Destiny Church hui pulls big crowd in Whanganui

A moment of contemplation for the riders attending the hui at Whanganui racecourse.

It is possible to become a better person without God's help, Hannah Tamaki told the crowd assembled at Wanganui Racecourse on Saturday.

More than 500 people gathered in the Eulogy Lounge for the New Approach hui hosted by Destiny Church.

The wife of Destiny Church's Bishop, Brian Tamaki, said the main message of the hui was to promote the church's Man Up programme and the women's Legacy programme.

The aim, she said, was to encourage participants to freely give and receive love and joining Destiny Church is not a compulsory part of the programme.

"You may not want the God part," she said.

"But you can still benefit from the programme as others have done."

The programme has a number of "poster boys" who have turned their lives around - and the most prominent of them is Eugene Tini.

Convoy members prepare to take their message to Kaitoke prison on Saturday morning.

Tini's YouTube testimony of growing up within Black Power and now learning to live without violence and substance abuse was screened for the Whanganui audience and met with an enthusiastic response.

Describing his first encounter with Man Up, Tini said he went to the first meeting for the "free kai" and his life began to change.

The Man Up programme is directed by Brian and Hannah Tamaki's son-in-law Caine Warren and his wife Jamie leads the women's Legacy programme.

Jamie Warren spoke about the 15-week esteem-building programme designed for women aged 18 and over.

"I have been fortunate to come from a safe and loving home so I haven't experienced what some of the women in the programme have lived with."

Warren said some women come to meetings wearing "ankle jewellery" or police monitors and their lives are very unstable.

"I realised that all I really have to do is listen and not judge them."

Delivering the message of a life without violence and crime.

Warren said Legacy's aim is to create a sisterhood and empower women and the effects last beyond the 15 weeks of the programme.

The hui started with a convoy of motorcycles from the racecourse to Whanganui Prison in Kaitoke.

Although some in Whanganui opposed the visit due to Brain Tamaki's condemnation of homosexuality, the anti-violence message was well received and the hui was without incident.