Lots of lots of pictures

The Outeniqua Challenge Picture gallery is finally available here.

The Outreach Ends With a Bang

Today was a sad time for many of the participants as they said goodbye to their hosting churches and hosting families as well as to their fellow team mates with whom they have formed a tight bond in a very short time.

There was an awesome church service this morning praising and thanking God for all He has done during the Outeniqua Challenge as the nearly 400 participants joined back together for the Final Celebration. After having one final time of praise and worship with the band from Doxa Deo Brooklyn Campus and one final challenging devotion from Richard Chalklen, we heard many testimonies of what took place during the Outeniqua Challenge. Not only did the outreach participants experience God do amazing things by drawing people into a relationship with Himself during the Outeniqua Challenge, but many experienced God do amazing things in their own lives as they trusted God out of their comfort zones and were challenged to take further steps beyond this outreach in being available to be used by God to bring glory to His name.

We can only give God glory for all that was experienced over the past two weeks. There were some amazing things that took place and we know that we can trust God to complete the work that He has begun in the lives of the participants as well as in the lives of the many new believers.

Please join us in praising the name of the One who is worthy of praise. We saw God do amazing things, and we know He did much more than we even realised. Ephesians 3:20-21 sums up what we have experienced. "Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen."

Peter Tarantal, OM South Africa's National Director, giving thanks during the Final Celebration

Final day

It's difficult to believe that it is already the end of the outreach. Time certainly has flown by. Many of the teams will be ending their ministry today with special farewell kids parties and spending time with the churches and families that hosted them during the week.

Tomorrow we will all meet together back in George for a final celebration meeting where we will give honor to God for what He has done during this outreach. Afterwards the participants will continue to their respective homes with many new memories and experiences to share.

We are are very excited and thankful for the many churches and organisations with whom we could partner and we know that we can leave the follow-up work in capable hands.

Please pray for safe transport as many have long drives and flights ahead to get back home.

New friendships

Minibus taxi's are the dominant form of public tranport in South Africa, therefore the local taxi gathering area is a great place to meet lots of people. One team in Oudtshoorn picked this place to go and do street evangelism with great success as people were very open to the gospel and even a few made commitments to Christ.

Hercule and Ursula (South Africa) started up a friendship with the vendor and discovered their new friend Mohammed was actually a muslim man from the Comoros. During the week their friendship grew as they were able to spend a lot of time together. Hercule learned from Mohammed that when he came to South Africa he wanted to give Christianity a chance and that he went to visit a few churches. Unfortunately what he saw convinced him that Christians were not real and he stayed with his Muslim faith.

Hercule was hoping to show Mohammed that Christ is real if His children truly follow Him and not just get caught in religion. Please pray with us for Mohammed and Hercule's friendship to grow and that Mohammed will be able to see and understand what Jesus did for him.

Facing pain

While doing family visits in Oudsthoorn two participants, Shannon (South Africa) and Lyndsey (Ireland), discovered how hard day-to-day life could be for some people. In one of the houses that they were visiting they met an elderly lady that was living in very basic circumstances. This lady was suffering from Tuberculosis with no-one to take care of her. Furthermore the monthly pension stipend that she receives is not sufficient for her to be able to buy medicine to take care of her sickness.


Shannon and Lyndsey was able to spend some time with her and also pray together with her. The next day they also returned to bring her some warm clothing. But it seems so little if you look at the big picture.

There are many people suffering like this and it sometimes feels like we can do so little. Please continue to pray for the many people that are suffering, that God will meet them in their need and that His hope will be established in their lives

Making a difference

"How long have you been working together" was one of the first questions faced by a team working with the Life Community Center in George. People were amazed to hear that this particular team has only known each other for three days. The team has been experiencing a wonderful time with each other but most of all they have connected with the children that they are working with.

Working with children from poor and disadvantaged areas, the team has been able to make a difference in their lives through small but meaningful experiences. Even just smiling at the children really affects their lives. Part of their work is also to help feed about 200 children but instead of making them stand in line to receive their food, they let the children sit down and then serve them the food in an attempt to improve their self-worth and dignity.

The team will also be visiting some other shelters during the rest of the week. Continue to pray for their health as they have been struggling with sickness and also for their contact with the children they are reaching out to.

Showing the love

"Every time I sit down, 6 or 7 kids immediately come sit on my lap or start climbing over me" said Jaco. Jaco's team is working in Stilbaai, a quiet beach town, and the surrounding community especially with kids. The team noticed that even though the kids with whom they are working were quite unruly they were constantly looking for attention and they soon established a bond with them.

They spent a big amount of time just playing with the kids and showing them love. Most of their parents are fisherman and many of the kids live in rough circumstances. Nigel, the team leader, is especially concerned about when the team leaves at the end of the week, realising that the children will need continued input into their lives.

We are glad to report though that one of the outreach organisers will be moving into their area in the next two weeks with a new ministry that will be focusing on helping children and parents with the moral upliftment of their community.

Shine the light

Street evangelism can be quite a difficult ministry to be involved in but there are times when we see God just preparing hearts beforehand for divine encounters.

Wouter and Christelle were walking in the township of Riversdale talking to people when they came across a group of young men. One of the men immediately asked them if they were Christians and continued: "When I saw you come around the corner I knew you were Christians". They were able to continue their conversation as he opened up to them about problems in his life like drugs. What makes this so amazing is that he was doing this while he was surrounded by his friends, a situation that usually inhibits people from opening up.

In Heidelberg another team came across a lady that has had a difficult life and was heavily into drugs. During their visit to her home she got up, went to her cupboard, took out all her drugs and washed it all away in her kitchen sink!

Please continue to pray for the people with whom our teams are having contact. That they may truly accept Jesus into their life and change their lifestyle accordingly to His will.

Age matters!

George is a beautiful city situated close to the sea and the mountains. Therefore this beautiful setting attracts a lot of elderly people to come and retire in George, spending a lot of their time playing golf, fishing or taking walks.

However when people like Annette (Australia, 60) and Regina (KwaZulu Natal, 66) come to participate in the Outeniqua Challenge, it really amazes many of the churches that these elderly ladies are so active and involved.

Annette has been working really hard and ministering with all her energy and this has been a huge testimony to her church. Regina has been described by fellow team members as a "legend". Her love just radiates and people from the community is constantly attracted to her affection.

This shows that age certainly is no limit when you allow God to use you. We have seen that the wisdom and love that more elderly people bring to teams are worth their weight in gold!

What are we going to do now?

What would you do if you were attending an outreach in an unknown area and then arriving to discover that no program schedule has been set-up. This certainly did not discourage one of our teams that are working in Pacaltsdorp that ended up in exactly this situation.

Team leaders Chris and Manuela immediately sat down with the local church elders and discussed with them what the greatest need was in their community. Soon it came out that the church was struggling a lot with nominalism, and so a program was arranged for the week that will help the church to refocus on God and get involved with their own community.

On Sunday morning God already started working in the church. Naphtali, a Nigerian pastor in the team, was conducting the preaching and challenged the church to make a strong commitment to Christ. 28 members came forward afterwards and amidst their weeping and confession before God the team was able to pray together with them to recommit their lives to Christ.

In the afternoon they met together with the elders and deacons in a special meeting and worked together through the book of 1 Timothy. Once again God worked in hearts as the church leadership rediscovered their role in the church and committed themselves quite seriously to His work and their own responsibilities.

We believe that God is working powerfully in this church and we would like to ask for your prayers as church members get serious with God again. The church is in a position to have a powerful impact on their community. Even though the team that is ministering to them consist out of normal people, God has certainly put them together for a special mission of reawakening the church.

Who needs a translator?

Last friday morning Jessica and Derecia, together with fellow team members, set out to visit families in the local farming community that they were working in. Already feeling quite unprepared for what was awaiting them, they also learned that they would have to do these visits in Afrikaans. Since none of them were comfortable in Afrikaans they confessed to "being freaked out".

However God was with them and gave them the ability to converse in Afrikaans. In one of the houses they visited, two ladies opened up to them and shared about their struggles with sickness and also in their family. The team was able to pray together with them and also shared on a personal level about their relationship with Jesus. At the end of the visit they asked the ladies if they wanted to commit their life to Christ and they did want to do so. Derecia then did the sinner's prayer with them. Afterwards Derecia was quite surprised to find out that she did the whole prayer in Afrikaans, a fact she never realised at the time.

In the next week the team will still be visiting a lot of families. Please continue to pray for opportunities to share Christ and that the team will be able to do so in the language that the families understand!

The cold is coming

Up till now the weather has been quite fair with a bit of a chill in the evenings, but today the cold front seems to be moving in. Most of today has been cloudy and drizzly and with that a bit of sickness has poked out its head in the teams. In one team in George, five of the seven members have been hit with flu and in another the person who should be preaching two sermons tomorrow is also down with flu.

Please continue to pray for health and good wather.

A changed life

God certainly uses many ways to change a person's life. One of the particpants in the Challenge has grown up in church most of her life, but coming to the Challenge gave her a new perspective on her own faith. Realising that she does not have a personal relationship with God herself she requested to take leave of the team.

Two of our leaders were willing to take her home but along the way they felt compelled to stop and share with this girl what a real relationship with Jesus was about. Finally realising what Jesus did for her, the girl wanted to accept Him in her life and now we praise God together for another person who has found her hope in Christ!

Learning some gospel rope illustrations

Comissioning service

One of the teams working with teenagers

GET OUT!

Today the big day has arrived as we wrap up the orientation part of the Outeniqua Challenge. From 2pm the 44 teams will be fetched by their churches and start working in the communities. Everyone is quite excited to see what the next 9 days have in store and we will be keeping you up to date with the stories of the individual teams.

OM's slogan is "transforming lives and communities" and we certainly hope that God will use us to do just that in the Southern Cape. Yesterday we learned a lot about the needs in the area. Things like the huge inequality between rich and poor, the abuse that is happening under the youth and within families and even the struggle of finding work in one of the fastest growing cities in the country.

Continue to pray for safety as our participants move out and pray for opportunities to bring the love of God and the hope He gives us, to these communities.

Being silly

During the afternoons a lot of workshops were presented for the participants to attend. This ranged from door-to-door ministry, how to prepare a sermon and many more.

Suzanne was also attending the workshops but the ones she wanted to do was already full. Eventually she sneaked into the creative minisitries session that was teaching evangelistic drama's. She admitted herself that she is quite self-conscious about appearing silly before other people, so this session was initially very difficult for her. But the more she saw the others around her participating with all their heart, the more she got involved herself and eventually she admitted to enjoying the session. Even some others who were hesitant at first finally came around and excitedly told us that they want to take this back to their churches and teach them the dramas.

Dramas, rope illustrations and so many other things are innovative ways to reach out to people with Christ. Remeber Paul's words: "I will become all things to all men, in order to save some". Even if this means we have to be fools for Christ!

Tough but meaningful

Last night we took some time out to look at a big issue in South Africa namely HIV and AIDS. Belinda Smith who works with AIDSHope, a ministry of OM South Africa, shared with the participants about the challenges but also the hope that comes with this epidemic. Especially one line she said struck my heart: "We cannot call this situation hopeless because that means we take Jesus out of the equation." She continued with the evening helping the participants understand not to be afraid of this disease and also how to help people that are infected and affected by AIDS.

Afterwards the movie "Beat the Drum" was shown. This is a South African film about a little boy that lost his parents to AIDS and his story as he goes to the city to find income to support the rest of his family.

This might have been a very tough evening listening to this huge need. But I believe it was very meaningful as people are exposed not only to what HIV/AIDS is about but also that Jesus wants to bring hope to lives and He wants us to do it.

The Blessing

We constantly seem to be a bit behind with the updates. That's just because we have such a busy time here! Organizing workshops, making sure all the teams are ready, taking care of the sick ones. There is a million things to do and not enough time to do it. But we are so appreciative of all the people who have come in to help us. The ones who are making sure the tea times run smoothly, the speakers investing in the lives of the participants and even the more experienced missionaries that are around giving advice and supporting those who are struggling a bit. God has blessed us with an amazing group of people that are very motivated to go out tomorrow and make a difference in George and the surrounding areas.

Please continue to pray for strengh and that the last few hours of the orientation will be a blessing and upliftment to the participants.

Great impact

"I was hoping to use my skills as a nurse to help children suffering from AIDS" we were told by Christina Chin. Christina certainly got her wish and a lot more as she attended last years challenge in Mpumulanga. Although she only took out time for two weeks to attend the outreach, her encounter with God was so strong that she joined missions work full-time this year! Now she is attending the Outeniqua challenge again as a team leader and will impact even more people in South Africa. What is her wish for this year? "That I can deepen my relationship with God even more".

Christina is one of many people that has been inpacted by the global challenges. Please pray that many participants will hear God's voice and to implement it in their life.

Day 2 of the Orientation

As I type this message, Mr. Mickey Walker from OM Ireland is sharing with the group of about 400 participants about evangelism. We have had four more people arrive today from Australia, South Africa and Uganda.

Things are going well so far. It is exciting to see the participants sit and soak in the teaching. After an awesome time of worship this morning, Mr. Richard Chalklen, from OM South Africa, shared the morning devotion. He challenged everyone to spend time in the book. "You can't get the Book in you, unless you get into the Book!", says "Chalkie", as he led us in a study of Romans 1.

Dave and Joy Skinner led an interactive session on culture to prepare the participants for working in a team cross-culturally as well as ministering cross-culturally. Then Mickey Walker took the stage after a quick tea break.

Please continue to pray for us in George. The sun is out again today, but it is quite chilly, especially with no heating inside. Pray for the participant's health with this cold weather, especially those who have come from warmer climates. Pray also for the attitudes of the participants as most of them are out of their comfort zones already and some are still recovering from long travels.

The Outreach Has Begun

Earlier today was the kickoff to the Outeniqua Challenge 2007. We had about 140 people arrive on 1 July with the rest arriving today, beginning at 02:30, with the arrival of two by bus. Some people spent many hours on a plane to travel to George. Others were on a bus for 18 to 24 hours traveling to the city hosting the Outeniqua Challenge. And still others began the journey to George on 28 June from Tanzania, Uganda and Nigeria, finally arriving in George today after five days on the road and many buses.

With nearly 400 people needing to be checked into their rooms, things seemed to go quite smoothly, despite being split between 2 high school campuses. There were many flight delays and some difficulties with finding some of the participants at the bust station, but everyone seemed to get where they needed to be. Two from Australia missed a connecting flight in Johannesburg and will have to arrive tomorrow.

Tonight was an exciting opening to the Outeniqua Challenge. The evening program was the first session of the 3-day orientation. It was quite a dramatic start to the program and to the outreach with the students from the Training Team performing an impressive parade of nations, as they marched around the hall with cultural costumes and country flags, with lights, smoke and lasers.

After a worshipful time of singing praises to God, there was an excellent program put together with some introductions, an inspiring challenge from Theo Dennis, a testimony from Christina Chin, a girl who attended last year's outreach, and three dances from the Ubuntu Dancers, a local dance ministry. Even though the temperature was very cold, the warm atmosphere of bringing praises to God and looking with anticipation to what God will do during the next two weeks was experienced by all.

It has been a very long and tiring day. Tomorrow we will be having many training sessions.

Please pray for all of the participants. Pray for the warmth as some did not bring proper warm clothes or sleeping bags. Also, pray that their eyes and hearts will open to what God wants to teach them. Ask God to draw each of them closer to Him during the orientation, prior to being sent out to be a light to the community.

Please also pray for J.P. and Pollyanna as we are both being worn down by all of the work over the past days and are experiencing some minor effects of this in our health. We both have sore throats and Pollyanna has quite a rough cough.

Thank you for praying. Please feel free to post any comments or messages to be passed along to participants.

Take care for now.