Exploring Leadership Day 2025: Filled, reminded, confirmed

Delegates share their experiences from Exploring Leadership Day 2025.

I had an amazing time at Exploring Leadership Day. As a result of the day, I affirmed God’s calling on my life, which I am so excited to further explore as I continue my faith journey.

I loved the seminars I attended on a courageous life and a spiritual life. The different stories from the leaders about how they came to answer God’s calling were so inspiring. They helped me understand that whatever God asks of me, my whole life should be dedicated to him – all my actions should reflect God in me.

The day was a key milestone in my faith journey, as I decided to say yes to what God has asked of me and I shared it openly for the first time. I felt the Holy Spirit fill me and was overwhelmed with joy and excitement. I was no longer fearful to say yes to God!

I’m so grateful to everyone who helped lead the day. It was amazing to witness so many testimonies of people taking a leap of faith and now living life in all its fullness.

My highlight was worship together. The fellowship was amazing, and it was beautiful to see people saying yes to God and praising God together. If you’re curious about what God is asking of you, I would encourage you to attend Exploring Leadership Day. It’s given me courage and guidance for what God has asked of me.

After missing the deadline last year, I was determined to attend Exploring Leadership Day in 2025. I didn’t know what to expect, but I was excited for what God had in store.

We began with worship, focusing on the opening of John 10. The words were a powerful reminder to first seek overflowing fullness of life in Jesus, and to live with courage knowing that he is a provider, healer and protector. It was the perfect way to begin, and I surrendered the day to God and allowed him to speak throughout the rest of the event.

There were opportunities to learn about various mission expressions in the Army. There was also an interactive prayer room, where I could quietly sit and allow God to speak.

I was particularly blessed by rich conversations through organised seminars and informal chats over coffee and lunch. I’m grateful to those I spoke with and challenged by some of the testimonies I heard. I heard words I very much needed that day.

The day closed with worship and a sending-off as we returned to our normal lives. Two words that remained with me were ‘obedience’ and ‘courage’. As someone who has received a calling, I was reminded that God, in his infinite wisdom, will faithfully guide me through this process that can be uncertain at times. All I have to do is faithfully walk the path he has set out for me.

It was such a great experience but, if I’m honest, I initially felt quite nervous. Yet, as soon as I arrived, I bumped into so many people who had played significant parts in my life. It felt as if I had come full circle and God was using each of these people to cross my life again and remind me of the moments when I’d heard his voice before.

Being in the Army is like having an extended family, and the new people I met soon became friends through our shared purpose in being in that place on that day. It was so good to hear people share stories that were similar to mine and to hear ways God had spoken that were so vastly different from my own experience. God was part of every conversation that day, and I felt like a sponge soaking up the messages he wanted me to hear.

The prayer space became very sacred to me as I felt chains that had bound me and things that had weighed me down lift. God came close in that room as he confirmed that he came to give me life in all its fullness. I’d preached on John 10:10 myself just the week before – and it had been preached to me over preceding weeks – but it was still a concept that I struggled to accept.

In the day’s closing moments, the opportunity to publicly commit my life to God and ask him to be part of every aspect of it – all the big and all the small stuff – will stay with me for ever!