What you believe is more important than what you know. And belief is forged in the in-between. The middle seasons of life, the waiting, the unknowns, the mysteries, are spaces where faith is forged, where heaven breaks in. Healing, joy, direction, purpose all flow from staying rooted in God’s presence, even when we don’t fully understand what He’s doing.
Before the Life Beyond Trauma Conference, Andrea sat down with Sandra Sellmer-Kersten to talk about healing, transformation, and what it means to invite Jesus into the places of deep pain.
In their conversation, Sandra shared her excitement for what God will do through the conference, “It’s amazing to see the light bulbs go on in people’s hearts. You watch the hope come in, and you know there’s an answer for them.”
She spoke about how Jesus meets us in our stories with both tenderness and transformation. “The comfort and compassion of Jesus always comes with His invitation to lasting change.” She explained that God “doesn’t take the memories away, but when that memory is processed, it becomes part of our testimony... part of our overcoming.”
Sandra reminded us that Jesus’ heart is to restore what has been lost. “He doesn’t just heal; He restores identity, value, purpose, and destiny.”
There is life after trauma. Life to the full.
Life Beyond Trauma with Sandra Sellmer-Kersten
14–15 November 2025
Fairway Event Centre, Argus Place, Auckland
9:30 am – 5:00 pm each day
The conference offers a safe, faith-filled space to explore how healing and transformation restore identity, value, purpose, and destiny. You’ll experience teaching, worship, prayer, and ministry in an atmosphere shaped for encounter with God.
Registration closes Tuesday, 12 November at 5 pm.
This week, Shannon and Andrea shared the vision for Catch the Fire Auckland. It’s a clear picture of who we are, what we’re becoming, and how we walk it out together. They spoke about what it means to belong to a spiritual family, to encounter God and be transformed by his presence to overflow into the neighbours and the nations.
This is the Catch The Fire Church Auckland Vision.
Everyone has a part to play and this is your invitation to build with us. To commit, to grow, and to move with God at the forefront of revival.
Shannon and Andrea invite you, as family, into the adventure of the next season. The vision for Catch The Fire Auckland is to move with God at the forefront of revival! This vision is rooted in the joy of the Father’s love, where our identity gives us access, and responsibility flows from belonging. We are called to be a dwelling place of His presence, where sons and daughters grow, give, and go!
Before we come to God, we’re like upside-down cups – unable to receive a drop. But the moment we say yes to Him, we’re flipped upright, and He starts pouring. More than we could ever hold.So why don’t we overflow?In this episode, Shannon explores the powerful truth that while God pours without limit, many of us are leaking. Wounded by life, drained by striving, and unsure how to live fully. You’ll discover how God heals the holes in our hearts, restores what’s been broken, and invites us to live from the overflow of His love.Receive His overflow. Not just for you, but for everyone around you.
There’s a version of you that God already sees and He’s drawing it out. Through truth, pressure, and the quiet work of renewing your mind, transformation begins to take shape. Kath weaves together the stories of Saul, a butterfly, and the grooves in our thinking to show how lasting change doesn’t start with striving, but with surrender. Be encouraged to renew your mind, let go of old patterns, and step boldly into the next level God has for you.
God longs to meet you – as a loving Father, a present Saviour, and a living Spirit who delights in being with you. His presence isn’t something we have to earn. And encounters with Him aren’t spiritual trophies or rewards for getting it right.
We don’t earn them. We are created for them.
At Catch The Fire, the presence of God is not a moment or a side note; God’s Presence is the main thing. The presence of God is one of the core values of Catch The Fire globally and right at the heart of who we are at Catch The Fire Auckland. We value Him. His nearness, His voice, His presence that heals, transforms, and awakens hearts.
This is why the Presence of God is everything.
Let’s be honest—“deny yourself” isn’t exactly a slogan you’ll see on a billboard anytime soon. It’s certainly not the hook of your average self-help book. And yet, these are the exact words Jesus used when inviting people to follow Him. Jesus never sugar-coated the cost. He told us up front: to follow Him means denying ourselves—not just once, but daily. That’s a hard sell in a world obsessed with self-fulfilment, self-help, and self-promotion. This isn’t the comfortable version of discipleship. It’s the kind that costs something. Maybe even everything.
This message invites us to rethink worry–to see it as a nudge from God—a spiritual dashboard light signalling that something deeper is stirring in our hearts. Instead of spiralling in fear or numbing out with distraction, we’re invited into an honest, healing conversation with the One who already knows! From wandering minds to 2am ‘what ifs’, we’ll explore how Jesus’ words in Matthew 6 offer more than comfort—they offer transformation. Let’s get real, get raw, and let God’s love meet us right where we are.
Jesus commands us to love our enemies. Not to avoid having them—but to love them. To see them as image-bearers, held in the same divine love that holds us. This kind of love—agape love—is not passive or soft. It resists contempt. It disrupts cycles. It demands courage, humility, and boldness. And it creates the kind of space where God can move, and transformation can take root. Somehow, in that space, we become more like our Father.
What if your suffering had no clear explanation? Just silence, pain, and a question mark hanging in the air. Shannon walks us through the raw, unfiltered story of Job: a man who lost everything yet refused to walk away from the God he loved. No answers, no guarantees, no rewards dangled in front of him—just trust. Not every trial is a test of strength. Sometimes, it's a revelation of love.
We are spirit people living in a natural world—born of the Spirit, filled with the Spirit, sustained by the Spirit. Stuart explores how easy it is to chase familiar signs of God’s presence and miss His voice when it comes as a whisper. The Spirit is not a luxury for life with God—He is the lifeline. Whether thunder or stillness, the invitation is the same: lean in, listen, and live from the reality of who you truly are.
When injustice hits, instinct says fight or flee. But Andrea digs into Jesus’ radical third way—one that neither submits nor strikes back, but stands. Not passive, not aggressive, but profoundly powerful. In a world eager to retaliate, Jesus teaches how to expose wrong without becoming it. What if the real strength is in refusing to mirror harm—and choosing a generosity that stuns, disarms, and heals?
Before Eden was a garden, it was a region called delight. And from that place of intimacy, a river flowed—overflowing with life, breakthrough, momentum, and fruitfulness. Lynley traces that river from Genesis to Revelation, revealing a flow that never stops: from the throne of God, through you, into the world. Whether you’re ankle-deep or barely breathing, there’s always more. Step in. The river is rising.
What happens when the Bible leads us into uncomfortable conversations? When verses about slavery raise more questions than answers? Shannon doesn’t shy away from the tension—instead, he leans in. This message is a bold invitation to wrestle with Scripture, to seek God’s heart in the midst of complex truth, and to discover that even in the hardest passages, love and mercy prevail.
Holiness isn’t a distant ideal or a dusty word—it’s the blazing, radiant essence of God Himself. In this stirring message, Kath unpacks why holiness once drew the broken to Jesus—not pushed them away. What happens when we move closer to that kind of glory? Everything hidden is exposed, but so is grace. And the invitation isn't to perfection—it's to deeper intimacy with the One who is holy, holy, holy.
God doesn’t just love you—He likes you. Before Jesus performed a miracle, preached a sermon, or healed a single person, the Father called Him beloved. Hamish walks us through what happens when identity comes before purpose—and why power without love leaves us disconnected. From oil to joy to a new sound from heaven, this is an invitation to encounter the God who delights in you, not for what you do, but for who you are.
A borrowed donkey, a name-drop, a God card—each a symptom of something buried deeper. Andrea unpacks Jesus’ teaching on oaths, not as a rule to follow but as an invitation to live differently: with radical honesty, fearless vulnerability, and deep relational integrity. What if the words we use to seem trustworthy are actually keeping us from true connection? In the kingdom, your yes—or your no—carries more weight than you think.