The Christian Surfers Global Vision
Christian Surfers family, 2023 lies before us, beautiful and new!
While you and I don’t yet know all the challenges, the highs and the lows that we will face through the year, there’s one thing you can be entirely sure of…
… you will not be doing this alone.
We have each other – our global family on mission – and we have our great God and king Jesus, who is calling us to journey with him through 2023. So as you step into 2023, I want to encourage you with three words to help achieve the vision we share – to see every surfer and surfing community have the opportunity to know and follow Jesus.
Three words that will help us journey towards achieving the goal of 1000 local missions in 100 countries with a media reach of 2% of the world's surfing population by 2030:
FAITH
The first word is Faith, for Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see (Hebrews 11:1) and we know that without Faith, it is impossible to please God (Heb 11:6).
Faith is where we end and God begins.
Faith is when He gets the glory for stuff that we couldn’t do by ourselves. And Faith has to be our starting point for everything, not Faith in ourselves, not even Faith in our team, but simple, authentic childlike Faith in Jesus, our king.
This is where we begin. But to have Faith we need the second word:
HOPE
The second word is Hope. Hope has a catalytic power to change things.
Faith is being sure of what you HOPE for, and we know what we hope for; we hope to grow into a movement that connects 1000 local missions in over 100 countries with a media reach of 2% of the world’s surfing population.
We hope to do this by 2030. So in 2023, we hope to take great Faith strides in this direction.
‘I know the plans I have for you’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you a HOPE and a future.’ (Jeremiah 29:11) His Hope is inspirational and contagious.
So I want to encourage you to exude this wonderful Hope wherever you go! Take Hope to your beach, Hope to your community, Hope to your friends and family… and Hope to the poorest of the poor surfing communities through groundswell aid.
LOVE
The third and most important word of all is Love, for without it, all that we do means nothing. Even 1000 local chapters working without Love is meaningless. Working in 100 nations without Love is a colossal waste of time and resources. And having a media impact of 2% of the world’s surfing community without Love is just pride.
Without His Love, all this achievement will be nothing more than our own hubris.
This work of living in His love may be harder to do than we think, but we know that LOVE – Godly, agape Love, the real deal Love – is patient, and kind, and we know that it doesn’t envy or boast. We know that love isn’t proud or rude or self-seeking or easily angered (even when you’re dropped in on lol). We know that it always protects, it always trusts, it always hopes, and it always perseveres. Most of all, we know that LOVE NEVER FAILS to achieve His Kingdom’s purposes (1 Cor 13:4-7).
So, CS Family, let’s step together into 2023 in FAITH, HOPE and above all, LOVE.
Because with these three things – and with God in control – we can bring more surfers than ever to know and love Him.
I hope to see you in the line up in 2023. YEW!!!
See you in the line up!
Roy Harley
International Director