Hello from Cape Town, South Africa!
 
It has been the most beautiful two days in Cape Town. We couldn’t ask for better weather and all 12 of us made it in safely and relatively on-time. 
 
After the long trip, we still hit the ground running. On Saturday, we had a chance to see a live Rugby game at Newlands Stadium. The Western Province (home team) played the Sharks and dominated the game. So, it gave us a chance to not only experience the game, but experience all of the ruckus and excitement of cheering for the winning team.
 
Cultural learning on Saturday – even if you boo & hiss the opposing team leading up to a play, South Africans still cheer for the opposing team if they make a good play. Though it really confused us for a while, how wonderful to acknowledge & respect great talent no matter whose side you’re on!
 
Today, we woke up early to go to have breakfast together and go to church locally with Estelle, a longtime friend of Brett & Lynn’s. After that, we headed for the strand (beach) to walk around and enjoy the fabulous weather and scenery. We then returned to Ivory Heights (our B&B) for lunch with the South African consultants. Together, we had great fun with a few team building exercises, reviewed our game plan for the week, received our pairing assignments, and prayed over our clients and the week. We finished the day with an incredible dinner.

Cultural learning on Sunday – if you’re ever in South Africa, you must try their pumpkin fritters. And if you see them, take all you can get your hands on because they’ll go fast.

Praises:

• All of the consultants are now here safely.
• The weather and location couldn’t be more beautiful.
• We had a productive & enjoyable planning session today.

Prayer Requests:

• Chris’s & Ryan’s laptops and cell phones were stolen while staying at a friend’s house on Friday night. Please pray that this will not dampen their spirits or hinder God’s work through them in any way. Also, please pray for those who stole from Chris & Ryan – that God will open their eyes & lay on their hearts a profitable & honest alternative to provide for themselves and their family (a child was slipped through bars on a window to take their stuff).
• Both of Stacy’s checked bags were lost in transit. One of her bags arrived today. Please pray that the other bag arrives quickly and with all of its contents.
• That all of the consultants (especially those from the U.S. and Indonesia) will be well-rested, focused and prepared for tomorrow’s session.

Thank you all for your prayers and support!
 
— Kim Frye

At last, we’re officially underway! Brett introduced the consultants, proving once again that a picture is worth a 1000 words, and had us in hysterics. We saw Richard in fancy dress, Brett doing strange and interesting things with an elastic band, Hendro - International Man of Mystery, Eric looking suave (as only Eric can), Francois scaling great mountains to be with his beloved, and Errol in leathers.

Then it was down to business, and we received some great teaching from Brett. After lunch we talked about the first of the 10 P’s, Purpose, and we had some really meaty discussions while developing our first scorecard.  I think we’ll be returning to this P throughout the next 2 weeks, as the other P’s pivot around it.

Overall, the day was full of teaching and intense discussions and prayer, and generated a lot of food for thought. I’m excited to see what directions God leads the consultants and clients over the next 2 weeks.

We rounded off the day with a lovely meal (provided by Stacie) and sunset (provided by God), followed by Eric trying to propose marriage to Paige, using only a squash ball as prop. No wonder she said no.

— Tiia

Praise the Lord for the beautiful morning, after a full-blessing-day yesterday. The day started with breakfast and Bob led the devotion on RECONCILIATION with God (Jeremiah Chapter 2:1-2,13). Each Team (US, SA and Indonesia), then, was busy preparing for the Client visit. Stacie, with her neat handwriting, jotted down the different agenda and locations that the “Kingdom-Principles Consultants” should head to.

Among others, Stephen and Rodney spent half a day at Storage SA’s office (around Strand) preparing them for Purpose and scorecard and ready for Product for the following day. Storage SA’s premise happens to be next to Muroff and Kuhne (Engineering Consulting company); at Kingfisher Park (Strand); where Kassie and Hendro took a walk around their office, prayed and discussed the re-purposing plan.

Richard and Francois managed to visit Spectra-Medic at Stellenbosch to talk to Rian and his team members; meanwhile Vivian focused on her Honda client; and Tiia with the Husband & Wife Owner of 7 Eleven. Well, the rest of the 5 other Team Consultants + Clients were also occupied with their alignment on the 10-P Profile.

What made the happiest moment, I guess, was that God answered our pray by bringing in Chris’ client to Ivory Heights as he missed the first day. Chris shared that they had a wonderful time ‘till quite late evening.

We concluded the afternoon with the debriefing session; sharing the great moments we all had with our clients as well as the challenges ahead that we would bring into our pray.

— Hendro

Hello faithful readers! We began our first Wednesday here in South Africa at 7 am with breakfast and devotions led by Adolph (one of the South African consultants and my cool partner consultant for this venture.) After a meal that included tiny Portobello mushrooms covered with cheese, we jumped into our second “structured” day working with our clients. We were excited to have all our clients in attendance (an answer to prayer) and to see that the camaraderie between traveling and local consultants and clients has already increased immeasurably. I was especially encouraged to see one client speaking into another client’s difficult situation – how lovely to see clients supporting one another!

The morning began with a story of an executive that made the decision to make God the CEO of his company and a video with the following lesson: “you can separate church and business, but you cannot separate God and business.” This really resonated with our clients, with one client commenting that just that morning he had realized he had lost control of his business and that he needed to simply “give control of (his) life and business” to God. Great confirmation! Next we covered miracles in the marketplace. One person shared an insight he’d heard,

“Not believing in marketplace miracles is not realistic. If you’ve been in business long enough, you know God provides.”

On that note, we took time to pray into our client’s businesses, asking for marketplace miracles for the difficulties or complexities our clients are currently facing. What a privilege to pray expectantly for such things. The rest of the day was spent covering two more Ps, Product and Presence and developing strategies and action items to align our clients’ businesses in these areas with Biblical principles.

We’ve only been working with our clients for 3 days, but we can already see the impact this is having in all areas of our clients’ lives. It is encouraging to see that our intense training has proven useful, but more so that God is moving and showing up here in Helderberg.

I close with an encouraging verse that was shared today:

Stand at the crossroads and look;
ask for the ancient paths,
ask where the good way is, and walk in it,
and you will find rest for your souls.
— Jeremiah 6:16

peace and love from S. Africa,

— paige

Hey guys! On Thursday morning I visited my client’s headquarters in Stellenbosch. My client is involved in the medical industry and he (the CEO) just recently dedicated his company to the Lord. My client brought 4 others to be trained under equip. I must say it is sometimes more difficult for my fellow SA consultant Francois and myself to minister to 5 people. However, it is a blessing to meet and get to know people who are dedicated in making their company a Kingdom one. It has been awesome getting to know Francois. He has been bold in the company he works for, as he has been challenging his CEO, who is black, to work together with him for the Lord. That is a big risk but he knows the importance of doing God’s work and being part of God’s desire for racial reconciliation.

This morning Brett dropped by for a visit to give his ideas on how my client’s company can reach out to the community. My client has a heart for the unemployed, where of the 20 million employable people in SA, 8 million are unemployed. I have to confess that the morning was one of the most uncomfortable moments of the trip so far. While Brett was talking I started to have this overwhelming feeling of sadness when I was looking at this woman who has a prominent role in the company. I felt the tears in my eyes and I knew there was a burden she was facing even though she was hiding
her feelings. I did not want to let Brett and others see what was happening. It was confirmed later in the meeting that she was facing some major trial. This is the third time God spoke something to me so part of me hopes God’s voice would not be as prominent when I get back to the US. It is too much for me.

In the afternoon, I helped dedicate one of the office rooms as the official prayer room. This room was the same empty room I used on Tuesday to do some work. Three of the clients and I prayed for God’s presence and we anointed one of the three to be the official prayer warrior for the headquarters. The other two will be intercessors also but at different branches within South Africa.

Over and out,

- Rich