Introducing….(drumroll please) our International Director Roy Harley! Get amongst it kiddies, we are diving deep into the life of Roy- covering aqua dacks, bb guns, serving in places a loooong way away from the surf and dancing with the line. This man’s story will blow your mind. A keen spirit for adventure and taking risks has brought Roy into the relationship that He has with the Lord today. We get to discuss with him what it means to live as a 'satellite' orbiting the Lord’s ‘gravity’, living in the love of His grace and mercy.
“I grew up in a Christian home, so I had faith. I would say that I think God is too big to be a satellite in our world, and sometimes we try and make God the satellite, but he will never be able to be a satellite. And so for me, my faith was this thing that I did, it wasn't everything. At about 16, there was this girl in my youth group that invited me to go to a camp. It was a pretty crazy camp. Honestly- it was nowhere near the ocean… so when I found that out, I was like, there's no way. I got into trouble on the first day haha.
I didn't mean to get in trouble, it wasn't like I was trying. I just think that's surfers, right? So we got there & there was this huge, big quarry, beautiful. And they're like to to like a couple thousand kids- don't swim in the quarry because there's aqueducts that go into that. But they positioned it is a choice- like you shouldn't do this because it's not going to be good for you.
And then it was raining and it was like a big slip and slide. So me and a couple of other guys were launching backflips into it saying, well, we'll take a chance. Mate, they hold us out, pull us in front of the whole committee, saying, what are you doing? Why are you doing that?
We told you not to- we said, no, you didn't, you just said it's probably not a good idea. So we missed the messaging and the crazy thing was we really didn't know we had done wrong, which seemed to be most of my life.
I think there's a lot of it in that that has to do with my faith story because when you look back, I felt like I was this surfy dirtbag kid that didn't fit in anyway, and somehow I always found myself in trouble unintentionally ha.It was this desire to have fun, which really, I think connected me again with surf culture. I think there's so much about surf culture that just loves to have fun and it kind of put me, I guess, cross-cultural with all these institutions. I wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed.
So, you know, at this camp, this guy preaches the story and literally is basically saying God is too big to be a satellite in your world. That you need to come to a place where you surrender everything and make HIM the centre around which you orbit. And in that space that night there was just such a strong call, & I was white knuckling the chair because I didn't want to go up to the front, but I just knew I needed to go up. I got quite nervous & thought I'll be the kid at the front holding the chair.
There was a whole lot of us up at the front and the drummer came over and I ended up with him and he asked me to pray, a very strange prayer that I'd never prayed before. And it was to the Holy Spirit. And I basically just said, Holy Spirit, I've got nothing to offer you that is of value. And at that point I really meant it. Like I have nothing that I can give you that is of value. I'm not doing great at this, I’m not doing great at anything. And, you know, I'm just trying to figure this all out. I really struggled with self-image at the time and I was just an anonymous teenage kid that was stuck in the crowd.
I prayed that to the Holy Spirit and everything changed. For some people, it's a slow burn. For me, it was BANG. I just felt this joy, this release, and this excitement and just abundant energy -like crazy energy. I didn't do any of the speaking in tongues or prophecy thing at the time. Just this joy and energy, and this new life flooded me.
So I think it's so nice to say, oh, I'm going to change and become a satellite around His gravity, but actually that takes time.
For me, it was about a three year process through all sorts of different things in South Africa that was happening at the time. But essentially what happened was God kept tapping my shoulder and saying, hey, you've surrendered everything, but you haven't surrendered surfing. And I remember this very key moment; I was in the kitchen having this teenage argument with my mom, and she pointed at me & said surfing’s your God.
And I said, no, it's not. But in my heart I was like, she's right. This is the thing that I worship. This is the thing that I will sacrifice everything for family, friends, relationships. I'll sacrifice everything to go surfing and to get better at surfing. And this wasn't an instant realisation, God worked with me over three years and I’d try and serve & he'd keep bringing me back to that point… “
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CS SOUTH AFRICA NATIONAL GATHO.
"I was at an international Christian Surfers conference where we had been challenged to seek God about where he wanted us to go, and which tribe he wanted us to reach. In front of me were over 100 surfers from numerous nations lost in worship. Just then BD the founder of our movement came alongside me putting his arm around my shoulder and looking at the crowd he said, 'This is the pearl of Great Price Roy this is the true treasure in a field.' Rarely have I felt God's Spirit speak so clearly to me as he did at that moment. I knew the surf tribe was the one he wanted me to share his love with, and I have been trying to do that ever since.”
Roy was the pioneering National Director of CS South Africa and has been in full-time ministry for most of his adult life. A visionary social entrepreneur at heart, Roy is married to Sharon with daughter Cailyn and son Nathan. When asked what his job is he will tell you it's the International Froth Cultivator for Christian Surfers. If he's not answering his phone, it's likely he is in a 'Board Meeting' in the ocean, riding his favourite wave, Supertubes, Jeffreys Bay.
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).
Because with these three things – and with God in control – we can bring more surfers than ever to know and love Him.
