The Surf Report #51

Chile Aid In February a team from Christian Surfers in Australia and Brazil and Misfit Aid in Sydney joined forces to serve in the Chilean surfing community of Pichilemu. "We acheived so much more than anticipated, having built a home for an earthquake affected family, accomplished much work on a local community centre and run a surf contest!" said team member Aaron Hughes. The Pura Vida Surf Festival was held in pumping waves at Punta de Lobos with 5 divisions that saw local juniors to older longboarders surfing for goodwill, trophies and prizes that their Australian friends had brought over. Local surfer Nathan Anderson said, "The CS team were such an encouragement to us, many people have had a hard time since the earthquake and it's good to know we are not forgotten." The team had an extra challenge when a 6.8 magnitude earthquake rocked their road trip as they travelled with 10 other Chilean surfers down the south coast - it made for a very speedy pack up of their beachside camping! You can check out a blog account of the trip on BD's Blog. ASP Chaplaincy Update ASP recently affirmed chaplaincy at its AGM on the Gold Coast of Australia. Chairman Richard Grellman says, "The ASP is so thankful to CSI for facilitating chaplains to the World Tour. The loss of Andy Irons tested the value of the chaplains and both Abe Andrews and Liselle Wilsnagh did a great job. ASP now considers the chaplains part of the landscape of professional surfing." Andrew Carruthers has just been appointed as the ASP Longboard World Tour Chaplain and he, along with the Men's and Women's World Tour Chaplains, fund their own way with the support of the CS and church community to serve the World Tour professional surfers. Funding for chaplaincy from a start-up trust fund is now finished and chaplains are all the more needy of your support. Contact your chaplain or info@christiansurfers.net to find out how you can support them. Brazil Chaplaincy Update Marquito Santos has stepped out of his role as a Presbyterian pastor to be chaplain on the Northern Brazil professional surfing circuit. He says, "I am so stoked to be out amongst the guys whom I have competed with over the years, not just as a competitor now, but as a support to them. There is plenty of need we can meet here." Surfistas de Cristo Brazil President Sergio Busatto is stoked that Marquito and also professional photographer Motauray are together chaplains to the whole Brazilian pro circuit. Regional Meetings Regional meetings for Christian Surfers leaders are being held for the Pacific in April in New Zealand, for Africa in April in South Africa, for Europe in France in May, for the Americas in North Peru in July and for Asia also in July, location TBD. These meetings will provide networking and leadership devleopment for Christian Surfers leaders globally. We are already seeing good partnerships come as nations with more resources share with those of less resources, including CS Holland recently funding Tablistas Para Cristo in Peru for their ISA World Games support. Soul Surfer Soul Surfer, a new film from Sony Pictures staring Dennis Quaid, Helen Hunt, Carrie Underwood and AnnaSophia Robb, will bring to the big screen the remarkable story of Bethany Hamilton, who gained international fame after her arm was taken by a shark over 7 years ago. She has inspired many with her determination, faith and courage to get back into surfing and competition. Soul Surfer will be released globally in April, 2011 and CS groups are encouraged to promote this to the surf community and utilize pre-release opportunities. Visit www.soulsurferthemovie.com to watch the trailer now and www.soulsurferwave.com to explore ministry helps and ways you can promote and use the film amongst your CS group and surfing community. CS Spain to be Launched Shane Sparks reports that the Christian Surfers movement in Spain is affiliating and organising themselves as a national movement. "We have had people from all over Spain make contact with us, and our first national meeting amazed us when over 40 surfers showed up! So many Spanish surfers identify negative images with the church and we want to share the love of Jesus with them to change this." Visit their website to learn more and sign up. New Affiliates CSI wants to publicly acknowledge newly affiliated nations Dominican Republic, Guatemala and Taiwan. Welcome to the family guys! Visit our Affiliates page to see all current affiliated nations and contacts and learn more about our international body. International CSI Partner Events 2011 You can hear from CS International Director, Brett Davis, and very special guest speakers at a Partners Dinner on the Gold Coast, Australia, April 9. The dinner will be held at George's Paragon in Burleigh Heads and feature founding ASP President, Wayne 'Rabbit' Bartholomew, and ASP World Tour Chaplain, Abe Andrews. Go to our website now to book tickets to this limited capacity event. Similar dinners will be held worldwide throughout the year with Cornwell, UK, May 20, San Clemente, California, USA, September 16 and North Shore, Hawaii, December 3 all taking place. Partner Dinners are open to all and are a great way to learn more about CSI by connecting and supporting. See you in your country! On the Rocks Free Download! Jonty and the Saffa team have now decided to release On the Rock as a FREE download with a donation option. The Brazillians are working to have this subtitled in Portuguese, with more languages in the works as well. Think salty "Alpha Course". You can purchase hard copies from key English speaking nations or CSI or get your free download from www.christiansurfersmedia.com.

All content copyright Christian Surfers International | www.christiansurfers.net | info@christiansurfers.net |

The Surf Report #46 - Christian Surfers

ISA World Junior Games New Zealand

Matt Foster reports from the recent Games, "Myself and Mel were official ISA workers and set up, served judges, guarded tents, and helped with security throughout the whole event. We also had a CS tent in the public space where we could be more overt in handing out Surfers Bibles, literature and talk to many, many people. Surfing NZ were very happy with the CS presence and we met many nations, encouraging them and being ambassadors. Stoked!"



Japan Mission to Taiwan

"I never imagined that Japan would become a sending mission nation and am so stoked" says national CS leader David Levey. Seven guys joined to serve the CS contact in Taiwan, Chris Chon, and put on three premiere screenings of the 'Walking on Water' movie, handed out DVD's, surf-coached and made many friends.



Costa Rica National Leadership Gathering

Cal Fisher reports, "Costa Rica held its first national gathering in January and it is now a full indigenous leadership with 5 chapters in all. Dennis Leon is doing a great job taking over from Coky and we are seeing a national movement being birthed."

Christian Surfers International | PO Box 192, Thirroul, NSW 2515 Australia |

www.christiansurfers.net


info@christiansurfers.net

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The Surf Report #45 - Christian Surfers

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New CSI Website Last month CSI launched a brand new website with more functionality and a beautiful layout thanks to Tim Faase at Digerati Solutions and Chris Naylor at Naylor Design. Check it out now and look through the latest info, BD's blog, an improved payment system and more. www.christiansurfers.net On the Rocks 'On the Rocks' is a surf evangelism video resource currently being produced by Son Surf South Africa. Imagine a surfer friendly Alpha course style DVD with solid gospel content delivered by surfers for surfers. Last month in Capetown the first of 7 videos had a trial run at a youth outreach concert. Of the 250 largely unsaved guys, some 120 came forward at the end of the appeal given by the DVD. Gifted evangelist and surfer Terryn Williams delivers the material. Go to www.ontherocksdvd.info to learn more. Our South African brothers need some $USD12,000 to finalise this and have it ready for world distribution. Would you consider being one of the 12 giving $1000 or 24 giving $500 each? We want to see this completed by June 2010! Click here to donate. New Resources CSI has just released its annual Prayer Calendar and Groundswell Magazine for 2010. These great looking publications profile the CS nations around the world. The calendar features amazing line up shots from each nation and highlights key CS prayer requests and activities for 2010. Groundswell Magazine holds stories and reports of Christian Surfers groups around the world from 2009. Get yours from your national leader or email info@christiansurfers.net (our online store will relaunch soon). Portuguese Surfers Bible Christian Surfers Portugal are over the moon to announce the release of the Portuguese Surfers Bible. Completely different to the Brazillian Portuguese Surfers Bible, the Portuguese Surfers Bible features local Portuguese surfers as well as internationals and is translated in European Portuguese. Available now from CS Portugal, contact Zaca Soveral or Buck Waters to order. World Tour Chaplaincy With the Hawaii season now completed, both Abe Andrews and Liselle Wilsnaugh have completed their first full year of chaplaincy on the WCT Pro Tour. Abe has made all of the men's events and Liselle most of the fragmented women's tour. Abe reports that there has been great open doors and a very favourable reception, while Liselle is finding the women's tour much tougher. Please pray for them both and send a note of encouragement. Pastor Mike Stangel, the Triple Crown Chaplain, reports a great open door by director Randy Rarick, "Randy has requested that I take initiative to pray for the surfers and in this way bring God into the Triple Crown. With the heavy waves this year, there were many takers!"

Christian Surfers International

PO Box 192, Thirroul, NSW 2515 - Australia

Website: http://www.christiansurfers.net/

Email: info@christiansurfers.net




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The Surf Report #44: Americas Conference, Portugal Surfers Church, Japan 10th Anniversary, Son Surf J-Bay Outreach, El Salvador Property

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Americas Conference July 23-27 at Sunzal, El Salvador some 70 leaders from 10 nations attended the first Americas Leadership Conference. Worship, training, reports, strategy and the building of relationships were key. A great 6'-8' swell also turned on Punta Roca. Special thanks to the amazing organization and hospitality by Salvador Castellanos and team. Portugal Surfers Church After growing the surfers Bible study and with added motivation from Buck Waters, Zaca Soveral is stoked to be pioneering a 'surfers church' plant in Lisbon. They have great inroads to both the surf media and industry through Zaca's coaching and writing. They will be hosting the chaplain to the Rip Curl Search WCT Men's event as well as offering hospitality there in September. Japan 10th Anniversary We celebrate the 10th Japanese CS National Conference on September 19-20. David and Shinko Levey have been so faithful there and it's great to see Mori, Oka and Yuya as their three Japanese regional leaders and part of the national team. With over 1.5 million surfers and less than 0.3% of the population Christian, this is the worlds largest unreached surfing population. Stoked to see the combined CS/Walking on Water mission there again this year. Son Surf J-Bay Outreach Son Surf South Africa hosted a dream run in July at the Billabong Pro in J-Bay with great chaplaincy, Walking on Water movie premiere (with Tom Curren showing up to play music) and the Son Surf mission base full of activity and people. Check out a great recap video here. El Salvador Property Having grown from one mission to four this past year, and the founding mission outgrowing its premises, the CS El Salvador team felt that it was time to own their own base. A property at El Tunco Beach has been purchased and foundations laid for a base. Mission teams are now being recruited to come build. Jesus Pro Am - Australia With some added sponsorship via partnership with the Bible Society, CS Australia's long-standing Jesus Pro Am has grown to a three-contest series. The first in Manly in May, followed by Coffs Harbour in August with Wollongong coming up in November. Great media coverage, excellent local church backing and live streaming have all contributed to an amazing 24th year of running, with even bigger plans already in place for next year. Check out videos and photos here and stay tuned for live-streaming from Wollongong in November. NZ National Conference Foz and the crew are stoked to be hosting their 25th National Conference at Raglan, Oct 24-25. Foz is also amped to have moved into his new house just out of town. They have recently secured funding for distributing the Surfers Bible in key surfer accommodation throughout the nation. US Prep School Some 15 under-18 East Coasters attended the second CSUS Prep School at Cape Hatteras in August. Designed to train up the emerging hot crop of CS groms in sharing their faith, Dean Plumlee reports that whilst the waves were small, the groms were big on fun and developing their faith. Check out photos, video and more info here. Costa Rica ISA World Games Hospitality After 3 years as the Costa Rican Surf Federation team chaplain, Coky has also been invited to join the Board of Directors. With Costa Rica hosting the ISA World Surfing Games in July-August, CS had its biggest opportunity ever. "We had a team of about 20 who provided water, helped with security, served the judges and mixed with the 35 national teams throughout the week of the Games, it was just amazing to connect." Already Surfing NZ have invited CSNZ to help them at next years ISA World Junior Games. Peru Chaplaincy After the impact of CS Costa Rica at the ISA World Surfing Games, the team from Tablistas Para Cristo (CS Peru) have approached Surf Federation of Peru to offer chaplaincy to their teams. This is groundbreaking for CS and 'Muelos' and John Chuman are keen to see chaplaincy penetrate all levels of their amateur association. Changed Life - James Gordon CS Australia are currently doing a series of reunions of former leaders and members. Last Saturday September 12 we reconnected with James Gordon, now 44 in Adelaide, South Australia. As a surf mad 15-year-old James was surfing his favourite break 'Gulls' when a group of five guys paddled out much to his dismay. He was surprised at how friendly they were and they invited him to a Christian Surfers camp. Having come from a religious school, James assumed himself a Christian, "I never fitted the church scene and it was amazing when I met Christian Surfers, I met people like me. However, I soon realized they had something more than I had, in their love for Jesus and one another and I came to Christ as a result." James became a leader in the mission back in the 80's, got to travel Australia with CS National Conferences and brought others along. Now happily married with two girls, working as a teacher, serving in his church and still surfing, James related his changed life story to all. "Those were some of the best days of my life and the friendships forged have stayed with me today. I am so thankful to God and to CS."

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The Surf Report #43: Europe Conference, South Africa, Tahiti WOW Premiere, CS Argentina

Chaplaincy - Highlights from Bells to the Maldives Abe Andrews reports slow but steady acceptance from the guys and Billabong included him as part of their staff team in Tahiti. Liselle reports that the women's tour is so much more closed and harder to crack. She persevered in the Australian events and now has a massive 5-month break. Brad Whittaker opted for shared accommodation in the Maldives event and was randomly picked to stay with eventual winner Owen Wright and his father, amazing Godincidence! Andy Pitt, Africa Chaplain, attended an O'Neill event before making it to the Mr Price Pro then J-Bay. An application for a Japanese regional chaplain has been received, which could be the first sports chaplain in their nation. CS Australia sent six leaders to a chaplaincy training course readying themselves for future chaplaincy in the amateur ranks. Regional chaplains are still being sought for Australasia, South America and Europe. Contact your CSI Regional Coordinator for more information. Contact us if you wish to join a chaplain's support team. Click here and note 'Chapliancy' in the comments to donate to chaplaincy to help Liz and Abe pioneer this new work. Son Surf South Africa After some decline in national missions in Son Surf South Africa over the last while, new national coordinator Richard 'Snoek' Leaonard is stoked to report they have doubled their missions to 18 this year and last month's conference went off! A new surfer friendly gospel presentation on DVD is currently being produced. The J-Bay office has relocated to a better building and two pioneering interns are serving well. Tahiti WOW Premiere Kevin Hemingway felt frustration at not being able to premiere the new Walking on Water film during the Billabong main event at Teahupoo. Seemed God had other plans and a last minute programming change enabled him to see the film shown to his entire nation on the week following the event on prime time TV! Pacific Regional Coordinator Alan Vink and Brett Davis had the opportunity to present Kevin with a belated 10-year service award during a visit in May. CS Argentina Maddie reports that CS Argentina had their first meeting in April, a surf camp. Two guys were invited by someone they barely knew and they're stoked to report that both became Christians! Maddie says "We were mostly gathered from two different spots in Argentina and the two guys showed up because God had something for them that weekend. We're happy to see how everything moves forward as we let God act in this newly emerging CS affiliate nation." Surfistas De Cristo - Venezuela Surfistas de Cristo (CS Venezuela) will be hosting a large outreach in conjunction with two local churches in July. Titled the 'Beach Kids Games' national leader Luis Gutierrz would appreciate prayer for the event to run well and lives to be touched. Walking on Water With structural changes, WOW are partnering with CS to roll out a world tour premiering their new film in Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin America. Very exciting for local CS missions to be able to host their own premieres with WOW support. Reversal Surf E-Magazine Bobby Schutz and his partner on Kauai have done an awesome job putting together a brand new e-magazine entitled Reversal Surf, along with this they have also produced a Gospel of John. Check them out and spread them around! Europe Conference 37 leaders and contacts from 10 nations met in Biarritz in June to discuss the best strategies to reach the booming European surfing community. These included two from Sweden, one from Switzerland and a host of others. Phil Williams is stoked to introduce Shane Sparks as our new European Field Worker, volunteering his time with Pioneers over the next two years. Spanish Surfers Bible The Spanish Surfers Bible is in the print line with Bible Society Brazil. A launch is hoped for in El Salvador at our Americas Conference July 24. We have 5000 Bibles and hope to distribute these at the ISA games and others soon. Contact your national leader or email us for details. Big thanks to Aldo and Peru team, United Bible Society and Gymea Baptist Church for funding and Aaron in the CSI office. To assist in the distribution of these Bibles, consider donating a box to a vital surf event - $200 for box of 40. Click here to donate. CSI Office Phone The CS International office no longer has a landline. To get in contact you can either email info@christiansurfers.net or call Operations Manager Aaron Hughes on +61 4 0367 2452.