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Changes...

Tue, 29 Jun 2010 12:09:00 +1200

My life is full of them, but that’s a good thing… usually.

I know I say I am going to blog every day, but I never do.
To be honest, I haven’t cared much for writing over the past couple of months, because I have been too busy living.

God is doing so many great things in my life and amongst our people here in Gisborne that to a believer it’s impossible to explain and to a non-believe it always sounds stupid anyway, but let this be known… God is incredible… and I am so, so thankful for what He is doing, because He is moving in a way like I have never seen before and it is manifesting in the lives of all those around me.

I know that my desire to know the Heavenly Father and his son Jesus is growing daily so I thank all of those who have joined me in prayer for my heart to be changed to want Him more.

I have started to read and listen in ways I never have before and the spirit of apathy and the veil of “western-ignorance” really does begin to lift off once we draw near to the living God by his word, by obedience and by resistance of sin in our lives.

I know that the enemy has a plan for us and it’s one to confuse, distract and to ultimately to destroy, but I also know that the Lord’s Heavenly agenda is waiting to be released to us daily, the second that we stop to align ourselves with His will and to be immersed in His Glory!

I look forward to sharing more in depth testimony of the things that are happening around me and within me, I am considering posting some audio and video articles in the coming weeks to better articulate and express all the fascinating and powerful aspects of God moving in my life and would love to introduce some friends of mine and have them share their stories.

To anybody who reads this… please know that I am writing this post in full knowledge and revelation of the fact that we are living in days where God’s power is about to be revealed in ways that are going to blow our minds.

Believer, Non-believer, Undecided alike… The Father’s love for you is beyond words and I am praying that you will receive your portion of it today according to his Holy, Majestic and perfect will.

Hallelujah.

All about Mike...

Sat, 01 May 2010 18:43:43 +1200

Today is all about my homeboy Drug Free Mike.

One of my best friends for a long, long time.

He turned 24 today so I was excited to spend the day with him and some close homies of ours just kicking back and celebrating.

Mike is undoubtedly the most solid Christian friend I have, but we have been great friends since before we really knew the Lord, which speaks awesome testimony to the transforming power of the Holy Spirit and the fruits of a changed, repentant life.

Mike is a person who if you look back on half a decade ago, and compare to the Mike we know and love today, you would see a black and white difference since the time of his salvation.

He always says I played a huge part in bringing him to the Lord (by staying on his ass for weeks about coming along to a fellowship group and giving it a chance until he was eventually bullied into making a commitment haha) , but I believe that God has chosen Mike to play such a huge part in my life and the lives of my close friends by being a living example of what true Christianity should look like and I thank the Lord for his huge heart and friendship towards me.

You may have heard myself or other dudes in my band say that Mike is like the 5th member of Saving Grace… this is 100% true.

He has shared more with us than anybody else I can think of, done more for us, seen more with us and just helped us out by touring with us for the past half decade being an amazing road dogg.

Mike is also more passionate about Jesus, hardcore and unity than most others that I know so if you ever get to meet him and make friends with him, you will have a friend for life.

Today we spent the morning sharing a breakfast at our favourite cafe in the city before coming back to my place where Helen prepared an awesome array of snacks for the boys while we watched the Lakers play Oklahoma (amazing game by the way… Lakers came out on top in the last 5 seconds 95 to 94).

Hells also made mike a killer Basketball cake.

Now we just be chilling and possibly napping for a couple of hours before heading out to the PBC to watch Battle of the Bands.

Awesome day, awesome friendship… here’s to another year shared with an amazing dude!

I love you bro.

Slack...

Sat, 01 May 2010 18:01:35 +1200

I don’t understand why I don’t update my blog more often, to be honest It really gets me down, because there is so much rad stuff that I want to share with all of you, but I get stuck in a rut of not updating.

Maybe it’s because I am so anal that I think that everything needs to be documented in Chronological order?! Maybe it does… maybe it doesn’t.

Maybe I just need to not worry about structure and just post cool stuff over the next couple of weeks even if it does relate to something that happened weeks ago?!

Maybe I will… Maybe I wont.

Truth be told there has been so much awesome stuff happening in my life over the past couple of months, definitely ‘update worthy’ stories, photos and information… God has really been blessing my life and making me realise and recognise exactly how much I have to be thankful for each and every day.

I have a great job, an amazing wife, a huge home and some of the best friends anyone could ever ask for.

Most importantly of all I have unshakable faith in the one and only living God who loves me, sustains me and is worthy of all praise and glory.

In a nutshell my life rules and because of this I am in a position to bless others less fortunate than me and that truly makes my life worth living!

Any video diarys from the recent south island tour? Keens to see some that lineup was killer!

Wed, 21 Apr 2010 09:46:02 +1200

Not yet, but they’re coming!

Will you and the others ever play a show at Cornerstone IL?

Wed, 21 Apr 2010 09:45:46 +1200

God willing, 2011 for sure!

Why is SG just a Pantera rip off band? You even look the same

Wed, 21 Apr 2010 09:45:22 +1200

Can’t help it… too tough to look different.

We have a similar addiction starting with "G" wanna work on breaking the stronghold together?

Wed, 21 Apr 2010 09:43:04 +1200

Yes! :)

Why are you so cool?

Mon, 19 Apr 2010 12:56:00 +1200

I’m Ice cold baby…

Do you consider Festival George your number 1 fan?

Mon, 19 Apr 2010 12:47:50 +1200

Our number 1 creepy fetus fan, for sure!

You seem like an awesome person, Can we be friends?

Tue, 13 Apr 2010 15:10:54 +1200

Asking to be friends is as awkwards as asking “can I kiss you?”

and yes, I’m awesome!

Are you gay...;)?

Tue, 13 Apr 2010 15:09:54 +1200

Only on tour.

Why type of schecter are u playin, with what pick ups and what type of amp and stack do u play thru?

Tue, 13 Apr 2010 15:09:29 +1200

I play the Schecter C-1 Elite with active EMG’s 81 and 85.
Amps? Fiddy One Fiddy all the way!

This is my friend Justin from The Great Commission. I found...

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 23:40:29 +1300

This is my friend Justin from The Great Commission.

I found everything that he said at this show to be very relevant and accurate.

I only hope you feel the same.

Yes God is raising up today’s saints as a mighty army blessed with much power and authority in Jesus name and yes we are a chosen generation, but we need to testify, confess and encourage each other daily.

Check out the band and support their ministry in prayer (or in finances if you are in a position to).

Get their full length album ‘And Every Knee Shall Bow’ it’s mega heavy and full of TRUTH… out now on Strike First Records.

www.myspace.com/thegreatcommission
www.strikefirstrecords.com

xSeventh Daggerx

Mon, 15 Mar 2010 22:45:28 +1300

Today we got our first shipment of swag from USA’s Seventh Dagger apparel.

Seventh Dagger have some of the best Straight Edge merch available and are responsible for paving the way for many amazing bands by releasing records for the likes of xTyrantx, Awaken Demons, Eyes To The Sky, xArmed For Battlex, xRhinocerosx, xRepresentx and even the latest vinyl release from my all time heroes Earth Crisis.

I was more than stoked to find out that the brand/label owner Danny Sober was into my band and wanted to sponsor us.

Danny gets mad respect from me, the dude has been edge for 20 years and is still proud and still commited as ever to the lifestyle, to the bands and to the worldwide hardcore scene.

Myself and Nick are now exclusively endorsed by Seventh Dagger (as we are the only two straight edge members of Saving Grace) but Danny is very supportive of the whole band and there are talks of an awesome collaboration going down in the coming months.

Make sure to check out www.seventhdagger.com for all the latest merchandise and releases.

XXX

How great is our God?

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 23:12:24 +1300

A little over a fortnight ago the Lord laid it on the heart of my wife and I to get back into youth ministry.

Trust me… this was a total God thing, as I don’t have the desire, the patience and definitely not the time to take on a responsibility such as this out of my own accord.

We attempted to start a youth group a few years ago when we welcomed a half dozen unsaved teens into our home on Friday nights to watch movies, listen to music and eat pizza (which we all paid for out of our Tithe money, because it was… “minstry” ya know?) and awkwardly bring up God every now and again.

We called this thing ‘Black Friday’ which we envisioned as a youth movement for Gisborne City as a counter reaction to what we saw happening at Primal Youth Church where Helen and I were both youth pastors until we left, due to not seeing eye to eye with the direction of it’s activities and some of it’s members.

Needless to say, this didn’t last long and fell over very quickly with the kids disbanding and choosing to follow the wider path, with little or no revelation of why God needs to be revered, feared, worshipped or glorified.

The kids went about their lives going to parties, getting into drugs, alcohol and girls, all the same stuff that I was doing when I was their age.

Looking back at those days now, it’s evident to see that God didn’t honor what we were doing because we tried to create it, take it and lead it on our own strength, and we also dishonored some friends of ours by leaving Primal they way we did when they asked us not to go.

You live, you learn…

So, a couple of weeks ago we got to talking with some friends involved with youth ministry work in Gisborne, and seeing as Primal Youth Church has recently disbanded in Gisborne, a few dozen kids have basically become ‘orphans’ and have been meeting on Thursday nights in parks and such to continue to fellowship.

We wanted to offer them a place to come and to get real with God, seek His face and His direction and wait on His instruction and really be obedient to how He wants to do things, as opposed to having set structures, expectations and other general ‘spiritual barriers’.

We met with the former youth pastors and offered for them to partner with us to host a Thursday night service in our church, keeping it simple with absolutely no agendas aside from wanting and welcoming God to show up and minister to us.

We have been struggling a lot with our own church lately, Helen and I and feeling that God really hasn’t been evidently showing up on Sundays for a long time now (as is the case with most stagnant and burnt-out-by-religion churches in our day and age) however we love a lot of people in our tiny congregation and have built some very strong friendships with these people, particularly our elders Ray and Grant and their wives.

We felt that any kind of youth ministry work that we take on should have a strong backing of a church or at least eldership accountability, as I see the main reason for Primal not working out and eventually falling over is because so much emphasis was placed on the fact that it was “not church” and the leadership had no ‘wise counsel’ or scriptural accountability structure to fall back on.

The bible calls us to be the church, Ekklesia, the called out ones. (See Matthew 16:18)
Not a geographic location or a building with four walls, but rather a corporate body of believers in the truth and saving grace of the gospel of Jesus Christ, living their lives to glorify Him and working out salvation with fear and trembling. - Philippians 2:12

Having said that and having invited everyone to begin the first meeting this Thursday night at our current church, our last visit to a Sunday service reaffirmed that both ‘Sunday Morning’ and ‘The old local’ have both “had their whack”.

God is doing things differently now and if we really want to see Him move and be a part of something real, something that can impact and reach out to the unsaved in our community and the world, we need to get out of those dusty church pews and on our face, otherwise we will miss what God and The Holy Spirit are doing entirely within our generation.

These are the days for which we were born, and we are here on this earth with God given purpose and responsibility and it is heart breaking to see so many people hurt, let down and driven away from the real Jesus Christ due to years of organised religion which has said “We’ll take it from here God, we’ve got it down” while all of the annointing, fresh vision and Heavenly manifestation happens in cafes, bedrooms, hardcore shows and city streets.

We got in touch with everyone last night with a last minute ‘Change of Plans’.
Tonight, 15 of us met in our garage where we read scripture, worshipped, prayed, prophesied, ministered and wept… all under the anointing and almighty power of the loving Father who simply showed up to hang out with his kids, because He was expected, He was welcome and He was the reason why we were there.

Praise be to Him!
These are exciting times.

"Thank You God for allowing me to live another day. Bless me with many more so that I can help others..."

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 23:52:46 +1300

“Thank You God for allowing me to live another day. Bless me with many more so that I can help others to see Your truth, Your Love, Your Grace.”

- Stewart Ball

What's the world coming to?

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 23:59:25 +1300

It’s crazy the feeling I have had in my spirit over the past year or so.
It’s very hard to explain, but it’s disturbing, troubling and frightening.

The more I think about it the more uneasy I become and I really don’t know what to think anymore… Is this a caution in my spirit or an attack from the enemy? because the scriptures tell us that ‘The Lord has not given us a spirit of fear”, but with every new earthquake, tsunami warning and conspiracy theory I find myself getting beaten down and scared about where we are right now, in accordance with scriptural prophecy and end times alignment.

My heart goes out to every person who has lost their loved ones, their homes, their everything in places like Samoa, Haiti and Chile over the recent months.

I know that these happenings have left many people wondering “where is God?” or “why would He do this?” and as stupid as it sounds to the non believer, we have to love Him, trust Him and realise that everything that happens is meant to be.

All I know is that serious stuff is happening right now and that we are in the middle of a huge spiritual storm.

Right now more than ever it’s important to draw near to God, be accountable, repentant and armed with His word, spending intimate time with Him daily as hard as it is when from the moment that we wake up we are thrust into a world of apathy and distraction, especially in middle-class New Zealand.

All I know is that I can never turn my back on the Lord and I know what I know, I guess I’m just scared, but I need to have faith and trust in Him and not in the ‘security’ of anything else in my life… ya dig?

My life this year...

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 22:55:06 +1300

Day job: Clients, paperwork, numbers, stress, coffee.

Night job: Label, management, booking, contracts, promo, emails, emails, emails.

Design: Clients, emails, coding, coding, emails.

My God, my wife, my dogs and my home keep me sane.

My mum got married last weekend… that was amazing.

My band put out a new record which is now available worldwide, we toured again with our best friends and once again it was sad to leave them.

This weekend we are playing Hamtown Smakdown for the 3rd time.

End of March we are playing with As I Lay Dying and Emmure, pretty psyched, I’m sure the show will be crazy big.

The weekend after that we go back to Australia for the 4th time which will be fun.

Next week we will adopt a dozen youth orphans in to a brand new Thursday night prayer/worship service at my church, this time it’s personal.

God is doing stuff… big stuff.

Aside from that, I have learned to value sleep, a flat cellphone, fellowship, vitamins and prayer more than ever before.

xtiredx.

24 Years

Wed, 20 Jan 2010 23:39:03 +1300

Today I celebrated my 24th birthday, with a group of my closest friends and my darling wife Helen (who gave me the best gifts as always, and made sure I had an incredible day as she always does).

It’s crazy thinking that I’m nearly in my mid-twenties now with a wife of over two years, a house and two dogs… it feels like it was only yesterday that I first moved out of home and left school.

I am so blessed to have such a great family and friends, and even though each year after my 21st, birthdays seem to dwindle in excitement and grow in insignificance, today was a really great and special day.

Thank you to all of you who sent birthday wishes on Twitter and Facebook, there were far too many and you were all so kind.

God is good.
All The Time.

...otherwise fine

Fri, 15 Jan 2010 15:51:13 +1300

Sunny Gisborne is not so sunny right now.

For me this brings joy and excitement.

Farm owners everywhere are moshing.

The forecast for the future ladies and gentlemen is gloooooooom…

This weekend I will be watching many movies with my wife and dogs as well as listening to the likes of The Smiths, The Cure, The Dear & Departed and sleeping during the day time with the lights on and the rain beating against the window… for actual.