It's bigger than what I thought

This week we're having discussions strategising how to collab with all the campus ministries on the 5 campuses around Cape Town.

Just hearing the progress around ther city and the challenges that remain I'm like "whoa there's still that much to do!"

It's like when you look at what we're doing on UCT: we've had over 300 people get saved this year which is great but when you realise that we are still only reaching 3% of UCT it's like ok so we are definitely moving but it's a wake up call to not get complacent.

Our goal as believers extends beyond our individual campuses we serve on, it's beyond Cape Town, beyond South Africa and beyond Africa!  It's so big we can't help but put our heads together for a bigger impact by sharing strategies, resources, praying together and working together to make a bigger impact.

I recently heard that: alone I can go faster but together we can go further.

It's time to put side anything that keeps me narrow-minded and to do only what will produce the biggest impact for God.

Campus Harvest 2012 is a Revolution

Lusi has just dropped the most awesome presentation on  Campus Harvest 2012- moving from an event focus to a on-going lifestyle approach.

The theme is Love Revolution!

In 2010 we had 1500 students at a weekend camp at Magaliesburg, in 2011 we reached 2700 through a tour event and for 2012 we focus on daily impact on each campus.

RCLS Campus Testimonies: CPT, UCT

Rosh testifying on what God's done ay UCT this year.

Fearless Friday is one initiative that stood out this year which is a monthly event where we go with students into the community trusting God for physical healings & salvation.

It was incredible seeing students stepping out boldly and expecting to see God move with power. We were blown away by the miracles and salvations we saw!

Looking forward to next year- we're sensing supernatural fruitfulness!

RCLS Campus Testimonies: Potch

JJ Uys is sharing how for the past two years they've been working hard to build a student-led campus ministry where students are empowered to be the solution for their campus.

They've taken the slower route of discipleship and have seen this year students rise up to lead. They now have 2 people serving full-time in campus ministry, 30 conect groups and 450 students attending services.

They also have off-campus initiatives like: missions, camps, drug awareness campaigns and a kids program reaching out to kids (for kids).

RCLS Campus Testimonies: Botswana

Kaspa, who's just given a year of his life to serve in campus ministries in Botswana, is sharing how things are going there.

This year they've managed to be registered as a campus society which gives them venues for their events. They're in a place where people easily give their lives to God but do not become committed.

They're focusing on discipleship with the few students they have and looking forward to seeing these students reach other students next year.

RCLS Campus Testimonies: Namibia

Hilma's sharing how they've finally managed to break the 100 student mark and have 112 students connected in conect groups and over 150 attending services.

They've been so consistent and committed on the campuses that when the university chancellor needed help with one of the SRC portfolios, he called Hilma's team to help.

For next year, they're trusting God to reach two more campuses by raising students will go and make a difference on their own campus.

RCLS Campus Testimonies: Midrand

Ryan's just shared how they started a campus ministry this year with 7 people attending their church and how now they're at 160 students that are hungry for God's word!
He spoke about hope they often struggle to fit all the students when they attend the connect groups!
Wow!

RCLS 2011 Kicks Off

Our annual campus leaders summit has just kicked off with 120+  campus ministers Across southern Africa.
This morning we're clarifying the vision for campus ministries and the strategies to reach every campus in Africa.

RCLS 2011

Our annual campus leaders summit is coming up in 2 weeks time. +130 full-time campus ministers are going to descend upon Jeffrey’s Bay to plan and pray for the next year.

For me this is an exciting date on the calendar because I get to meet young and old men and women who’ve dedicated their lives to reach college and university with the gospel and to equip them to be ready to make a difference when they leave the campus.

It’s so encouraging to hear testimonies of things God has done across our region – every time I hear testimonies it reminds me of God’s active power and that we really are going to see Africa truly saved. It also helps to remind us to pray for each other for the challenges people face in their mission field.

God is calling all of us to be the Joshua generation to believe God at His word and step into all spheres of life with boldness.

Ministry Partnership training report back

We’ve just had another Ministry Partnership training with 19 missionaries ranging from church planting, missions, campus ministry and community development.

People from all kinds of walks of life with different experiences coming to a crossroad and laying it all down to see to it that the truth of God reaches the whole world…literally. It’s just too exciting to be part of what God’s doing.

Ministry Partnership training in Cape Town

We have 20 people who are stepping into ministry to plant churches and work in community development accross the globe.

We were equipping then with the biblical principles of ministry partnership and giving them the tools and strategies to make it happen.

It's great to live in times where people were forsaking all including careers and home comforts to see God's truth reach the whole world.
 

Res-2-Res Outreach Nov 2011

The harvest is plenty indeed.  Twice a year just before exams we go out to the residences to encourage and pray for the students preparing for exams. This year is no different, this week is the first of two weeks of daily outreaches.

The team that went out for the outreach on Monday

I went on Yesterday (Monday 25 Oct) on the first of the daily outreaches with some of the men I walk with. You could just sense the presence of God that was there at Marquad residence because as we knocked door  to door, we spoke plainly with all whom we met  and the guys were so happy that we were there to pray for them.

I teamed up with Blake (one of the guys from the U.S. team that joined us) and after we told the first guy that we met that we were there to encourage him for exams and pray for him, Blake immediately asked him: "Before we pray, I just wanna ask - do you have a relationship with the Lord?" and right there we went on to share the gospel with him and he accepted Christ as Lord and Savior. From there at every room we knocked it was me boldly saying: “Before we pray with you, I just wanna ask you: Do you have a relationship with God”.

On that evening we led 2 guys to the Lord and one other gentleman recommitted his life to God. We weren’t turned down even once in all the rooms we went to. The harvest is plenty

Campus Ministry 2012

During our strat planning, most of us there has a similar sense that in 2012 God is taking us beyond ourselves, beyond our borders and beyond our campus and residences. We sense that next year God is taking us deeper in our love for Him, it’s not about merely growing in numbers but as our identity in Him is made solid we do mighty exploits for Him based on who we are in Him versus doing great things in hopes to be accepted by Him.

Campus Ministry aims at linking the students to his world and mission field. Everything we do is aim at preparing them for the real world after campus – we hope that by the time they leave they would have seen their career through God’s eyes, the significance of their role in the business world, and that they would have made a real heart decision to love wholly for God wherever they go so that they can transform their society!

Earlier posts of the Strat Plan:
- Day 3
- Day 1 – Video 

2012 Campus Strat plan–Day 3

Today, in our final day of planning we’re looking at how we can translate the vision we believe God has for reaching students into action.

One of the key things as we  plan is how to ensure what we do can be sustainable and transferrable in our our context where turnover rate is high. 

The success of campus ministries is when the people impacted start making a difference when they leave the campus. We are looking at how we reach all the students and do so effectively that they do step into their work with a view that their career is their mission field where they can make a difference for God.

It’s so cool to see that in this meeting we’re over 90% students and only a few of us are in full-time ministry because campus ministry is also about empowering students to do the work of ministry – our vision is to see a student run campus ministry in the church and us as full-time ministers are here to shepherd,  empower and rally behind them bringing out the callings and destinies in them.

Planning 2012

We're at UCT campus right now beginning our strat planning for the campus ministry at UCT & CPUT.

Today we're just taking time to reflect on what God did this year, giving Him thanks fire His promises that He fulfilled. Here’s cellphone live video footage:

 

Cell @ Leo Marquad

It’s 12AM & I’ve just returned from a connect group meeting at Leo Marquad UCT res.

These guys are n fire for God – the cell meeting starts at 22h00! I’m so thankful for my wife who let’s me or rather sends me to the campus to invest in men’s lives. I find nothing more fulfilling in God than to take what He has revealed to me and transferring it to someone else as He enables me to live what I teach.

It’s a life of faith. Everyday I rely on Him to help me be the man he calls me to be and while at the same time stepping out by faith to do what He asks of me in HIs word. Ps Andrew Hunter recently said that if salvation was just for me to get to heaven then God would have taken me straight to heaven immediately after getting saved. So the fact that we’re still here after getting saved shows that it’s for more than just us…

I’m grateful for the privilege of opening up my life to other men sharing what little I have learned and having a platform to impact someone’s values. Humbling..

Evangelism is not just relationship

This is the heading of one of Rice Broock’s blog posts where he writes about the role or significance of relationship regarding evangelism.

I loved it so much I thought I’d share it here too. This is taken straight from his blog post written on 21 June 2011:

“You don’t have to know a drowning person to save their life.” There has been enormous emphasis placed on the need for relationship with people as the prerequisite for evangelism. So much so that some go as far as saying that relationship with others should be the only motive and not the hidden agenda of evangelism. Relationship-Relationship-Relationship…

Ps Rice Broocks

“This seems to be the word of the hour. I spoke to church planters who had not succeeded in their efforts to launch a ministry. As I dug deeper it became apparent that they made a lot of friends and very few disciples. In fact they admitted, they rarely got to the Gospel. “We focused on building relationships first.”

So here’s the question: how soon should the Gospel be introduced in a relationship with someone?

Looking at the ministry of Jesus, many times He spoke directly to people in their first encounter:

• The woman at the well
• Nicodemus

• Legion - He cast the devil out of him during their first meeting.  Jesus called people to follow Him with no relationship at all.  (It doesn't appear that He even had introduced Himself fully yet.)

Paul had a similar pattern in his witness.

He preached immediately after his salvation.

He was beaten and suffered as a result.

He confronted strangers in Athens, in Macedonia, in much of what was recorded in Acts.

I believe that the Gospel comes sooner in biblical examples of witness not later. For me, the Gospel has actually produced authentic, lasting relationships with others.

Things to remember:

Preaching the Gospel takes boldness.

The Spirit must fill us with His passion and power. If we are honest, our reluctance to preach the Gospel may just be a case of being a man pleaser or being ashamed of the Gospel.

Preaching produces persecution.

It’s much easier to say nothing. If the Apostles would have only done community service or waited on tables they would not have been persecuted as severely. If they hated Him they will hate us. We are an aroma of life to the saved and an aroma of death to those who are perishing.

Preaching the Gospel produces faith.

Faith comes by hearing the Word of God. No preaching means no faith. In order for them to believe they are going to have to hear the Gospel.

I certainly believe building relationships is important.

Many times it takes a number of hearings of the Gospel to be saved. I also believe there is wisdom in knowing when we should speak to people about Christ and how we can maximize the impact of our witness.

Ps Rice at the University of Cape Town, 2011

Someone recently told me “We must earn the right to be heard.” As I pondered this statement, something didn’t sit right with me. As much as I tried to understand what he really meant I couldn’t help but think that according to the Scripture, Jesus earned that right for me as well. We preach in the authority and righteousness He earned through His life and death.

In fact if a person’s eternal soul is at stake then we should have some sense of urgency in our efforts. Remember, you don’t have to know a drowning person to save their life.

Ps Rice Broocks is the co-founder of the Every Nation Ministries, which currently has over 400 churches and outreaches in fifty nations. He is also the senior minister of Bethel World Outreach Center in Nashville, Tennessee, where he provides oversight for this multi-congregational church meeting in five different locations.
The original post cane be found on Ps Rice Broocks’ blog here

Campus Harvest 2011 is here!

The theme this year is Let’s go! God is calling us to go to the throne room, to go to the campuses and to go to the nations! This past weekend the 1st of two Campus Harvest events took place in Joburg, here’s a video with scenes from the Joburg event:

This coming Saturday, Campus Harvest is coming to Cape Town.

We’re expecting 750 students to come through for this all day event.

Let’s Go!

School of Campus Ministry–video

Every year our school of campus ministry trains people who feel called by God into full time ministry to specifically work with students on the college and university campuses.

Watch this small video telling more about what the school does:

We firmly believe God has called us to this specific mission field to reach students with the gospel so that when they leave the campus they would have had a real encounter with God and go and be the difference in the business world and in the communities.

It was very cool for me lending a helping hand by offering my voice for this video!

Prophetic Scenes at Prayer Meeting–video

On Friday, 5 August we had our monthly prayer meeting on UCT campus, and during the meeting, people were encouraged to write down things they were trusting God for breakthrough and things that have been a burden on their lives. At the end of the prayer meeting we chucked those papers in a container and set them alight as an act of faith that we cast our burdens unto God.

it was awesome to see how many people experienced victory through that act of faith and one could feel the lightness in the room that God had done something.

Just arrived at Ministry Partnership trying in PTA

I've just arrived to tag team with Andrew and Ben Schoeman as we head a Ministry Partnership training with 12 campus workers and missionaries.

Trusting God that the call on their lives will be made clear especially regarding building ministry partnerships.

Training at ASM a Big Success

We’ve just returned from a 5 day trip to Africa School of Missions where we presented a week long training on Ministry Partnership.

We presented to 24 missionaries who’ve been doing mission work for years in African countries and in Europe. Some have been doing mission work for over 20 years in countries where declaring your faith can result in exclusion from the country or death!

It was such a humbling experience to bring our training to help them as they raise teams that support their ministry. Part of what we presented is the option to administer all their funds using our in-house built fund management systems.

Preparing for 2 trainings

We have two Ministry Partnership trainings coming up in the next 3 weeks.

We’ve never had two trainings that close to each other so the preparations have been hectic. The first one is going to be in Witrivier, Nelspruit and the second in Pretoria. It’s too awesome to be able to train missionaries to build teams for their ministry and to raise funds for ministry.

 

 

Making a Difference in Men

We meet once a week with these men and others with Ps Andrew Hunter for discipleship.
 

For me, being part of this cell group for the past 2 years helped me a lot in terms of spending time with like minded men who are making a stand to labour for the truth in other men.

If we’re to make a significant difference in life, we can hardly do it alone. It’s often said that the day you accept Christ in your life you’ve pretty much painted a target mark for satan to  aim at. This has been very true because the more I give my life to make a difference in orders the opposition is insane and being discipled and having peers who speak the same ‘lingo’ helps me stay strong.

Fearless Friday 2

This time around half of us went to Groote Schuur Hospital while the other half went to Rondebosch

About +40 of us came ready to experience the power of God move in people’s lives on 13 April 2011. Some of us did the God Test, some outreached ‘Treasure Hunting’ style while the hospital team went trusting God for miraculous healings.

 

And, there were many testimonies afterwards of people being healed in the hospital, people breaking down into tears as they were told of God’s love for them and many others. We’re putting a video together of some of the guys sharing their testimonies.  I’ll post it up soonest!

My encounter:

The team I went with met with people from the Hare Krishna faith who, in our terms, were doing an outreach of their own. They were chanting their god’s name hoping to get more people to sing along with them in the belief that singing god’s name brings his presence to earth.

We walked up to them and started chatting to them. We put aside our ‘outreach faces’ and asked them to tell us about their faith. this led to a 40 min conversation (not argument) where the lady (whom I was speaking to) told us in detail why they believe what they believe. We merely posed questions to her in hopes to minister the truth, questions such as “What gives you the certainty in your belief”, “what’s the criteria for heaven, who decides and how do they decide?”

At a stage she asked us the same questions and we got a chance to minister the gospel of Jesus to her and how that’s changed our lives. Her response was that “that’s what works for you and in our faith we accept that…” She then had to leave. We’re trusting that God planted seeds on her mind & heart and that what we ministered to her will go a long way to bring her salvation.

It’s also encouraging to see that though we step out in faith for God to reach people, God also meets us and we always leave so encouraged and blessed to see Him at work.

Fearless Friday 2 pictures

Some photos from the outreach on Friday 13 May 2011.

Read about the outreach here.

Removing the thorns that choke the word

Who is removing the thorns and clearing the rocks from the rocky places?

Usually when I read or hear the parable of the sower in Mark 4, in my heart I usually say “God, help me be the good soil” and I never used to stop and wonder “hmm what about the guy whose heart is rocky places? What about the person who hears the word and its immediately stolen from?”

So as I’ve been seeking to be a true disciple of Christ I find God nudging my heart & I feel my spirit crying out saying: “I want to be the person who will fight for the truth to stay in their lives, I want to help remove the rocks and the thorns so that hopefully next time the sower sows the word his heart will receive it and if not, I want to continue labouring for the truth in his life.”

Without realising it, It feels to me that when I see a friend going the wrong way, subconsciously I’m saying “aw shame, he must be the rocky path (i.e. no root in him) or have thorns (i.e. too many cares of the world)” and I move on with my life.  And so I feel the challenge from God when He says “go and make disciples of all nations” to care enough to do something purely because of Christ. And, it’s not a thing to now want to literally disciple every person we come across but to hear who God’s sending me to and respond to that – Jesus had many crowds following Him but he only  walked closely with the 12.

This is what makes discipling someone something I don’t take lightly because it’s not about telling people what to do or teaching them to be holy. It’s about opening our lives to people & showing them God & more especially God working in us so that their hearts can come alive to God – i.e. it’s imparting not giving suggestions (can’t give what I don’t have). It compels us to want to trust God to live lives that are full of His presence so that we do have something to give. It’s walking with someone through their challenges being patient to see God move in their lives while at the time encouraging them to step out in faith – i.e. application & not only bible knowledge.

Discipleship is not a course or a class, it’s caring enough in Christ for someone that we are moved into action for their sake…. and so help us God.

Young Covenantors

Kids coming in Sunday school can often find it difficult to transition into the youth groups, this is why we started a young covenantors group to bridge the gap. it’s headed by Jason & Jessica Stanier and serves to intentionally equip young people as they make a shift into youth.

On Sunday 1 May, I was blessed to be invited to speak to this group of ages 11 to 16 about leadership. it was a funny trying to figure out at what level to pitch, but in the end it’s was awesome to see how these young people with usually short concentration spans listen intently and respond.

 

To have an audience with this vibrant age group I consider it a privilege, and these youngies are soo excited about God it’s humbling!

Groote Schuur Outreach testimony

Between 28 march & 1 April about 20 to 30 students from UCT & CPUT went into Groote Schuur to do a mission.

The aim was to bring God’s love & healing to people in need. The gospel was shared to many and we believe seeds were sown in people’s hearts – 2 people gave their lives to Christ on the first night. Some of the testimonies include a person who had been in hospital for days was prayed for and got discharged the next day, we believe it was as a result of the students that prayed for him. There was a big change in the atmosphere in the hospital with many patients feeling loved and encouraged & experiencing joy in their circumstance.

One of the testimonies:

“While we were walking in the passage called Hospital Street, I saw a patient walking slowly..we decided to talk to him. He was very lonely, no one had come to visit him. His name is Donavan, from Mannenburg. He is at the hospital for surgery as he has some liver problems.

“He was struggling to walk as a result. Sno, a student who was with me, asked him if she could pray for him..after praying, he got teary and then said the pain was gone.

He walked without any pain to his ward, he was in tears the whole time. He said to us, 'I've heard about Jesus, but I don't know him..I want to know Jesus'. Since, he got sick, he had been crying out to God. We are going to visit him tomorrow to give him a Bible and go thru One2One. Tomorrow is a big day for Donavan, he is going for X-rays and then possibly have to go for surgery on Thurs. We are trusting for complete healing. His heart is to go to Mannenburg and tell his family and  community about what Jesus had done for him.”

HP Live: Fearless Leadership

April’s HP Live was aimed at inspiring students to recognise the significance of their lives in God’s hands and to step out fearlessly.

We invited Bevan Ducasse who is the founder and CEO of wiWallet and worship leader at our His People City Bowl church. He’s a great example in terms of Christians thriving in the business world and making a difference for God after leaving the university campus.  He spoke to the +/-60 students about significance and how in life we can either try to survive or be successful, and that above being successful is that we can aim for significance.

Bevan CEO of wiWallet

“Making all the money in the world doesn’t bring fulfilment. Finding your passion and calling in God is the only place where there’s fulfilment and where we can make a significance for the kingdom of God.”

Bevan

What will make us step out fearlessly for God is when we understand our significance in Him. When we recognise that God wants us to worship Him with al we are it puts our current struggles in context – suddenly we realise that these seemingly long 3/4 years on university is training ground and God is preparing us for the next  season.
 
About Bevan & wiWallet
Bevan studied finance at the University of Stellenbosch. After having many ideas for business he finally got to a place where he had to put his faith into action.

He quit his job with only 2 months worth of income in his pocket and went about acquiring funding for his idea. Very quickly God opened the doors for him giving him favour with many businessmen and wiWallet got underway. Today wiWallet has grown to be a company focused on innovating products that simplify life for many. Some of their products are aimed at helping domestic workers for example make payments via cellphone and for people to receive their grants electronically thus saving them time and risk of theft.

This, Bevan says, is a little of what God can do when we lay down our lives to God for Him to use us for His Kingdom.