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
Philip Pretorius
