Having graduated from the Solomon Islands College of Higher Education, he trained for the ministry at Bishop Patteson Theological College, and was ordained a deacon in 1981 and a priest in 1982. He served as curate of St Barnabas Cathedral, Honiara, 1981–1982, before becoming Secretary to John Selwyn, Archbishop of Melanesia (1983–1986), and returning to Bishop Patteson as a lecturer in 1987.
