7 DAYS TO GO 🎤

When the waiting becomes the gift

There's something about a countdown that does something to you on the inside.

Seven days. That's all that stands between now and the afternoon we've been working toward, praying over, and pouring ourselves into for months. Seven days — and yet, sitting here this morning, it doesn't feel small at all. It feels like standing at the edge of something beautiful, watching it come into focus at last.

On 20 June, eleven remarkable people will walk onto the stage at Te Pou Theatre in Auckland and do something quietly extraordinary. They'll open their mouths and offer the room something that can't be bought, borrowed, or manufactured. They'll offer their stories.

Not polished performances. Not carefully curated highlight reels. Real stories — the kind that carry the fingerprints of real living on them. Stories shaped by courage, by loss, by discovery, by the long and winding road of becoming. Eleven voices, eleven worlds — and yet, if we listen well, one story threading through them all. The story of what it means to be human, to wrestle with something, and to choose to speak anyway.

Many Worlds. One Story.

That's the theme of our Mini-TENx event this year, and the longer I sit with it, the more I love it. We each come from somewhere different. We carry different histories, different languages, different landscapes behind our eyes. And yet — when someone stands up and speaks from the truest part of themselves, something happens in the room. The distance collapses. You find yourself nodding, leaning forward, thinking yes — me too. That's the magic of a story told well. It doesn't divide. It draws us in.

I've had the privilege of watching these speakers prepare — watching them dig deeper than they thought they could, find the thread that holds their message together, and step into a courage they didn't know they had. I'm not going to lie to you: I've teared up more than once. These are not just talks. These are offerings.

And an offering deserves an audience.

So if you've been hovering, wondering whether to come — let this be your nudge. You don't need to be a speaker. You don't need to be in leadership. You don't need any credential other than a willingness to show up, sit down, and let someone's story speak to yours. That's it. That's all we ask.

Come and be moved. Come and be surprised. Come and discover that your own story — the one you're still living — matters more than you know.

Seven days. The stage is almost ready.

I hope to see you there. 💛

🎟️ Tickets are available at: https://www.tepoutheatre.nz/mini-tenx/#

📅 Mini-TENx NZ | Saturday, 20 June 2026 | Te Pou Theatre, Auckland | 12pm – 4pm

For the Tribe. By the Tribe. Speakers Tribe — Making a Difference.

💛