The Shock Absorber

The generational shift from the 1990s to the 2000s brought a real test for what Soul Revival had been originally built on. This period inspired the three main tenets for the Shock Absorber as a framework for intergenerational ministry. Stu touches on a few pivotal events that occurred in the early 2000s which signalled that the youth culture was changing. While it was tough era, it genuinely teste...

After establishing a theological foundation, Soul Revival felt it was important to express Jesus' community not just within a local church context but also amongst other churches and ministries. That lead to a number of relationships and movements during the 1990s and 2000s which further developed and honed the Shock Absorber principles. The Shock Absorber is a podcast brought to you by Soul Reviv...

We felt bad that we haven't been able to bring much content lately due to focusing on changing how Soul Revival Church does its gatherings! But check out this talk from Stu on Matthew 22:37-40 and the Shock Absorber. On 27 March, Stu preached at Soul Revival Church's Friday night gathering on Matthew 22:37-40, a passage that has, and continues to have a huge impact on the Soul Revival model of min...

After growing and establishing itself as an effective ministry, it was time for Soul Revival to develop more structure and solidity, and most importantly, a theological perspective. After growing and establishing itself as an effective ministry, it was time for Soul Revival to develop more structure and solidity, and most importantly, a theological perspective.

The introduction of The Commitments helped create a regular and committed culture across youth ministry and church services. What resulted was a huge growth in the ministry as new Christians joined the community and energised the Christians that were already part of it. But with that fast growth came conflicts and controversies! The Commitments model became a weekly Shock Absorber to deal with the...

Following the Jesus Movement, the church had moved to the Homogeneous Unit Principle, where churches had unintentionally widened the generation gap even further. Soul Revival came up with a corporate response to the transcient, individualistic, consumeristic church culture that resulted. Inspired by the 1991 movie  The Commitments and Oldenburg's Third Place theory the leaders hit upon the need fo...

In episode 3, hear how after realising a paradigm shift in how they could do ministry, Stu was able to use his studies of the 1960s to create a new form of youth ministry that focused on living out a Jesus-led community rather than attempting to be relevant to multiple generations across the church.

Episode 2 sees Joel and Stu discuss how the Soul Revival ministry began. Triggered by a desire for an adventure and a paradigm shift in their thinking, four people in a dumpy garage created a new way of doing youth ministry and laid the groundwork for the Shock Absorber. From now on, the ministry wouldn’t be based around a certain interest but around Jesus and being friends because of Him.

In the debut episode of the podcast, Joel and Stu dive straight into the Shock Absorber and how it can be a framework for churches to biblically adapt to the changes in society. Examples of such cultural shocks are discussed before delving into how it all began for Stu back when he was a young adult. Stu's favourite movie - The Breakfast Club ----------------------------- The Shock Absorber podcas...