WOW! APRIL 2016 was a huge blessing for us here at Soul Survivor. We hope and pray it was for you too. THANKYOU for your support and prayers. It is exciting to be able to share with you what God has done so far in 2016. Soul.conference, MORE THAN A SONG 2016 was a conference of both equipping and serving. We have been so blessed by the stories that have come back to us. Stories of youth putting their hand to the shovel in serving others and with the guitar, being intimate in worship. We have seen the unfolding of blessing in the local community and the renewing of lives in Christ. We have seen churches become passionate to serve and youth falling in love with Jesus both for the first time and all over again. We are delighted that this year the ACT and the regions have completed their first conference apart from Sydney. 200 young people from various youth groups attended and experienced Jesus! These churches included: Batemans Bay Anglican, Brindabella Baptist Church, Canberra Baptist, CIC (engage), Cornerstone, Eternity, F5 Goulburn, Fusion City, Gunghalin Salvation Army, GYG, Holy Covenant, Hughes Baptist, Lifecity, Mosaic Baptist, NationsHeart Christian Community, Redhill Church, St Barnys & St Michaels, St Mary, St. Matthews Wanniassa, St. Thomas Michelago Church, Tumut Community Church, Vision Youth Group, Wagga Wagga Baptist, Woden Valley Alliance Church, and Yass Baptist church. This was followed by NSW in the second week of the holidays. 330 youth and young adults came to be refreshed in the Lord. People came from all over NSW! The churches included, Dural Baptist Church, Coast Community Church, Pittwater Uniting, All Saints Balgowlah, Northridge Vineyard, Ruach Church, Padstow Baptist, Dubbo Anglican, Parkes Anglican, Yarrabah QLD, Hornsby Baptist, Cherrybrook Baptist, Berowra Baptist, Northside Baptist, Small Boat Big Sea, , Northside Churches of Christ, Belrose Uniting, St Stephen's Belrose and Ettalong Baptist. Sydney had 390 people join us over the 5 open evenings. What a massive month it has been!
NSW soul.conference was jam packed with both equipping and serving. Every morning and evening was filled with worship, prayer ministry and teaching about true worship by tracking the life of King David. 33 equipping seminars were on offer with many to choose from. Topics ranged from prayer ministry training, to living in a traffic free world, to cultural dance workshops with our friends from Yarrabah. Finally we had four projects where youth had the opportunity to go out and serve in the local community. What did the Youth say? We asked them what they enjoyed about Soul Survivor 2016 -‐ -‐
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Was great, enjoyed every minute of it. I am first timer, loved it. Praising God, the seminars (love it) surrounded by the love of God. Serving, fellowship, worship, workshops (amazing), prayer ministry, camping. Fun in Christ – Christ centred activities/teaching/worship. Teaching – watered and fed. Almost everything from food to video games. Seeing my friends and one in particular grow in Christ and for that one to gain a fire for Him for perhaps the first time. Loved learning and growing in God – epic time. Top sermons, watching people worship through dance. I enjoyed all of it. To get to meet new people and listening to the preach I love the worship first and foremost! The leaders were so in touch with the Holy Spirit that His presence was known all day! EVERYTHING (mostly) the body of Christ coming together. Worship, seminars. I enjoyed the worship throughout the whole week. It really encouraged me to get closer to God. Everything! Worship, meeting new people, projects, hanging out with seminars, friends. Time with God, worship, praying for people. The community and vibe was awesome and conference always makes me feel at home (cafe always great). The projects and seminars. All of it, worship, teaching, electives and practical serving. The food, atmosphere, company, team, no judgement. I could take a leap of faith and have everyone support me. The Christian community. Main meetings/worship. Prayer ministry. The free worship and spirit led prayer. The helpers/Friday night. Allowing the presence of God to be threaded through worship and teaching. Beautifully anointed. Seminars and projects were good. Matt D’s talks. Projects, spending time with other churches, worship, camping. Everything, venues, services etc...
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Worship – the worship team was incredible and they energised me for the rest of the day. The worship and being able to spend time with my friends and being able to serve the community. Great selection of seminars, main meetings always great. Projects incredibly well organised. Seminars (interactive ones like Yarrabah, Elvis dance and percussion), projects, ministry times, Jeremy Fowler message. The arcade and chill and zone. Worship, prayer ministry. Seeing friends, free time and the seminars.
Some of the wonderful praise points that came out of MORE THAN A SONG 2016 were: • •
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Young people committing to following Jesus Young people being equipped for ministry (on the final night the Young people walked around the meeting praying for many people, which was a beautiful picture of what you support.) Seeing so many young people engaged in prayer ministry and praying for each other. God healed people, refreshed people and moved in people’s lives. We were very excited to see youth come to the Lord for the first time and for people to experience Jesus.
Our seminars were a time of equipping, growing and learning. It was awesome to see kids engaged in topics, asking questions and soaking in what God had for them. Our main meeting talks are now live on our website at www.soulsurvivornsw.org.au/podcasts. Check out what we have been learning about! Projects once again were a highlight for the youth as they served in the local streets, washing peoples cars with New Hope Baptist, Kellyville, helping refuge houses at Pathways Community Church, a soul.world justice project which involved training with Stopthetraffic Australia and an immersion session with HopeStreet Woolloomooloo, and we sent 150 youth to Galston High for a 2 day working bee.
Our team consisted of 36 volunteers from 13 different churches who gave their time to serve the youth of NSW and encourage them in Christ. Our hope and prayer for the young people of NSW is that they would continue to be excited in Jesus and continue to worship him with their whole lives. More Than a Song has been an awesome journey! And we can’t wait for 2017. If you have a praise point, we would love to hear from you! Let us know at info@soulsurvivornsw.org.au. Looking forward, we are excited that in the coming years we will be heading north with Jesus. We have a vision for the youth of northern NSW to be encouraged in Christ and be excited about what he has for them. For us, this means continuing to send teams and see where God takes us from there. THANKYOU for all your support and prayers. We wouldn’t be reaching the youth of this nation without you. We are excited to be walking forward with Jesus in new ways and we look forward to seeing you very soon, Big Blessings, Matt, Anna and the Soul Survivor Team.