CS New Zealand Jesus Classic
Christian Surfers New Zealand put on an incredible annual Jesus Surf Classic where the gospel was preached to 150 surfers in New Zealand. Read all about what went down as told by National Director, Logan Mills below.
This was the first time we ran our Jesus Classic in the South Island in the last 39 years that CS has been around in New Zealand. So, it's pretty cool to take an event to the south. We had 60 attendees on the South Island, which is smaller than what we usually get in the north, but we knew that would be the case. We had some epic sponsors; Backdoor and Sail for Purpose were our major sponsors. Every first-place winner from each division won a 12-day boat trip around Indo. So that’s pretty epic!. The rad thing is that Sail for Purpose is an amazing Christian organization that wants to impact surfers. They have a cool team on the boat that will serve the surfers.
It's pretty rad that not only do the winners hear the Gospel at the Jesus Classic, but each winner (eight in total) gets to go on a trip, surrounded by other amazing Christians who will pour into them as well. So it’s a win, win
We set up on Saturday morning at a spot called Meatworks in Kaikōura, it was a beautiful morning with glassy, four-foot conditions. This wave is like a skatepark with two A-frame peaks breaking into each other, so there are just the sickest ramps. So just fun ass conditions for the crew. Bluebird mountains covered in snow behind us, making it the most picturesque spot in New Zealand. The mountains were right there. It was a pretty epic location, with fires on the beach, and everyone hanging out. The awesome crew on the mics, the MC’s, entertained everyone throughout the day. The local Church that supports CS was super involved, helping serve the barbecue and food to everyone. It created an awesome atmosphere, and everyone stayed around all day. We had an amazing volunteer base supporting to make the event run smoothly, including locals and our CSALT crew.
At the prize giving, we probably had about 150 people, which was unreal. The local pastor, an amazing surfer himself, respected in the surf and general community in Kaikōura, shared a bit of his own story and presented an awesome gospel message to the 150 people at the prize giving. We gave out all the prizes, and thanked the sponsors and crew.
We received a comment from a couple of people who typically go to all the comps, and one said, 'This is the best comp I've ever been to, better than any national surf events in New Zealand. We're definitely coming to the next ones.' It's pretty cool that they thought we ran a high-caliber event. It was a cool atmosphere to meet and rub shoulders with a whole bunch of the best South Island surfers and then pour into them and share the gospel with them. So thank you Jesus
The event window was two days, but we were able to smash it out in one, and we were glad we did because the next day was a bit smaller. It enabled us to invite everyone back to the guy's land where we were staying, which is across the road from Meatworks. There's a big space overlooking the mountains and the ocean, a skate ramp, a fire, and a big barbecue. We invited anyone hanging around to come hang out for the evening. We had a bunch of crew stay on the land, camped in tents. A massive thanks to our local CS guy who owns that land, Dave Lyons. He really hooked us all up to stay on his land, and we were able to continue those relationships, hanging out with a whole bunch of the South Island surfers that weren't heading straight home again. That was rad.
Huge ups to our sponsors and all our volunteers. It was massive to be able to bring the gospel to the 150 surfers. After the event, everyone thanked us, and the Boardriders Club was like, 'Please, can you do this every year?' We had huge banners up saying 'Jesus Classic,' so people passing by know that this was honoring Jesus, lifting his name. It's pretty special. So, that's a bit of a wrap for the Jesus Classic 2023 in Kaikōura, the South Island of New Zealand.
