Senior Pastors

Hamish & Diane Divett

Hi, I’m Hamish. Apart from six years in tertiary education, one year driving trucks, and two years as a schoolteacher, my adult years have been devoted to Pastoring. The first nine years were in Hamilton, the last twenty two or so in Auckland; five churches in all, three of which Diane and I planted ourselves, some large, some small.

I’m still wildly enthusiastic [albeit in a dignified and largely internalised way!] with all that God can do when the grace of His presence touches our lives and we get to journey together further and further into His promised future.

My favourite recreational activities are firstly, surfing [2 times Hyundai Roaring 40's, over 50's short board champion!] and windsurfing, both of which are minimalist, stripped-back-to-bare-essentials sports. It is no surprise then that I prefer my religion to be similarly configured. Likewise West Auckland’s iconic Piha Beach, with its “full strength, double shot espresso” dose of raw natural energy suits me fine as a weekend bolt hole. I like to play on the margins, well away from “middle of the road”, sometimes even tempting fate as to whether the next time I surf I could inadvertently end up on prime time TV as yet another waterlogged star of Piha Rescue!

There is something wild and untamed about Jesus that has captivated and held my attention all these years and I find that the adventure of following His call seems only to increase as the future unfolds.

Yes, that is Hamish

Diane

I have a few passions in life: God, my family, namely Hamish who I have been married to for 37 years; Lisa our daughter and her husband Dan Bycroft and our beautiful grandchildren Jozef and Amalia; and our son David.

As well, I have a great love for people with some of our amazing friends being all around the world, but mostly, right here in our own church in N.Z.

Education is something else I have had a great passion for. This has resulted in the privilege of completing a Bachelor of Education in Education and Sociology (B.Ed); a Diploma of teaching (Dip teach); a Masters degree in Education with 1st class honours in counselling (M.Ed couns) and a Doctor of Philosophy degree (Ph.D). In particular these latter degrees are a summary of my life’s work as I have created and developed Refocussing theory and practice with ‘God Spaces’ as the central and most potent aspect of the theory because once facilitated this empowers people to find, and experience our amazing loving God! Finally, one last passion is that on a regular basis I get to enjoy long walks, with our dog Tozer, absorbing the wild, invigorating west coast beach delights at Piha; where it is our custom to sip a glass of red watching the sun slip into the sea and encourage all who visit to observe ‘the green flash’.