Bye bye South Africa

So it is official.

Next year my wife and I will be jetting off into the Nations!

From the start of the year, I have been responsible to create and expand what we call Explore Every Nation. I am extremely excited to announce we have officially launched Explore and the first team will be sent next year!

Here is a short extract from our website (www.explore-en.com) that describes Explore:

“Explore Every Nation is a one year missions program where young people get sent all over the world to different Every Nation churches. There they will have the opportunity to serve the local community and share the Gospel to those in need. It is also a travel-based leadership development training.

We start off the year with an extensive training program where we will ensure that you are developed in areas such as leadership, discipleship, and cross-cultural missions, to prepare you to go to the nations.

After the training you and your team will be jetting off to the nations across the world, to start with the adventure of a lifetime. You and your team will work with and serve Every Nation churches. You will serve those in need, minister to and explore different cultures and religions, and boldly share the Good News, the Gospel.”

So next year my wife and I will also be leading the first ever Explore Every Nation team.

We are extremely excited to see how God is going to use us to share the Gospel with lost people across the world.

Please pray with us for God’s guidance and provision during this preparation period.

Maryke will be resigning her job at the end of the year and we thus now need to trust for more people to partner with us financially in ministry, so please pray with us. And if you know of anyone who would like to financially partner with us on a monthly basis, please let us know.

Here is our marketing video which you can watch and enjoy:

End of a season:

Since I need to spend my time primarily on building and expanding Explore Every Nation in the coming months, I naturally needed to pass over my Elevation Youth ministry leadership to someone else. Marinus Hayes is the man taking over the ministry from me and I am extremely excited to see how God is going to use him to expand the Youth ministry. 

I am also excited to announce that the Engage Training which I pioneered and launched at our Lynnwood congregation will now be lead by my great friend Kleinjan Ferreira. He is a wonderful natural evangelist with a massive heart to train and equip believers to reach the lost.

In terms of discipleship, I will carry on leading my Connect Groups and Leadership Group through to the end of the year.

Here are the legends who I hope will leave an even greater legacy here in Pretoria once I’ve left:

Christian. We have a Connect Group and he is also in my Leadership Group. He is doing our Internship year.

Lennox (left) and Kennedy (right). Both are in my LG. Lennox is a student. Kennedy is an accountant. Both making disciples.

This is Morne. He is also in our LG. He works in the corporate environment and is also making disciples.

DJ (left) and Wilhelm (right). DJ is an account. Wilhelm is a medical student. We have a CG together. Both starting to make disciples.

This is Clement. We also have CG together. He is a Malawian and a gardener. He is making disciples of his Malawi friends.

Estevan (left). Heinrich (right). Both students at Menlopark High. Estevan is in Christian's CG. Heinrich is in mine.

Botswana Sepupa Mission:

During the June/July school holiday my wife and I lead a group of 17 (primarily students) on a mission to Botswana Sepupa. It was a truly blessed time…

Here is a video of the mission: 

Ohh and finally, I just have to mention, my wife and I did end up going to Iceland for about two weeks in March/April. It was a mind-blowingly incredible experience!

Here are a few pictures from our trip to end the post off with…

Thank you for all your support and prayers!

A New Chapter

I've recently listened to a sermon in which a man preached about Heroes. He ultimately came to the conclusion that Heroes have two defining characteristics: 1. Clarity. 2. The irresistible urge to act.

Every person on earth who lived a life of significance had those two characteristics in common. They had a clear picture of exactly how they can make a lasting impact on the lives of others, and they had an irresistible urge to act upon it.

Take William Wilberforce as example. He had clarity that slavery was wrong, even when the world was trying to reduce his clarity by the fog of justification. He saw what had to be done and he responded to his irresistible urge to act. He was probably one of the most instrumental men in the abolishment of slavery.

We can all be Heroes. Together with God we can write a life story of significance, leaving a legacy. If someone was to write a biography of your life after you died, how would you want the story to go?

God has given me a sense of clarity on how this next chapter (year) of my own life is meant to unfold. I can truly say it has been a great joy thus far (January and February) to act upon that clarity and I cannot wait to see how the rest of this chapter will unfold.

I want to share with you some of the main areas of ministry I will be involved in this year and ask that you will pray and trust with me for great fruitfulness in all of them.

1. Elevation Youth City Wide Director

Late last year I have been appointed as the Elevation Youth City Wide Director. In other words, it is my responsibility to ensure that a healthy discipleship-based youth ministry is planted in all our different congregations across the city. I have started training and empowering other leaders to help make this possible. We have already seen much fruit, with dozens of teenagers choosing to follow Jesus and connecting into a discipleship-process. Our Elevation Bash is taking place next weekend, where 100's of teenagers will join us for an evening of praise and worship and we are trusting that many will have a personal encounter with God.

2. Elevation Youth Lynnwood Congregation Leader

Apart from leading Elevation on a City Wide level, I am also leading the Lynnwood Congregation's Elevation specifically. Earlier this month 15 new teenagers from HPC School gave their hearts to the Lord. StepUp has grown to 4 Connect Groups. And we have started an Elevation Huddle (service) at HPC.

3. Mix Mentorship Oversight

MIX is our Ministry Internship Experience. It is a year where people can do an internship at our church to serve and to discover and clarify their calling on their life. I am responsible for the Mentoring-leg of this program. I have to ensure that all 15 students are thoroughly mentored in areas such as ministry, leadership, character, finances, relationships etc.

4. Lynnwood Congregation Engage Training

I am responsible to launch the Engage Training at the Lynnwood Congregation in the month of May. This is a training where people are equipped and empowered to evangelize. Last weekend my wife and I went with 6 other Lynnwood members to join the Centurion Congregation's Engage Training, so that we can learn how to duplicate it at the Lynnwood Congregation.

5. City Wide Engage Training 2

This year myself and other church staff are planning to work together on developing an Engage Training 2. The purpose of this training is to equip people on how to evangelize people who believe in 3 of the major religions in South Africa: African Traditional Religion, Atheism, and Islam.  

6. Campus Missions

I am responsible for the Campus Missions as well. But, fortunately I have identified one of the MIX-staff who can take ownership of leading this. So I will be primarily equipping and empowering him on how to lead missions. So firstly, it is time to go to Botswana again! As a matter of fact, my wife and I will be going to Gaborone from the 6th to 8th of March. We are going to take students with us to go and serve the Every Nation Gaborone Campus Ministry. The plan is to take students one weekend a month to near by campus ministries such as Gaborone, Maseru etc. Students want to GO to the nations. It is time the church gives them a platform to do so...

7. Pioneer ‘Explore Every Nation’

So this is probably the big one. I am working with Harry (Missions Director) on developing a new concept called Explore Every Nation. This will be a year long missions journey where students and young adults will go serve at Every Nation Churches all across the world. There is no better way to raise up new Church Planters to GO to the Nations. There is a good chance that I will be giving over the "Youth-mantle" to other more than capable leaders by June, so that I can pour most of my energy into designing and developing 'Explore EN'. So far the plan is that my wife and I will lead one of the journeys in 2016. Please pray with us... 

8. Discipleship

A year will be dull and pointless without a proper dose of discipleship. There are currently 8 young men who I am primarily discipling, with 4 of them already making disciples themselves. Excited to see what God is going to do in 2015 in their lives!

9. Iceland

My wife and I don't have a so-called "bucket list", but I am pretty sure that if we had one, going to Iceland would be sitting firmly on top. And it is with great joy that I can say that God has blessed us with the opportunity to go to Iceland! We will be leaving the 30th of March and be back on SA soil the 12th of April.

10. TEFL Studies

It is also with great gratitude that I can say that I have officially finished my Bachelors in Theology Degree (BTh). My graduation will be taking place on the 18th of April. But, we should not stop learning... So my wife and I are planning to do the Teach English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) course this year. This will give us opportunities to teach English in various countries across the world.  

Once again, thank you to everyone of you for your support and prayers which enables me to make all this become a reality!

Philip Pretorius