December 2009 Newsletter
Ministry in Belgium
For us, 2009 was a year of pruning and new growth. A year of breaking, and of breakthrough. A year in which sometimes it seemed impossible to go forward, and yet a year in which God made a way. In Brussels, Ilona and I continue to pastor a church called Capitol Worship Centre. CWC did not grow numerically in 2009, in fact it shrank a little bit. Nevertheless, it has been a good year. The Lord's manifest presence has been with us every time we have met together, and He has repeatedly confirmed His promises to us. In spite of our weakness and our failures, He will be faithful to fulfill His promises for this land. Different nations are in different spiritual seasons. Some nations are in a season of harvest, while for other nations the harvest is not yet taking place. In many parts of Latin America and Africa it is a season of harvest, as millions of people are responding to the gospel of Jesus Christ. However, If you are working in Western Europe, it is a season of plowing and sowing in tears with the expection of a future harvest. Every nation passes through these seasons. There was a time when it seemed impossible to see a harvest in Africa, for example. The price that the early missionaries paid to see just a handful African converts was extremely high. During the 19th century, University students from Great Britain left everything to become missionaries in Africa knowing that they would probably not live very long in their new home. Some early missionaries even packed their belongings into a casket so that when they died from tropical diseases, their bodies could be shipped back home. In those days it was sometimes estimated that one missionary died for each convert that was won. The early missionaries in Africa paid a very high price with very limited results. They sowed in tears, but today the harvest in Africa today is abundant. God is rewarding the labors of those early missionaries, as the gospel spreads across the African continent. In every place today where an abundant harvest is taking place, if you look into the history you will discover that it was not always easy to work in that place. There is a harvest taking place in many formerly communist nations. During past decades, true Christians sowed in tears in those nations, and today the harvest is being reaped. I have discovered that it is much easier to raise money for ministry in Africa than in Europe even though the spiritual need is greater in Europe than in Africa. Africa is in a season of harvest, and the reports that come from many African nations are exciting. But in Europe, a missionary sows his life without as many exciting reports. He plants and plows, believing for a future harvest just as the early missionaries did in Africa. The need in Europe is great. Europe is saturated with secular humanism. It has become a “dark continent” just as Africa was in spiritual darkness a hundred and fifty years ago. Most Europeans live their entire lives without encountering the true power of the gospel. There is a great need for men and women of faith to sow their lives in Europe, just as European missionaries sowed their lives in many parts of the world in past years. Please consider supporting our ministry here, and other missionaries who work in Europe, with your prayers, encouragement, and finances. Ministry in Africa
Twenty years ago , when I was still a teenager I began ministering in Africa. I worked as an evangelist, and helped with some church planting projects. I also traveled and ministered in India and in Central America. During those days, I saw many people saved and healed, as I received a taste of God’s power. Later on I moved to Europe, got married, and focused my ministry on Europe. I no longer ministered in Africa, India, or Central America. About twelve years ago, I received a prophecy from a man of God. He said to me “You will trace your steps through Africa, India and Central America. You will start to hold meetings in these places. If you are faithful, the attendance of these meetings will grow, first hundreds, then thousands, then hundreds of thousands.”
Twenty years ago I bought a piece of land in Kenya because I thought that the Lord had told me to do so. I wanted to see the land used for a training center. This land deal went sour for a number of reasons. There was a lot of ethnic fighting in that area, and some foreigners who owned land were beaten and chased away. There was a problem with the title deed, which I was unable to get in my own name. This year, however, before leaving for Africa, my mother in law prophesied to me that I needed to sort out a title deed for some land in Africa. She knew nothing about the land deal, and it seemed impossible to sort things out. But as I “traced my steps”, this land deal suddenly began to come right after twenty years. The title deed is finally being put in order, and it seems that God has a plan for that plot of land after all. After I traced my steps this summer, new doors started to open. I was invited to Tanzania. In Tanzania I began holding meetings with some local churches. I was amazed by the spiritual hunger of the people. They received the messages that the Lord had given to me for Africa, message that are not very easy to receive! The attendance at the meetings was in the hundreds, sometimes five hundred, seven hundred, or two hundred. This seems to be a direct fulfillment of the prophecy that I received 12 years ago that the meetings would start with hundreds.
I returned to Tanzania in October, and held meetings in different cities. Next year (2010), I plan to make as many as six different trips to Africa, holding meetings in different cities. It seems that a powerful team is being formed to go from city to city. There is a window of time that we must take advantage of in Africa. A difficult time of testing will come to Africa in a few years time. During this time of testing, it will be difficult to preach openly the way we can today. I am also planning to minister in India in January 2010, and possibly in Central America later in the year. The Lord is opening many doors, and I feel I need to go through them. Please pray for us that the ministry will be powerful and effective in these nations, that God will transform the heart of the African people with His word. |
Ilona and I are missionaries in Brussels Belgium. Belgium is one of the least evangelized nations in the world, and we covet your prayers for this nation.
Although the first priority in our ministry is to see a spiritual breakthrough in Belgium, God has been opening many doors for my ministry in Africa. Seven years ago the Lord spoke to me and told me to go to South Africa for two weeks to pray. He told me that He would give me a book if I did this. So I went, and the Lord began to speak to me about the spiritual strongholds of Africa, the history of Africa, and the future of Africa. This year I published the book “Transforming the Heart of Africa” It is a book that looks at the spiritual history of Africa. Why has destruction overtaken so many African nations, when there are so many committed Christians in those nations? Why is there so much corruption, so many dictatorships, so many wars in Africa? This book is written for African leaders, to expose the enemy’s deceptions in Africa and to reveal God’s call. This book should be available on Amazon.com within a few weeks.
The Tanzanian churches really blessed me. For the first time in my life, most of my traveling expenses (including the airplane ticket) were paid by the Africans themselves. I didn’t ask them to do this, they did it themselves. This meant a lot to me, because it meant they were truly valuing the message and ministry that I brought, and were not looking to me as a door to American finances. Not once was I asked for financial help.
