-workers, your clients and your community.

I spoke at a church recently where a young woman introduced herself to me and when I asked about her work she said coyly, “I’m just a check-out chick.” To her credit, that girl’s mother spoke before I could get the words out and said “You are not just a check-out chick.” I applauded the mother’s observation and her insistence that her daughter refuse to let her work be diminished by that label. Although this book is shaped by the hi-vis world, the deeper questions it explores belong to all of us.

Whatever you do—your work matters and the way you do it matters too. You have a role to play in God’s kingdom on this earth and your capacity to live your faith in whatever workplace you find yourself in is deeply needed in our world today – because ordinary work really is sacred ground.

Andrew Hamilton

June 2026

Sometimes when I’m talking with people who are new to public speaking and teaching in church I ask them to simply tell me in one sentence what you want to communicate.

If you can do that then you probably have a good grip on your focus. If you can’t then you need to do some more work to get it sharpened. I sense it is the same with writing.

From the time I began working on this book one quote from Martin Robinson has been at the forefront of my mind and has shaped my thinking. Here it is:

What would it look like for a church to function in such a way that the primary goal of church life was not to attract more people into attendance and membership, but to produce people who had a profound sense of their personal relationship to God, their resource in Christ and could take that reality into the world with them.

Martin Robinson – Invading Secular Space

I find this an absolutely inspirational idea summed up so succinctly. It’s an idea I could give the next 10 years of my life to without blinking. If only we could reimagine how we approach our work then we may well see a significant transformation in the landscape.

This is not a new idea. It’s just one that has never been fully explored. Why?…

I would almost bet that if I were to ask someone in your church what their ‘ministry’ is that they would look within to something they are doing inside the church family. Very few naturally and spontaneously look to their workplace. I wonder why that is?

So my hope is to take a run at this issue in the years to come and hopefully help people re-imagine their workplace as their first port of call when it comes to ministry – not in a wacky wierdo kind of way – but simply as the place where we reflect and live out the life of Jesus and where we are visible for 38 hours of our week.

I am doing some speaking around the place on this issue, so if you think your church would find it valuable to be challenged to reframe their thinking in this way then hit me up. The rest of this year is pretty tight, but 2027 is wide open. It’s the kind of subject that is best done over a 3-4 weeks time frame so that the ideas can get developed. If you want to see a few examples then check out Riverview Church on Youtube or Parkerville Baptist where I have done some work already.

When I set out to write this book it was with blue collar tradies in the forefront of my mind – people who know what it is to work hard and go home physically tired. It’s the space I know well and the ‘gap’ I see in the various books that have already been written with a focus on faith in daily work.

It’d be fair to say this mob aren’t renown for being avid readers, especially of non-fiction, theological type works. So I feel like I’m getting a knack or writing for niche groups. Last time was those exploring a bivocational approach to church leadership – a tiny group of people – and this time it’s tradies who like to read. Probably not a huge group either…

While this group were my initial focus my hope is that the book will be read well beyond. So it is written in a way that is accessible and easy to grasp.

That said I began to have a few wobbles as to whether the title would limit its’ reach. Truth is, it probably will. So I mused on various other titles; “Faith With Dirty Hands”, “Blood Sweat and Faith” as well as a couple of others, but after wrestling it around for a couple of weeks I’ve come back to my original focus and decided to lean in hard – hence the cover image of greasy hands gripping a spanner.

I was chatting with friends the other night about the choices and said “it’s not the difference between selling 100 000 copies or 50 000. It’s more a case of whether it sells a 1000 or 500.”

Thanks to all who offered their thoughts and reflections. It was helpful in the musing. I knew however that the decision was eventually going to be mine to make – rather than by Facebook poll or similar.

And yes, I realise the cover looks fairly blokey, but again, I just have to accept that I’m a blokey kind of man who writes in a blokey kind of way – so it fits.

Anyway, if Tim Keller, or Jon Mark Comer – two of the more popular authors in this space – haven’t lit a spark in you, then you might like to try Hamo’s Hi-Vis Faith. It will be published in a few weeks when I have had time to finish the audio version. My hope is to throw digital, paper and audio out at the same time, knowing that for some people audio is their staple these days.

Those words are not an apology. They are a deflection. A cop out of a mistake.

So try this instead

“Im sorry. I got it wrong.“

That is an apology. Note the difference. In the first you are the person with the problem. In the second I am the person with the problem.

An apology accepts responsibility and liability – something few people are prepared to do today.

Why the rant?

I tried to buy a car this week from Seaview Ford in Clarkson. I bought my current Ranger there 4 years ago and with 94k kms on the clock I wanted to turn it over. My previous experience was simple. Walked in, signed up and purchased a car. I asked for no red bow or extended ‘handover’ – just a white Ranger with a canopy. And that was what I got.

So I went back in December for a service and saw a potential change-over opportunity. The sales guy agreed to switch my wheels and canopy to the new car and we had a deal. The contract came thru but the ‘canopy’ part had been left off. No notification – just glad I read this stuff. A few phone calls later we find that sales guy has overstepped and made a mistake. No sale.

Then this week on Thursday I spot a car that is very good value for sale at Seaview, so I head down to take a look in between clients. Time is compressed but I haggle hard, we agree to a changeover figure for my car, shake hands and I head back to work with the contract to be emailed thru to me for reading and signing.

I let the sales manager know I wouldn’t be signing anything without a proper read, as previous experience had burnt me. But the contract didn’t come in. Ryan had got busy and didn’t get to it… (15 minutes of work he had told me if I wanted to wait, but I couldn’t wait.)

No contract Thursday and Ryan rings Friday to make sure I coming in to sign. Yep I am… once I read it… He is busy again so the contract eventually get sent to the wrong email address at midday before I correct him and he gets it to me. I am now running behind schedule for my next job in Caversham so I tell him I will read and sign later that day assuming I finish in time.

I hustle thru the job, hit the road for the Ford dealership, only to be rung by Ryan and asked if I’d like a different car instead.

“Nope – just the one we agreed on”

“That might be a problem… someone may be paying a deposit on it and getting finance for it”

‘Might be or are?’ I ask…

Short version – they sold the car to someone else – and that person ‘needed finance’. Translation = they were going to make a lot more out of customer ‘B’ than me so I got shafted.

Having busted my butt from my end to get everything sorted I was beyond belief that they would simply sell it to someone else without even a courtesy call to check and see if I was coming in.

But no. Car sold. And without a contract there is no actual agreement. I can even appreciate that as I’m sure some people give them the wind up. What I can’t get is the complete lack of courtesy to call and check in and then the subsequent ‘not our problem’ response.

I had a short conversation with the sale’s managers boss this morning who told me he was ‘sorry I felt that way and that they never want customers to have a bad experience’.

Which is verbiage for “bad luck mare” It was a very bad experience… and the ‘apology’ was even worse.

‘What about if I could do a really good deal on the other car?’ he asks as we end the conversation.

I’m incredulous… ‘I wouldn’t buy it off you if you took $10K off it .’ I said. ‘You will never see me again. And I will make sure other people are aware of how you do business.’

I’m just one insignificant cog in a very large machine, but I see the ugliness of people being nothing more than a dollar figure in a deal – and when a higher dollar figure walks in you lose. It’s the machine we all exist in and have to navigate, but we can soften its edges with kindness and respect. Or we can simply let it grind on…

So there is one dealership I will never return to… where the ‘car salesman’ slurr actually feels like it fits.

Heads up to those buying cars.