One of my highlights, as Erna mentioned, was a dinner with one of the Redeemer small groups. Anton du Plessis (one of the Reformed Church Randburg elders and a good friend) had the opportunity to go along. It was just a great evening of fellowship. What was very good to see, is this diverse group of people, really uniting in the Gospel and their love for their city and therefore in their commitment to bring the Gospel to the people of this great city. I'm looking forward to visit this group of people again next week. It's great to see the vision of Redeemer not just on paper but living in these people's hearts.
Another thing that stood out was our time with Robert Guerrero on mercy and justice. Because of his own experience and upbringing he does not address these issues from a academic, theoretical perspective but really from a heartfelt passion, believing that the Gospel of Jesus can, and was meant to change all of life, and that faith without works is dead. I was really touched by his heart and convinced anew of the importance for us as Christians in South Africa to get involved in the spiritual AND physical needs of the people of our Country. The hope is that Jesus will, as He did with the multiplication of the bread and fish, take our little, if we are willing to bring it, and use it in miraculous ways so that we ourselves, as well as those who benefit from it physically, fall down in awe and wonder before Him.
The time with Tim Keller was also a great experience! Not so much in the content of what he shared (I've spent far to much time reading and listening to him to hear something new!) but just in his character. He is a man of God, open, humble, honest and a committed follower of Jesus. It was great to experience this first hand. Looking forward to the next two sessions with him.
Friday morning started out with an intense session. It was named, Dangerous calling, after Paul Trip's book with the same title. We had to read the book for this session. I will recommend the book to all people in ministry and to all who want to understand the difficulty their pastors face better. It's a serious book, not beating around the bush, but so good. We had good conversations about the idols in ministry, the danger of not living out of your identity in Christ as a saved, sinner in need of God's love and grace constantly, of not allowing the Christian community into your own struggles, not abiding to the principle of Sabbath rest! Good, helpful and needed indeed.
The afternoon we traveled to Flushing (Queens) to spent time with Peter Ong, planter of Kings Cross Flushing. It was like traveling to a different planet although it was only 35 minutes by train. Asians (Japanese, Korean, Chinese) make out the majority of this community. It was again great to see someone who loves God, loves the Gospel, and love his community with so much zeal. His testimony of how the Holy Spirit is really changing people, bringing them out of lives of promiscuous sexual activity, of captivity to their honour and shame based culture, was gripping and encouraging.
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| Peter Ong and the intensives. |
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| Graffiti. |
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| Walking the streets. |
What was only supposed to be a nice family outing to Toys R Us, (not something me and Erna was particularly looking forward to :-)), turned out to be another one of God's providential moments! Just before we left we bumped into Fritz de Wet, a professor in Practical Theology at our Theological Seminary in Potchefstroom. How great was that. We invited him to one of the Sunday worship services where we would be introduced again and he came! We appreciated it so much and had a great time just thinking through our situation and calling in South-Africa together as members of the same denomination.
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| Fritz and Thomas. |
Saturday was all play and no work! We took the free ferry to Staten Island! Waved to the statue of Liberty as we went by and had the best Pizza ever in New Dorp on the island. After a quick rest we went into town again to go to Top of the Rock! What a sight. If only you could capture this on camera. We ended of the evening having dinner with Michelle and Berry. Michelle works for the new president of City to City and she invited a group of us for dinner. It was once again such a good time of fellowship.
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| Ferry to Staten Island. |
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| Top of the Rock. |
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| Top of the Rock - view over Central Park. |
Today (Sunday) is CHURCH, CHURCH, CHURCH and another CHURCH. We have to attend all 4 Redeemer services to raise money for City-to-City and cover the cost of our training. Hard work, but worth the while. To experience the love, the encouragement and support of these brothers and sisters in Christ is overwhelming. We met wonderful people afterwards. Even had the privilege of being taken out for lunch after the second service. (Erna will share more about this in our next blog - so watch this space...)
We are so grateful for this opportunity. Please keep praying for us that our gratefulness, our awe of God's providence and love for His people, will enthuse us long after we return.
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