What is your name and where are you from?

My name is Samuel Price and I am originally from Great Britain and I have lived just outside of Oxford for many years.

Please describe your background

I am currently 18 years old. I was raised in a Christian home but didn’t give my life to God until I was around 7 years old. However, I didn’t really come to know God until I was 16 years old when I was in a student exchange program in Majorca, Spain. It was there that I began to have encounters with God. That season drew to a close and I felt God was calling me again but I didn’t really know what to do. God supernaturally opened the door for me to go to the 6 month bible school at City Harvest Church, OC. It was here as well that God radically changed my life, gave me a new identity and I found my true purpose and calling in serving Him. Now 2 years and many supernatural miracles later I’m entering into local college here in OC to further my skills to enable me to serve the kingdom better and help build the media ministry. I am hungry for the things of God to come in my life and to walk in the plan and destiny He has for me.

List one experience you’ve shared in connect group that started it all for you or that resonated with you most?

For me it has been the support and strength in being connected not just on Sunday with church but coming together in the week to fellowship, pray, worship and learn from our connect group leaders who always have empowering messages that really bring revelation into my walk with God. `

If you had the entire world’s attention, and Knew that every living person on Earth would hear you, what would you say?

Don’t go through life letting it lead you, mold you, and shape you; let God do that.

If you were brand new to connect groups, what is the one thing that you would tell yourself?

Come open, ready to receive; ask God to meet you and show you who He is. Listen and trust because these are some of the people that will become your family for life.

What lead me to get involved in connect groups and what made you stay?

I think for me connect groups just seemed so right. It was coming together, building relationships, and encountering God, that to me was a dream come true. I believe it’s what God really wants for us in order to be healthy Christians. Being able to learn and grow in my relationship with God and in who I am because of who He has called me to be has really changed my identity and I now understand the life I have been called to live. It’s a life about others, giving back, and building God’s house. Connect groups are one of the best ways to do that and in doing that you build who God has called you to be.

How has your life been impacted through Connect Groups?

My life has been impacted because connect groups teach you how to have a healthy relationship with God. In connect groups you learn how to connect with Him. There are moments when you see the gifts of the spirit move and also learn how to flow with God, in what He is wanting to do and say. Not just that, but I also learned what it means to be apart of a church family, learning to love each other, and care for one another. So to me being a part of a connect group not only changed me, but it also changed how I lived outside of church.

Discuss how you have grown as a person because of Connect Groups?

I believe I have grown in my relationships with people and God. I learned how to relate both in a healthy and constant level with God’s people and this has shifted the way that I view life. Really, I experience what our mission statement is all about; Loving God, Loving People, and Loving life.

How do you see yourself helping others though your connect groups in the near future?

Firstly, I want to bring more people to my connect group, and be a part of God extending His hand to change people’s lives just like mine was. I believe that one day I can help facilitate a connect group and open a door so that more people can be changed, and empowered like I have been because of my leaders who have laid their lives down to help me grow. I would love to be part of the next generation that opens their lives to help change others for God.

In your own words, describe the heart behind the connect groups?

I believe the heart behind connect groups is to help, love, grow, and release. Taking people in, helping them in whatever the situation it is that they are stuck in, loving them, helping them grow into all that God has called them to be, and releasing them to help others become who they have been called to be.