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TRANSCRIPT
FEATURES
Rescue from Madness
When Your World Turns Against You
I Will Give You Rest
You Don’t Have to Understand God
Louie Giglio Get Real About Battling
Depression and Anxiety
Better to be Known than Famous
The Power of Expectation
A Different Harvest
REGULARS
Isolation
Angus Buchan
The Passion Code:Up
Man Power Devotional
Community Talk
Uviwe Child & Youth Services
Khulusande Sport Development
MAY 2020
Contact Us
Email: [email protected]
Cell: 072 680 5492
website: www.thebayriendshipclub.co.za
www.facebook.com/thebayfriendshipclub
hug them and be close to them. Jill and I have both, at
simply there is no where to rush off too. Jeremiah 33:3.
It is also a tremendously challenging time, especially if
you love people, like I do, and are not able to see them,
hug them and be close to them. Jill and I have both, at
this point in time, tested positive with the corona virus.
We are in self isolation, last week we were re-tested and
were hoping to be tested negative - but no. The second
test came back still positive but we use this precious time
together, Jill and I, for when the lock down is lifted the
work begins.
In this time, we really need to stand on God’s Holy Word
and not to embark on some sort of a witch-hunt to find
out why we still have it, and others are now tested
negative and are clear.
The house of the Chief Priest, Caiaphas, in the old city of
Jerusalem, has a deep dark hole in the basement. It is
where they say our beloved Master Jesus was kept after
He’d been arrested in the garden of Gethsemane, that
fateful night before His crucifixion. He was totally isolated,
on his own.
If anyone knows how you are feeling at this very moment
my dear friend Jesus does, so call out to Him, talk to him,
cry to him for He Truly does understand where you and I
are at right now. The isolation will surely pass and then
the greatest opportunity in the Christian’s life will open up
- indeed the harvest is white and the workers are few.
John 4 : 35
It is harvest time! Sharpen the scythe.
God Bless
Angus and Jill Buchan
Shared with Permission Shalom Ministries
In the book of Leviticus chapter 13, we read about the
identification of the disease Leprosy. And how the person
who has contracted this hellish disease has to be isolated
for seven days, then brought for reevaluation by the
Priests.
At the moment people are in ‘lock-down‘, globally - a first-
ever in the history of mankind. There are many questions
going around as we are all in isolation, to some degree or
another.
My dear wife Jill and Her siblings were born in the very
northern part of Zambia. Her mother and Father ran a
leprosy colony, so from a very early age she knew what
isolation was all about.
People are asking, “Is this the beginning of the end? Is
the Lord Jesus about to enter the world on the clouds,
riding a beautiful white stallion, as the Commander of the
armies of God?“
How close are we to the final day of judgement? Well, no
one on earth knows the day or the hour of God’s return.
Not even Jesus Himself, only our Heavenly Father knows
the time and the day. Matthew 24:36
There are many pros and cons to this isolation period that
the world is busy going through. And because everything
has almost ground to a total halt, people finding they have
much more time on their hands, but it is vital we remain
full of faith, knowing that “all things work together…”
Romans 8:28
We have the opportunity to spend much more time each
morning with Jesus, in prayer and Bible reading and in
meditation without having to rush off somewhere. Quite
simply there is no where to rush off too. Jeremiah 33:3.
It is also a tremendously challenging time, especially if
you love people, like I do, and are not able to see them,
THE PASSION CODE: UP
MAN DEVOTIONAL
“During His intense struggle on the Cross, our
Lord spoke seven times as He hung suspended
between heaven and earth. The strangest of these
cries was,
My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? —
Matthew 27:46
He knew well what it was to be forsaken. In
Galilee, He was forsaken by His family. They
distanced themselves from Him, and we read that
He had no honor “in his own house” (Matthew
13:57). In Gethsemane, He was forsaken by His
friends when they ran away after He was taken by
the mob (Mark 14:50). And at the end of the
journey, at Golgotha, while bearing our sins, He
was forsaken for a time by His Father so that we
might never be forsaken.
Perhaps there is no more haunting word in our
entire English language than the word forsaken.
Many today know this reality. There are those who
one day stood at a wedding altar, hearing the love
of their life promise to “never leave or forsake”
them. But they lied and left the gnawing pain of
being forsaken. Countless children, abandoned by
their fathers and/or mothers, also know the
meaning of this cruel word.
Jesus truly knew its meaning. But He didn’t give
up. He reached up! This is a help and a hope for
any of us who have been forsaken. He
understands.
Don’t give up. Reach up.
CODE WORD: UP
So many times, when difficulties or heartbreak
come knocking on our doors, we look at the
swirling circumstances around us, or worse, focus
all our attention on them. But look up. Be
reminded that Jesus sees even the smallest
sparrow that falls to the ground — and He cares
so much more for you.
PASSION PROCLAMATION
When my father and my mother forsake me, then
the Lord will take care of me. — PSALM 27:10
Lord, I am so grateful that there is no fear of You
ever forsaking me. I stand on Your promise that
You will never leave or forsake me… never. In
Jesus’ name, amen.
Excerpted from The Passion Code by O. S. Hawkins.
First, there’s the blistering pace of
life.
I texted friends an announcement
that was really important to me; they
replied with little thumbs-up emojis. I
think to myself, That’s it—you can’t
even answer a text with a text?
Email felt so efficient when it
replaced the letter; texting seemed
like rocket fuel when it came along.
But it didn’t make our lives more
spacious; we simply had to keep up.
Now we’re living at the speed of the
swipe and the “like,” moving so fast
through our days that typing a single
sentence feels cumbersome.
Everyone I talk to says they feel
busier than ever. My musician
friends aren’t playing much anymore;
my gardening friends don’t have time
to plant; I currently have eight books
I’ve started to read, and I haven’t
made it past the first chapter in any
of them.
We’ve been sucked into a pace of
life nobody’s enjoying. Then there’s
the deluge of media coming at us in
a sort of mesmerizing digital spell.
We’re spending three hours a day
using apps on our phones, ten hours
viewing media, consuming enough
information each week to crash a
laptop (!).1 We talk about
unplugging, but we’re enchanted—
by the endless social media circus of
love and hatred, the vapid, alarming,
sensational, and unforgivable. We’re
snagged by every new notification.
And while we’ve always had our
individual struggles and heartbreaks
you aware of what it is? How would
you score your soul these days:
Are you happy most of the time?
How often do you feel lighthearted?
Are you excited about your future?
Do you feel deeply loved?
When was the last time you felt
carefree?
I know, it’s not even fair to ask. Our
souls are bleary, seared, smeared.
Still able to love, yes; still able to
hope and dream. But at the end of
any given day, most people come
home in a state of exhaustion. Numb
on our good days, fried more often
than we admit. “I feel all thin, sort of
stretched,” as Bilbo Baggins said,
“like butter that has been scraped
over too much bread.”
The world has gone completely mad,
and it’s trying to take our souls with it.
Now, if we had more of God, that
would really help. We could draw
upon His love and strength, His
wisdom and resilience. After all, God
is the fountain of life (Psalm 36:9). If
we had more of His lavish life
bubbling up in us, it would be a
rescue in this soul-scorching hour.
But this frantic, volatile world
constantly wilts the soul, dries it out
like a raisin, making it almost
impossible to receive the life God is
pouring forth.
That’s called a double bind.
I tried to find more of God, knowing if
I only had a greater measure of His
life in me, I’d be able to navigate this
rough terrain. I was practicing the
usual stuff — prayer, worship,
scripture, sacrament. But still I felt… I
to deal with, now we have the
tragedies of the entire world
delivered to us hourly on our mobile
devices.
This is all very hard on the soul.
Traumatizing, in fact. Exposure to
traumatic events can traumatize us,
and we’re getting lots of it in our
feed.2 It’s like we’ve been swept into
the gravitational field of a digital
black hole that is sucking our lives
from us.
So there’s all that. But everybody’s
talking about that. What got my
attention was what was happening to
me as a person.
I found myself flinching when a friend
texted and asked for some time. I
didn’t want to open email for fear of
the demands I’d find there. I had a
shorter and shorter fuse in traffic. I
felt numb to tragic news reports. It
made me wonder — am I becoming
a less-loving person? I had little
capacity for relationships and the
things that bring me life — a walk in
the woods, dinner with friends, a cold
plunge in a mountain lake. When I
did steal a moment for something
life-giving, I was so distracted I
couldn’t enjoy it.
Then I realized — it wasn’t a failure
of love or compassion. These were
symptoms of a soul pushed too hard,
strung out, haggard, fried. My soul
just can’t do life at the speed of
smartphones. But I was asking it to;
everybody’s asking theirs to.
I’m guessing you’ve experienced
something similar. It’s likely why
you’ve picked up this book — your
soul is looking for something. Are
There’s a madness to our moment,
and we need to name it for the
lunacy it is. Because it’s taking our
lives hostage.
Article by John Eldredge
don’t know… shallow somehow.
Sipping God with teaspoons, not
drinking great gulps; wading, not
swimming. My soul felt like a shallow
rain puddle. But I know the soul isn’t
a shallow puddle at all; it’s deep and
vast, capable of symphonies and
heroic courage. I wanted to be living
from those deep places, but I felt
trapped in the shoals.
It’s no coincidence that one of the
most important books on our world,
and what technology is doing to us,
is called The Shallows: What the
Internet Is Doing to Our Brains.
We’re losing our ability to focus and
pay attention longer than a few
moments. We live at the depth of the
text, the swipe, the “like.”4 This isn’t
just an intellectual problem; it’s a
spiritual crisis. It’s pretty hard to hear
“deep calling unto deep”5 when
we’re forced into the shallows of our
own hearts and souls by this frenetic
world.
Jesus heard even my surface
prayers; He came to my rescue and
began to lead me into a number of
helps and practices, what I would
call graces. Simple things, like a One
Minute Pause, that were accessible
and surprising in their power to
restore. Learning “benevolent
detachment” — the ability to let
things go. Allowing for some
transition in my day, instead of just
blasting from one thing to the next.
crave as human beings, living waters
welling up from deep within. And then
— we’ll get our lives back!
But the process needs to be
accessible and sustainable. We’ve all
tried exercise, diets, Bible study
programs that began with vim and
verve but over time got shoved to the
side, lost in the chaos. I have a gym
membership; I rarely use it. There are
those books I haven’t finished, loads
of podcasts too. Rest assured — the
graces I am offering here are within
reach of a normal life. I think you’ll
find them simple, sustainable, and
refreshing.
God wants to strengthen and renew
your soul; Jesus longs to more of
Himself. Come, you weary and heavy
laden. “Are you tired? Worn out?
Burned out on religion? Come to me.
Get away with me and you’ll recover
your life … and you’ll learn to live
freely and lightly” (Matthew 11:28-
30 The Message).
You can get your life back; you can
live freely and lightly. The world may
be harsh, but God is gentle; He
knows what your life is like. What we
need to do is put ourselves in places
that allow us to receive His help.
Excerpted with permission from Get Your Life
Back: Everyday Practices for a World Gone
Mad by John Eldredge.
.
Drinking in the beauty God was
providing in quiet moments. My soul
began to recover, feel better, do
better — however you want to
describe it. I began to enjoy my life
with God so much more; I was finally
experiencing the “more” of Him I’d
been wanting so much. I began to
get my life back.
Then I connected the dots….
God wants to come to us and restore
our lives. He really does. But if our
soul is not well, it’s almost impossible
to receive Him. Dry, scorched ground
can’t absorb the very rain it needs.
As C. S. Lewis explained in
the Problem of Pain, “The soul is but
a hollow which God fills.”6 In place
of hollow I like the word vessel,
something beautiful and artistic. Our
souls are exquisite vessels created
by God for Him to saturate. I picture
the round, curved basin at the top of
an elegant fountain, with water
spilling down all sides, running over
with unceasing life. Wasn’t that the
promise? “As Scripture has said,
rivers of living water will flow from
within them” (John 7:38).
And so it follows that if we can
receive help for restoring and
renewing our weary, besieged souls,
we’ll enjoy the fruits (which are many
and wonderful) of happy souls and
also be able to receive more of God
(which is even more wonderful). We’ll
find the vibrancy and resiliency we
fervently only hours before,
“Everyone else may stumble in
their faith because of you, but I will
not!” I hope Peter was hungry,
because he ate those words.
Everyone turned against
Jesus. Though the kiss was planted
by Judas, the betrayal was committed
by all.
Every person took a step, but no one
took a stand. As Jesus left the
garden, He walked alone. The world
had turned against Him.
He was betrayed.
Betray. The word is an eighth of an
inch above betroth in the
dictionary, but a world from betroth in
life. It’s a weapon found only in the
hands of one you love. Your enemy
has no such tool, for only a friend can
betray. Betrayal is mutiny. It’s a
violation of a trust, an inside job.
Would that it were a stranger. Would
that it were a random attack.
Would that you were a victim of
circumstances. But you aren’t. You
are a victim of a friend.
A sandpaper kiss is placed on your
cheek. A promise is made with
fingers crossed. You look to your
friends, and your friends don’t look
back. You look to the system for
justice – the system looks to you as a
scapegoat.
You are betrayed. Bitten with a
snake’s kiss. It’s more than rejection.
Rejection opens a wound; betrayal
pours the salt. It’s more than
Get up, we must go. Look,
here comes the man who
has turned against Me.
an amputated ear didn’t sway them.
They suffered from mob blindness.
They blocked each other’s vision of
Jesus.
The disciples did. “All of Jesus’
followers left Him and ran away.”
Matthew must have written those
words slowly. He was in that group.
All the disciples were. Jesus told
them they would scamper. They
vowed they wouldn’t. But they did.
When the choice came between
their skin and their friend,
they chose to run. Oh, they stood
for a while. Peter even pulled his
sword, went for the neck, and got a
lobe. But their courage was as
fleeting as their feet. When they saw
Jesus was going down, they got out.
The religious leaders did. Not
surprising. Disappointing, though.
They were the spiritual leaders of
the nation. Men entrusted with the
dispensing of goodness. Role
models for the children. The pastors
and Bible teachers of the
community.
“The leading priests and the whole
Jewish council tried to find
something false against Jesus so
they could kill Him.” Paint that
passage black with injustice. Paint
the arrest green with jealousy. Paint
that scene red with innocent blood.
And paint Peter in a corner.
For that’s where he is. No place to
go. Caught in his own mistake.
Peter did exactly what he had said
he wouldn’t do. He had promised
The words were spoken to Judas.
But they could have been spoken to
anyone. They could have been
spoken to John, to Peter, to James.
They could have been spoken to
Thomas, to Andrew, to Nathanael.
They could have been spoken to the
Roman soldiers, to the Jewish
leaders. They could have been
spoken to Pilate, to Herod, to
Caiaphas. They could have been
spoken to every person who praised
Him last Sunday but abandoned Him
tonight.
Everyone turned against Jesus that
night. Everyone.
Judas did. What was your motive,
Judas? Why did you do it? Were
you trying to call His hand? Did you
want the money? Were you seeking
some attention?
And why, dear Judas, why did it
have to be a kiss? You could
have pointed. You could have just
called His name. But you put your
lips to His cheek and kissed. A
snake kills with his mouth.
The people did. The crowd turned on
Jesus. We wonder who was in the
crowd. Who were the bystanders?
Matthew just says they were
people. Regular folks like you and
me with bills to pay and kids to raise
and jobs to do. Individually they
never would have turned on Jesus,
but collectively they wanted to kill
Him.
Even the instantaneous healing of
understand and release your foe from
your hatred, then the prisoner is
released, and that prisoner is you.
Perhaps you don’t like that idea.
Perhaps the thought of forgiveness
is unrealistic. Perhaps the idea of
trying to understand the Judases in
our world is simply too gracious.
My response to you then is a
question. What do you suggest? Will
harboring the anger solve the
problem? Will getting even remove
the hurt? Does hatred do any good?
Again, I’m not minimizing your hurt or
justifying their actions. But I am
saying that justice won’t come this
side of eternity. And demanding that
your enemy get his or her share of
pain will, in the process, be most
painful to you.
May I gently but firmly remind you of
something you know but may
have forgotten?
Life is not fair.
That’s not pessimism; it’s fact. That’s
not a complaint; it’s just the
way things are. I don’t like it. Neither
do you. We want life to be fair. Ever
since the kid down the block got a
bike and we didn’t, we’ve been saying
the same thing, “That’s not fair.” But
at some point someone needs to say
to us, “Who ever told you life
was going to be fair?” God didn’t. He
didn’t say, “If you have many kinds of
troubles”… He said, “When you have
many kinds of troubles…”
Troubles are part of the
package. Betrayals are part of our
troubles. Don’t be surprised when
betrayals come. Don’t look for
fairness here — look instead where
Jesus looked.
Jesus looked to the future. Read His
words: “In the future you will see the
Son of Man coming.”
While going through hell, Jesus kept
His eyes on Heaven.
While surrounded by enemies He
kept His mind on His Father.
While abandoned on earth, He kept
His heart on home. “In the future you
will see the Son of Man sitting at the
right hand of God, the Powerful One,
and coming on clouds in the sky.”
“My kingdom does not belong to this
world,” Jesus told Pilate. “My
It’s even more unfair when you
consider the betrayal was Judas’s
idea. The religious leaders didn’t
seek him; Judas sought them.
“What will you pay me for giving
Jesus to you?” he asked. The
betrayal would have been more
palatable had Judas been
propositioned by the leaders, but he
wasn’t. He propositioned them.
And Judas’s method… again, why
did it have to be a kiss? And why did
he have to call Him
“Teacher”? That’s a title of respect.
The incongruity of his words, deeds,
and actions – I wouldn’t have called
Judas “friend.” But that is exactly
what Jesus called him. Why? Jesus
could see something we can’t. Let
me explain.
There was once a person in our
world who brought Denalyn and me
a lot of stress. She would call in the
middle of the night. She was
demanding and ruthless. She
screamed at us in public. When she
wanted something, she wanted it
immediately, and she wanted it
exclusively from us. But we never
asked her to leave us alone. We
never told her to bug someone else.
We never tried to get even. After all,
she was only a few months old.
It was easy for us to forgive our
infant daughter’s behavior because
we knew she didn’t know better.
Now, there is a world of difference
between an innocent child and a
deliberate Judas. But there is still a
point to my story, and it is this: the
way to handle a person’s behavior is
to understand the cause of it.
One way to deal with a person’s
peculiarities is to try to understand
why he or she is peculiar.
Jesus knew Judas had been
seduced by a powerful foe. He was
aware of the wiles of Satan’s
whispers (He had just heard them
Himself). He knew how hard it was
for Judas to do what was right. He
didn’t justify what Judas did.
He didn’t minimize the deed. Nor did
He release Judas from his choice.
But He did look eye to eye with His
betrayer and try to understand.
As long as you hate your enemy, a
jail door is closed and a prisoner
is taken. But when you try to
loneliness. Loneliness leaves you in
the cold, betrayal closes the
door. It’s more than mockery.
Mockery plunges the knife; betrayal
twists it. It’s more than an insult. An
insult attacks your pride; betrayal
breaks your heart.
As I search for betrayal’s synonyms,
I keep seeing betrayal’s victims.
That unsigned letter in yesterday’s
mail, “My husband just told me he
had an affair two years ago,” she
wrote. “I feel so alone.”
The phone call at home from
the elderly woman whose drug-
addicted son had taken her money.
My friend in the Midwest who moved
his family to take the promised job
that never materialized. The single
mother whose ex-husband brings his
new girlfriend to her house when he
comes to get the kids for the
weekend. The seven-year-old
girl infected with HIV. “I’m mad at my
mother,” were her words.
Betrayal… when your world turns
against you.
Betrayal… where there is
opportunity for love, there is
opportunity for hurt.
When betrayal comes, what do you
do? Get out? Get angry? Get
even? You have to deal with it some
way. Let’s see how Jesus dealt with
it.
Begin by noticing how Jesus saw
Judas. “Jesus answered, ‘Friend, do
what you came to do.’”
Of all the names I would have
chosen for Judas, it would not have
been “friend.” What Judas did to
Jesus was grossly unfair. There is
no indication that Jesus ever
mistreated Judas.
There is no clue that Judas was ever
left out or neglected. When, during
the Last Supper, Jesus told the
disciples that his betrayer sat at the
table, they didn’t turn to one another
and whisper, “It’s Judas. Jesus told
us he would do this.”
They didn’t whisper it because Jesus
never said it. He had known it.
He had known what Judas would do,
but He treated the betrayer as if he
were faithful.
When all of earth turns against you,
all of heaven turns toward you.
To keep your balance in a crooked
world, look at the mountains. Think of
Home.
Excerpted from And the Angels Were Silent by
Max Lucado.
By the way, His friends are your
friends. The Father’s loyalty to
Jesus is the Father’s loyalty to you.
When you feel betrayed, remember
that. When you see the torches and
feel the betrayer’s kiss, remember
His words: “I will never leave you; I
will never abandon you.”
we who have believed do enter that
rest . . . ”
So how do we get to the place we’re
we are believing right and
experiencing the true rest that God
invites us to? First, we have to
understand a little chemistry.
There are two chemicals in our brain
that cause feelings of pleasure and
rest: dopamine and serotonin. The
real source—the original source—of
these chemicals is not the drugs that
most people use in today’s world to
release them at an enhanced level.
The real source of our dopamine
and serotonin is the presence of
God.
It all started in the garden of Eden.
When Adam and Eve sinned (they
stopped believing what God said),
they became separated from God.
And as soon as they became
separated from God, they became
separated from the chemistry that
creates the joy, peace & rest that
they were created to live in.
Just like oxygen, we NEED the
I’ve been thinking about a word so
many people need: REST. God saw
the UNREST in the world 2000
years ago, and He sent Jesus. He
saw the UNREST in people’s souls,
so He sent Jesus. He saw the
UNREST in people’s families and
relationships, so He sent Jesus.
Jesus said, Come to Me all who are
weary and heavy burdened, and I
will give you REST—Matthew 11:28.
Unfortunately, people are
experiencing more STRESS than
REST.
He went on to say that REST starts
in our SOUL. “ . . . Let me teach you,
because I am humble and gentle at
heart, and you will find rest for your
souls.”—Matthew 11:29.
The problem is most of us read this
verse like a greeting card, as if it’s
an invitation to retirement. But that is
NOT the case! What this is really
about is our souls are tired, deep
down we are mentally burned out,
emotionally drained. And God wants
our souls to have rest, real rest.
If you’re like me, you’ve failed at
times, struggled at times. And it’s
easy to get tired from the
struggle. Here’s the thing . . “work”
is not what makes us tired. One
person can go to work every day
and feel invigorated, inspired, full of
passion.
And at the same time another
person can go to the same job, on
the same day, and feel utterly
fatigued and burned out. What’s the
difference? The difference is not the
physical work they perform, the
difference is what they believe. What
determines whether we are going to
have REST or STRESS is not the
time of year it is, not our jobs, not
our families . . . it’s what we believe.
It’s how we think.
Spiritual warfare is not the battle to
defeat the enemy. The devil is
already defeated. Spiritual warfare is
resisting the thoughts that try to tell
us we have to still work and fight in
order TO defeat the enemy. That’s
what wears us out and wears us
down and we become fatigued and
stressed. When we believe in the
finished work of the cross, we begin
to find rest. Hebrews 4:3 says: “For
we who have believed do enter that
kingdom is from another place.”
Jesus took a long look into the
homeland. Long enough to count
His friends. “I could ask my Father
and He would give me… twelve
armies of angels.” And seeing them
up there gave Him strength down
here.
God to keep His promise. He said
He’s watching over His word to
perform it. He’s not watching over
your works or your behavior, He is
watching over His WORD. Stop
reminding Him of your behavior, and
start reminding Him of His promises.
You’re not the performer. He’s
the performer. We simply get to come
to the show. We get to “Stand and
see the salvation of our God!”
(Exodus 14:13) We get to have front
row seats and receive ALL of God’s
great promises.
When you believe these three things,
joy and peace will flow in your life like
a river.
Rest in these amazing truths!
Shared via Gregory Dickow Ministries
bring us into a continual place of
rest?
1. Believe it is finished (John
19:30)
Jesus did it all! When Jesus shed
His blood and breathed His last, the
price was paid! He paid for your sin,
sickness and the curse of the law.
You don’t have to live with the hand
you were dealt. You are redeemed!
2. Believe God is your source
(Philippians 4:19)
When you know God is your source,
you are at peace. When Adam Eve
knew God was their source, they
still worked and tended to creation,
but they didn’t work to have peace.
They just had peace because they
knew God was their source
3. Believe He is watching over His
Word to perform it (Jeremiah
1:12)
We don’t have to perform to get
presence of God in order to release
the right chemicals (dopamine +
serotonin) that make us feel love,
happiness and ultimate peace. We
need to “get high” . . . on God.
As cheesy as that sounds, that is
what we were created for. And His
presence is the key.
Psalm 16:11 — “In Your presence
there is fullness of Joy, at your right
hand are pleasures forevermore.”
And you are IN His presence NOW
by the blood of Jesus. Hebrews
10:19 says we have access to the
holiest place, through the blood of
Jesus.
Once we realize that we are in His
presence without striving, without
effort and without fear, joy comes.
And if we who believe, do enter into
that rest, what are the things we
should continue to believe that will
When we don’t understand something
about God, some people are tempted
to discredit him completely. My friend
Andy Stanley said, “You don’t have to
understand everything to believe in
something.” In John 9, Jesus met a
man who was born blind and forced to
beg just to get by. Jesus’ disciples
wanted to know whose fault it was that
the man was blind: Was it his fault? Or
his parents?
For some reason, it’s human nature to
place blame. For example, if someone
gets cancer, some Christian Atheists
might wonder, What do you think they
did to deserve cancer? If someone’s
wife walks out, insensitive
churchgoers might think, If he had
been a better spiritual leader, his wife
wouldn’t have done that. If a teenager
is rebellious, hardened onlookers
might privately reflect, If that kid’s
parents had been more involved, this
never would have happened.
People like to place blame.
When the disciples wondered who to
blame, to their surprise Jesus
answered,
Neither this man nor his parents
sinned… but this happened so that the
work of God might be displayed in his
life. — John 9:3
This man had spent years enduring
the hardships of a life without sight,
and Jesus basically said that God
would be glorified through this tragedy.
God can have a purpose in our pain.
Just because God can use what
happens doesn’t mean he causes
everything. God does cause some
pain (Heb. 12:7 – 11 talks about God
“disciplining” his children), but much
pain — especially that caused by the
sins of other people — is not caused
.
by God. He may allow it, but he
doesn’t cause it. That’s an important
distinction. Recognizing this fact
might still leave us angry with him
(and I’m guessing he probably
understands when it’s a person in
pain).
We learn to overcome this anger as
we get to know God. And as we do,
we learn how to trust that he is still
good, loving, and wise in everything
he does, even if we don’t know why
things happen.
Purpose in Our Pain
Even though many things in life will
always hurt and be unexplainable,
God occasionally (perhaps often)
shines purposeful light into our
darkness. If you’re hurting right now,
that might be difficult to believe. You
might be in a place similar to where
Michael and Andrea were when they
lost their newborn child.
Andrea begged me not to tell her
that her baby died for a reason. In
the moment, her objection to being
given a reason was understandable,
completely justified. But after a
season of grieving, many find
comfort in knowing that God can use
even tragedies to bring about good.
In fact, Ephesians 1:11 makes a
bold statement:
[God] works out everything in
conformity with the purpose of His
will.
This is precisely what God did in the
story of the man who was born blind.
When Jesus saw him, He spit on the
ground, made some mud with the
saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes.
That doesn’t make sense to our
limited minds, and the man’s lifetime
of blindness up to that point certainly
wasn’t fair. But after washing in the
Pool of Siloam, that man went home
seeing.
This is the place where the story
should reach its climactic ending.
“Woo hoo! The blind guy can see
now. Let’s throw him a party. We’ll
eat cake and ice cream.” And there
was great rejoicing.
But that’s not what happened. Jesus
had performed an incredible miracle,
but the Pharisees (religious leaders)
wouldn’t buy it because Jesus had
done it on the Sabbath.
Pharisees know: you can’t work on
the Sabbath. And everybody knows:
healing is work. Because they didn’t
understand, they refused to believe.
After a great commotion, the
Pharisees subpoenaed the
previously blind guy to ask him some
more questions. With blunt honesty
and clear sight, he said,
Whether [Jesus] is a sinner or not, I
don’t know. One thing I do know. I
was blind but now I see! — John
9:24-25
In other words, “Look guys, there are
many things I don’t claim to
understand. But one thing is
undeniably true: I was blind and now
I see!” As a struggling Christian
Atheist, I have my doubts and
questions about God, but I’m
thankful that just like the blind guy
who was healed, I don’t have to
understand everything to believe
something.
If you’re grieving, I pray that one day
in the future, God will show you
some purpose and meaning for your
pain.
By Craig Groeschel
Life out of Death
On Christmas Eve in 2004,
David Fox was admitted to the
hospital. David was thirty-four
and married, the father of one
son.
Even as David’s health declined,
hundreds of faithful Christians
prayed for him, believing God for
his full recovery. Certainly God
would heal this passionate
worship leader, godly father,
faithful husband, and friend. We
were all convinced David would
come home.
On January 14, 2005, David
died.
David wasn’t just some guy at
my church. He was my wife’s
only brother. Losing him was
very personal to our family.
To say that we questioned God
would be a massive
understatement.
Why would God allow this? Why
would God take someone so
young? Why didn’t God answer
our prayers? What did any of us
do to deserve this? Where is
God in our pain and loss?
were all speechless. To this day,
uncle Blue is a different person.
His story is just one of many
lives impacted by God for good
— through David’s death.
Even though we grieved deeply
and didn’t understand, God did
something beautiful in our pain.
God took our worst nightmare
and somehow brought spiritual
life out of a tragic death.
Even in the middle of our pain,
or, perhaps more accurate,
especially in the middle of our
pain, God is good. If you are
hurting and can’t see His
goodness now, I pray you will
one day soon.
Excerpted from Christian Atheist by Craig
Groeschel.
We grieved deeply, as you’d
expect. The time at the funeral
home was kind of a blur. I
remember unlimited hugs from
loved ones and unstoppable
tears.
I’ll never forget when David’s
dad and my father-in-law, Sam,
said to me, “Your children are
never supposed to go before
you.” Losing his son brought
this strong man to his knees. I
prayed that I would never know
the pain of losing a child.
At David’s funeral, in the midst
of our significant loss, we all
tried to celebrate the good
things from David’s life. At the
end of the service, I invited
people in the crowd to meet the
same Jesus who had changed
David several years before.
We have an uncle we call uncle
Blue. For years we had been
praying that uncle Blue would
meet Christ. The more we
asked God to reveal himself to
our uncle, the farther he
seemed to move away from
God. When uncle Blue accepted
Christ at David’s funeral, we
If a church member wants to talk to
Passion City Church pastor Louie
Giglio about anxiety or depression,
Giglio isn't just a sympathetic
listener. He speaks from experience.
The author and founder of the
Passion Movement, which brings
together young adults looking to
grow and strengthen their faith, went
through a debilitating struggle that
began several years ago.
“I literally woke up in a panic thinking
I was going to die at 2 o'clock in the
morning,” Giglio tells
Guideposts.org. That moment sent
him on a months-long downward
spiral into depression, fear, and
darkness.
“Spiritually I was out of whack,”
Giglio recalls. “Mentally, for sure, I
probably had something close to a
nervous breakdown. I didn't leave
the house most days for a long, long
time. I had to seek medical help. I
sought spiritual help. I cried out to
God. It was a very, very dark season
of life.”
Giglio’s been open about his mental
health journey, most recently in his
book, The Comeback, but in his
book, Goliath Must Fall, the pastor
sought to use his own struggles to
help others and bust some
misconceptions about anxiety and
depression in the church.
“I keep wanting to unpack that
because so many people are
struggling with it,” he explains. “I'm a
pastor and there are people in our
church here and in others that I run
into almost every day who are
frozen with anxiety. I'm talking about
struggled with anger or struggled
with fear, anxiety, or depression. A
lot of people have been around the
block dozens of times trying to
makes changes, but yet the giant is
still there.
The beauty in the book is that we're
not David in the story of David and
Goliath. From our perspective, Jesus
is the giant slayer in the story. Jesus
is David in the story of David and
Goliath and He takes down the
giants on our behalf and so we just
learn to walk in what He's already
done for us.”
To really face your giants, Giglio
says you have to dig deep into
what’s causing you pain, fear, or
anxiety.
“Anxiety isn't a thing. It's the
symptom of a thing and so we have
to go a little deeper and ask a
question, ‘What is making me
anxious?’” he explains. “I gave too
much credit just to anxiety. What was
happening was something or
someone was making me anxious
and so I try to help and encourage
people to go one step further, to go
beneath the surface to ask, ‘What is
it that I'm afraid of? Who is it that I'm
afraid of? What was said that I wish I
could now mange the way it was
said?’ I was trying to manage every
outcome and I was trying to watch
over my shoulder all the time.”
The book outlines steps for preparing
for the big battles in your own life,
even the invisible ones. Giglio says
plenty of people aren’t struggling with
depression and anxiety like he was,
but they might be unknowingly
fighting a trickier problem.
middle school kids and nine year
olds and business professionals and
CEOs and moms. It's not just one
slice of life.”
For Giglio, learning to manage his
anxiety is still an ongoing lesson in
faith, trust, and acceptance.
“You have to start over again and I
needed to start all over again, my
brain needed to start all over again,
my nervous system had to reboot
again and all that took time,” Giglio
says. “Almost six months time, but
when you go through something like
that it marks you. I don't struggle
every day with anxiety, but I am
marked by what I went through and
it's still relevant to me every single
day.
His book doesn't offer a quick fix.
"I'm not telling people , ‘Just do this
simple little spiritual formula and
poof, you're going to forget about all
your troubles.’ If you've been through
the fire of divorce or the fire of
addiction or the fire of anger or the
fire of great loss or abuse, you're
going to be marked by that, but what
I'm trying to encourage people in is
that doesn't have to define you and it
doesn't have to define your outlook
on life.”
Goliath Must Fall takes lessons from
one of the most well-known stories in
the Bible and applies them to every-
day life, but first, he re-teaches the
story of David and Goliath.
“The problem is that most of us know
that in and of our own strength, we
can't defeat these giants that are in
our lives,” Giglio says. “Ask anyone
who's struggled with rejection or
The Passion City Church pastor is all about fighting the
giants in your own life.
“One of the giants we talked about in
the book is the giant of comfort and I
think for a normal person floating
through life, they're like, ‘Comfort's a
good thing. I'm trying to make my life
as comfortable as I can,’ but for
believers who think that there's
something greater than this present
has had a comfortable life.”
Article by Jessica Toomer.
life, comfort isn't always the best
thing,” Giglio explains.
“We're looking to make our lives
count. We're looking to make a
difference in the world. We're looking
to serve and help people and no one
who's ever done that in the world
Well … I’ve got good news. There
IS something in REAL But
whoever loves God is known by
God. — 1 Corinthians 8:3
We try to be famous when we
should long to be known. We strive
to prove we know best when we
should be seeking to be known by
the One who knows all.
We endeavor to make our names
known when our only goal should
be that we are fully known by Him.
To put it plainly, it is far better to be
known than it is to be famous.
We have established that we were
created to pursue, possess, and
even channel fame, but we have
so frequently misallocated where
that accumulated fame is to reside.
There is an ever-present clash of
ideals between what it means to be
famous and what it means to be
known. If we are to have any
success in our pursuit of His fame,
it will require that we reorient
ourselves toward His design. He
desires that we be fully known by
and hidden in Him. He desires that
we pursue knowledge of His face
and a dedication to His fame.
These two objectives go hand in
hand and cannot be effectively
achieved apart from each other.
This reorientation toward a focus
on being truly known by Him
begins with a commitment to
vulnerability before Him. He wants
to give us a great name and help
us earn a reputation throughout the
weakness. He is not looking for
perfection, but He does desire full
surrender. He longs to know us in
full.
If we are to be used by Him in a
way that proclaims His fame, we
must set our hearts not on fame
but on being known by the
Famous One. We must lay down
our reputation in exchange for His
and trust that He will build for us a
reputation capable of carrying His
fame. It is better to be known
than to be famous.
Where Am I Known?
Where am I known? Another way
to ask it is, Where does my fame
reside?
It is a critical question to answer
honestly, because if I am best
known by the Famous One, I will
be most motivated by the things
that proclaim His name. On the
other hand, if I am best known by
those around me, I will be most
motivated by the things that
preserve my fame in their eyes.
As with so many areas of life, this
is ultimately a matter of the heart.
It is a question of where we are
laying up treasure and what truly
drives us. It is a choice, because
we can only serve one master
(Matthew 6:24).
It requires an understanding that
we cannot effectively amplify His
fame unless we are fully hidden in
Him. Conversely, we cannot be
hidden in Him unless His fame is
If someone told you they could give you something that would provide a way out of EVERY
situation, EVERY challenge, solve EVERY problem and defeat ALL your enemies, what would you
say? Would you think “No way! That sounds too good to be true!”
If we are going to walk in the
fame for which we were
created, it will require that we
learn to distinguish between
His fame and the fame of
this world. - Unknown
*
land, but it requires a life that is
fully given over to Him. It does not
require a perfect life — far from it!
In fact, it is clear He has
repeatedly chosen for His work
those who have abandoned
pretense in favor of an embrace
of their own weakness.
He is looking for those who would
seek genuine, transparent
relationship with Him — those
who would lay down their own
reputations in favor of His. In
other words, He is looking for
those who desire to be known in
every way — failures and all.
This idea has become easier for
me to grasp since becoming a
father. When one of our children
says something like “You are the
best dad in the world,” it
absolutely melts my heart. It is
the best affirmation they can give,
and the weight of its value is
increased by the fact that our
relationship is genuine. My kids
know all too well that I am not
perfect, and they know I am
aware of their imperfections as
well. This mutual and genuine
relationship makes an expression
of great love all the more
meaningful because it flows from
a place of intimate knowledge of
my shortcomings. It is truly
unconditional.
I suggest it is not all that different
for our heavenly Father. He wants
to know every part of us and to
express His unconditional love for
us even while fully aware of our
our highest goal.
There is a sobering two-edged
component to this concept. So far,
we have focused mostly on the
exhilarating possibilities that exist if
we dedicate ourselves to God’s
fame and to being known by Him.
But it is equally true that if we
choose to devote ourselves to our
own fame and our own reputation,
those lesser desires will enslave us
(Galatians 4:9). If we become
more concerned with whom God is
We obtain and amplify that fame
when we are fully known by Him.
It is better to be known than to be
famous.
Excerpted from My Fame, His Fame by
Thann Bennett.
is using—and whether or not it is
us—than we are with the simple
desire that He move, we fall into
this trap.
Where are you known? Where
does your fame reside? Are you
fully known by and hidden in
Him?
When God moves through
another, are you willing to fall in
behind them?
Yes, we were made for fame —
His fame.
I have an important question to ask
you, today: What do you see?
One of my favorite stories in the
Bible comes out of Acts 3. A lame
man was begging on the street,
and Peter and John walk by. Verse
5 says the man “looked up,
expecting to get something from
them.”
Then Peter said, “Silver and gold I
do not have, but what I do have I
give you: In the name of Jesus
Christ of Nazareth, rise up and
walk.” And he took him by the right
hand and lifted him up, and
immediately his feet and ankle
bones received strength. So
he, leaping up, stood and walked
and entered the temple with
them—walking, leaping, and
praising God. (Acts 3:6-8)
What I love about this story is the
fact that the man was looking
is damaged? What is missing?
I want to challenge you today.
Don’t settle for the way things are!
God is ready to bring total
transformation, complete healing,
and extreme deliverance. His
mercy and grace are readily
available to help us in our time of
need (Hebrews 4:16). And your
miracle, your transformation is
contingent on one thing: what you
see. Here are three things to see
that will bring every breakthrough
in every area of your life:
See problems as possibilities.
During WWII, one of the great
generals, General Creighton
Abrams, and his men were
surrounded by the enemy on every
side. Upon realizing they were
surrounded, Abrams looked at his
men and said, “Gentlemen, we are
now in a position to attack the
up, expecting to receive
something. And although he was
expecting to receive money, he
received something much more
powerful. This is how we need to
live.
We need to look up, every day,
expecting to receive something
from God.
You might have a need in your life,
maybe something is broken, or an
area of your life is diseased,
dysfunctional. Jesus is ready to
heal it. He is ready to fix it. He is
ready to provide. Jesus will take
anybody in any condition, just like
this lame man in Acts 3. Whatever
you bring to Jesus, He heals. But it
starts with us looking up and
expecting to receive something
from Him!
What are you struggling with
today? What is out of order? What
which are unseen. (2 Corinthians
4:18)
What is seen: your sickness, your
unsaved loved ones, or a bad
financial situation. (Temporary)
What is not seen: the fulfillment of
God’s promise. (Eternal)
So here’s what you need to do.
Subject the thing that is
subject to change (YOUR
PRESENT CONDITION) to the
thing that is not subject to
change (GOD’S PROMISES). It
will change.
Believe it. See it.
Shared via Gregory Dickow Ministries.
See it.
This is how God looks at people.
God sees people based on what
they believe, not what they do.
And when we follow this example,
seeing every person in our lives
as someone to enjoy rather than
some to fix, we are going to
experience boundless joy,
limitless freedom, and
undisturbed peace.
See your present condition
through the eyes of faith.
For we walk by faith and not by
sight. (2 Corinthians 5:7)
No matter what your present
condition looks like, believe this: it
is subject to change!
While we do not look at the things
which are seen, but at the things
enemy from every direction.”
This is seeing things from God’s
perspective. This is seeing a
problem as a possibility. If a
military general can see life this
way, how much more should we—
children of God—see life this way?
See people not as problems to
solve, but people to enjoy.
In Philippians 1:3, Paul writes to
the church of Philippi, “I thank my
God upon every remembrance of
you.” I love this verse because the
church of Philippi wasn’t perfect.
It’s safe to assume that they did
some things that weren’t worth
“thanking God for”. Yet, Paul
brilliantly demonstrates how we
should see people — not as
problems to solve, but people to
enjoy.
The biblical concept of “harvest”
seems to have fundamentally shifted
in the minds of many contemporary
disciples. Once it had an
evangelistic connotation of
incarnational selflessness emulating
the example of the Master who
became nothing and gave all for the
sake of the lost one (Lk 15; Phil 2:1-
11). The harvest was the selfless
mission of redemption, designed to
run hard after those who were far
from Christ and His church.
We now live in an ecclesiastical era
where, it seems, that the biblical
concept of “harvest” has shifted from
a self-sacrificing all-consuming
priority to, at best, a hopeful and
somewhat theoretical byproduct of
that mission. For many, the terms of
“harvest” and “growing churches”
have become synonymous ideas.
But as evangelism rates decline,
many are quick to assign blame in
numerous external directions; but
few seem to be asking a more
introspective question.
The primary question that consumes
our attention is whether or not the
church is growing. Implicit in our
theory of growing churches is an
assumption that increasing the
bodies exposed to our preaching
ministry parallels to an increasing
Kingdom harvest. But why does the
“harvest” seem to be little more than
a greater share of the Christian
market? Does a realignment of the
saints, whether in a new church
plant, or in a newfound dynamism in
an existing assembly have any
correlation to the harvest mission of
Jesus? Therein rests the difficulty
with the new harvest—we are
shuffling believers from one location
to another and not really working in
the harvest fields at all.
transformation, Jesus directed His
disciples’ attention outward to the
ripe fields of lostness that
surrounded them. The shepherdless
sheep needed to know that the
Gospel meant good news for them
too.
This was to be the assignment of
church and the instructed prayer of
the disciple. Jesus’ harvest intention
was never the minority percentage
that was most ecclesiastically pre-
disposed to easily transfer from
inferior to superior sacred brands.
The reassembly of the saints is far
too small a task for the true Messiah.
Instead, He commissions, supplies,
and empowers any disciple with His
own presence in the Gospel
assignment of redeeming the
harvest.
The ninety-nine sheep safe in the
fold were not the sole objects of the
rescuing shepherd. His mission also
included the lost one, and it
demanded heroic effort. The good
shepherd knew his assignment.
Neglecting the one lost in favor of the
safe ones could never be the calling
of a good shepherd.
So, we must acknowledge that this
work of harvesting is far more difficult
than simply appealing to the tastes of
the evangelically predisposed.
Harvesting requires intentional
investment with those who, often on
the surface, have no interest in the
good news of Jesus, or at least in the
cultural assumptions they have about
Him and His church.
Mere consumeristic appeals are
unlikely to lure them into our
gatherings. Real relationships are
required. Sacrificial investment. Hard
conversations. Perseverance in the
We are acquainted with the
messaging required to attract the
easy harvest. It, too, is a simple
recipe to memorize and reproduce.
First, you must create a spirit of
dissatisfaction with the loathsome
assemblies that the already-
harvested presently attend. You’re
more relevant, more gospel-
centered, more caring. Persuade
them that what you offer is better,
however you (or they) define that
term. They need to be rescued and
you are their long-awaited rescuer.
Next, you work to feed and the
evangelically predisposed with
whatever the tastes of the changing
market demands. With great
conviction offer them bottomless and
unfathomable expositions, or simply
toss out fluffy Oprah-esque
platitudes – the local market
preferences determine the approach.
Finally, you produce. You, and the
leaders around you must deliver a
product that is in every way excellent
(or at least several degrees better
than your neighboring competitors.)
Market share is at stake.
And we get exactly the prize that we
have been aiming for – the already
believing, pre-harvested resting
comfortably in our waiting pews.
After all, they pay the rent.
But what about the original
understanding of ‘harvest’?
The context of Jesus’ introduction of
the idea of ‘the harvest’ (John 4:35)
stemmed from a gracious, yet
thoroughly truthful interaction with a
lost and broken woman from
Samaria. In the aftermath of that
exchange and the subsequent
evidence of her personal
Harvesting requires intentional investment
with those who, often on the surface, have
no interest in the good news of Jesus, or at
least in the cultural assumptions they have
about Him and His church.
face of continual resistance.
Passionate prayer. Gospel appeal.
These practices—among others—
are the normative work of true
harvesters. This is what Jesus’
people do.
And, those truly making a difference
in the harvest are often found in the
most unlikely places. Some are
pastors and ministry leaders—many
are not. They might have gifts that
put them in the public spotlight, but
prioritized. And, in so doing, they are
the true heroes we should be
celebrating.
Article by Jeff Christopherson.
put them in the public spotlight, but
many do not. In fact, harvesting gifts
do not always equate to positional
leadership in the church in North
America (which might tell us
something about the missionary
priority of the average church).
Regardless of where they are found,
those laboring in menial work of the
harvest are in the center of Jesus’
kingdom agenda. They are following
their Master in the practices He.
Reconnecting with God by Christopher Scott
– R79
The day to day guide to finding God and sharing His
grace through prayer and faith.
Take a journey and walk with God as you rediscover your
faith and joy of sharing God’s love.
To order visit our website or contact the author.
Email: [email protected]
Cell: 083 266 8120
OUR 100 YEAR HISTORY
Uviwe Child & Youth Services (formerly known as PE Childline) is a registered child protection organisation in the vibrant
city of Port Elizabeth. The organisation is registered with the NPO Directorate; registration number 003-620 NPO. We
partner with local communities in the Northern Areas, to implement integrated education and social support programmes.
Our programmes focus on at risk & vulnerable children & youth from Schauderville and Gelvandale, as we concentrate on
the depth rather than breadth of our impact.
Over the past 100 years, what began as a specialist organisation to protect the rights of abused children has grown into a
sustainable social agency in our city. We respect that those closest to the problem knows best to create the solution and
therefore use the strengths of each family to facilitate change. At the core of all decisions we make, we have the “child’s
best interest” at heart. UVIWE believes that we need to listen and hear the untold or silent stories of many “at risk” children
and youth in our communities. We believe in putting young futures first!
The aim of all our programmes are to provide children during different development phases with love, food (nutrition),
safety (protection) and stimulation (education support) to reach their full potential.
Our programmes equip teens with the necessary skills for life’s journey and enable them to become economically
THEORY OF CHANGE
Uviwe Child & Youth Services is a community partner who recognises the ability of children and youth from underprivileged
communities to be active change agents. PUTTING YOUNG FUTURES FIRST – we facilitate a young child’s journey of
schooling, personal development, active citizenship and help youth to identify alternative opportunities. Opportunities that
will break the cycle of poverty and unemployment in the Northern Areas of Port Elizabeth.
IMPACT
To unlock the potential of “at risk” children and youth to become active participants in shaping a bright new future for
themselves. A future free from poverty, violence and exploitation.
OUTCOME
Our programmes aim to achieve the following outcomes, in partnership with other community agents:
HOLISTIC DEVELOPMENT MODEL – FROM “CRADLE TO CAREER”
UVIWE’s youth programmes focus on the development of children and youth through 3 main interventions:
ACADEMIC / STIMULATION SPORT DEVELOPMENT LIFE SKILLS /INDEPENDENT LIVINGSCHOOL PERFORMANCE Karate/ self-defense /soccer team Health, sex & lifestyle education
Access to quality
Early Childhood
Development
Improved school
performance
(Grade 4-7)
Safe children, free
from violence
Confident, skilled
and resilient youth
Involved,
supportive parents
Effective child
protection system
in communities
UVIWE’s YOUTH Volunteer Programme is a
structured volunteer programme to create a
pathway to formal employment. This
programme helps youth to retain
employment, once obtained.
Youth Independent Living Programme (ZILP)
– 8 week job readiness & skills programme for
unemployed youth, Youth Club (Club Edge) –
dialogue, facilitating change, gender-based
violence programmes
Afterschool programme – education &
homework support, drama, art & music
therapy classes and Backpackers Life Skills
programme – to equip teens for the journey
of life
ECD programmes – to give kids an “equal
start at life”, to ensure children between the
age 2-5 are well nourished, immunized and
receive quality early childhood development
to help them succeed at life.
ECD
A strong education foundation for life
AFTERSCHOOL
Grade 4-7
YOUTH INDEPENDENT LIVING PROGRAMME
YOUTH VOLUNTEER PROGRAMME
ACTIVITIES
Uviwe Child & Youth Services’ activities and support programmes run over a broad spectrum. Activities start from as early as providing
access to early childhood development, providing primary school education support and skills development for unemployed youth. Positive
Parenting programmes are included to increase parent involvement in their children’s development and creating a nurturing home
environment for children. chnt and creating a nurturing home environment for children.
WAYS TO GET INVOLVE
Below is a list of activities through which you can be part of a team who makes a difference!
difference!
Uviwe has valid certificates to proof our
compliance with:
NPO Act: 003-620 NPO
SARS: PBO with section 18A status
SED: >75% Black beneficiaries
BEE: Level 4
• Donations In Kind (Goods)• Volunteer Your Time / Skill• Run A Fundraising Event• Donation - Access Sed & Bee Scorecard Points• Be Part Of Our Fund Development Team• Join Our Annual Giving Campaign
Director: Anna-Louise Olivier ([email protected])
Tel number: 041 453 0441/2/5 or Cell: 082 924 8941
Address: c/o Jan Hofmeyer & Nicholas Street, Schauderville, PORT ELIZABETH.
Our FB page is where you can see what we do, who we are and where you can get in touch with us.
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/UviweChildYouthServices
WEBSITE: http://www.uviwe.co.za
BANK DETAILS
Account Name: Uviwe Child & Youth Services
Bank: First National Bank
Account Number 621 4998 0981 (Savings)
Branch Code: Greenacres 629
Account Type: Business/Cheque
INTRODUCTION
Thoba Sports Consulting (Pty) Ltd (TSC) is a sports management company based in the Eastern Cape. TSC is the
holding company for ACT Elite Training Academy, Khulasande Sports Development (a non-profit organisation) as
well as TSC Sports Leadership and renders a variety of dedicated sports services including but not limited to:
• Sports Project Management
• Event Management
• Sports Management Consulting
• Sports, Corporate Clothing & Gifts Distribution
• Sports Coaching Services to schools and children in the Eastern Cape. • Sports Education and Training
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
• TSC Sports Leadership Programme
Thoba Sports Consulting holds the IP for the TSC Sports Leadership Programme currently being rolled out at
Hlumani High School, in Komga, Eastern Cape. The sports leadership programme is a education and training
vehicle used to empower the youth of Komga by putting through an informal sports management and sports
coaching skills development programme. The qualifying youth are then employed by TSC to manage Hlumani High
School’s sports and recreation programme as coaches and administrators. Through the programme, Hlumani High
School has received sports training equipment, sports kits and field maintenance equipment to ensure that the fields
are well maintained and in playable condition throughout the year.
• Khulasande Active Kids Programme
Khulasande Sports Development (KSD) is a registered Non-Profit organisation (registration number: 188-294
NPO; we are currently awaiting our tax exemption / PBO certificate from SARS which should be available in two
weeks). We specialise in the implementation of sports development programmes in the previously disadvantaged
and rural communities of the Eastern Cape, South Africa. We currently run programmes in the Makana Municipality -
Grahamstown, Riebeek East & Alicedale and Nelson Mandela Bay - Motherwell, Walmer Township and the Northern
Areas as well as in Cacadu – Kirkwood, Addo areas of the Eastern Cape.
Our Programmes:
We have been running the KSD ACTIVE KIDS Programme in the above-mentioned areas, impacting 5 schools (4
primary schools and 1 high school in NMB & Cacadu) and 5 schools (2 primary schools, 1 high school and 2
combined schools) in the Makana areas with an average of 4800 direct beneficiaries per annum. The programme
comprises of monthly coaching clinics in seasonal sports codes (athletics in summer; soccer, netball and rugby in
winter) as well as periodic sports festivals where we bring all our beneficiary schools together to participate in a day
of celebrating the ability to participate in sports activities. Our sports festivals have an average of 300 participants at
a time and include community athletics competitions as well winter sports festivals.
Continue…
Positive Spin-offs:
Through the programme we were able to employ 15 young people (either currently completing their studies or
those who’ve just completed their studies and are looking for permanent employment) in 2018 who helped with
the management of our programme and served as Youth Coaches and mentors for the young people we
encounter through our programmes. This number is set to increase to 22 this year. We also make use 4 local
small businesses (2 catering companies and 2 transport companies) who assist us by providing meals for the
young people during our coaching clinics and sports festivals as well as transportation services where necessary.
Our beneficiaries have been exposed to provincial athletics competitions under the auspices of Eastern Province
Athletics. Through these competitions, 7 athletes (aged 12 to 15) we selected to represent Eastern Province
Athletics at the ACNW Interprovincial Championships in Potchefstroom at the end of November last year. One of
the beneficiaries came back home with a silver medal and another was offered a full bursary to complete his high
school studies at Monument High School in Rooderpoort in Gauteng – these are just some of our success stories
through the programme. This year, we’ve had 3 beneficiaries win medals at the Eastern Province Athletics
Championships, two of which have been selected to represent the province at the Athletics South Africa National
Junior Championships in Paarl. All our beneficiaries are 100% black and come from poor communities where
such opportunities do not exist to due lack of resources and sometimes lack of willingness and interest from
school teachers.
Partners / Sponsors:
Grassroots Youth Development (GYD):
We are funded by Grassroots Youth Development (GYD), which is a Corporate Social Investment Programme
emanating from three wind farms located in the Eastern Cape, namely the Grassridge 60 MW wind farm in
Nelson Mandela Bay, the Waainek 24MW wind farm in the Makana Municipality and the Chaba 21 MW wind farm
in the Great Kei Municipality. The GYD initiative is a Socio Economic Development (SED) and an Enterprise
Development (ED) program aimed at creating socio-economic opportunities for youth that reside within 50
kilometres of each wind farm. The GYP program has been designed to focus specifically on the development and
implementation of projects in the field of education, sport and arts & culture.”
ACT Elite Training Academy (AETA):
AETA is a high performance athletics coaching academy based in Port Elizabeth. Talented athletes are identified
through our monthly coaching clinics and are then adopted by AETA who provides professional coaching services
to the athletes at no cost.
Radio Kingfisher:
Radio Kingfisher is Khulasande Sports Development’s media sponsor. Through the sponsorship, a radio
advertisement on KSD was created and is aired 30 times per month. Opportunities to be interviewed on live radio
are given to KSD and its partners twice a month on popular programmes to discuss the programmes and partner
involvements.
Conclusion:
To sustain our programmes and create permanent opportunities for the youth, we need to secure more partners
for KSD. We would love the opportunity to submit a formal proposal / funding application through your
organisation, which will allow us to adopt more schools in the region to benefit from our programmes. Would you
kindly give further information on the funding application process?
ACT ELITE TRAINING ACADEMY (Athletics Academy)
ACT Elite Training Academy is an elite athletics academy with its operations based at Linkside High School in Mill
Park. Our main aim is assisting athletes who wish to represent Eastern Province Athletics or Eastern Cape
Schools at national level as well as South Africa at international level.
As an academy, we subscribe to the model of Long Term Athlete Development (LTAD), which is a multi-stage
training, competition and recovery pathway guiding an individual's experience in sport and physical activity and as
such.
We specialise in coaching sprints, hurdles, jumps (LJ & TJ) as well as middle distance and have a team of 6
coaches that mentor and guide our athletes. We coach athletes from as young as 7 years old, with our oldest
athlete being the SA Masters Champion – Lizelle Vermaak at age 44.
Continue..
Our seniors (high school group) train 5 days a week (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday) at
Linkside High School at 15:00 during the week and 08:30 on Saturday. Our primary school athletes train 2 – 3
times a week. Our honours list / provincial athletes for the 2018 / 2019 athletics season is as follows:
Mia Vermaak – U/12 Long Jump (Bronze Medal); 150mH (4th place)
Amber- Lee Elliott – U/15 100m
Alec van den Berg – U/15 200m
Clarise Moolman – U/17 400m
Tanielle Moolman – U/17 400mH 98th place at nationals)
Luke Vieira – U/17 400m (8th place at nationals)
Marrelie van der Merwe – U/19 Long Jump (5th place at nationals)
Robyn Munro – U/19 Triple Jump
Casper Lötter – Senior Men 100m & 200m
Cayla Seddon – Senior Women 200m
Siyabonga Grootboom – Senior Men Long Jump and Triple Jump (8th place at nationals)
David de Villiers – Senior Men 400m
Lizelle Vermaak – SA Masters 80mH, 100m and 200m Champion
We are actively involved in social media where you can find links to our organisations:
Facebook:
Thoba Sports Consulting
Khulasande Sports Development
ACT Elite Training Academy
Athletics Coach T
Instagram:
Khulasande Sports Development
ACT Elite Training Academy
Athletics Coach T
.
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