With Special Guests for 2011 confirmed and MANY more to be announced, it is shaping up to be a killer year.

Featuring Aaron Gillespe with his band the ALMOST, along with Reach Records and their Australian tour stopping in just for us... you've already got a fair idea that his will be an amazing day. And if anyone was there at this year's event, you'll know that we accidentally let slip about something pretty exciting... we'll let you know as soon as we can about that!

Make sure you save the date, start planning your School Exo Days and filling buses to see as many of your mates coming as possible. In the meantime, keep checking our page, keep following us on twitter and facebook, and keep sending your exo highlights, thoughts, and images to events@youthalivensw.com!

Once a year, every March, we gather the brightest and finest of NSW's Youth Pastors and Key Youth Leaders for two quality days together at Bondi Beach, Sydney. Each year, we see leaders encouraged, inspired, refreshed, connected into relationship with other like-minds, and EVERYONE leaves changed for the better.

If you are a Youth Pastor, leader OR if you know someone who is, then get yourself down to Bondi Beach this March.

We have JUST confirmed Pastors Brian and Bobbie Houston as our key speakers for Youth Pastors Retreat. Brian and Bobbie are the senior pastors of Hillsong Church, and are pioneers in our nation in many different facets of church life, evangelism, community impact and of course, youth ministry. Hillsong church is known the world over as a church that is shaping the way we "do ministry", and Brian and Bobbie are a wealth of wisdom when it comes to building the church. DO NOT miss this opportunity to get up close and personal with two of the most influential and sought after speakers around the globe!

Often, the best thing that you can do for yourself as a leader is to pull yourself away from the day to day of what you do, and surround yourself with creativity, inspiration and motivation! What better place than Bondi Beach, the surf, the sun, the food, the atmosphere... it's all here. And most of all, what will make it incredible is if YOU are there with us!

Mark the 2nd and 3rd of March (Wed and Thu) in your diaries! It will be the best retreat we've ever had guaranteed! You will be able to register soon, so keep an eye out...

Mental health problems affect young people more than any other group. In fact, an alarming 40% of young people aged 16 to 24 have experienced a mental disorder at some point in their life. Mission Australia is taking action to tackle what has become an epidemic.

Kelly* is a Mission Australia client - here's her story:

Aged only four years old Kelly was diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder, a behavioural condition characterised by social isolation and eccentric behaviour. By the time she was 17 Kelly had been hospitalised for anorexia and her agoraphobia – an anxiety disorder associated with fear of public places – became worse. Diagnosed with depression, she began to self-harm and attempted suicide three times. She then turned to alcohol and developed an addiction.

Kelly’s life took a turn for the better when she completed an intensive 12-week program at Triple Care Farm. With professional treatment from a psychologist, Kelly began to address each of her problems. Since completing the program in May 2010 Kelly has learnt to manage her multiple mental health issues and has conquered her reliance on alcohol. She is taking regular medication to control her conditions and receives ongoing counselling from a mental-health service in her home town.

Triple Care farm helped Kelly back on her feet, learn more about how you can support youth services like Triple Care farm. 

Mission Australia Youth services - http://www.missionaustralia.com.au/community-services/pathways-through-a-successful-youth
Triple Care Farm - http://www.missionaustralia.com.au/community-services/1631-triple-care-farm-tcf
Triple Care Farm fact sheet - http://www.missionaustralia.com.au/community-services/1631-triple-care-farm-tcf
 
*Client name changed to protect privacy

We've never had a zone like this before, and here at the YA headquaters we are straight up FROFFIN over this brand new zone... the Pressure Cooker!!! With insane mash ups, funk, heavy bass and electro to propell you into a whole new world of sound sensation, the Pressure Cooker is fast becoming the most talked about thing among the Exo crew. 

With beats courtesy of Sydney/ Canadian Electro Pioneers techyes*, to the smooth sounds of DJ Mandex, SWNSCRM, DJ Cuddles and the fabled "Los Torros", this zone will be an instant favourite for sure. Make sure you get down to the Hordern Room nice and early, because there's a capacity limit and let's face it... you DO NOT want to miss this! 

And yes, glo sticks have been ordered in epic proportions, so bring some coin for those... See you there!

Check out all of our FANTASTIC sponsors this year: CLICK ON EACH SPONSOR BELOW TO FIND OUT MORE!

Our sponsors are a key part of what we do, and with out them, the Big Exo Day would not be a reality. Make sure you check out the links below to see who's contributed to this year's event, and how YOU can be involved in some of these amazing initiatives! A massive thank you to all of our sponsors this year!

 

 COMPASSION/ KOORONG / ALPHACRUCIS / MISSION AUSTRALIA /

GLORIA JEANS: WITH HEART FOUNDATION /

AUSTRALIAN CHRISTIAN CHANNEL /

SALVATION ARMY / LINE UP / HOPE 103.2 /

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you're into Op Shopping you'll probably be VERY excited by this news. We aren't talking a stall with a few racks here... The Salvo's are bringing a whole tent full of all sorts of bargain Op Shop finds! Whether it's some winter boots, a new tee, an "old favourite" pair of jeans or a summer frock, you're bound to find a keeper at the Op Shop. 

Not only are we having fun and scoring new wardrobe finds at bargain prices, but everything spent will go toward the incredible work of the Salvo's in our community. What an opportunity to have fun AND be involved in something significant! 

Make sure you check out our sponsors page to see all of our great sponsors and what they're bringing to the Big Exo Day, AND how you can be involved! 

(Image via Lookbook.nu)

Do you have a way to get to The Big Exo Day yet??

Jump on the Exo train!!!
Coming from Southern and Western Sydney, the Exo Train will pick you up at your local station and bring you straight to Olympic Park and then bring you home again.  Below is the timetable for each stop as well as times of departure.  You can buy your Exo Train ticket combined with your Big Exo Day ticket here online and if you have already bought a ticket don’t worry; just Exo Train tickets are available here too!

Southern Line

TO THE BIG EXO DAY//   AND HOME AGAIN//

Wollongong  9:14am   Olympic Park TBC
Fairy Meadow  9:19am  Sutherland TBC
Helensburgh 9:58am   Helensburgh TBC
Sutherland 10:21am  Fairy Meadow TBC
Olympic Park 11:21am  Wollongong TBC

Western Line
 
TO THE BIG EXO DAY//   AND HOME AGAIN//
Lithgow  9:00am   Olympic Park 10:14pm
Katoomba 9:47am   Blacktown 10:34pm
Springwood 9:22am   Kingswood 10:47pm
Blaxland 10:32am  Blaxland 11:08pm
Kingswood 10:56am  Springwood 11:19pm
Blacktown 11:15am  Katoomba 11:53pm
Olympic Park 11:38am  Lithgow  12:50am
 
 Click here to buy Exo Train Tickets!

Hey guys and girls!  

The team at Youth Alive have been working hard to bring you what I believe will be the best Big Exo Day ever… and I know there have been rumours of another guest announcement…  And here it is! We are excited to announce our headliners for this year’s Big Exo Day! 

Having relocated from New Zealand to Australia, a band of brothers debuted on the music scene with their record ‘Dreams’. With many of their hits going massive globally, and even featured on tv shows like the OC and others, they've definitely made their mark. Maybe you’ve heard their sounds play on the radio: think 'Running', 'Ride on', ‘Light Surrounding You’, ‘Between the Lines’, or ‘Hey Boys and Girls’. Oh yes, we are pleased to present to you our main stage headliner for the Big Exo Day 2010… EVERMORE!!!

It doesn't stop there, we have the winners of Australia’s Got Talent 2010 - Justice Crew! They’re gonna be bringing something pretty epic to our Hip Hop stage. You don’t want to miss out. Also from this year’s Australia’s Got Talent series: Aimee Elizabeth will be joining the stage to wow us with her amazing opera sounds. 

And as you may already know, we also have coming Mike Pilavachi from Soul Survivor, Preston Centuolio, both fantastic and gifted communicators, Australian Idol winner Stan Walker and from the US, Everyday Process. Not to mention, Australia’s own Hillsong United have been touring the globe, and they're making it to The Big Exo Day just for us! Check out a full list of our confirmed guests here. 

This year’s Big Exo Day will be better than ever! In celebrating the weeks leading up, why not hold an Exo Day at your own school. It’s run for students by students – you can hold a BBQ, giveaways, games, music, anything! So if you planning an Exo day, make sure you register it on our website. We’d love for you to write back to us about your Exo Day and how it goes.

With all this exciting news and just under three months till the date, you gotta get your tickets fast! The premium sections are selling out quickly. You can purchase cheaper tickets if you buy them online by September 17 at 10pm. After that it’s $45 at the gates.

So get pumped and let the people in your world know about The Big Exo Day, and bring them along! Don’t forget to follow the Big Exo day for updates on Facebook and Twitter. We are excited about what’s ahead and looking forward to seeing you there!

Sanga.

Hey guys and girls!  

The team at Youth Alive have been working hard to bring you what I believe will be the best Big Exo Day ever… and I know there have been rumours of another guest announcement…  And here it is! We are excited to announce our headliners for this year’s Big Exo Day! 

Having relocated from New Zealand to Australia, a band of brothers debuted on the music scene with their record ‘Dreams’. With many of their hits going massive globally, and even featured on tv shows like the OC and others, they've definitely made their mark. Maybe you’ve heard their sounds play on the radio: think 'Running', 'Ride on', ‘Light Surrounding You’, ‘Between the Lines’, or ‘Hey Boys and Girls’. Oh yes, we are pleased to present to you our main stage headliner for the Big Exo Day 2010… EVERMORE!!!

It doesn't stop there, we have Oh Sleeper bringing their incredible, cutting edge sounds to the hardcore stage. You don’t want to miss out! Also from this year’s Australia’s Got Talent series: Aimee Elizabeth will be joining the stage to wow us with her amazing opera sounds. 

And as you may already know, we also have coming Mike Pilavachi from Soul Survivor, Preston Centuolio, both fantastic and gifted communicators, Australian Idol winner Stan Walker and from the US, Everyday Process. Not to mention, Australia’s own Hillsong United have been touring the globe, and they're making it to The Big Exo Day just for us! Check out a full list of our confirmed guests here. 

This year’s Big Exo Day will be better than ever! In celebrating the weeks leading up, why not hold an Exo Day at your own school. It’s run for students by students – you can hold a BBQ, giveaways, games, music, anything! So if you planning an Exo day, make sure you register it on our website. We’d love for you to write back to us about your Exo Day and how it goes.

With all this exciting news and just under three months till the date, you gotta get your tickets fast! The premium sections are selling out quickly. You can purchase cheaper tickets if you buy them online by September 17 at 10pm. After that it’s $45 at the gates.

So get pumped and let the people in your world know about The Big Exo Day, and bring them along! Don’t forget to follow the Big Exo day for updates on Facebook and Twitter. We are excited about what’s ahead and looking forward to seeing you there!

Sanga.

 

If your in Australia it would have been hard to avoid the Bathurst 1000 V8 super car racing over the weekend. You also may have seen the V8 Cars at The Big Exo Day this year, and possibly even made the connection... yes the 'Jesus All About Life' cars were the same cars in the race!! The boys had a V8 Ute and a V8 super car in the respective races.

If you get a chance jump on your favorite guests myspace or facebook pages and thank them for coming to the Big Exo Day 2009.

Thanks so much for submitting your photos!! Here's a few of my favorites. You can view all we have so far here.

With your help Compassion was able to reach their goal of 1000 acts against poverty and this is the result:

• 1037 cards signed to send to the government, asking them to increase the amount of funding they provide to improve maternal health and reduce child mortality, to help see global poverty halved by 2015
• 5 children sponsored
• $2016 raised in donations
• 9 fair trade t-shirts sold, raising $270

It was a great day and Compassion will be sending the cards to the government to show that young people in Australia care about other young people all over the world and want to make a difference! They will also send the banner that over 1000 Exo peeps marked with their thumb print to show they care!

Good work guys! See! Together we really can make a difference!

Mission Australia helps thousands of struggling people each year find secure employment, housing, education and counselling as well as helping our communities through their other initiatives.

Taking into consideration the work that Mission Australia does for our communities nation-wide, Big Exo Day was proud to have Mission Australia come on board this year.

Thank you again to Mission Australia and all our sponsors of Big Exo Day 2009.

It was a big day and night of big bands, big rides and big stunts. We had the most amazing bands, FMX & BMX demos, skateboarding pros and special guests including Relient K, Lecrae, Tedashii, Steve Caballero and Reggie Dabbs to name a few. Check out the highlights video from one of the most excellent days in the year and remember that life can be Exo everyday and we can't wait to see you again next year!

We've heard some great things since Big Exo Day happened last Saturday. We had perfect weather with a bright blue sunny sky, the atmosphere was electric and we had over 10,000 people and around 1000 young people respond to the message. It was definitely one of the best Exos we have ever had!

All the zones were crazy! Strawberry Fields had massive lines for Napoleon touch ups, the Extreme Zones had epic displays and our first ever snowboarding display, Monster Skate had the legendary Steve Caballero ripping it up, Daylight Markets were buzzing, and all the band stages were epic with Blessed By A Broken Heart and Haste The Day putting on an awesome show in the Hardcore zone and the Hip Hop stage absolutely owning with something always happening with their great line up.

The night was kicked off by New Empire, Lecrae and Tedashii in the pre show then we had Exo favourite, Reggie Dabbs, speak after a great worship session with the Youth Alive band. Reggie's message touched the hearts of many young people that night and many will never be the same again. Then the night finished with the long awaited awesome show by US band Relient K and it absolutely went off!

Photos will be going up in the next few weeks so keep your eyes on this page!

We'll see you next year at Big Exo 2010 and if you didn't go this year, don't make the same mistake next year!

Online ticket sales have now officially closed.

Tickets will now only be available tomorrow at the gate at Big Exo Day in Sydney Showground for $45.

See you there!

Yoi, a couple people seem a bit unsure so here's a quick lowdown. The Big Exo Day is a Youth Alive NSW event. Youth Alive NSW is a faith based organisation with Christian values at the core of what we do. We love and believe in young people and get inspired by seeing them living lives of significance and purpose.

If you haven't already entered, now is your chance for you and your best mate to MEET RELIENT K at Big Exo Day this Saturday! That's right! We are giving you and your best mate can meet the one and only Relient K!!! You have to have purchased a ticket to win though! To enter, click here and tell us why you should win!

Entries close Tuesday night at 10pm so get cracking!

PLUS! TELL US WHY YOUR YOUTH LEADER/PASTOR DESERVES TO WIN A TRIP TO SAMOA!!!
You have the chance to win your Youth Pastor/Minister/Leader a return trip to Samoa staying at Line Up's MANINOA SURF FALES on the south shore. The package includes return airfare, Samoan airport pick ups, daily breakfast and dinner buffet, beach front Fale accommodation and transfers by boat to surfing reefs by their Aussie surf guides. But if your Youth Pastor is a nonsurfer there is still plenty of swimming, snorkelling, fishing and many other things for them to do!

There are so many ways you can enter! Send us an email to events@youthalivensw.com, post a video on you tube or vimeo (no longer than 30 sec) and send us the link, you could write a song (no longer than 60 sec) or write a poem telling us why they deserve a holiday in Samoa. You could even tell us what you would do to get them there eg. wear a tutu while doing the hula and drinking an ice cream, hot chilli and avocado milkshake on Mainstage in front of everyone at Big Exo Day.

Only the most deserving and most creative will win!

exo trains renamed by stmarys students!!!

Got a call today from youth worker from Penrith/St Marys that students from St Marys have renamed the 'Exo train' to 'God Train!'

For everyone in the Hunter region you can still buy train tickets online for special price of $12.50 for a limited time (until midnight Thursday 17th September 2009) from here.

With only 5 days until THE BIG EXO DAY you need to buy your tickets FAST!

The Big Exo Day Top 7 bands have been confirmed. You voted for them so here they are...

(in no particular order)

1. Escend
2. Sams Permission
3. Road To Canaan
4. Picture Perfect Skys
5. For All Eternity
6. JonnDay
7. The Window

Come and support your favourite as they battle it out throughout the day and if the band you voted for isn't in the Top 7, don't be sad! Still come to Big Exo! It won't be the same without you!

Voting lines are closed, all votes have been recieved and are now in the process of being counted. Your Top 7 bands will be announced via email this week so sign up to the Big Exo Day E-Newsletter (on the right in the side bar) to be the first to know!

The Top 7 will be playing at the Big Exo Day to battle it out for the grand prize, so make sure you have your tickets to be there and support your favourite!

The Top 7 need to be chosen so all voting lines will be closed at 11.30pm tonight! Any emails received after this time will also not be counted. So now is your last chance to vote for your favourite band. Please remember ONLY ONE vote person will be accepted so you don't need to waste your time sending more than one!

HAPPY VOTING! and stay tuned to find out who your Top 7 bands are!

Oh oh!! As a result section B is now available for purchase. I'm excited, its going to be a big year!! Grab your tickets here. Imagine if we sold out completely. Don't let your self get in the position of missing out!!

The 2009 merchandise is in production and consequently now available for Pre-Ordering!!  To ensure that you get one, head to the merchandise section and order now for pick-up on the day.

Check it out, spread the word and keep voting!

Peace

Keep those votes coming! Keep rallying up your mates to vote for your fave band! Just a reminder though...it is only ONE vote per person. Also, if you send votes through other people's email accounts without their permission, the band you voted for will actually have points deducted from them so keep it clean guys!

The next Battle of the Bands video featuring the other half of the Top 24 will be up really soon so keep your eyes peeled and be checking the website for more everyday!

Find out how you can get to The Big Exo Day by train. Click here to see where the EXO TRAINS are leaving from and the contact information for our train coordinators. You can now buy tickets for the Newcastle line HERE.

Vote now for your favourite band in the 'The Big Exo Day Battle of the Bands Competition'. To vote now and find out more information click here!

Check out David "Doc" O'Connor who is wearing a wig to raise $$$$. So far he has brought in over $2,000!!! What a legend! Oh we like that style on you too Doc! Write in and tell us what other crazy things people are up to that will get their friends to Big Exo. Its going to be epic. Don't miss it guys. Only 4 weeks to go!!!!

It's not always easy being a young person in today's society.  You see the problems the world, your community, your school and your family are faced with, but sometimes it's easy to feel like no one listens and no one cares.

When we say Big Exo Day is about you, we mean it!  We want to provide you with a voice and a connection to people who make the big decisions, so that your ideas and suggestions can make a difference.  We're bringing the Australian Youth Forum to you.

The Australian Youth Forum is a Commonwealth Government initiative, designed to find out what young people in Australia have to say about the issues in their world.  Do you have something you'd like to say about violence and safety, responsibility and being part of the community, body image or alcohol and drug abuse?  Big Exo Day offers you an opportunity to do just that.  The forum will be conducted over the course of the day, in various zones, so be sure to highlight them in your program.  The forum will be hosted by some friendly and familiar faces and there will also be plenty of giveaways.  That's right, we want to reward you for stepping out and telling us what you think because we know that takes guts.  Don't miss this valuable opportunity to give your opinions, advice and suggestions to some powerful and influential people in Government.

And if you like, why not start right now. Post a comment!!

Hello everyone!!