18/02/2026
Congratulations Saveatama Eroni on winning the New Zealand’s favourite sporting moment, Halberg Award. All glory and honour be to God our Father!
This is Saveatama's contribution and encouragement printed in this year's handbook, we hope you will take time teachers to share this with your students and families:
Foreword
“The Making of a Heart After God”
Growing up at Glen Eden Pacific Island Presbyterian Church (PIC) in West Auckland, the Scripture Exams were a defining part of my early church life, even if I didn’t realise it at the time. I was only 11 when I first sat those exams, the 2 main focuses for the exams was from 1 Corinthians 13 — the Love Chapter — as well as the story of Joseph from the book of Genesis. At that age, with changes starting to happen in my life and my world expanding in all directions, the exams didn’t feel particularly important. But every week I still found myself at church for the scripture exams study group, sitting through sessions that felt intense and demanding. I studied as best as I could — or at least I thought I did — and when I scored 72% in my very first exam, I remember feeling deeply disappointed, but looking back now, I can see
how those early experiences quietly planted something in me: a foundation that would later grow into a genuine love for God’s Word.
It wasn’t until years later that I began to understand what those early lessons had planted in me. Even though I never returned to sit the Scripture Exams again, the scriptures I had memorised stayed with me in quiet, surprising ways.
The words of love, endurance, forgiveness, and faith— woven through 1 Corinthians 13 and the story of Joseph — began to echo through my own life experiences. I didn’t appreciate it as a teenager, but those scriptures were becoming a light to my path, shaping how I saw challenges, how I understood family, and how it shaped my world view. The Bible passages I once recited out of obligation were slowly becoming the seeds of something deeper — a sense that God was drawing me toward Him, even before I knew how to name it.
About 5 years later, everything finally shifted when I had a personal encounter with God, one that touched me so deeply I surrendered my life to Jesus. In that moment, the Bible — which once felt like homework — suddenly came alive. The stories, the teachings, the promises all became real and relevant in a way I had never experienced before. And as I look back now, I can see clearly that the Scripture Exams had already laid the foundation for my life. They had trained me to search the Word, to engage with truth, and to recognise God’s voice in Scripture.
What began as a church requirement for an 11 year old boy in West Auckland became the doorway to a lifelong love for God’s Word — a love that continues to guide me with His Wisdom, strength, and inspires me today.
Saveatama Eroni Clarke
