What a rush!
On Sunday 26 March, after church, we finally did our bottled water outreach. It was a blazing hot day so we decided to hit Nahoon Beach.
Feeling a little bit nervous, and not knowing what to expect, we headed to the beach, cars loaded with iced water. When we arrived we realised that the beach was really packed.
At first a few people refused our offer, but it often turned out that they thought we were selling water. Once convinced that it was FREE, everyone was enthusiastic. There is a thin crust of reserve that most people project, but once you break through this, people open up. We didn't do any heavy explaining, but when asked, all we said was that we were doing it show God's love.
I haven't had so much fun in a long time! It was amazing to see people's reactions. The kids had a ball running ahead and up and down the dunes, trying to get to people first. Almost everyone was really grateful, especially on such a hot day, and we got lots of smiles and thankyou's on our way back down the beach. It felt wonderful to be able to give something away.
There is really a strong flavour of God's love in all this: freely-given, refreshing, fun and for free! In forty five minutes it was over and we had given over two hundred people a drink. Everyone who helped to hand out water headed home with huge grins on their faces. I cant wait for our next outing.
Wayne's Story
Hello, I’m writing my testimony to share the Good news of God’s patience and love.
I belong to a family of believers that are real people like you and me. They have their good times and bad; they laugh and cry; they have their short falls and their strengths, shapes and sizes. They are all different yet have one thing in common, their love for God and their hunger to know him.
When I joined the Vineyard church I knew God had led me to my spiritual home, I had never met a group of believers that were so down to earth and so real. Finding a new place to fellowship can be daunting, especially for someone like me who had emotional baggage, yet they took us in and made us feel part of the family. The Vineyard has been known as the church for “people who don’t like church”, and this is so true. When Kim and I decided to go to church, she had a list of things that she did not like about going to church. The first time we left after church, Kim looked at me and said” this is not like any of the churches I’ve been to before, I like this church.”
Don’t let the laid back ” Baggies, slops and T-shirt” approach fool you. God has moved in our meetings. He told other members to pray specific things into my life that I had not told anyone else but God.
My name is Wayne and this is my testimony. This is a tale of sorrow, love, happiness, loss, sorrow, love, repentance and happiness.
Sorrow My parents had always fought. My brother Brendan and I had always been subjected to it, until one evening we were called to the main bedroom and told that they were getting a divorce. I remember thinking that I would be a little sad, but at least the fighting would stop. To cut a long story short, both my parents have been in abusive, broken relationships since. Not knowing what a stable loving relationship was, I wasn’t ready for what lay ahead.
Love My relationship with the living God started a very long time ago, in fact it started before the foundations of the earth where laid. I only came to the realization of this relationship at the thirteen, when God showed me his love one afternoon at my uncle and aunt’s house, watching TBN. I can’t remember what the content of the sermon was, I just remember feeling so overwhelmed by God’s love. I remember knowing that God wanted to heal my hurts and show me what a real relationship would be like. I remember sitting on a chair in the lounge praying the sinner’s prayer, crying uncontrollably. I felt safe for the first time in a long time. A few days later my uncle and aunt gave me my first bible (the good news) and my relationship with God started to grow.
Happiness I will never forget lying in bed, heart racing and feeling safe, happy, protected, nurtured. My heavenly dad loved me and sent his son Jesus (my brother, savior, redeemer, king) to die on the cross for me. Who would ever want to leave this behind?
Loss How can it be? I have given up my rightful place with God who loves me for what the world has to offer, sorrow, lies, false security and pain. At eighteen I began to take my eyes off Jesus and started to drown. A girl who was always out of my league starts to take interest in me and I fall from grace straight into the arms of a girl not deserving. Know my innocence is gone, so is she, and I experience separation from God. I am filled with the guilt of my sin but numbed by its pleasures. One thing leads to another, from numerous godless relationships with woman that believe in anything but God, to alcohol abuse, marijuana, ecstasy, cocaine and clubbing.
Sorrow I will never forget the times lying in bed with cold sweats, gnashing my teeth, and shaking uncontrollably because of the chemicals I have put into my body the night before. Feeling sad, lonely, broken and living in fear. Trying to ignore the voice in head saying, “You are my child, I freed you from slavery for more than this. Instead of sharing in my kingdom you have given up your inheritance to tend to pigs.”
Love Filled with guilt, fear loneliness and surrounded by wolves, I am taken by surprise. Is this real? Two women inter my life, first my wife to be Kim and then my daughter Jemma.
Little did I realize at the time but God was starting a process of restoration in my life.
I quit the drugs when Kim and I started living together, quit drinking when my daughter was born. Still living in sin… a family without the blessing of marriage and without a relationship with God or other believer’s. I think I have everything under control.
SorrowGod turns any situation into a time of restitution, even the bad times.
I’m at work and the mother of my child is working at the Harbor festival so Jemma is being baby-sat with family. I have just finished with clients and answer the phone, as I am busy answering the phone I see my next client being seated, its our baby sitter, she‘s crying as she asks me to get down to the hospital. Jemma was found floating in a swimming pool and is in ICU.
Jemma spend three days in hospital. I had mixed emotions over that period, but one message came through very strongly: God was telling me that it was time to get my life and family in order, that know was the time for me to make right with him, and that life was too short to play with his gift of salvation. Kim didn’t know what was going on in my heart at that time, but the voice was getting stronger.
Repentance A few nights later Kim went to bed and I took Jemma and put her in her cot. I stood there looking at my little baby girl and started to cry. I don’t think I have ever had such an honest time with Jemma and my creator.
I said, “father thank you for giving Jemma back to me, I give her to you, I will bring her up to know you as Lord and savoir”. I said that even if it was too late for me that I wanted Jemma to go to heaven.
The next day God told me three things that I needed to focus on, I was to make Kim my wife, find a church to fellowship at and to get my house in order.
Happiness I went to a few churches in the area, but didn’t feel as if God wanted me there. My one aunt, who I rent from, told me that she had spoken to a lady on a bus and had been invited to the East London Vineyard Christian Fellowship.
We thought that we would go and check it out. Half way through the service I had an overwhelming sense of joy. I thanked God for leading me to our new place of fellowship.
Kim and I got married about three months later on the 13 August 2005.
Kim and I come from broken dysfunctional homes so, when God said Get your home in order I knew that what he was saying was to break any of the strongholds in our family lines.
Praise God!
I have left out intricate details, not to hide anything but to save space, time and my eyesight. If there is a message that you receive out of these words I hope it is this:
That Jesus came to this earth not to condemn it but to save it. For a very long time satan had been speaking words of condemnation into my mind, I had been listening to a false gospel, no matter what you have done in your life; the blood of Jesus covers it all. Jesus came to this earth to save his people from their sins, of which I am the biggest sinner of all. With all my backsliding, weaknesses, addictions and faults God took the time to restore my life. He has given me a lovely wife, a beautiful daughter and a great place to fellowship at.
I dedicate this testimony to the living triune God, to my wife Kim, my daughter Jemma and my family at Vineyard East London Christian Fellowship; you are all the ingredients to my life.
If you have been moved by this testimony please take the time to think about the fact that God has taken the time out to be reunited to you, he longs to have a real love relationship with you. Whether you have drifted away from God or have never known God’s love before, please pray this prayer with me now:
Father God, I am alone and need you to make my life complete. I thank you for sending your one and only son Jesus to die for my sins, and that he rose from the dead making a way for me to have a relationship with you. Jesus, I confess my sin to you and submit to your rule over my life.
Amen
Giving away a taste of God's love
During the last quarter of last year we had a vision breakfast. Part of what I discussed was an honest evaluation of how we are living up to our vision. Although obviously all areas can be developed further, the area which we need to focus on the most, is "being an arrow aimed at the heart of our culture."
When Alan and I met to chart the way ahead for the year, we resolved that this year we will get the arrow out of the quiver and heading toward the target. We are live in a city that so desperately needs God's love. We cannot afford to be passive.
Our approach will be twofold - mercy [1] and evangelism [2]. To make this a reality we need your help.
Evangelism is such an intimidating word! Both for the evangelised and the evangeliser. Instead of launching a huge confrontational program, we are going to do a whole lot of small, simple things to touch people with God's love. To start with we are going to give away bottled water on the beach. Anyone can do that! On our first outing we should give about 250 people a small taste of God's love.
"Small things done with great love will change the world."
More on the mercy aspect later...
Two cool stories of what God is up to
For a couple of months, Alfred, one of the young men who make a living from tips that they get for looking after people’s cars in Devereux Avenue, just outside the where we meet, has been attending our Sunday gatherings. About four weeks ago he prayed to give his life to Jesus. Since then we have noticed a tangible change in him. Despite his difficult circumstances, he seems to be full of joy and is quite zealous for God. Two weeks ago Phillip and I were practicing guitar just before the meeting and Alfred arrived early for the service. He was singing along and clapping. So I asked him to play the djembe drum we have in the church. Despite having never before played a drum, he was a natural. Able to play the drum and an egg shaker perfectly in time. So we have a new worship team member. He is really excited about playing.
Also about a month ago, we prayed for various people for healing. Gloria has been plagued with an intestinal problem, which would require surgery at some time in the future. The condition is agonizing when she has an attack, and she has to be on an extremely restricted diet. When we gathered around to pray for her, I could see that the Lord was touching her. She was trembling and her breathing intensified.
We didn’t see her at church the following week, but the next week she grabbed me at the beginning of the service. She said that for two weeks she felt that something unusual was happening inside her stomach. During this time she had no pain whatsoever. The previous evening she was craving a cheese and tomato snackwich, which she was not allowed to eat. Usually eating something like this would provoke an attack, but despite having one, she was perfectly fine! This is a clear demonstration of God’s power at work among us. The cool thing is that it was just a group of ordinary people praying for her.
At the Global day of prayer
On Sunday Derek and I attended the Global Day of Prayer that was held at River Park, and lasted around two and a half hours. Despite the poor acoustics and rough and ready feel of River Park, there were some incredibly anointed and powerful moments and I believe that the event was really successful. The sound of thousands of people praying in unison was incredible. I can’t help thinking of the old Delirious? song:
Do you feel the darkness tremble,
When all the saints join in one song?
And all the streams flow as one river,
To wash away our brokenness.
And we can see that God You’re moving.
A mighty river through the nations.
And young and old will turn to Jesus.
Fling wide you heavenly gates,
Prepare the way of the risen Lord.
Something that was announced by Gareth Syncock from Victoria Methodist, as he prepared us to pray for all the churches and pastors in the city, was that almost all the Pastors in the city are going to go away for a night to pray for the city and seek God’s face. This week I received an invitation to this event, and have managed to take some leave to attend.
I am really excited about this because we have been praying for unity among the churches in East London for years. Due to the history of East London and because of a dream that Glenda had, I believe unity will release God’s blessing on the city. The invitation to the event puts it this way:
“Opportunities for the Church and the Kingdom of God have not been so favourable in the Eastern Cape Province since our new democracy. Unless we come together and work together we will miss this great opportunity. It will be recorded as one of the greatest tragedies in the history of the region we live in. On the other hand, the Church could usher in one of the greatest moves of God that will affect our whole Nation.”
I believe that all churches and denominations should work together to promote the Kingdom of God. To me this unity means co-operation and support, not uniformity. This means a celebration and respect for our diversity, because each part of the body has a specific role to play in God’s purposes. For this to happen we have to agree to disagree on non-essentials, because we are bound together by the gospel and sacrifice of Jesus, and we need to repent of the grudges, hurts and envy that we hold towards one another.
Citywide prayer
On Wednesday we will be going along to a monthly prayer meeting where various churches from diverse denominational backgrounds gather to worship and pray together. This gathering happens at 19h00 on the first Wednesday of every month, and meets at a different church each time. This time around the meeting will be at Coastlands Christian Fellowship on the East Coast Resorts Road. I encourage everyone who is part of our community to attend. Contact me if you need a lift.
I am really excited about this meeting, as I believe this is part of God’s plan to bring a fresh move of God to our city. Whenever God has been moving in East London, where things broke down was in the area of church unity. Notably in 1968, East London was on the brink of outright revival, but due to a lack of unity (and a fear of the things of the Spirit) the move of God was stamped out. I believe that unity
has to be the key to the next move of God in East London.
I also encourage you to attend the global day of prayer that is happening on Sunday 15 May between 14h00 and 16h30 at River Park. An estimated 200 million Christians, worldwide, will be attending similar meetings.
A dream about John Wimber
On Wednesday 20th October I had a rather interesting dream. This is rather unusual because I rarely dream (at least dreams that I can remember the next morning!). The whole dream had rather a "Lord of the Rings" feel to it.
The dream began with John Wimber in a forest at night, sitting next to a clear pool of water. He was praying and appeared to have been crying. Under the water in the pool was the dead body of a very young women with dark hair. She had a pale skin, but the body was clearly blue and lifeless.
Suddenly her eyes opened and she rose up out of the water. John was extremely surprised that his prayer for her resurrection had been answered.
Next they were walking out of the forest through long grass, hand in hand. The sun was breaking through the remaining treetops and as they walked John Wimber rather sheepishly asked her, "At the moment you came back, I could see inside your mind and understand your thoughts. Was it the same for you?" She smiled and replied and said, "At that moment I could understand exactly what was in your mind."
God reminded of this me of this dream last night, and I realised that I had not posted it on our blog. At the time of the dream I did forward it to Costa Mitchell, who is the National Director of the Vineyard in South Africa. I believe that it may have some application for our church, but probably also for the wider Vineyard movement.
