1. The Birth of Release the Children

"You're not finished. Your best days are ahead of you!"

2012 was one of the hardest years of our lives.  We resigned our appointment with Assemblies of God World Missions, returned to America, moved to Branson, Missouri and tried to figure out what to do next.  

To be honest, I felt like quitting the ministry.  I was extremely discouraged and tried to launch a career as a Professional Story Teller, which went nowhere fast.   I couldn't support my family and felt like my best years had passed me by.  

I attended the Road to Glory Conference at Jim Horvath's church in Rochelle, Illinois and things turned around quickly.  Prophet Fred Aquilar prophesied over me "Your not finished!  Your best days are ahead of you!"  Michael Livingood put me in contact with Apostle Keith Taylor from Cross Tabernacle in Terre Haute, Indiana and the next thing I knew I was beginning a two month consulting project with Apostle Taylor.  Two months stretched into 18 months as we completely rebuilt a failing church children's ministry program from the ground up.  Working with Keith Taylor completely changed my life!

In January of 2016, while working at Grace Community Church in Branson, alongside Rev. David Betzer, we attended the yearly Road to Glory Conference in Rochelle. I was delivering a paper on my missions evangelism experience in the Philippines,  when suddenly prophecies were being spoken over Sonja and I...we were being called to the nations as missionaries...God would provide for our needs...our calendars would be full!  Then people spontaneously began to throw money at our feet...cash. Over $2000 covered our shoes.

We were met my prophetic artist, Kathy Roling from Iowa.  She had created a painting while under the power of the Spirit.  She tore off the piece of art-board and handed it to me.  There I saw three children, weapons in hand fighting against the power of darkness.  I saw the words, "Release the Children" and I knew immediately, that is it.  

So when people ask how we can consider returning to South Africa and the nations, at our age, we know in our heart, "it is because our best days are ahead of us."

2. Taking the Gospel to a village for the 1st time!

We left Victoria Falls and headed west into an area of Zambia never seen by tourists.  After a couple of hours, we hit the potholes and the pain began.This was the worst road I had ever traveled.  Finally we arrived and were ushered into beautiful accommodations at Shikwaru on the Zambezi.

Here we trained the workers that led 40 Children's Churches in remote Zambian villages, reaching over 7500 children per week.  These are the Lozi people and they live in a rugged area where there are no churches and no missionaries.

After receiving hours of training and and rehearsing their evangelism program, we loaded about 40 people into the back of two 4X4 pickups and headed deep into the bush of rural Zambia.  Two hours later we arrived at the village of Kapau.

This is the first time a Christian gathering had ever occurred in this village.  As I preached the Gospel, illustrated with a Paper Cutting object lesson, the Holy Spirit began to move and prepare hearts.  When the altar call was given, nearly every person in the village repeated a sinners prayer.

What a beautiful sight!  What an honor to take the name of Jesus into an area that had never heard.  This was the first time!  But it was not the last time...a children's church has now begun in Kapowal village.

3. Our Spiritual Kids- Jacques and Elizabeth

A miracle? To us, it is nothing short of a miracle.

Jacques and Elizabeth van Bommel are what some would call spiritual children.  They grew up in children's ministry while serving with us at Jackson's Ridge.  During their tenure, we built most of the Jackson's Ridge campus and developed many of its most successful programs.  Jackson's Ridge would not have grown and prospered the way it did, if it had not been for the huge contribution made by Jacques and Elizabeth. 

The van Bommel's left JR after about 6 years and launched into their own ministry. Today, Reaching a Generation (RAG) owns thousands of acres of land, buildings and programs that are reaching thousands of children each week.  We are proud to have played a role in introducing Jacques and Elizabeth to Children’s Ministry.