Thanksgiving, Affirmations, and the Way Forward

After all the final presentations were made by our clients sharing about what God's done during this venture, our team had a debrief.   We enjoyed a time of giving thanks and praise for all the good work and transformations that began in the lives of our clients and their businesses.  We also spent some time writing affirmations for each other and many heart felt words were expressed.  It is truly an honor to serve together with this amazing team.

On Wednesday morning, we had an opportunity to thank and bless the staff of Beloftebos for their loving care of us during the 10 days, feeding us, serving us and welcoming us...with excellence and warmth. 

As our team said our goodbyes to each other, some flying back to India and different parts of the US, it was a sense of dear friendships and new bonds of the Rēp family formed.  It took awhile to get through the long hugs and warm exchanges, and even some tears. But we drove off from Beloftebos and the town of Stanford, I can say on behalf of our team that a part of our hearts were left behind and the hope of returning one day. We do look forward to see what God will do in the coming years in the communities.
We headed back to Cape Town, where our journey began.  A few of our team members were flying back home, so we dropped them off at the airport and those who stayed behind enjoyed a nice seafood lunch at the Waterfront.  Finishing off the day was a Rēp gathering of alumni and friends hosted at Beulah Lodge.  We shared about the venture, gave testimonies, and introduced our Cape Town leaders who will be launching the Repurposing Business training in the new PODs format (Personal, On-Demand, self paced). 

As a personal surprise, I got to catch up with my client Dieter from my 2013 venture.  What a delight to be able to catch up with him on what's transpired in his life, his family and business as a result of his Rēp consultation. 

The journey of transformation continues as we walk with God in bringing the Kingdom to businesses.  
Let me take this opportunity to thank you all the family and friends and all our supporters.  Your role has been vital to the success of this venture and we all share in the celebration!  May your investment of time, funds, and prayers be returned to you 100-fold. 
Blessings,
Linh
 

Today is the day that the Lord has made!

It was Commissioning Day today for the clients. What could be better than hearing the jaw-dropping and inspirational testimonies from the nine clients. We have been truly blessed with awesome clients, incredible fellow consultants, and a unity of mind and spirit that goes beyond the natural into the supernatural. It is even more amazing to consider that the seeds have just been sown and that the harvest is coming! This is just the start of the new journey and the proverbial tip of the iceberg! God will richly bless these seeds and turn them into a supernaturally plentiful harvest.

Blue Gum Country Estates

Blue Gum Country Estates is a family owned rustic 4 star country accommodation in Stanford that is run by Anton and Tarryn De Kock, a beautiful Kingdom couple. The purpose of their business is described by Romans 14:17 - the Kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. How beautiful it is to find the purpose of one's business in the Bible! Their strategic focus is on people, presence and place. The common thread is to enhance God's presence in their estate, and to show God's love to their staff so they develop and feel God's love, peace and joy. From a community perspective, it's on their heart to be good stewards of what God has given them and use their blessings to create employment to help transform Stanford.

Zoete Inval Traveller's Lodge

Marilyn Van Der Velden of Zoete Inval Traveller's Lodge is experiencing the full joy of God's repurposing by moving from divergence and dichotomy, which led to exhaustion, to convergence in being a place/shelter for rejuvenating, regrouping and recycling for all those Jesus sends. The lodge is moving from being a budget accommodation for backpackers to a place where their guests see, hear, smell, taste and feel the Kingdom of God in our midst. What an incredible transformation! Furthermore, while attending this rēp venture, Marilyn has been blessed with 3 miracles including her husband's willingness to receive prayer, and an employee's sister being freed from an alcohol addition of 30 years. Praise God for He is good!

Beloftebos

Andries and Coia, our most gracious venture hosts at Beloftebos, are a demonstration of the true power behind Kingdom marriages. Post-venture, their purpose has evolved from a mix of disparate businesses including a wedding venue and farm to providing a place of excellence where people can be restored, healed and inspired to discover and grow towards their God-given calling and encouraged to live out Kingdom marriages and model Kingdom families. This involves a shift towards Kingdom marriages, where every resource on the farm will work together to support this purpose. It is truly a beautiful thing to see purpose come together under God's guidance and eternal wisdom. And it is particularly apt in this case, as Andries and Coia are a wonderful model of a Kingdom marriage and Kingdom family with their four beautiful children

Gansbaai Heunig

Cloete and Rita Du Preez of Gansbaai Heunig are a blessed example of the power of God's visions. Cloete is a man of dreams and visions, some of which seemed to be orthogonal to their honey business. Through the visioning process, it became apparent to them that their business can, in fact, be their mission through the power of convergence. As a result, their new business will be named Rapha Healing Honey, coupled with a Honey Institute which will result in the creation of honey disciples using the honey business as missions. In this way, one beehive will become many and spread across Africa over generations. 

Go Natural

Johan Jacobs was diagnosed 11 years ago with MS (multi sclerosis) and now leads a life disease and medication free.   God’s vision for him since then is to equip people to live healthier lives – he doesn’t teach diet (although that’s part of it), he teaches lifestyle.  The giants Johan wants to bring down are modern healthcare and poor nutrition, with a desire to develop people to their full potential, live an empowered disease-free life, and fulfill their heavenly calling on earth.  Next steps are to expand from his one retail shop to a model shop (retail, juice bar, and kitchen), increase number of disciples and build upon his website. 

Makarios

Makarios was birthed from a vision that God gave to Andre Cloete in 2007 to collaborate with like-minded people to bring holistic change so that we can have sustainable communities, later team with Jaco Barkhuizen.   Following the visioning session, Makarios changed from an NGO (non-governmental organization) to an asset management company whose goal is to link those that have talents and abilities, wealth to those that don’t have abilities and means to live out their dreams, restoration of all things.  They are new to the Stanford area, and a passionate about seeing this community transformed.  Their next steps are to partner with God to expand their influence, but practically, to meet with the Stanford Business forum, better position themselves through compilation of a business pack, and meeting and networking with REP clients in the community.

Arise Shine.Africa

Arise Shine.Africa is a non-profit organization led by Beverley Baron-Chongo and Serina Windvogel serving the Mitchell’s Plain area.  Their main purpose is to enhance the quality of life for families through individuals so that healthy communities can be built.  They want to impact society through increasing literacy, skills development, street ministry (e.g. praying), discipleship, and impacting media and government.  The resulting Kingdom impact are souls being saved, communities blessing other communities, and People seeing God as their source and their purpose in Him.

Early Eagle Construction

Willem was one of the clients that was radically changed following the Visioning.  Willem runs a fencing business and prior to the Visioning, his focus was survival.  Following that, his purpose became to use his business and transform Stanford into a prosperous and God fearing community through training and discipleship and providing employment to help reduce unemployment and drug abuse in the community  His next steps are to setup a brick operation, finding partners and searching for training school property.

OnQ Research

Catherine Lund currently owns OnQ, a business that performs clinical research for the health and science based consulting and service industry.  Through innovative clinical research, OnQ is achieving and developing scientific excellence and sustainable strategic partnering achieving equitable health for Africa.  Catherine also heads HisBiz, a group within her local church that includes 120 entrepreneurs who fund small business startups.  Following the Visioning, she received revelation to partner with these entrepreneurs and equip them with Kingdom marketplace principles to eliminate the giant of unemployment within a 3km radius of her church.

Monday May 25th 2015 - The Last Venture Day

Today was the last Venture day, and it was a full one. Gone was the relaxing carefree weekend of sightseeing and high teas.,Instead, we immersed ourselves in the final two Ps, Process and  Planning.

Nestled in between these two Ps were discussions on next steps for the clients, and Giants.

The giants conversation was particularly interesting, as it culminated in a discussion on how the clients with their different business might effect societal transformation by collaboratively using their businesses to combat known giants in their community. Given the size of their community (not that big), the potential of the businesses having significant impact in a short amount of time becomes a very real possibility, An exciting prospect which might serve as a template for future small town transformation. 

Given that this was the last Venture day before the Final Presentation, the rest of the time was spent studiously wrestling through the scorecard. With the finish line in sight, deliverables wrap up became the priority, and consultants busily approached the task in the hopes that solid work now would result in getting to bed at a reasonable hour, rather than slaving away on the scorecard late at night.

In the midst of the work though there was still time for brevity, as Brett's long lost laundry was found. In celebration of this auspicious event, Manuel and Ed decided to model his clothes.

Abercrombie and Finch models step aside. This is how it's done!

Sunday May 24th 2015

Sunday morning, bright and sunny with bread for breakfast and worship for the soul, singing and making melody in our hearts right in the open. Brett shared from Mark 7:28-30. "And He said to her because of this saying, you may go your way". We were encouraged to speak words of faith, the good things we want to see for our clients and us as we wrap up all the deliverables.

It was afternoon and high tea at the "Blue gum"farm guest house of Anton and Terrence our youngest client, with their three lovely kids. It was lots of eating and talking with sister of Andreas and husband of Marilyn among others. It was knowing and sharing time.
Finally, it was the team together as warm it could be for a meal in Stanford. Had a time of hearing inspirational stories, praying for Linh's sisters home gathering and for peace and guidance for Robins daughter. We had a little here and there on catching up, and wrapping up on all the deliverable requisites and were done for the day an inspiring Sunday indeed.

Thanks
Suneera

Saturday May 23rd 2015 -God’s Goodness in the Land of the Living

“I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.” 

Psalm 27:13

Today was a beautiful day full of God's goodness.  We started off the morning with news that one of our consultants' father in law prayed to receive salvation after many years of prayer.  Wow, God is so good!! 

Our hosts Andries and Coia at Beloftebos treated our team with a fun tractor ride up to the top of a hill on their 1000 hectare farm.   They have beautiful naturally growing fynbos and a vast land as far as the eye can see.  With stops along the way to pick proteas and everlastings, I was in awe of the biodiversity of flora and fauna in this land.  Clint drove the tractor down the hill and gave us all a bumpy ride, especially those of us at the rear of the trailer. The weather was lovely atop the hill as we prayed God’s blessing over the land as well as for their family. What a humble and generous couple.  They love their children and have such a heart for their community.  It’s been a privilege for our team to get to know them during this venture. 

We then went into town to pick up some lunch to take on our road trip to Cape Agulhus.  In a 4 car caravan, we traveled over dusty and bumpy roads, and arrived at the spot that many prophetic words have been spoken about revival coming through the southern tip of Africa. 

The team consists of different people from diverse nationalities: South African, Portuguese, English, Scottish, Indian, Mexican, American Indian, Filipino, Chinese, Vietnamese, Australian, Canadian and American.  We gathered to pray for a sustained revival to come to South Africa and for transformation to the church and the communities.  Right by the beach, we took communion together as a body of Christ.

It’s a beautiful thing to be on these ventures to come on mission together and serve together as a unified team.  To me, it’s like living the Acts 2 church, for the 2 weeks, as believers, we get to live together, break bread daily, pray for one another, and serve others in practical ways.  We stand in faith for God to do amazing things in our midst and in the lives of those in the community of Stanford.  Believing God that His purposes will be fulfilled and we will see His glory manifest in the nations.

As much as we work hard and are fully committed to provide excellence during the venture, we also have lots of fun on our outings.  Some adventurous and nature loving guys search the beach for octopus and sea anemones and crabs…with success!  A few team members even attempted to do fun “jump shots” at the southernmost tip, where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans come together.  You know you are getting close when you give each other nicknames and start sharing embarrassing stories by fireside.  (Remember, what happens in SA, stays in SA.)

Friday May 22nd 2015

Geese in “deed” are Geese indeed; quickly grabbing cues we spring out in love & action, cause that’s our DNA. Thank you Gareth for sharing on empowering others and being there for them when they are in need. It was awesome.

The green chilly made my breakfast great. It went well, with bacon, fried eggs and boiled tomatoes. At 8am, we started the intercession for the clients for the day. The intercessory team is an asset, they heard a lot from God to bless the clients.

Later the clients went over the “Bretting” session, pardon me, the visioning session, matching the client’s purposes with their passions and gifting. The general view was that all of them went back with a broader picture of their purposes and deeper understanding of their potential.

4 guys went missing at 12noon. They went shark cage diving. Took videos of 9 different sharks. S.B. Manuel, (S.B. stands for Shark Bait) was the brains behind it.

After 5 days of “Garetting”, sorry Scorecarding, Brett decided to take us out to Stanford for a Pizza dinner with Soups, vegies etc.,

This week has been great; book yourself for the next venture ………. NOW

                                                                                                                        ROBIN R

May 20, 2015 – Foundational Principles Built on a Great Cup of Coffee!

What a day!

The clients and consultants are starting to form deeper relationships, prayer and worship time starts the day, progress toward definition of the first 5 “P”s, the intercessors engaging in effective prayer covering, warm South Africa offerings for breakfast and lunch, dinner by locals, green coffee beans roasted, cooled, ground, and steeped into a fantastic cup of coffee to top off the day.

Brett, as always, offers an engaging discussion on Foundational Principles that are intended to “kill” the giant of dichotomy thinking that keeps business owner from getting into God’s business, i.e. what they thought was their business, is actually an extension of God’s business that’s really meant to bless His people.  The concept of funding being a flow through invention by God, and not a storehouse commodity, is still enthralling.  Brett continues with “glory”, God’s glory in businesses and scriptural examples of using business tools (donkey).

The accommodations are perfect for this rEp venture; a huge tent for the meetings and a number of old houses on the property (adjoining farm properties as well) that have been converted into multi-bed accommodations.  A group of us men are staying in what’s called the “Light House” (because there’s a pond on the property – about 100 feet out the back side of the house).  The stars are beautiful!  It’s amazing to see such clear skies – it reminds me of home years ago in north central Montana where I grew up with nights spent out in the pastures, bedrolls, and open skies with stars abounding.  I would offer a picture of the pond, but we leave for the tent early in the morning, in the dark, and return for the evening, after dark.

To help break the morning stresses while working on scorecards, Brett started a green coffee bean roasting session (8 beans) on one of the space heaters.

Later, in the afternoon, the real product, roasted during high tea time, using a pan and spatula on a small gas cook top.   After dinner, the fresh ground coffee brews into an excellent cup of coffee.  I think I may have converted some locals to home roasting organic green coffee beans (the above beans were found by Johan on an outing to Somerset).

My clients, Beverley and Serina, are representing “Arise Shine . Africa”, an NPO (Non-Profit Organization). That’s a dot in the name; it’s going to be a fully registered NPO by the end of June.  They minister in Mitchell’s Plain, near Cape Town.  God has already poured a huge vision into these two ladies, for ministering to an initial estimate of 3000 people being their sphere of influence.   I asked Beverley “How big is Mitchell’s Plain?”  She stated about 2.3 million.  That’s when I realized, from the night before when Beverley shared the documents she submitted as part of the NPO registration, the vision for “Arise Shine . Africa”, is, all 2.3 million.  Wow!

I’m very appreciative of the prayer from the intercession teams here and around the world, and from friends and family back home.  I need to be very tentative to what the Father wants me to do while here.  Beverley and Serina are engaging and embracing the 10-P score carding very well.  I do see them picking up the deliverables at the end of the venture, and continuing to press into expanding and fulfilling their calling in “Arise Shine . Africa”.

Thursday 19 May 2015 - Day 4

It’s day 4 on the venture and the team is getting used to the early morning schedule. Everyone piles in for morning devotions lead by Sharon and gets treated to another example of Beloftobos hospitality. In addition to eggs, tomatoes, boerewors and all the fresh baked country bread, yogurt, muesli, we were treated to steel cut oats with fresh squeezed warmed milk and Gaansbaai Huening. Otherwise known as absolutely delicious honey from straight off the farms of one of the Rep clients.
Everything changes pace today, and the flow of topics get into a lot of the fun, fuzzy stuff. Two more P’s were up - the first being Partnering. Another one of the infamous Brett questions got a good laugh, asking how many men in the room had lost money because they ignored their partner’s- their wive’s - advice. A good number of sheepish hands went into the air as we learned more about foundational details to choosing and building good partnerships. Then everyone got to brainstorm Place, the next P, and the power of inviting God’s presence into a physical space. 

Our own HOTTIE staff member Linh Ly lead us through an exercise in appreciation and there quite a few moist eyes in the room as clients and consultants had a chance to speak encouragement and affirming words to one another. Brett moved onto Convergence topics where a hot debate arose with Andre about the different seasons of life. “Seasons? I only know of four - Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter."
My favorite part was LEMON Leadership, as clients got to see their first and second lemon slices. Our group had quite a few Networkers, including our hosts Andries and Coia, who were Networker-Luminary, and Luminary-Networker respectively. We hope this wonderful couple has a great team of Managers and Organizers to support this vast farm!
By end of day, we finished up a bunch of score cards, had consumed multiple quantities of coffee - some hand-roasted on the grounds. 9 cups is the record so far by Brett but we think he’s sneaking in a secret stash in the morning. Apple tarts, homemade cheesecake, fresh salad from the garden in addition to rustic chicken pot pie and beef stroganoff were just some of the delectable treats we stuffed down during the day.
Visioning and prayer sessions began tonight- I’ll leave details behind so the other teams can discover this amazing process themselves. All I can say is, whatever you think you are coming in for at a Venture, be prepared to have your whole life Re-Purposed, in a big, big way!