I spend my days doing stuff for Soul Survivor NZ and my church "Blueprint" in Wellington NZ. I am perplexed, amazed, in awe of, and spend a lot of time thinking about this revolutionary called Jesus and what it means to follow Him. Facebook me! Skype Me! On the link below
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Friday, July 27, 2007 by Sam
So after a bit of a hiatus, Darryl is blogging again. Check out his rants here
Im speaking at a couple of places this weekend, and the Soul Survivor crew are hanging out, which will be fun. Writing talks is like doing assignments, and im king procrastinator. I pay for it with stress. Im an idiot... and i kinda like it (its fun)... but im stressed... (and as you read this you are thinking "and confused") Why am I writing on my blog when I could be wiring my talk? Why? That is all Arrggggghhhhhhhh Labels: blogging, darryl, soul survivor
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Sunday, June 10, 2007 by Sam
From Chris Darnell in an inspiring talk he shared to the SSNZ leaders yesterday on what it means to be "fully alive". "I would far rather die of thirst than drink from the cup of mediocrity"  From a Stella Artois commercial a while ago. Makes me thirsty and it makes me want to live that little bit more generously, that little more recklessly, to be a little more wild. I am absolutely loving thinking about what it means to be "fully alive" following Jesus. Interestingly, that is the theme of the Soul Survivor festival in 08. Its huge. Labels: quote, soul survivor
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Thursday, January 18, 2007 by Sam
Ok, firstly I am sending subliminal jealous vibes to my boys from Karori who are on their way to the big day out... tool, muse, jet, the violent vemes, the killers, freaken jealous (not the band, thats my feeling after writing that list of glory). I have being thinking a wee bit about the karori lads and lasses, and how cool it has being to hang out with them over the last four years. There has being a very cool transition from "sam the youth pastor" and the boys he gets paid to hang out with, to a bunch of mates that totally rock my world, and I consider as great friends. We've being on a holiday a couple of times last year, and these larikens totally enrich my world. Im just about to launch into four days of camp, im leading worship twice a day, have two seminars and a main meeting, so its going to be a rather busy time. In fact its way more busy than soul survivor was for me, which is a reflection of the ninjas we had there. I have a bunch of photos from people that were there - they will be on the soul survivor website shortly. But here are a couple to whet your appetite, and make you book yourself in for next year... Will try and upload some from the afternoon serving events, some of the bands and other gaps later...  The Late Night story with Mason, went orf!!  The Twister Tournament... NZ vs the rest of the world. NZ won  My tent... there will be justice  The Steward Team, the servant legends of the event  Main Meeting in the morning...  The Horizontal Bungy was sweeeeeet  Emo Music every night at the cafe... *sob*  Cafe where all the deep and meaningful yarns happened  Mike Pilavachi in full flight during a Main Meeting  The Marquee Labels: friends, soul survivor
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Monday, January 08, 2007 by Sam
My phone died, which is why the updates ground to a halt. The Saturday afternoon projects at Soul Survivor will have to be a highlight. I drove around with Nikki who was taking some footage of the projects, and it was incredibly to see all that was happening. It felt like around every corner there were a bunch of young people from Soul Survivor doing something practical to help out the local community. Groups of kids were doing garden work in a retirement home, washing cars, chopping wood at a school, walking up a stream cleaning out rubbish, painting a room in a community centre, clearing weeds in a reserve, doing housework for elderly people . It was just incredible. Full credit to the churches in Fielding for an incredible effort organising the afternoon. The last night was a lot of fun with the after hours program. There was a giant twister competition between NZ and the visitors from overseas. Happy to report NZ one convincingly. I'm on day one of recovery, have a lot to process, there is that lingering bitter sweet feeling of being really stoked with how well the event went, and the the whole Soul Survivor NZ team are stoked, but also processing a whole of junk that came to the surface in my life over the week. Long walk along the beach in order this arvo. I'm deeply deeply grateful to so many of the volunteers that made the event a success, Socttie Reeves doing the after hours entertainment, Andrew Galloway cranking the production, the cafe team. The hero of the event has to be Jon Cumming, the man who did all the site management and worked huge days to make everything run smoothly. Bring on Soul Survivor 2008 Labels: soul survivor
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Friday, January 05, 2007 by Sam
Slightly cooler weather today to everyones relief! There were a few burnt guys wandering around the sight this morning after yesterdays crazy sun. Another great day, both Darryl Gardiner and Mike Pilavachi hit them out of the park in the main meetings, all the seminars cranked and the event seems to just feel more and more alive. It has being a huge day for me personally with some very deep and profound conversations with some friends who (probably unintentionally) really cut to the heart and God has being speaking to me really clearly today about some stuff. A bit of a beautifully painfall day. Its a real pain in the butt, I want to be the sorted leader, the truth is I really want and need God to bring some healing and hope to me this week as much as the next guy. I'm really excited about the service projects happening tomorrow arvo. Must sleep now, thanks again for your prayers and encouragment.
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by Sam
Very late, but a quick update from day 2. The weather has being great, and the day has being fantastic. It is very sureal how well things are running, and a real testament to Gods faithfullness. I'm very tired and have an early start tomorrow so I'm signing off. Cheers for your prayers Marko and others. Its very humbling to have such a neat group of mates suporting this whole thing.
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Labels: soul survivor
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Wednesday, January 03, 2007 by Sam
I will endeavour to update my Blog from the soul survivor festival. Not so much for anyone not here reading this, but mainly so I have written down somewhere the events that are unfolding. It has being an incredible start to the event. The set up has being disturbingly easy and smooth. The site and production team have totally nailed it. I was really nervous about what the first night would be like; would the kids get anything out of it, would the speaker connect, would anyone even turn up? But the amazing thing is that the first meeting rocked, a number of kids became Christians tonight, the music worship was fantastic, and I'm curently sitting in the cafe listening to an acoustic artist typing on my blackberry with a smile on my dial. This historic first night of soul survivor, and this very significant day in my life is coming to an end, and I could not be more blown away by this incredible God that has blown apart my expectations yet again. And this is night one, four more days to go!!!! -------------------------- Labels: soul survivor
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Wednesday, November 29, 2006 by Sam
 With great relief we are entering the final stages of movember, and to be very honest I cant wait for the flippin month to end. I am thinking about going for a walk to a playground, and just sitting there enjoying the fact that the little children are not running away - screaming. I hope you appreciate that white trash nature of my photo; wife beater, aviator glasses, and the dirty dirty slug. A huge shout out to Adam, Rob M, Rob Mc, Scott, Sam B, Dan, Chris, Matt P, Chez, Nathan C, Pete, Clay, and the many other mo-bros that have gone through this very dark month. If you want to have a look at the journey... update one. update two. update three. update four. In other news...It's business time, back from my much needed break and into a very full season as we start heading towards the very first Soul Survivor festival in January. I am curious to know how people get back on the horse spiritually, because I need to do that at the moment. It may be the mo effecting me in more ways than one, but I am in a bit of a weird space where I feel quite disconnected from God. The problem is that life doesn't stop to let me have a bit of space to get back on the horse; I am up in Gisbourne this Saturday for a youth alpha training day, then speaking at the Rock church on Sunday night, and have a pretty full plate with different speaking things and churchy stuff etc till (gulp) May next year.  I feel like I have very little to offer at the moment, and the temptation is to just bluff it. And on top of this, I really don't want the motivation to get back on the horse to be because of what I have to do for God. I want it (and I think it is) because I want to be with God. I really don't want to feel like a hypocrite, I despise playing the Christian game, I loathe saying one thing and living another, I desperately want to live with integrity. I need Grace yet again. Grace; that amazing concept, that reality, that truth, that injustice. Grace which needs to be something alive in my heart right now, rather than just another head concept. Micah 7:8 Do not gloat over me my enemy! Though I have fallen, I will rise. Though I sit in darkness, the Lord will be my light. Songs of Songs 8:5 Who is this coming up from the wilderness, leaning on their beloved? Labels: movemeber, personal, soul survivor
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Thursday, November 23, 2006 by Sam
A couple of updates: Firstly, my blog has gone from a lada, to a formula one race car thanks to the talents of Chris Darnell. Sweeeeet.  Secondly, Naomi will be happy to know that we now have rabbit skins. We took out the golf cart last night, and went hunting, shooting three rabbits.... with flippin air rifles. Awesome times, we were having so much fun that before you knew it, it was four in the morning. Thirdly, I took the holiday hat off, and put on the Soul Survivor hat today, enjoying some great chats with Rich from St Pauls, a top bloke who totally understands the Soul Survivor DNA inside out, it felt like talking to an old mate. Then with Andrew Robinson from Tear Fund. I have high hopes that SS and Tear Fund will form an ongoing friendship, Andrew is a top bloke. And lastly I met with Mark Strom the principal of BCNZ, and a bit of a hero of mine. He made a statement the middle of last year at a Hui I was at that has profoundly shifted my relationship with Jesus... "From guilt and fear to grace and freedom". Will have to post at a later time about how this has changed me. It was very cool chatting to the guy, but I got to the end of our time and realized that I had done a classic Harvey. Basically I harped on talking about Soul Survivor etc, but when hanging with a guy like Mark Strom, as well as a general rule of thumb, I need to learn to ask more questions, and to work a lot harder on my listening skills. The dude has a lot of wisdom buzzing around in that head of his, and on the drive home I reflected that I really could have learnt a whole lot more. I am a wee bit gutted about my poor form on that conversation to be honest. What a legend guy though. And lastly, Im super amped about going to a gig by a little known band called U2 tomorrow night... its like a dozen christmas's combined. I hope I can sleep tonight. Labels: personal, soul survivor, U2
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Thursday, October 19, 2006 by Sam
So if you are wanting something intelligent to read, that goes a bit deeper... how about I just point in the direction of the guys with the smarts.. Stu has a great post on evangelism. Stu bugs me... everytime I read his blog I want to give up writing anything. He is too good, and got a brain to boot Chez has some interesting reflections on the proposed National Statement on Religious Diversity. There is normally some good banter happening on this blog, and I like Chez, coz while we don't see eye to eye on some issues, we really enjoy having a beer together and a good catch up. And Dan Kimball reflecting on Church, this provoked a lot of thought for me, and I would love to hear your thoughts on what he has said. So what does my long weekend hold? Well a bored... I mean board meeting, a SSNZ meeting, and a site and production meeting. Wahooo!!! Speaking at primal church tonight and friday night will see me plugging Soul Survivor at the combined service in Fielding, flick a prayer my way if you feel spiritual. Labels: chez, dan kimble, soul survivor, stu mcgregor
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Monday, October 16, 2006 by Sam
 Well that murky picture is of my friend Stuart standing outside the area where the Main marquee and cafe for Soul Survivor festival will be located... It has being another very exciting day in the journey of Soul Survivor for two reasons. Firstly, because today I followed Becs (the SSNZ Soul Action guru) up to fielding to again chat and hang with the Youth Workers up there. It is amazing, because the crew up there have totally got it, they are fully rallying around Soul Survivor and are using it as a catalyst for growth in their young people, and to bring a new level of unity in the churches in the area. They are co-ordinating the Social Action part of the festival, and with Graham our Soul Survivor champion in the area promoting it heavily in their networks it looks like a large portion of Manawatu will be at the event. What an exciting thing to be a part of! And secondly because I traveled up with my mate Stuart Flood. Stuart loves Trains or anything on rail as much as I love music, so we had turns yarning about our particular loves, and I learnt quite a bit about trains today! Stuart is a hero of mine, and deeply challenges me everytime I hang out with him. But its not in what he says, more in the way that he lives his life and the way he worships. Stuart is flippin amped on SSNZ, he took annual leave at the beginning of the year for the Soul Survivor festival. He is also the very first person to register for the event, and the picture below is him registering for the event, as well as for the Stewarding Team. I have a suspicion that the Soul Survivor movement in time will be a significant agent in blessing the Church here in NZ and in building the Kingdom of God in NZ and around Australasia, and Stuart was the first person to register for the very first event. A moment of history...  If you want to register for the event, check the Soul Survivor NZ website, online registrations will be available soon (that was a shameless plug:) Labels: soul survivor
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Tuesday, September 19, 2006 by Sam
The Soul Survivor Website is now fully updated and looking damm fine... Chris Darnell, one of the key guys for NZ spent countless hours doing the whole thing in his spare time. What a legend. It has being incredible to see how many people have given there time and finance to support the Soul Survivor movement as it begins here in NZ. Aside from the HUGE hours that the core team have put in, there have being so many incredibly generous moments. Alpha NZ have supported me financially two days a week, given me an office. People have anyomously given money at just the right time so we could print our posters and registration forms. There is a couple that give me 40 a week to help with my petrol costs. Nikki Smith who works for a production outfit in wellington spent hours upon hours after work making our introduction dvd for nothing but a hug! Last weekend a young guy who wants to remain anonymous said that he was going to be recieving a nice pay out from a drug trial that he is on. This human lab rat wants to use that money to underwrite a particular part of our festival in January. Just yesterday I was at an awesome church on the Kapiti Coast. They barely have a young person at the church, but are so keen to support finacially and through prayer the Soul Survivor movement, they are so excited!! It certainly hasn't being roses for everyone involved in launching this thing, its being freaken tough most of the time. But these acts of generosity have completely blown me away, there are some beautiful people out there, and the world is a better place because of them. Labels: friends, generosity, soul survivor
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Wednesday, September 13, 2006 by Sam
The last week has done nothing for my addiction to coffee. The weekend saw the brains of the SSNZ outfit coming together to talk turkey. This meant relatively long days, and what I would strongly contend are early starts (9am). What person involved in youth ministry gets up at 8am??? Its the middle of the freaken night for crying out loud. My poor body was very angry at me, and rightly so. This meant a lot of coffee was consumed. The weekend was amazing, we have ninjas like Andrew Galloway doing production, Jon Cumming looking after our site managment, Scottie Reeves looking after the entertainment and after hours program. These are huge jobs being our first festival and all. The photo below is one of the few times we managed to stay on task and actually talk turkey. Trust me, thing quickly descend into carnage with the crew there.  I have just returned from a couple of days in Palmerston North and Feilding chewing the fat with a bunch of awesome youth workers. Big ups to Peter at Central Baptist, Graeme at the Pressy church and Karen at All Saints. The Fielding youth workers blew my socks off today, what a neat bunch of guys all working together. I wound up having a yarn about Soul Survivor to the youth group at the Bible Chapel and at Lifeway . It looks like every major church is really keen to support the Soul Survivor movement, the guys doing youth work there are just legends. But again, there was a lot of coffee. I mean a lot... still coming down off the high. The whole festival in January looks like it is going to go off, and what other place would you want to have a festival other than wonderful feilding...  Off to Wellington tomorow for meetings with some of the Soul Survivor guys, and to yarn with some peeps about some camps im speaking at over the next month. Another three days of meetings, and coffee. Helping with worship at church tomorow night, speaking at Blueprint on Saturday night doing the big Soul Survivor launch there, spending some time with Gateway Christian fellowship on Sunday morning. Sunday lunchtime I will collapse in a heap, and try and wean myself off the addictive brown stuff... Rock on Labels: soul survivor
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