Kairos South Pacific

Awesome! Great! Fantastic! These are the words that describe the Summer Oasis
2008 Youth Conference. About 100 young people from all over Lamb of God Branches in
NZ and the Light of Christ in Blenheim spent a week in Christchurch learning
about their faith, forgiveness, Scriptures, discipleship, among many other things.
This year we had our venerable Bruce Yocum give teachings based on Ed
Conlin’s song, “Take Us Higher Up” for the Oasis series and on Genesis for the
Xtreme (read: older youth) series. The youth had a great time during praise and
worship, workshops, praying over sessions and night rallies. At the first night rally Tili
asked them to reply to the words “When God acts…” with “we must respond!”
and they did! They turned their lives to God, forgave their friends and teachers,
sought to reconcile with each other, dealt with sin in their lives and grew closer in
loving and living the Word of God. During the praying over sessions, many
experienced for the first time being touched by the presence of the Spirit in a
very real way. The Lamb of God Centre literally ran out of space for them as they
lay on the floor! Thanks to our brothers and sisters in Christchurch for their
hosting, pin-point planning, their love and generosity to us. Well done!

Oasis was great! As usual like every year I was not to go and had made up

my mind after a friend of mine had dropped out. My parents were frustrated when I

told them what I had decided and my dad sat me down and convinced in one

sentence “If not you then who?” Of course like any other parent, there was an

explanation to that, but I didn’t need it. I was not going to go for myself but for the

others who were coming to Oasis for the first time. I got there and it was the same

Oasis, only when it really began I noticed that it was quite different. For example the

prophecies, lets say that they hit me like a lightning bolt (not that I know what it is

like to be hit by a lightning bolt). The teachings had the same effect. The teaching that

struck me the most was Fiona’s when she said that we are CREATED, CALLED,

SAVED and COMMANDED to serve. Exactly what my father had explained. Oh and

the prophecies well most of them were also along the same lines. Another catch

phrase that Tili asked Oasis to repeat again and again is WHEN GOD ACTS WE

MUST RESPOND! So now I know that when God acts I must respond and always

strive to serve him.

If I had to sum up Oasis in one word, it would be EMPOWERING. As I am

now a school leaver, I had to attend Extreme Oasis for the first time. It was an

unforgettable experience. We received a series of teachings on ‘Good and Evil: The

Garden of Eden’. Although I have read the story of Adam and Eve many times

before, I never realised how little about this story I knew. Bruce Yocum posed a

series of thought provoking questions such as ‘why does God allow temptation?’ I

learnt that the Bible must not only be read but also meditated on.

Another tremendous experience was a Praise and Worship session where leaders

laid hands on us and prayed for us. I literally felt power over me. It is hard to describe

what I felt but I know it has changed me.

Finally, an important message that came through scripture and those who prayed

with me was that I needed to trust God. As I now need to choose a career pathway

for myself, this was an important message. I left Oasis truly empowered by the Holy

Spirit and the word of God. I would like to thank God and all those who

made this possible.

            As this was my first time attending a Summer Oasis, I was naturally excited. I remembered all the things that others had said when they returned from previous Oasis’; how they had been slain, healed, transformed and had even cried. I too wanted to be slain, healed, as well as transformed! (Deep down I also wanted to cry… Yeah…) However, I distinctly remember the joy and change in people’s personality when they returned from Oasis.

            I was the first to leave Auckland, and due to the result of a long day, I struggled to barely stay awake during the night rally. I eventually ended up having quite a ‘grumpy’ evening. Yet, I convinced myself that the next day would fine.

            Well… it wasn’t. I felt like I was back in school! I was dragging myself to the various sessions and had a very negative mind frame. The whole day, to me, was disappointing. I just did not want to be there. But that evening, the night rally changed my whole mood. The music was spectacular and there was an uplifting presence in the entire room. Many were slain and healed. I night I truly praised God. I think I speak on others behalf when I say that Oasis started that night. God truly works in wondrous ways!

            The workshops were fantastic, especially the ‘5^th Gospel’ and ‘The Sexual Revolution’, which I really liked as it raised some interesting issues and ideas on a very confidential yet important topic. However I really enjoyed the Bible Study on St. Paul. It caused me to realise how important it was for one to know about the history, origination and founders of our faith. St. Paul’s life is admirable and truly inspirational to us all.

            The buzz of Oasis is going to take some time to wear off; but even if it does, I’m not worried. God’s promise of one day sending his everlasting Son can never ‘wear off’ from our lives.       

The theme of this year’s Oasis was ‘TAKE US HIGHER UP’. There were a

couple of talks that really stood out for me, one of them was given by Bruce Yocum,

about the challenges we as youth face today and how the media plays such an

important role in today’s society. In today’s society it is so hard to stand up as a

Christian, but that’s what we are called to do and it’s the little things that can make a

difference in people’s lives. Obviously don’t randomly go up to someone and say

“Jesus loves you” (because that would freak them out), It is just little things like telling

people about going to EJ (Encounter Jesus) on Sundays and what EJ is about. You never know when

they might be interested. If a friend comes to you with a problem and asks you what

is to be done, tell them to pray about it. Another talk that hit home for me was also

Bruce Yocum’s talk, which was about the importance of personal prayer and before

Bruce spoke on this topic Kirsten Challies as well spoke on personal prayer at one of

the night rallies and said that personal prayer is not mumbling a few words whilst

running out the door, Bruce also stressed on how important it is to have a mentor –

someone who sees the overall picture of your life, because it’s easy to say “Sorry

God I did this and this today”, but it’s a lot harder to tell someone else. So I realised

that getting a mentor is something so important and something I need to get done

a.s.a.p. So all in all we had some awesome talks and there was a lot of healing. It was

also a fun experience getting to know people from other branches and building

stronger relationships.