Is this what March Madness is about?

I have saddled this horse to write a synopsis of our story and have done what the Afrikaners call…”Pluk a lat vir sy gat”! Translated that means I have provided the whip to hit me with 🙂
I have had a hilarious call from an old friend who now has the weapons to make my life a misery…in a good way!

So, here goes with part two.

We ended up in Stonewall, Colorado. A most beautiful place with amazing scenery. The seasons astonished with their beauty. At the conclusion of our time Ineke got a call from Floyd who advised he has been invited to take over the church run by Mike Bickle in Kansas City which has this tremendous prophetic ministry and would we like to consider coming along? We packed…

The day before we moved we went to our farewell ceremony which was to be held down the mountain in a town called Trinidad. Going down the mountain we hit a deer and besides killing the deer our radiator was badly damaged and we knew we would never make it to KC this way. Fortunately we could get a radiator shop to understand the urgency and by the next day we were on our way with the rest of the motley looking crowd.

Kansas City was another fascinating experience. We met the most wonderful people who overpowered us with their love. The children were put into the local school, Dominion Christian which was ably managed by Eric Smith and an excellent bunch of educators. As we settled in and rented a house in the suburb of Belton in South Kansas City we got to meet a different breed of people. The Home church precursors. What Floyd did was establish “Lifegroups” and create some lifestyles around lifegroup life! This suited us perfectly and we threw ourselves into the small communities which we had been doing since our Namibia days. So we met the fantastic families like Ed and Linda Hackett and who would grow to become our best friends, the Beel family. Greg is an incredible Man of God and would go to war if need be for His name. Marissa, his Hispanic wife has the warmth and love so typical of that group and overwhelmed us with her graciousness. The two daughters are charming and deeply passionate about Jesus. We fell in love with the family! This relationship has continued until today and the Beels have even come to visit us in South Africa. The depth of relationship developed in a close group of believers who live for one another can never be underestimated. This “Small church” experience touched me deeply and clarified in my heart what I was searching for. The love of Jesus in a real way through His beloved! Talking church had come to an end!

Our KC experience was magnificent and we could see why the Lord had put us through the grinder because the church was organized…professionally…unlike the YWAM experience we had had. The Lord knew if He had sent us directly into such an environment the humility and understanding would not be developed and we would have clicked in directly and hit our normal business mode button!

I loved the times at International House of Prayer (IHOP) which has continuously had live praise and worship for the past how many years. It has never stopped! The joy of soaking in the spiritual experience of meeting with Jesus as the place was seeped in His honour and glory. One could go at 3 a.m. and find worship taking place! Incredible.

Metro meanwhile was re establishing itself from this heavily prophetic and inward looking church to an outward looking and mission orientated church. Needless to say, this brought about much confusion and pain as we know we never want to let go what we have without even thinking there may be something better for us! I had been doing the mission thing and had gone to India, Nepal, Thailand and Uzbekistan among others and was convinced that it is essential for us to get out there. Not to tell other people believing that locals cannot, but because of what it does in our hearts as we see the belief well up in others and it is easier to have a foreigner telling you than someone you have grown up with and shared the same hardships with. Even Jesus understood this.

As we became comfortable with the surroundings a small soft voice started to speak. We felt that our time in the US had come to an end. We did not want it to as it was great and the children were doing well and we had this great circle of friends!

We were invited to go to Germany and manage a large evangelical church community. Remember I told you this was a very prophetic environment and we suddenly had friends and also strangers suddenly telling us things they could not know about and asking us if we are leaving. I remember telling Ineke as we lay in bed one night that I find this spooky when strangers come up to you and ask if you are going”back” to Africa and tell you about the ship they saw and the crowds they saw affected by this return. My response was we are going to Europe…what is there that you do not understand in this. We are missionaries and Europe needs us…I nearly added the Tra La La part with rolling drums in my voice!

Well, we had dear friends from our Namibia days training in KC. Hendrik and Jurita Saayman lived in Pretoria where Hendrik was the Missions pastor at a large church. They extended an invitation for us to come and “see” how it would fit us. I resented this thought yet felt this was it. Confusing! Ineke shared with me that she felt comfortable with this. My thoughts were if we go back lets go to an area we know and can get support from. Ineke and I are from Stellenbosch in the Western Cape and Pretoria were our traditional rugby enemies! OK..we ended up here and have been richly blessed by the friends we have made. I still resist cheering for the Blue Bulls but have been noted to say that they possibly can be called a rugby team as a default name 🙂

That’s our story and like any story there is much more and you are welcome to ask us about it. I have not mentioned how our daughter, Jeanine, has given us the most guidance in our decisions by simply hearing God and challenging us about our beliefs. An amazing time and we look forward to much more as we head the All Nations Family Moreleta Church transferring what we have been taught and learnt to the next generation. We honour the Lord our God for all He has done as it may be our story, but without Him it is no story whatsoever.