Highlights from the CS Int'l Gathering

The Christian Surfers International Gathering is done and dusted. To say it was an incredible time would be the understatement of the year.

Mr. Kirk Beyer, a man of considerable flair, social charm and filled with the fear of the Lord was the chief organiser along with Operations Manager, Mel Green. 

We connected with Kirk to get his perspective on the gathering's most memorable moments. Here’s what Kirk had to say!

First, having roughly 270 people from 28 nations gathered in one location was absolutely unreal. With that many people from different places, you’d expect 28 separate tables, but that wasn’t the case. The first night, I looked around and saw everyone seamlessly connecting. It felt like they already knew each other, even though there were tons of first-time introductions. People genuinely thought, "Man, I belong here. I’m part of this global family." One of my leaders came up to me midweek and said, "Now I feel completely part of this family." Because of his nation and background, he might’ve felt isolated before, but being with the wider international team, he saw that we truly are who we say we are, and we live it out in person.

Another highligh? The Christian Surfers Filipino team told me at the end of the week how Filipino people usually don’t initiate introductions, they tend to keep to themselves. But all week, people came to them, introducing themselves and drawing them in which made the Filipino crew feel so loved, and as valued as the bigger nations.

During the gathering we broke out into smaller area gatherings—where APAC, EMEA, and the Americas met in groups to hear reports from national leaders and pray for each director and their teams.

During the first prayer, God reminded me: "English isn’t everyone’s first language." So I said, "If you want to pray in your native tongue, please do—no need to interpret. We’ll agree in the Spirit." Suddenly, Christine from CS Indonesia began praying in Bahasa, and God’s presence just filled the room. It was a powerful reminder: English isn’t heaven’s language. From then on, people prayed freely in their own languages, and as a group of 100, we agreed in the Spirit. Sensational.

Dennis Leon’s message was so timely, perfectly setting everyone up to return home and share what it means to "Live the Call" as missional people. One moment I’ll never forget, When he said, "You haven’t discipled someone until they’re discipling others." He had one of his original disciples stand up (who happened to be at the back of the hall), then called another guy, the first man’s disciple—to stand, then that guy’s disciple. A living chain of disciples making disciples.

Alex Reynolds, our other keynote, was incredible too. He showed photos of perfect waves and asked the crowd of 250 to guess where they were. Nobody got them right. Turns out, these world-class waves break in places we never expected… and many don’t yet have Christian Surfers there. Alex drove it home: These are opportunities to be sent out, to live the call, and bring the gospel through surfing.

We also had equipping workshops—Surfers Bible, Groundswell Aid, Surf Church Collective etc but to my surprise, even the ‘boring’ Governance Workshop was packed. That was so cool to see, because growth requires good governance, clear roles, strong teams. The hunger to learn in those areas proves Christian Surfers is in a healthy place.

So our 2030 vision: reaching 100 nations with 1,000 local missions, feels way more possible now after what I witnessed in Bali. Praise God for what He’s doing in Christian Surfers!

— Kirk Beyer