Ministry – Page 6 – Stefan and Marie Dell

A New Opportunity

News from Stefan:

At the start of our missionary careers, our team studied Henry Blackaby’s book “Experiencing God”. A concept that stuck with us is “Look where God is working and join Him.” Through the years we have tried to do that.

In the last few years, God has been uniting Christian organizations and churches. They are locking arms for the sake of His Kingdom, in unprecedented ways. We are seeing incredible efforts to spread the gospel and plant churches all around the world. It truly is a beautiful movement of God.

The past few months, I started to sense that my time as global technology leader was coming to an end as a result of changing organisational direction with regards to technology. As I started looking for God’s activity, we were drawn to what God is doing in and through church planting movements. Our September letter spoke about this a little. Campus Crusade for Christ’s church planting focus is called Global Church Movements. They have their hands full with all that God is doing.

To my delight, I was asked to join the Global Church Movement (GCM) team to oversee the operational activities of the team, as well as the operations for the Global Alliance for Church Multiplication (GACX). This alliance has over 50 partners who all work toward seeing 5 million churches planted by 2020. I will also be the global liaison with 3 of our regional leaders.

We are very excited about this new opportunity as it allows me to not only use my technical and operational skills, but also my leadership development and networking skills. I’m again reporting to Dr. Bekele Shanko. I served under him in the Southern and Eastern Africa area from 2004-2010. Bekele, a fellow-African, is the vice president for our Global Church Movement and a man of great faith and vision.

By the end of 2016 we were aware of 986,236 new churches planted by GACX, mostly in areas where few or no churches existed. I can’t wait to see what the future hold!

God is clearly at work in the church planting world and we are privileged to have the opportunity to join Him. We look forward to your prayers and ongoing support in this new adventure.

Your Missionary

Stefan

P.S. Marie will continue in her role as the Communication’s leader for the president with a special focus on our organization’s Global Communications.

Strange Season

Fall (as autumn is called here) is strange. This is our fourth Fall here and we are still amazed, amused and even shocked at the strangeness of this time.

We understand from non-Floridians that Fall is anti-climatic in Florida since we hardly see any leaves change colour (imagine a Palm tree with red and orange leaves…). But that certainly does not stop anyone from celebrating the slightly cooler season with gusto!

We attended our fourth Fall Festival and it was again a wonderful time of connecting with friends. Fall festivals are usually sponsored by churches or in our case, our head office hosts one. It usually includes a Hay Ride (tractor ride on hay bales), a pumpkin patch with hundreds of pumpkins to choose from, drinking apple cider, eating toffee apples and a corn maze (even if it’s fake, made by a jumping castle type set-up). All-in-all a great experience!

Then it is Halloween.

Again, it’s a big community gathering. Neighbors we haven’t seen since last Halloween will be in the streets, chatting and visiting as if we do this every day.

For weeks homes have been decorated – some with pumpkins, scarecrows and autumn colours. Others with evil ghosts, skeletons and witches. Some homes with both.

One thing is clear to us: this time of year is a special time to connect with our community. Please pray for significant interactions with people, for connections we will be able to maintain through the year, not just in the Fall.

You can see some more photos of our Fall experience here.

5 Million Churches

In the last two week:

Kenneth’s leg was declared healed
We survived the effects of a grade 1 hurricane
The children successfully completed their first month at their new school

All things we are very grateful for.

We also attended a meeting of church planting organizations.

Did you know?

There are 7 billion people in the world.
There are only 2 billion people who identify as Christians.
There are 5 billion left to reach.
There are currently 5 million churches in the world.

The Global Alliance for Church Multiplication (or GACX), is trusting the Lord to help start at least 5 million new multiplying biblical churches and faith communities, covering every neighborhood, village, high-rise and digital community in the entire world. We believe God is calling the body of Christ to do this by 2020.

As we receive reports from all over the world of the impact of these partnerships in planting more churches, won’t you praise the Lord with us and continue to pray for continued wisdom, unity and impact.

You can learn more about GACX here.

Dr. Bekele Shanko, VP for Global Church Movements shares about Campus Crusade's role in GACX — Dr. Bekele Shanko, VP for Global Church Movements shares about Campus Crusade’s role in GACX

These are exciting days as we see the Lord work in special ways to unite Christians to work together for the fulfillment of the Great Commission. Thank you for joining us in this great task.

A New Academic Year Starts

Today, 15 August, our 10-week school holiday ends. The children are reluctantly looking forward to the new school year as they start a new school and a new curriculum.

Here are a few snapshots from our summer:

Thank you for your prayers for our Global Leaders Conference (26 June- 1 July). Our meetings went well and our leaders left Orlando encouraged and better equipped to lead our missionaries in their quest to see the fulfillment of the Great Commission.

Marie had a wonderful visit in South Africa with her Mom and siblings. The last time they were all together was February 2013. What a treat to celebrate their Mom’s 70th birthday together.

While Marie was away, we joined co-workers at their cabin in North Carolina. It was a wonderful break from the Orlando heat and humidity. The lowlight was that Kenneth broke his leg by colliding into an unsuspecting tree from a rope swing. After getting a screw in his leg he is recovering well. Please pray for his complete healing.

We appreciate your prayers as we start the new academic year. After the slower pace of summer, we are back in full swing. We look forward to a fruitful year as we try to bring the Good News to a lost and hurting world.

Requests and Reunions

10 million multiplying disciples by the year 2020!

We are starting with very strategic meetings with 250 global leaders today (24 June) here in Orlando. The main agenda of our meetings will be to discuss the shifts required to enhance our efforts toward this goal.

We would covet your prayers for:

The safe arrival of all our leaders.
The Lord’s guidance and wisdom as we discuss the shifts needed.
The city of Orlando that is still reeling under the tragic events from the shooting on June 12th.

Following the meetings, Marie has a quick visit to South Africa to celebrate her Mom’s 70th birthday. All 5 the siblings will be in South Africa for the event, so this is a big treat.

Please pray for:

Safe travels for Marie (she has an interesting itinerary because we used airline miles)
Stefan and the children as they fend for themselves.
A big reunion and celebration for the Ferreira family.

For fun here is a link to a few photo’s of interesting postbox’s here in America

#PrayForOrlando

On Sunday morning we awoke to the horror of the worst mass shooting in U.S. history. Right here in our back yard!

Orlando, the tourist capital of the U.S is such a warm, welcoming community. It makes this tragedy even harder to comprehend. Today we have felt and witnessed a profound sorrow for the lives taken by this unjust act of violence.

Our prayer since Sunday morning has been, “Lord, what would you have us do?” Continue to pray with us for guidance from the Lord. Here is what we already know:

Walk closely with the Lord
As we seek to love in word and deed, we are to be sensitive and yielded to the Holy Spirit.

Pray
“Bring your presence to bear, Lord Jesus, by your Spirit and through your people. May your servants weep with those who weep and wail with those who wail. Extend your tear wiping hand—reach into this great tragedy with an even greater grace.” – by Scotty Smith

Serve
In the days ahead we will look for opportunities to be the hands and feet of Jesus. City officials have established an online form for volunteers. We’ll hear more soon. In the meantime there are some basic acts of service we and our co-workers will pursue, including to:

Give blood.
Provide meals for caregivers and counselors.
Offer water and sunscreen to mourners, city workers and others standing in the sun.
Provide financial assistance to families of the victims where appropriately needed.
Join churches in making care packages for families that are staying with their injured members in hospital.
Offer grace and encouragement as we pray with all who are willing.

So often, tragedy make you pause and evaluate your priorities in life. Please pray with us for many opportunities to bring the Good News of Jesus Christ to our grieving community.

We appreciate your love, concern and prayers for us and for Orlando.

The flags outside our local High School today

Making Your Life Count

Stefan’s News:

Meeting our global ministry leaders and missionaries always encourages me. I then hear first hand how the tools/platforms we develop and work on, help them to reach people for Jesus.The past month I had the joy of attending our global church planters conference, our global technology leaders meeting and connecting with missionaries that work in some countries that are very closed to the the gospel. I thank God for your partnership with me that enables me to serve them.

Global Technology Leaders

Please pray for my Mom who is in hospital with a pulmonary embolism.

Marie’s News:

Many Christians pray that the Lord would help them to make their lives count for Him. Dr. Steve Douglass, the president of Campus Crusade for Christ, for many years have motivated believers to make their lives count by walking closely with the Lord, praying for God’s supernatural help, caring for others and sharing what God has shown you.

For the last year our team worked closely with him to make these principles available to an audience that would not necessarily hear it from him or any of our missionaries. On March 1st, we launched www.makingyourlifecount.org in conjunction with his daily radio program that has a listener audience of over 5 million listeners.

This has been an exciting but daunting task. Please pray with us that thousands of believers will be encouraged to become multiplying disciples in their communities. Please visit the site to see how God can use our partnership to encourage believers – maybe you will also learn something new.

From Desperation To Salvation

This young man turned 13 on January 6th.

At the start of 2016, it is good to look back at what God is doing. He is stirring people to seek Him out, and then speaking to their hearts in life-changing ways. The numbers below show the big picture of His work through one of our evangelistic websites, EveryStudent.com.

VISITS DECISIONS FOR CHRIST

2015 22,302,684 333,910

2014 18,901,179 251,269

2013 11,012,987 169,178

2012 5,060,560 76,359

One young woman’s story gives a glimpse behind these numbers. People find EveryStudent.com in various ways–someone’s recommendation, an article or video on Twitter or Facebook, etc. Rachel was among the majority, who find EveryStudent.com through their own Google search.

She wrote, “I struggled with loneliness, anxiety, and moodiness. I finally got to a point of wanting out of the negativity. I dove into Buddhism/Zen, meditation, crystal/energy healing, and finally, Chakra healing.

“I knew God existed; I think I was just purposely denying Him. Replacing the name of God with “universe” felt so much easier. The last straw was when I paid nearly $200 for an online Chakra healing program that PROMISED happiness forever. I was desperate.

“I was alone in my room, putting all my hope into this program, and about to watch a live introductory seminar. In my heart I heard, ‘You don’t need this; turn it off.’ And I did.

“I got to your website with a question I typed into Google. Once I found it, I was stuck on it. You write in such a friendly, approachable, and comprehensible way. Finally I could understand who Jesus is.

“I felt so invited by Him through your site to be in a relationship with Him. I prayed a prayer of salvation on my knees in my room after reading one of your articles and have been changing ever since. I am so thankful for getting to know Jesus and for the way I am changing and growing. I am loving my journey.”

When we hear stories like Rachel’s, we not only give praise to the Lord for His grace, but we also thank Him for your partnership with us, enabling us to serve Him.

We would appreciate your prayers for Stefan as he travels to the Middle East today to attend a conference for our staff members that work in countries that are closed to the gospel. Pray that he would be able to encourage them, especially the technology leaders.

Your Missionaries

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today Americans commemorate Thanksgiving, a celebration that dates back to the Pilgrims in 1621 as they thanked God for the harvest. In 1777, Congress proclaimed the fourth Thursday of November a National Day of Thanksgiving.

Despite any circumstance, we all have so much to give thanks for, so let us be people of gratitude.

For example, last week we participated in a “Thanksgiving Feast” outreach for interns at Disney World. The interns come from all over the world. Nearly 200 young people attended, and after two powerful salvation testimonies, a gospel presentation was made. Several of the interns indicated an interest in spiritual matters. Marie is doing follow-up with a girl from Uganda and a Zulu girl from Port Shepstone.

Two days later, Marie spoke to 40 students at Monica’s school about film translations, using the JESUS film as an example. She was able to hand out “JESUS for Children” DVD’s to all the children. Because you can’t speak about religion in public schools, she was very careful, then amazed, when the two teachers asked her to also show a short film used to start spiritual conversations. Here are 2 links to examples: Jesus Film Media and Global Short Films

Please pray that the students and their families will watch the DVD’s.

As we eat our turkey, green bean casserole and pumpkin pie this afternoon with co-workers – be sure that your name will be on our list of people we are grateful for!

Wild America

Connecting with the Global Operation’s Leaders in New Zealand (the photo of the group was taken on the Hobbiton Movie Set) was just what the doctor ordered! Our return to Orlando had been difficult but God used the time in New Zealand to confirm that He wanted to continue using us in the global head office.

The needs of our missionaries around the world have been such a focus of our team that it was affirming to hear how God has been doing it from the direct beneficiaries. Thank you for enabling us to serve them!

On the home front – we wonder why American’s speak about “Wild Africa”? “Wild” is right here in our yard. If it isn’t a deer family trotting through our garden at night, an armadillo digging in our flowerbeds, we have to stop in the road for a crossing turtle switching lakes. Or it’s the Sandhill crane family stealing birdseed from the container on our stoep (porch). We have hundreds of bird species, especially water birds that can keep us entertained. And last, but not least, is our Black Racer snake that keep our frog and lizard population under control.

Unfortunately Moonshadow (our cat) thinks the snake is his playmate and recently chased him into the garage. Of course Stefan was away and you all know Genesis 3:15 “…I will put enmity between you and the woman…” is very true. Kenneth bravely came to my (Marie’s) rescue with the braai tongs (The Black Racer is nonvenomous). Thankfully, after a call to a dear colleague, I was encouraged to just keep the garage door open and the snake would find his own way out. I don’t enter the garage without all the lights on, just in case he decided to stay.

Thank you for your support that allows us to serve the Lord here from “Wild America”!