Newfound friends in NZ

After battling it out on volcanic island Rangitoto and hitting Waiheke Island without a local to show us the best spots, Greg and Loretta from City Impact Church Auckland made sure we saw everything that was left to be seen. With trips to all the nicest beaches, volcanoes, eateries and even a ripping luge park, we were left loving Auckland like never before and almost wanting to skip Sydney for another few days just to catch some more of the place.


One of the highlights was spending Sunday night and some of Monday in the coolest church in the city. A brand new complex and 2000-seater auditorium with one of the nicest interiors I´ve seen, 95 percent of the place was built by the church members themselves, occupying every Saturday for 2 whole years! That´s what I call a church.

Thanks Greg and Loretta and thanks to NZ for having us.

P3 Planet This Saturday!

Now on the other side of the world, we've checked in to a beautiful old house by Auckland's biggest park and we're spending most of our time catching rays whilst trying to choose whether to hit some volcanoes or take a ferry to Waiheke Island tomorrow...life's rough!

To add to our joy, we just got the news that Sara's been chosen for this Saturday's P3 PLanet on Sveriges Radio. Hopefully the first of many, her slot will be sometime between 6 and 7pm, so tune in all you Swedish speakers and show some support for the lovely lady and help us peak the polls in hope of some more shows as the globetrotting continues.

We're missing you all back home, so drop us a line and let us know what's going on. We'll try to keep you posted with some pics from our first two stops as soon as we get some wireless and don't have to wrestle with an old PC at the downtown internet cafe!

God bless.

Does LA really belong to the USA?!

21 years later and I´m finally back in LA, and the first thing that hit me was some serious dejavu from trips to Latin America. We bought "boletos" for the train, got "billetes" from the ATM, and went for burritos at the Mexican diner, before heading past the "lavanderia" and the "supermercado" on our way home. Get rid of Hollywood Boulevard and it´s stars and you could just as well be in Panama City or somewhere in Mexico.

But then there was the part where we headed towards the China Theatre where we stumbled across Will Smith holding a speech about his plans to change the world with the help of Hollywood movies and we realised we definitely weren´t anywhere other than the U S of A! Moving on from his anecdotes about meetings with Mandela and the human spirit we found ourselves in a store off the Boulevard where we bumped into two of our flight attendants from Virgin Atlantic the day before, who turned out to be Brummies living just down the road from our flat in Moseley. Small world.

After strolling down Sunset Blvd, checking out some chic in Los Feliz and going for dinner with some friends on Melrose Ave., we head back to the North Hollywood hostel. Run by a Russian Jew with a big appetite for conversation, the place turns our to be home to an out-of-work Ukrainian, a Russian cleaner, a lost Israeli, and a Latvian on probation. Between these guys, clans of Latinos and the boys from Birmingham, we´re still in search of the stereotype American. Today´s destination: Santa Monica Beach.

To be continued...

Round the World

Just a day and a half to go and we´re round-the-worlding! With 7 countries and 3 continents on the list and Sara´s brother and sister´s family heading for Bolivia at the same time, there´s lots coming up for the GómezHawkes clan.

Stay tuned here for pics and updates, and for more from the Gómezfamily, check out www.lafamilia.be

What Would Jesus Buy?

Some call it blasphemous, others just love it. Either way this movie promises to be a real thought-provoker, just like its predecessor Supersize Me. Having listened to a Morgan Spurlock interview on the Relevant podcast, all I can say is that it sounds like rocks crying out...

To listen to the interview check our the Relevant podcast on iTunes or find it in the archive at www.relevantmagazine.com

NGUK on iTunes

Thanks to Justin and Johannes in the Media Dept. NGUK are now on iTunes! To tune in, just go to the iTunes Podcast Directory, and look us up under New Generation Podcast. So far the selection is pretty slim, but rest assured. We´ll be uploading weekly and prety soon you´ll be able to find all our trailers, Word of the Week vids and other random films of interest from NG Studios, downloadable straight to your iPod. Nice.

The Power of One

Miss Rosa Parks. If you’ve never heard this name before, or you don’t recognise the picture, then it’s probably because this lady’s story often gets mentioned as part of another story. A story that tells of how a black Baptist preacher from the southern states of America changed the course of American, and actually world, history with his “I have a dream”-speech. Martin Luther King has become a bit of an icon at New Generation. Not for being a perfect man or a great evangelist, but because he proved that one man really can make a difference. But what’s even more interesting is to look at the woman who prompted his whole campaign, Miss Rosa Parks. Rosa was an ordinary 42-year old black lady on her way home from a long day’s work at Montgomery Fair department store. An ordinary lady who just wanted to sit down for a little while on an almost empty bus. An ordinary lady who inspired not only one American preacher, but a whole generation, to say enough is enough and stand up for what they believe in. Her actions inspired a whole movement of protesters that brought about change in racial laws and the beginning of an end to segregation. Her refusal to give up her seat on the bus that day just because she was black changed the thinking of a whole generation, and altered the course of those to come. In our eyes Miss Rosa Parks is a hero. A perfect example of what one person can achieve.

The Bible's full of stories about olden day versions of Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King. Full of stories about God using simple, everyday people to play a part in bringing about His plans here on earth. All throughout history, He’s shown what one person can do if they just decide to follow their calling and live out the plans God has for them. Just look at Jesus. No other man has changed history the way He did. But He was the Son of God you may say. If you’re not satisfied, try reading up on some old Bible stories or pulling out your history books for a while. Look at the lives of Noah, Esther, Gideon, St. Augustine, Martin Luther, Winston Churchill, Nelson Mandela and so many more... All simple, everyday people with one thing in common: a determination to make a difference. All people who lived for something greater than themselves, and set something in motion. You can be another one of those names. You can set something in motion at your school, uni or workplace. Time and again we see the power of ordinary people deciding to do extraordinary things, and God’s ability to use one person to change history. One is enough.

Will you be the one?


“People always say that I didn't give up my seat because I was tired, but that isn't true. I was not tired physically, or no more tired than I usually was at the end of a working day. I was not old, although some people have an image of me as being old then. I was forty-two. No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in.”

- Miss Rosa Parks, Montgomery, Alabama

One 08 London Conference

The new teaser for the One Conference. Well done, Fred!

Christian 1 or Christian 2?

An article for the Hope Revolution website.

Have you ever gone without food for a long time? Maybe you’ve fasted for a charity, forgotten your lunchbox, or just run out of money on a long trip. Something happens when people get hungry. They change. Lack of water does the same thing. We get dizzy, see mirages, and go crazy with thirst.

That’s how God wants us to be with Him! That’s what the Bible means when it talks about heart, soul, mind and strength. God wants us desperate. Passionate! The Scriptures are full of people who loved God that way. Abraham with his son, David with his harp, Daniel in his den, and so many more. All there to remind us to give God 100% and be passionate in loving Him.

But is that it? Are we just called to love God and give Him everything? YES! ...and NO! The greatest commandment says that loving God is our no.1 priority, but it goes on to say that’s only half the story. Matthew 22 speaks of ”loving our neighbours as we love ourselves.”

Confession time. Have you ever been bored in church? Ever found it hard to lift your hands in worship, or dozed off whilst reading the Bible? Many times in my own Christian walk, I’ve found that I’ve gotten so used to going through the motions, that I haven’t been desperate for God. I haven’t been loving Him with my heart and soul. The thing is that nearly every time, when I stop and think, it hasn’t been the quality of the teaching on Sundays that’s the problem. Not even my old Bible translation or the dreary worship team at church. It’s me. It’s when I stop giving out, and get so clogged up that I can’t receive anything from God. I sincerely believe that there’s a point in our Christian walk where we’ve seen and heard so much, that it’s like we don’t have room for any more.

We can all go through phases like that, but the sad thing is that some of us get stuck. I call these ”Just-me-and-God-Christians”. They know the rules, attend the meetings, pray the prayers, sing the songs, and learn the liturgy. But after a while, they get so full they start saying stuff like ”I’ve heard all that before”, ”Youth group’s boring”, and ”I don’t need to go to church”.

Matthew 10:8 says we’ve received freely and that we need to give freely. When we start loving our neighbour and giving out, we create a space on the inside and suddenly find ourselves hungry again. I call these believers ”Me-God-and-someone-else-Christians”. These guys have realised they can’t keep it all to themselves.

Everything God gives you is for you, sure, but it’s also for someone else. Everything He does in your life can be shared with the people around you. Don’t settle for being a “Just-me-and-God-Christian”. Sit with that loner on the bus tomorrow. Stand up for the girl in college everyone’s been bullying for so long. Send someone a text, give your classmates a Bible, or start an outreaching CU in your school. Whatever you do, always have someone you’re giving to. You may not be able to help everyone, but you can always help someone.

Ben and the Blind Boys.