ZAC would have been happy to give his life if it helped bring others closer to Christ and God.
That’s the view of close friend and mentor Dave Malvern of Christian Surfers, who said the teenager had a dream of sharing his faith and preaching the gospel in every country on earth.
“I guess that’s sort of happening with what has gone on, with all the media, it really is happening,” Mr Malvern said.
“I think he would give his life to see that, for people to rediscover their faith or connect with God because of him. Yes, I know he would. He would have been happy to.”
Speaking in an interview the day before the funeral, Mr Malvern said one way he planned to ensure the teenager’s legacy lived on was to establish a branch of the Christian Surfers at Port Macquarie. He said Zac had been an integral member of Christian Surfers at Bonny Hill and he and Zac had been discussing starting a mission (or hub) in Port Macquarie in the New Year.
He said Zac’s dream had been to buy a shed where young Christian surfers could go to discuss their faith and just hang out, with a coffee machine, music and half pipe.
“Zac and I often talked about that. How we could get the shed. A part of me thinks that out of this, just maybe that might happen. I am thinking more than ever we should do it,” Mr Malvern said.
“I just want to do what Zac wanted to do. His death has given me inspiration to go even harder.”
Mr Malvern said he recognised something special in Zac when he first met him three years ago when the teenager was a happy-go-lucky student in Year 11 at Newman Senior Technical College in Port Macquarie.
“He came to our church, The Point, with a friend. Zac was kind of a point of questioning what life was all about and we just hit it off,” Mr Malvern recalled.
“I took him under my wing. I invited him down to Christian Surfers that same night and he came down.
“He was just such a wild young fellow, so fun. He brought something so special to Christian Surfers at Bonny Hills at that point in time with his character.
“Zac every week would bring a couple of people with him. He was such a refreshing guy to have around and did everything so naturally.
“But then pretty quickly Zac started getting pretty serious about God and I began a mentoring relationship.
“I encouraged him with scriptures. He began this life of prayer and church and bible. Because he was such an influential guy he made a decision to become a Christian and just went all or nothing for it.”
As Zac’s faith deepened, he became more and more involved in Christian life, becoming a leader at Christian Surfers in Bonny Hills and then taking on an internship with Youth for Christ. He had passed his certificate four in ministry and was only weeks from finishing that internship when he died. He also travelled during his internship within Australia and overseas, helping preach the gospel.
The relationship of mentor and pupil gradually started to change.
“At times I started to wonder who was mentoring whom,” Mr Malvern said. “Zac would challenge me, he would make me think. There were days I would just go to Zac and say ‘This is going on in my life and I don’t know what to do’. And he would encourage me with scriptures. We became such close mates.”
Mr Malvern said Zac was a boy but a boy who walked and talked like a man, with a deep faith, and charismatic personality that made people want to be around him.
“He just had such a heart for people to know about God and he had such a gift in doing it in such an unobtrusive way. He could sit with anyone and talk to them,” Mr Malvern said.
“He was so ridiculously immature in some ways, which used to annoy me. But in so many ways he was so mature, the biggest way his integrity. Seeing him step away from what most kids were doing and step out and be a man as best he could was amazing.
“Over the last six months especially Zac has become a piece of gold. He is a boy that talks and walks like a man. His theology was so well grounded. He really read and studied the scriptures.”
Mr Malvern said if you asked Zac about death he would talk of complete peace and unity with his creator in a perfect place.
“A place of no fear, no sickness and no mourning, a beautiful place, a peaceful place,” Mr Malvern said. “I have no doubt that that is where he is now.”
