The Start of Great Things

ETh 2011 (The ENTRUST Theology Course) completed its first year this week. George Whitefield College has begun releasing its first year courses in KZN for students who are unable to make it to Cape Town. Under the guidance of Andy Pike of ENTRUST, 3 students completed the first third of the first year course. From left to right: Jeremiah von Kuhn (Church on the Ridge and TBT Pmb), Sinen Majola (Christ Church Umhlanga), Andy Pike (ENTRUST) and Sbonelo Ngcobo (Christ Church North Coast). Sinen will be studying full time at GWC next year, while Jeremiah and Sbonelo will continue with the ETh. Please pray for more students in the new year, and that through this course Christ will be glorified.

Future Preachers

The first year of the ENTRUST Preaching Course concluded this week. Five students from across KZN joined Michael Schafer for a morning each week to discuss preaching, listen to it and practice doing it. Join us in thanking God for the opportunity to do so, and pray that he would use these young men to boldly declare the Gospel in our province, for many years to come. From left to right: Jeremiah von Kuhn (Church on the Ridge and TBT Pmb), Sinen Majola (Christ Church Umhlanga), Michael Schafer (ENTRUST), Ryan Naidoo (Christ Church Newlands), Sbonelo Ngcobo (Christ Church North Coast) and Dietrich Wichmann (Trinity Church Hilton). We are looking forward to a new group of young GWC graduates joining us in 2012!

Crossword Junior Camp 2011

Crossword Junior Camp has been an annual event for grade 4 – 7 children for a number of years, and this year was no exception. Camp Jonathan in Eston became home to 60 campers and camp leaders from 7 – 9 October. With a weekend of sunny skies and lots of space to run around, there was plenty of time to have fun with this year’s theme of ‘Back at the Ranch’! Perhaps a highlight was learning to line dance at the Hoedown on Saturday evening, dressed in a variety of accessories made earlier in the day!

But the most important aspect of any of our camps is the Bible teaching, and much thought is given to how to engage with the children as they are taught. Camp speaker Andy Pike explained 4 of Jesus’ parables over the weekend. The campers learnt that Heaven is like a treasure, and that getting it is all about believing God’s word, and never letting anything get in the way of loving and trusting Jesus.

The camp leaders worked hard to reinforce the message of each talk in their small groups. No doubt it is their prayer that each child will be like the ‘good soil’ – that the gospel will take root in their hearts and that they will begin and continue to trust in Christ as their Saviour and Lord.

THE 2011 KZN MEN’S CONVENTION

The 4th KZN Men’s Convention was held on 10 September at the Westville Baptist Church. Despite the fact that England were facing off against Argentina in the Rugby World Cup, about 155 men from more than 20 different churches and denominations came to hear Bishop Martin Morrison (Rector of Christ Church Midrand) speak from the Psalms on the theme: “Experiencing God”.

Each of these main talks was preceded by some carefully chosen songs and a short ‘Sound Byte’ designed to give men some practical, down-to-earth help in daily Christian living. Nigel Richardson (Trinity Church Morningside), speaking from 2 Timothy 3:16-17 on the subject of ‘The man of God and the Bible’, urged men to listen to their Captain as they prioritised the Bible in their lives. Rat Adjes (Christ Church North Coast) spoke on ‘The man of God and Prayer’ from 1 Timothy 2:8 and encouraged men to lead their churches and families in prayer. Jomo Mchunu (Christ Church Hillcrest) finished off the ‘Soundbytes’ with some challenging comments on what constitutes a Real Man as he spoke on the subject of ‘The man of God and Godliness’ from 1 Timothy 6:11.

The three plenary sessions (expositions of Psalms 42 & 43, Psalm 73 and Psalm 88) focussed on the faithfulness of our Triune God through the joys, sorrows, trials and temptations that are the normal Christian experience for men who follow Jesus. Bishop Martin held our attention with his careful exposition and the anecdotes and illustrations he drew from his many years of experience as a lawyer and a minister of the gospel.

Psalms 42 and 43 express the yearning and frustration of the believer who has been separated from the presence of his God. We were reminded that, though separated from the physical presence of Christ in this world, believers are to be people of faith and prayer as we wait patiently for His glorious appearing.

In Psalm 73, the believer notes the carefree and prosperous lives of the wicked and asks why the lives of believers are marked by trials and suffering. He wonders whether he has kept his heart pure in vain and whether it’s really worth living in submission to Jesus. Just when he is about to give up on God he remembers the eternal destiny of those who reject God and the eternal life that is promised to those who persevere. We were urged to keep eternity in perspective and to remember that the sufferings that believers endure for Christ are momentary compared to the richness of eternal life and the utter ruin that awaits those who are perishing.

The final session focussed on Psalm 88 in which the Psalmist feels abandoned and forsaken by God. It is a powerful description of what the Lord Jesus experienced on the Cross as he took on himself the wrath of God for the sins of believers. Through his unfailing obedience to death he secured forgiveness from sin and salvation from judgement for those who surrender their lives to Him as their Lord and Saviour.

The annual convention is slowly becoming a highlight on the Christian calendar for men in KZN. The overwhelming sentiment was that the changes in venue and format were for the better (especially the seating!) and that God’s Word had encouraged and challenged us all to live our lives for the sake of the Kingdom of God and the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Written by Andy Pike

2011 KZN Women’s Convention

The 20th of August 2011 saw over 300 women from KZN and from all walks of life, gathering together to spend a day around God’s word, looking at the subject of godly contentment. This year, the speaker, Sarie King delved into both the Old and New Testaments, showing us how God defines what godly contentment is and isn’t and what it looks like in practise. Sarie (who is from Australia and a fervent Wallaby fan much to everyone’s disgust!) spoke very sensitively about the topic and gave some very challenging applications for women in different situations. Time after the sessions and during tea and lunch (where we had some yummy food!) was a great opportunity to get to know one another better and also very encouraging to be able to chat to other Christian women about the struggles that we share. All in all, it was a day well spent and the reminder that we as Christians trust in a God who is sovereign, will hopefully be something that we cling onto no matter what circumstance we may find ourselves in.

Robyn Daniels – Apprentice at Christ Church Umhlanga

John Stott entrusted the Gospel

John Stott exemplified all that we try and achieve at ENTRUST. His life and ministry portrayed a Bible teacher who watched his life and doctrine closely, entrusting to others the wonder of the Gospel. At ENTRUST, we urge our students to teach the Bible with 3 specific phrases in mind: "See it ALL" (that is, set the passage in its context); "Get it RIGHT" (that is, do a careful and thorough study of the content of the passage); and then "Put it ACROSS" (that is, connect the passage to the lives of the hearers, by applying it and presenting it, in a compelling way). John Stott modeled all those things in his preaching and in his writing, perhaps more than any other. Please join us in thanking God for his ministry and may God grant that many will follow in his steps, seeking to be "good and faithful servants" of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Revive Conference 2011

As part of the ENTRUST Cross Training programme, this year saw the first of what will hopefully become an annual conference. The Revive Conference is aimed at equipping those involved in youth and children’s ministry. This year’s speaker was Rory Bell, of TnT Ministries in London. Rory has been a children’s worker for many years and ministered at Christ Church Midrand with his wife Kim before they took up the leadership of TnT, where they are currently involved in writing children’s teaching material and running training programmes for kids and youth leaders.

Rory’s 4 sessions included very helpful discussions on what real ministry is, on how to use volunteers in the local church, and how to support parents in their role of teaching their children the Bible. Combined with a healthy dose of humour and conviction, Rory encouraged everyone to keep persevering in gospel-centred ministry. It was a great time of reflection and fellowship for all.

Michelle Edgcumbe

MYC (Mid Year Conference) 2011

The annual Mid-Year Conference is always the highlight of the year for The Bible Talks students — this year was no different. This year’s conference (the 14th) was well attended by 147 students from many university campuses in South Africa and around the world. The fellowship with other Christians was great (as was the food!) but what made the conference unique was this year’s theme, the Cross of Christ. Of course, Christ crucified and risen is preached every year at MYC. But to spend three days thinking upon the glorious cross of Christ, the very heart of the Christian faith, made for, what many called, “the best MYC ever.”
God was gracious to us, in that two gifted preachers, Grant Retief and Ray Brown, opened the Scriptures for us so that we heard the voice of God. Grant preached on the love of God – Romans 3:21-26 (an offensive love), Ephesians 2:1-10 (a great love) and Mark 8:31-9:1 (a costly love). One student commented after the exposition of the Ephesians passage, “if that isn’t good news, I don’t know what is!” Many of us were humbled and amazed at God’s great love to us in Christ.

Ray Brown preached on the cross-centered life, challenging us to “take up your cross and follow Jesus.” From God’s Word, he reminded us that the pattern of the Christian life is "suffering now, glory in the world to come." (Grant challenged us on this from Jesus’ words in Mark 8, too). The preaching was faithful, lively, challenging and it connected with the students. The preaching of God’s Word was the highlight of the conference. It’s not every day that hundreds of university students hear the voice of the living God speak to them!

The electives, namely: race and culture, healing, relationships and music, generated much discussion. The cross-shaped pattern of the Christian life — suffering in this life, glory in the next – was echoed in the electives. The workshop groups (students gathered into small groups to study a passage of Scripture) greatly encouraged us (we dug into Mark 15:16-39) as it enabled us to see that, with the help of the Holy Spirit, we can understand the Scriptures for ourselves.

We are very thankful to God for such a blessed conference! Kim Carr of The Bible Talks – Howard did an incredible job in organizing the event, along with countless helpers. Thank you too, to all those from South Africa, Australia and the United States who generously contributed towards sponsorships for some of the students. Most of all, we’re thankful to God, for His great love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. May we boast only in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ and may the Spirit enable us to live the cross-centred life.

Jeremiah von Kuhn – The Bible Talks – Pietermarizburg

A sad goodbye!

Ray Brown has been an integral part of the ministry of ENTRUST for a number of years, but he and his family have decided to move back home to the UK, to be part of an exciting church planting initiative in London. Ray has served on the board of ENTRUST, preached at our conferences, taught on our training course, mentored numerous apprentices and young ministers and been an encouragement to all who have crossed his path. Please join us in thanking God for his time amongst us, and all that he was able to achieve by the grace of God. His time with us comes to an end very soon, but not before one final appearance at the Mid Year Conference, for which we ask your prayer. Ray, thank you for all that you have meant to us! May God bless you, your family and your new ministry, for the years that lie ahead.

In the photo: Michael Schafer, Sam Groves, Ray, Grant Retief, Wayne Barkhuizen and Goodenough Mthembu; the 2010/11 ENTRUST Board.

ENTRUST Ministry Conference

ENTRUST’s first Ministry Conference was held at Christ Church Hillcrest from 25-27 May 2010 with Rev. Dr. Mervyn Eloff as the main speaker. Mervyn tackled the Gospel of John in six very useful and stimulating sessions, which will serve as a great resource for any expositor who plans to teach from John’s Gospel in the future. All the talks are available without charge on the ENTRUST website.

It was very encouraging to see about 50 people from different churches around KZN gathering together, as those who take Bible teaching seriously. Our prayer is that God would add to that number every year, so that more and more people would be committed to developing expository ministries in their churches.

Join us in praying for our Mid Year Conference (5-7 May) which sees over 150 students coming together for a weekend of Bible teaching at Living Waters campsite in Camperdown. And keep checking the website for details concerning our other conferences and ministries.

Stage 3: North Carolina contacts

Over the last few years, ENTRUST has been richly blessed by the friendship of Paul Passaro, who came as a missionary from North Carolina to Pietermaritzburg SA. Whilst there, through Church on the Ridge, Paul discovered ENTRUST and has been blessing us ever since! Paul’s great gift is to connect like-minded evangelicals with one another, not just in SA, but around the world.

After the T4G Conference, we headed off to Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Paul’s hometown to meet up with church leaders, missions orgamisations and university ministries, which he had organised in advance. We were given the opportunity to preach, conduct evangelistic meetings and introduce ENTRUST to various groups who are supportive and interested in South African ministry. Previous relationships were strengthened and new ones forged, including the possibility of welcoming North Carolina students to SA for their summer holidays, to participate in a condenced internship programme which will assist them in their ministries back home, as well as strengthen ties between our varying ministries.

We would like to express our thanks to Paul and his wife Kristi who treated us with so much love and hospitality. Pictured below is Paul (first on the left) and Kristi (fourth from the left) and members of different churches, mission agencies and student workers at a breakfast in Chapel Hill.

Stage 2: T4G Conference

The magnitude of the T4G conference with 7,000 delegates could never be captured by an amateur photographer! This photograph only reveals half the crowd! Also captured at T4G were Michael Schafer, Goodenough Mthembu, Matt Schmucker (Executive Director of IX Marks) and Grant Retief.

T4G 2010 Conference (Together for the Gospel)

T4G 2010 was the primary reason for us (Grant Retief, Goodenough Mthembu and Michael Schafer) visiting the USA. It was through our very kind friends at IX Marks (under the leadership of Matt Schmucker) that we were able to visit the States and attend the conference. That has been just one of many different kindnesses that we have been the recipients of, whilst over here. Hospitality and generosity have come our way time and time again. It has been humbling.

T4G hosted a variety of speakers this year, discussing the subject: "The Unadjusted Gospel". The usual four speakers (Mark Dever, CJ Mahaney, Al Mohler and Ligon Duncan) along with John MacArthur, John Piper, Thabiti Anyabwile and RC Sproul, discussed a variety of issues related to this most important of subjects. The talks are already available as resources on the T4G website. The historical talks by RC Sproul and Al Mohler were very useful in tracking Evangelicalism’s development over many years and will encourage the careful listener not to make the mistakes others have made. Thabiti Anyabwile focussed on similar things, but approached the subject by teaching Colossians 1:24-3:4, urging his listeners not to adjust the gospel as they seek to engage the culture the day. John Piper’s talk on Jesus’ teaching of justification by faith, was both stimulating and challenging and CJ Mahaney’s final exposition of 2 Timothy 4 was practically helpful and evangelistically urgent. They are worth listening to.

Apart from the talks, we were overwhelmed by the magnitude of the conference: 7000 people attended. The organisation was something to behold, with over 200 volunteers; the singing was superb, lead by Bob Kauflin from Sovereign Grace Ministries; and the 15 free books (including the ESV Study Bible) once again revealed massive generosity, since the cost of the conference was less than the value of the books! Now we just have to get them home…

We pray that the conference will be useful to ENTRUST’s ministry in the years ahead, as new partnerships have been forged and as we have come to understand the American Evangelical landscape a little better. Next stop: Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

Stage 1: Washington DC

Having been at Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington DC for the last 5 days, the first leg of our trip to the USA has come to an end. Having met Michael Lawrence (the assistant pastor) and Matt Schmucker (the director of IX Marks) in SA some time ago, we have enjoyed getting to know them, their colleagues, their church and their situation better. Three particular things have struck us since being here.

Firstly: the city. Washington is an amazing place! It’s like walking through the pages of your history book or wandering around a movie set or watching the news in person. If you can, visit this city!

Secondly: the genuine fellowship and community at Capitol Hill Baptist, under the leadership of Mark Dever is truly impressive. The elders seem to know everyone in the 900 strong congregation by name. The evening service is given over to praying for the members of the church and the ministries they are involved in: from members with cancer sharing about their treatment, to members moving to other countries, to staff starting new ministries, to evangelistic events being planned – it’s all about a rich and deep community that is very attractive indeed. And its not just at church: real help is offered to those in need despite great personal and financial expense. Generosity oozes out of every pore of every member, and its driven and motivated by the gospel.

Thirdly: it has been interesting for us to see where the emphasis of Mark Dever and IX Marks lies. The motto of IX Marks is: Building Healthy Churches. The most well known of Mark Dever’s books, "The 9 Marks of a Healthy Church", elaborates what he feels should characterise every church. In the South African context that Grant, Goodenough and I are familiar with, we would probably draw the battle lines differently. One of the 9 marks described in Dever’s book, namely to be committed to expository preaching, is where we would draw that line. Good expository preaching week by week, will shape the church of God as he would shape it, and take his people far beyond just 9 marks (as important as some of those are). Our commitment to seeing the importance of "Raising up and training a new generation of gospel preachers": remains as strong as ever, and our hope is that the next leg of our journey, the Together for the Gospel Conference, will strengthen that resolve.

US Trip

Please pray that God would bless Grant, Goodenough and Michael as they go “on tour” in the United States (April 6-27). Please pray that God would enable them to make the most of this opportunity — that current strategic partnerships would be strengthened and that new strategic opportunities might open up.
Their itinerary includes meetings with Dr. Mark Dever, Senior Pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church and President of IX Marks, Matthias Media, and Dr. Tim Keller, of Redeemer Presbyterian Church and Redeemer City to City.

They will also be attending Together for the Gospel (T4G) and giving talks at the University of North Carolina and local churches. We thank God for our dear friend and partner in the gospel, Paul Passaro, who has planned and organised the trip, and for our partners who have generously helped with the finances of the trip.

2010 Leadership Conference

On Saturday, 27 March 2010, ENTRUST hosted a Leadership Conference at Christ Church Umhlanga.  We had the privilege of listening to Rev. William Taylor, Rector of St. Helen’s Bishopsgate in London, England, who gave three talks (John 5, John 14, and 1 Timothy 3) on Christian leadership.  All these talks are available here.

Goodenough Mthembu (ENTRUST Director of Student Ministry), William Taylor, Grant Retief (Chairman of ENTRUST), Michael Schafer (ENTRUST Director of Ministry and Training).

We are thankful to Christ Church Umhlanga for providing the venue for the event.  For free downloads of William’s talks, please visit the resources section of our website or click on the links above. Please click here to listen to Rev. Taylor’s recent interview with our ministry partners at IX Marks.

Grassroots Opportunities

On October 6, 2009, Michael Schäfer, Director of ENTRUST Training, and Goodenough Mthembu, ENTRUST Student Director, met with a group of grassroots Zulu church leaders in rural Shongweni (between Durban and Pietermaritzburg). The event was organized by Bishop Michael Zondi, a leader within the African Independent Churches (AIC) with whom Paul Passaro has worked during the last two years. Bishop Zondi is connected to numerous grassroots networks of key church leaders in KwaZulu-Natal and the surrounding provinces.

The leaders of ENTRUST were warmly welcomed by approximately fifteen AIC leaders from KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), many of whom have been significantly influenced by the false prosperity teaching of Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN).

Michael and Goodenough were given the opportunity to provide a comprehensive overview of ENTRUST (with Michael speaking in English and Goodenough translating into Zulu). The response to the talk was positive. Some of the questions asked were, “Where exactly does the ENTRUST Training Course meet? Are their any requirements for previous training? How much does the ENTRUST Training Course cost?” The group appeared genuinely interested, and a few pastors were especially interested in gaining theological training.

The ENTRUST overview naturally flowed into a talk on Gospel leadership – an exposition of 2 Timothy 1:8 – 2:2 by Michael (translated by Goodenough). The group responded very positively to the preaching of the Word. Interestingly, though some of their prayers included typical prosperity language (e.g., “release a blessing,” “claiming,” “binding”), these AIC leaders were in solid agreement with Michael & Goodenough when they encouraged them not to fall into the temptation of preaching a message of temporal prosperity (rather than the true gospel) or to rely on visions and dreams (rather than the Word of God). After the exposition, an ENTRUST sign-up sheet was warmly received and the group enjoyed a time of fellowship over lunch.

Please pray for constructive links with these pastors for the future. The work of successfully recruiting (and training) these AIC pastors will require a concerted and persevering effort, but the long-term potential return on such an investment is enormous.