DAN ULYATE // ABIDE

Based on the Sunshine Coast, founder of Abide Clothing, & a big part of Christian Surfers, Dan Ulyate shares with us his love for the Lord & expressing that through different creative channels & places of service.
”Create and let it all be worship to God. Spending time abiding in God will cause a natural overflow of him and his goodness. This will overflow into what you create. When I play music I cannot help but sing of him and his goodness.  If you're in business just wait and see what he starts doing through you. We have been created to create…”

When did you first find Christian Surfers & how did the community resonate with you?

I got connected to CS through a few guys at the church I started going to (Goodlife). They were just a bunch of super rad guys who just walked in a simple love for God and for surfing. Being relatively new to surfing and surf culture I was keen to get amongst it. (Big appreciation to Benny, Dan and Stevo and the others for getting me into it) 

Originally from South Africa, what was the decision to make the move to the Sunny Coast?

Well, we moved over as a family. Mum and Dad really liked Aus and decided we would pack up and move here as a new adventure. Also as a way  to open my sister and I up to new opportunities and a better lifestyle. It was definitely a big sacrifice for them but I know my sis and I are super grateful for them doing it. 

You've been involved in CS as a group leader & know working with the national team designing & developing merch. Can you tell us about this journey & what you're excited to bring to the table?

For sure! I have been a part of CS for about 9 years now, since I was about 16. When I was 20 I got thrown in the deep end and started leading CS on the Sunshine Coast as a mission coordinator. I started to get involved in the National team around that time too, its always felt like my second family in a way. Between all that I had also started a brand during that time. We have been taking about updating the merch of CS for a while and also how we can create a business “arm” of CS. After being given a business and still running the brand it just made sense to me to jump in and upgrade the CSA merch. I loved business, clothing and CS! So here we are, I'm stoked that the hoodies we have released have been selling out. Next is dropping a new t-shirt range which  we have been working on for a while. Big thanks to Elise Van Boxtel (design)  and others who help out. We have some new stickers and potentially hoodie towels coming :) We want to create high quality, ethical gear for our CS tribe to rep. 

One piece of the jigsaw, one moment of God's grace that bought you closer to Him...
Sheesh, yea! I remember during New Swell in 2016, I was worshiping and just felt like God spoke a new identity over me into my heart. Not a audible voice as such but a deep knowing that I was his and I am his son. I couldn’t really go back to my old ways after that! 

A line of scripture that encompasses that...

“He predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—”

Ephesians 1:5

You started your own brand- Abide Clothing back in March 2017. What is your why & purpose behind starting this business?

Yea so I hung out at skate parks and surf breaks pretty often and just saw such a lack of identity and purpose amongst the crew I spoke too. I knew there was gold inside of those kids, I wanted a way to bring that out and for them to live with purpose. So through inspiration from another brand I admired at the time I started Abide Culture. To equip and inspire people to find and live with a purpose, to live the life they were created for. The essence of life is to Abide in our creator, God. I assure you that you will find more than just purpose there :) John 15

Ideas for the future of Abide?

Heaps, people often ask, “so how are you helping people find purpose?” I often just say we inspire them to find it. This is great but we’re keen to not only inspire but also to equip in this next season. Keen to do this through events we run and limited runs of clothing we produce. Mentoring is a big big need too, so potentially creating some kind of platform for that also. That’s all I will share for now… haha 


Tips for helping others channel their creativity into serving the Lord?
Create and let it all be worship to God. Spending time abiding in God will cause a natural overflow of him and his goodness. This will overflow into what you create. When I play music I cannot help but sing of him and his goodness.  If you're in business just wait and see what he starts doing through you. We have been created to create. 

What makes you happiest?
Logging Noosa at sunset with a bunch of mates would be up there! It’s pretty glorious. Good food and music is a beauty too! 

Favourite worship album?

Tough one, but I would say my favourite of all time would be the “Garden” (Live) Album by United Pursuit. 

JAMES FORREST // The One with Fozza

Business owner, father of 4, husband to Shelley, absolute charger & downright legend… James Forrest currently resides in Sydney & is shining the love & light of the Lord by living as authentically & as Christ-like as he can… this is a snippet of his story.

As a surfer, what does the ocean mean to you?

 The ocean to me is a place where I can challenge myself & hear Gods voice in the most authentic way I know. 

You've been involved in CS since 2003 & it's been pretty life changing hey?

Yeh for sure, I couldn’t find an expression in a corporate sense for my childhood- not a real & living understanding of God until I found Christian Surfers #ifoundmytribe. CS was & is wild, open, authentic & releasing.

2022 came with a lot of heartache for businesses within the building industry- as the owner of Forrest Engineering & Forrest Small Homes what was some of the challenges you had to face during that time, and continue to...

6 months of rain on the East Coast, 300% increase in material costson existing contracts & massive material shortages. Interest rate rises resulting in slowest 3 months of trading in residential construction since the GFC…

How does your faith keep you afloat & positive throughout these trials?

From the beginning of faith there is a letting go, the truth is you never know if it’s all going to work out, I have a mortgage & 4 kids, pressures are real, I don’t know if this is going to work out, but when I was a boy God was real, now that I am a man it’s no different. Knowing God has helped me to understand myself, I am made in his image, I am made like him as he is my Father. The outcomes of this season don’t change that, it’s a cycle of unlearning that’s beautifully forced itself on me many times before, so in this challenge I can say, ‘I’ve been here before and God is faithful.’

You've seen mates folding under the pressure & the high stress environment of working in the building industry, how do you share with them the peace and hope of Jesus?

Firstly, I share their suffering.

Secondly, I pray.

And again, I pray. I let them watch my life & hide nothing from them & live in the hands of God as faithfully as I can.

A verse of scripture that is hitting home at the moment...

Psalm 27: 13-14

I am still confident of this:

I will see the goodness of the Lord,

In the land of the living.

Wait for the Lord;

Be strong & take heart

And wait for the Lord.

How do you best see God at work?

I see God at work most clearly in my own fragility.

 You & your wife Shelley have four beautiful kids. How has dad life changed your perspective, what has the Lord shown you?

When you get married you become second priority, when you have your first child you become 3rd priority & so on and each of these moments are a step closer to understanding how Jesus lived his life, one must lose his life to find it….. it’s a beautiful & inglorious process. The mystery of being born again.

 Favourite worship album?

Oh geeeezzz I could rock out to Maverick City music all day long, particularly the Isaiah Song & love is a miracle, or hang on the 6min 58sec moment of the Hillsong “New Wine” by Brooke Ligertwood.

JESS GIBSON // Fiji Mission

Jess, you moved to Australia when you were 7 years old?

 Yeah, so I was born in Durban, South Africa, and I moved with my family to Australia in August 2005 when I was 7 years old. We lived in Brisbane for a couple of years and then moved up to the Sunshine Coast. We have been here ever since!

 When did you first get involved with Christian Surfers? 

I got involved with Christian Surfers maybe 4 years ago, they would have brekky and hangs at Mudjimba beach and then we would go for a surf! This year was actually my first year going on the CS girls camp down in Scott’s Heads! It was such a good time! Made so many new friends!

 Your time in Fiji on a mission trip was incredibly powerful, can you tell us all about it… 

So, back in 2015 I went on a mission trip to Fiji! There was about 7 of us that went! The mission trip was an annual thing, and in the previous years before going I had heard so many stories about the miracles that people had seen when they go over there… the power of prayer and healing in the name of Jesus. When I found out that I was going that year I was just thinking “nah I won’t see that, like it’ll be the one year there aren’t any miracles and stuff”, and I just fully believed that I wasn’t going to see any of the things I had heard about! How the Lord changed my faith!

I couldn’t have been more wrong… we witnessed hundreds of miracles and were in partnership with the Holy Spirit, administering healings by the grace of God. Miracles that you read about in the Bible, when Jesus travelled from town to town sharing the good news and healing the sick…

Matthew 15:30 // And large crowds came to Him, bringing with them those who were lame, crippled, blind, mute, and many others, and they laid them down at His feet; and He healed them.

Literally the day we got there we walked into this village- they were expecting us. There was this one lady who had fingers that were bent backwards and sideways, incredibly contorted. She looked like she was in so much pain, and I remember standing at the back whilst we were praying for her, and then all of a sudden her fingers started straightening! I remember thinking to myself that I was losing my mind- like there’s no way that this could be happening! 

Matthew 19:26 // But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

 We went to quite a few villages in Fiji, and even as we would walk through the streets we would stop and pray for people. As we were going to the next place, I remember on one of the days we were walking past the hospital and our Pastor said to us let’s go in here, so we did and we just went into the waiting room and started praying for people. There were so many people that walked out of the hospital with us that day because they had been healed! It was so crazy! 

We prayed for a lot of people who couldn’t walk properly, and in the name of Jesus they were completely healed from their injuries. They would jump up and down and run and just hug us because they were so excited that they could walk! 

Most of the time when we prayed for people, we were either in pairs or in a group, and I would always think “oh it’s okay if my prayer doesn’t work at least there’s someone else that’s praying and their prayer will work…” I really thought that it was out of my strength that they would be healed…

 Until this one night in particular. It was one of our last night’s there, and we went down to this coastal village, and we were on one of the front porches of someone’s house and we were just sharing our testimonies and telling them about Jesus and the gospel. After sharing all of that with them we went down and started praying for anyone who needed prayer.

There was about 50 people I reckon who had come up to us! And because there were so many people, we had to pray individually so we could reach them all! I remember being so extremely nervous for this because I had never really prayed for someone for healing by myself before. I had this guy come up to me and he couldn’t walk properly because he had hurt his knee. I remember praying for him and he started to get really excited and he said to me that he could feel the pain leaving his leg so I kept praying for him and he was completely healed from all pain and was jumping up and down running around circles and he told me to stay there because he was going to get his friends who also needed healing! I remember thinking in that moment that this had nothing to do with my own strength at all, and that this was all God, and I was nothing without him… I was just a vessel he was using, and it was a blessing to be a witness of these miracles!

Luke 9:1 // When Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases…

Romans 15:13 // May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

While I was praying for people, I would have other people grabbing my arms trying to pull me away because they wanted prayer, and wanted me to come to their friends and family who needed prayer. I remember opening my eyes after praying this one time and there was a tonne more people who had come for prayer. There was like this sea of people and I remember thinking that this was insane!

I prayed for a lot of kids that had scabies and they had so many sores and scars all over their bodies from scratching because they were so itchy, and I remember watching the sores and scars disappear as I was praying for these little kids!

 That night I also was praying for a lady who couldn’t speak and couldn’t hear, and I was praying with her for a while, and she started to hear which was so crazy! And she just started crying and looked at me and said thank you in English and I was blown away! I couldn’t believe that that had just happened! As soon as I had finished praying for her, I turned around and another girl on our team was praying for this lady who was manifesting pretty hard-core! 

I had never seen someone with demons in them or possessed before, so this was pretty wild for me to see! The girl on my team called me over because things were starting to get pretty hectic! While we were praying for this lady, she was moving her body really weird and I’m not kidding the back of her head was touching her back and she was so distorted…! It was like looking at those people who could do contortion with their bodies… She started making these weird noises and was screaming, she eventually dropped to the ground and started moving like a snake and the demon started speaking to us and yelling at us… but we continued to pray for her and then all of a sudden, she just stopped and then just started laughing and crying and sat up and was just saying thank you to us! She had been fully delivered from all of these things, from the demonic entities that had once possessed her.

 This was the biggest pivotal moment for me in my Christian walk so far! 

Ephesians 6:12 // For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.

How did the enemy try and attack you when you returned home?

When I came home from Fiji the enemy really tried to make me forget what I had seen over there… I would second-guess myself a lot and think “oh no, I didn’t actually see that or no I didn’t actually see a demon lady with her head touching her back” And that was actually really hard because it was such a pivotal moment in my life, and to be doubting that was really challenging… I remember going to church one time and the Pastor that I went over there with came up to me and was like, “oh do you remember that time you prayed for that demon lady and her head touching her back and she was going crazy?” And I remember thinking oh my gosh he remembers that too, like I mustn’t have made that up because he saw it as well! That was really encouraging! I actually remember our Pastor telling us while we were over in Fiji after each day, we need to write down the things that happen because the enemy will really try and attack our memories of the good that God has done!

 Another thing that I really struggled with was praying for people when we were back home… Like I had just seen God do all of these miracles and wonders and felt so confident praying for these people, and then I come back to Australia and all of a sudden, I am so scared to pray for people! That was really hard! 

 How did you first meet your husband, Jesse? 

 I first met my husband Jesse in 2019 at Fire Night! Fire night was a collective worship night and everyone was just able to come as they are, and we would just worship, prayer and have fellowships on Tuesday nights! The first night that Jesse went to fire night he gave his heart to God and got saved. There was a lot of deliverance prayer over him to break any spiritual bondage, and release him from any strongholds to the enemy. He used to be a meth addict and was into all kinds of other drugs, and after that night he was fully set free of all of it and hasn’t turned back since that night! 

It was really special to be there that night and see all of that take place, not realising that this was going to be the guy I was going to marry! 

 We dated for about a year and a half, then got engaged, & we got married in September 2021!

 You’re both hitting the road next year, what’s ahead? 

Yeah! So next year we are heading over to New Zealand to do our DTS with YWAM Nelson! We are so excited for this season of life! It will be so different to what we have done before! We have also heard that our 2 months of outreach is possibly going to be over in Fiji!!! So, we are really looking forward to that and what God is going to do!

 A piece of advice or insight for people that are questioning the existence of God… 

I feel like it’s such a simple thing but also something that I have struggled with a lot, and that is just really seeking and pressing into God when you’re having those moments of doubt because he really does see and listen to you! 

 I have been a Christian my whole life and there have been many moments where I’ve questioned God and if he even listens to me or sees me and so many moments where I’d go and lay outside on the grass at night and be like “God if you’re real just send me a meteor shower or a sign or something”, but I never got a meteor shower or big signs, because that isn’t how he speaks to me… and honestly it was only two or three years ago that I had this really personal moment with God, when I learnt how he actually speaks to me. Learning that his voice is a quiet whisper and I have to lean in to listen to him. In that moment he told me that he sees me and sees me when I’ve been crying out to him and told me that has never forsaken me, and that was so personal and such a special moment for me that I will always hold on to! 

 I guess I would just really encourage you to not compare how God speaks to you, to someone else. Because it’s such a personal thing between you and God and everyone’s journey is so different, he speaks to you how he knows you need to be spoken to, whether that’s gentle whisper or something more obvious like a sign or something physical.

A line of scripture that you hold dear… 

 MATTHEW 6:33!!! “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well”. This is a very special bible verse to both me and my husband and it’s what our foundation is built on!

 Two other scriptures I hold dearly are the ones God gave me in the moment when he spoke to me…

Genesis 16: 13-14 // Thereafter, Hagar used another name to refer to the Lord, who had spoken to her. She said, “You are the God who sees me”. She also said, “Have I truly seen the One who sees me?” 

So, the well was named Beer-Lahai-roi (which means “well of the Living One who sees me”). 

 John 1:45-51 // When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, “Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.” “How do you know me?” Nathanael asked. Jesus answered, “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.” Then Nathanael declared, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel.” Jesus said, “You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater things than that.” He then added, “Very truly I tell you, you will see ‘heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on’ the Son of Man.”

Favourite worship song… 

At the moment I have a few! Never walk alone by Hillsong Worship, Heart and Flesh by Leeland & Taya and Give me Jesus by UPPERROOM!