Category: Stefan

2017 Highs and Lows

Missionary co-workers recently shared their experience: “One visit in a village was especially memorable. They have a tradition of showing respect to a person who is superior or in authority over them by cupping their hands and and bowing down on one knee. They then clap their cupped hands to show honor. We sat in a top leader’s home, himself a chief, telling the people present why Christ went to the cross for their sins. We invited them to watch the JESUS film that night and told them about the Holy Spirit … that He was everywhere. ‘He’s in this room with us right now.’

“As we spoke, the all dropped to one knee and started giving the hollow clap to show honor to the Holy Spirit. Like the wind they could not see, they knew He was there. They gave Him respect. Even the ultimate leader in that village was on his knee. This is the work of the Holy Spirit Who goes before us, opening hearts, setting the captive free. We praise God.”

We also praise God for all our missionary co-workers who take the gospel to those who have never heard, who plant new churches and help them grow in Christ. We also praise God for your partnership with us.

At the end of 2017 we look back with gratefulness:

Highlights:

  1. Our visit to South Africa in June-July.
  2. Stefan witnessing the baptism of 16 new believers in a river in India and seeing God multiply the church planting efforts there.
  3. Marie seeing progress in the ways our organization digitally communicates with those curious about being Christ followers, those looking for resources to reach their friends as well as our staff members around the world.
  4. Kenneth being in high school and joining the marching band and Monica being chosen for the robotics team.
  5. Our study tour to Israel in September.

Lowlights:

  1. Hurricanes Irma and Maria and dealing with the effects.
  2. The persecution of our brothers and sisters in Christ in various places around the world. Meeting pastors who had their homes burnt down because of their beliefs.
  3. Journeying with people who are going through extreme hardships.
  4. Adjusting to the new school schedules of a high schooler and middle schooler that start and finish schools two hours apart and juggling the car rides.

As we celebrate the birth of Immanuel – “God with us” this Christmas season, let us drop to our knees, cup our hands together and give honor to Jesus. Merry Christmas!

From Irma to Israel

Jordan River

We will remember the month of September as a month of a deep “lowlight” and a wonderful highlight!

Lowlight:

Florida is still recovering from the impact of Hurricane Irma. Our children lost six days of school, and so many tests and events were rescheduled. The evidence of Irma’s destruction is everywhere, and it will be months before all the debris is cleared and repairs done.

Florida is also the home of many Puerto Ricans, and we have felt their pain as Hurricane Maria ripped through their island. Many of our friends are trying to bring their families from the island to Florida.

Despite some chaos, everyone continues with life as normally as possible. God has made mankind very resilient!

Highlight:

Stefan and I just returned from Israel, where we attended a Senior Leaders’ Development Study tour. We joined forty colleagues, representing 21 countries. The focus of the tour was to study the process Jesus used in building His “disciple-making movement” that resulted in us, over 2,000 years later, also following Him.One of many study stops

It was a privilege to experience and see the context in which Jesus connected with people, won them over to His kingdom and built them up in their faith, while training and preparing them to be sent out as His disciple-makers.

Magdala Synagogue:

A personal highlight was to stand in the first century A.D. synagogue in Magdala (earlier manuscripts mention Magadon). Magdala is located four miles north of Tiberias, on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee.

Mary Magdalene is believed to be from Magdala. She is mentioned 12 times in the four gospels, more than most disciples. I am named after her–my full name is Maria Magdalena.

No one really knew the location of Mary’s authentic hometown until 2009, when it was discovered less than one foot under the topsoil. The excavation of the first century A.D. synagogue is significant, as it is one of only seven from that period. From the gospel of Matthew, we know that Jesus went through all Galilee and taught in the synagogues. It can be assumed that Jesus also preached in this beautiful synagogue.

Prayer requests:

  1. Thank the Lord for His protection during Hurricane Irma and pray for the ongoing restoration that needs to take place.
  2. Thank the Lord for the opportunity to visit Israel and experience the land of the Bible. We learnt so much. Pray that we will be good stewards of our new knowledge and experiences.
  3. Thank the Lord for Stefan’s sister Lauren, who came to help with our children while we were away.
  4. Pray for the Global Alliance for Church Multiplication meetings that take place this week in Minneapolis. This alliance includes our organization and 62 partner groups that are all striving to see 5 million churches planted by 2020. Learn more at www.gacx.io

A Church Planter’s Advice

Last week I (Stefan) returned from a meeting in Ethiopia with all our African leaders involved with church planting. It was wonderful to be in Africa and to connect with so many of our old friends, it felt like a reunion.

In a recent interview with Marie’s team, one of those friends, Dismas Shekalaghe (second from right in photo) from Tanzania, gave the following advice regarding church planting:

  1. Understand that a church is not a building.

A church is the people who believe in Christ. In many churches, our focus has been to make people comfortable. When people get comfortable, they are just enjoying religion, instead of enjoying Christ and sharing Him. They do nothing in terms of obeying the Great Commandment and the Great Commission.

Buildings should never be the focus if you want to plant churches that are multiplying. Focus on people, because Jesus focused on people. Jesus never focused on material things. Imitate Him.

2. When people commit their lives to Christ, make sure they are fast in sharing their faith.

Think of the woman at the well. When she met Jesus and experienced Jesus, how long did she take to share with her village about Jesus? She told them right away, a simple message!

When the pastor alone shares his faith, very few people will be reached. If everyone is sharing their faith, many people can be reached. This means the church can multiply very fast.

Since we started working with Global Church Movements two years ago, we have been able to plant more than 250 churches. We are partnering with more than 200 churches and trusting the Lord for 67,500 new churches in Tanzania by 2020.

Wow! We celebrate what God is doing in Tanzania and pray for them as they work towards the 67,500 new churches! Thank you for enabling me to be part of the team that helps church planters like Dismas to reach their countries.

Please also pray for me as I travel to Spain this weekend where I will attend a meeting of church planting organisations working in Europe.

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.

 

We Survived Our 1st Hurricane!

Thank you for your prayers!

We are grateful to the Lord for His protection over us and our property. We are still under a curfew till Saturday morning at 7 am but at least the tumble dryer has stopped. The incredibly strong winds have slowed down and even our cat bravely poked his nose out for a toilet stop.

Several co-workers lots electricity for a few hours, but we had power throughout the storms. We felt at peace and the Lord’s protection throughout the storm.

Here are the Kenneth and Monica with some of our plants, rescued from outside before the hurricane came.

keneth-monica

Continue to pray for others that are still in the path of the hurricane.

 

Kenneth’s Leg Operation

Leg Collage
Dear Friends

Could you please be praying for Kenneth. Over the weekend he broke his leg trying to stop a rope swing that was about to smash him into a tree. The break is such that he will be having an operation tomorrow (Thursday) afternoon Orlando time.

Marie is finishing her time in South Africa and returning to us next week. She has had a very productive time with her family. We have missed her very much, and look forward to having her back, especially the patient.

Thanks
Stefan, Kenneth and Monica
(surviving without Mom)

When Can We See You?

We arrived safely in South Africa and have already been spoiled with delicious bobotie, potjiekos, biltong, a nice braai, malva pudding and koeksisters! Needless to say, all the Dells are smiling from ear to ear!

We would love to see you! To make sure we do not miss out on catching up with you, we arranged a few “hang-out” opportunities for us to connect.

BLOEMFONTEIN

Thursday- 18 June @ 15:30, Noorderbloem Aftree Oord, Oliewenlaan 11. Join us for cake and tea (and a few American treats). RSVP

PRETORIA

Saturday – 20 June @ 15:00, Campus Crusade for Christ National Office, 398 Rigel Avenue, Erasmus Rand, 0181. Join us for cake and tea (and a few American treats). RSVP

Sunday – 5 July @ 15:30, Campus Crusade for Christ National Office, 398 Rigel Avenue, Erasmus Rand, 0181. Join us for cake and tea (and a few American treats). RSVP

JOHANNESBURG

Saturday – 4th of July @ 12:00, Rosebank Union Church, Corner of St. Andrews street and William Nicol, Hurlingham. Join us for an American Independence Day Picnic with hot dogs and lemonade (minus the fire-works). RSVP

SASOLBURG

Sunday – 19 July @ 15:30, N.G. Fontein Gemeente, Van Wouw Street, Sasolburg. Join us for cake and tea (and a few American treats). RSVP

DURBAN

Sunday – 2 August, after church services, Westville Baptist Church

CAPE TOWN

Sunday – 9 August @ 15:30, 14 Gardenia Road, Ridgeworth, Belville, 7530. Join us for cake and tea (and a few American treats). RSVP

OUR CONTACT NUMBERS WHILE IN SOUTH AFRICA

Stefan – 079 130 6423
Marie – 076 361 4980

Accidents happen

1 AccidentPack. Unpack. Pack. Unpack.

This characterized Stefan’s past four weeks. He traveled to Turkey, the Middle East, Thailand and Singapore.

While visiting, helping and learning from our different teams of co-workers, he also had the privilege of hearing stories about what God is doing. For example:  One campus team in East Asia discovered there were 67 universities in their city. Their hearts broke for all the unengaged students outside their current reach. So by faith, they broadened their scope.

The team went out and bought several motorbikes, and divided up the city: each team member took responsibility for around 10 campuses. They began zooming around town, exploring campuses, sharing the gospel, and praying the Lord would raise up key volunteers on every campus.

By the end of the first year, they’d personally visited 55 campuses. They surfaced 24 key volunteers who began to share their faith and follow up others until nearly 180 students across the city were involved….and none of those 180 had ever met the original team!

Family News:

Marie was in a car accident, and though the vehicle was written off, we are grateful that she escaped with only bruises and burns from the airbags. Our church family and co-workers stepped in to help while Stefan was away and we felt loved and cared for.

Prayer Requests:

  1. Thank the Lord for Stefan’s traveling mercies and for protecting Marie during the car accident.
  2. Pray for wisdom and creativity as we work on different projects that will help our co-workers in their service to the Lord.
  3. Pray for Stefan as he hosts a Global Technology Leaders’ Conference in South Africa from 5-11 March. Pray for the safety of the 50 participants that will join him there.
  4. Pray for a good second-hand vehicle at a reasonable price to replace our destroyed one.

Thank you for enabling us to be involved in serving our missionaries around the globe!

Some Recent photo’s

Dell Highlights and Lowlights of 2014

IMG-20141122-WA0001We are grateful to the Lord and you our faithful partners for another year of service in His harvest field. Thank you!

Highlights of 2014

  1. Kenneth and Monica are doing very well at school.
  2.  40 young people from a multitude of countries, who work at Disney, attended our American “Thanksgiving” outreach. 28 indicated that they would like to have further spiritual conversations after hearing the Gospel.
  3. One of our neighbours accepted Jesus and we are building relationships with several others. Many are from other countries and despite some language barriers, it has been an exciting adventure.
  4. The impact of our work on the lives of our missionaries as they use tools and resources our teams develop.
  5. Your faithful prayer and financial support that enable us to see lives changed around the world.
  6. Marie’s mom spend the month of November with us – what a treat!

Lowlights of 2014

  1. We miss “our” people and country, despite many great visits.
  2. The death of our neighbour across the street. We found him unconscious and did CPR until the paramedics arrived. The whole “911” experience was hard but bonded us with the widow.
  3. Four of our South African missionary friends died as martyrs this year (they were serving with other organizations).
  4. Feeling the urgency of a ripe harvest, and insufficient harvesters and resources to collect it.

May you be touched by the significance of the birth of Jesus this Christmas.

We are praying that during 2015 you will experience the Lord in new ways and will be very aware of His guidance, presence and peace.

Merry Christmas!
The Dells

Hooray – One Year Today

Coke BearOne year ago today, at the O.R. Tambo International Airport we waved goodbye to our family and started the adventure of serving as missionaries outside our home country. We bravely stepped onto the airplane, certain that we were answering God’s call.

A year later, we are even more convinced of His calling and look back at the year with gratefulness to Him and to our partners.

Reflecting on the year, here are the highs and the lows of our experiences:

The Highs:

  1. Experiencing the Lord’s provision at a new level, despite the weakening Rand.
  2. Being used by God at the Global Headquarters as we join with others in seeing the Great Commission being fulfilled.
  3. Being the first people on our street and welcoming all our neighbours as their homes are completed.
  4. Our new friends and church.
  5. Seeing our children grow in leadership and wisdom despite the challenge of “being different”.
  6. Experiencing so many new and exciting places, foods, cultures and people.

The Lows:

  1. Missing our family and friends.
  2. The cost of living is much higher here.
  3. Language barriers – we wish we could speak Spanish.
  4. Witnessing the universal sinfulness of humankind – you cannot escape crime, poverty and abuse.

To God belongs all the glory for the privilege to serve Him!