Author: Willie Crew

Region: Southern Africa

IMPOSSIBLE… BUT GOD!!!

A report on the Live School Indaba held in Pretoria, South Africa

In true African Zulu fashion, we recently called together an Indaba - a council to discuss a very important matter. The matter we met around concerned the advance of the Kingdom of God among the least reached and unreached people of the World. It was held at the Pure Joy Lodge, about 20 km outside Pretoria.

The time has come for us to make every effort to advance the gospel as quickly as possible. We are prepared to take major strides to complete the translation of the Live School into the nine remaining languages in order to, within five years, set down at least 5,000 schools in strategic places worldwide.  Currently there are Live Schools in 39 countries, but we believe that we need to get to many more where the gospel has not yet been proclaimed.

There is no doubt that the Lord of the Church has entrusted us with an effective tool to see churches planted by national Christians in unreached areas. With the current chaos in the world, some doors - now open to the gospel - may soon close.

One of the scriptures that the Lord gave to us as we planned the Indaba is recorded in Numbers 11:16-17:

16The LORD said to Moses: "Bring me seventy of Israel's elders who are known to you as leaders and officials among the people. Have them come to the tent of meeting, that they may stand there with you. 17I will come down and speak with you there, and I will take some of the power of the Spirit that is on you and put it on them. They will share the burden of the people with you so that you will not have to carry it alone."

In the light of this scripture we brought together 70 people to join the Indaba. We believed that the Lord would, in His divine way, melt our hearts together to achieve His purposes through the Live School for this crucial time in history.

The 70 consisted of our team leaders from various parts of the world and some of their key staff members. We were also blessed to have a number of people that have influenced our lives in one way or the other from South Africa and the USA join the Indaba. Added to the 70 were some of the World Mission Centre team members from Pretoria.

A second scripture the Lord gave us is Isaiah 45:21: "Declare what is to be, present it - let them take counsel together." We believe the Lord's instruction to us was to do as follows:

1. Take council together. First we considered the magnitude of the task - spending time in prayer and seeking the Holy Spirit for needed direction and enabling so we could discern what would need to be done.
2. Carefully consider our projections for the next five (5) years. We laid everything before the Lord, asking Him to release His anointing and give us the ability to do what is necessary to see as many churches as possible planted in least and unreached countries.
3. In humility we boldly declared what is to be. With the Holy Spirit's guidance, we declared our intended dreams in anticipation of the expected goals and outcomes for the next five (5) years.
4. On the last day we brought these plans, dreams, visions before the Lord and collectively asked Him to empower us to do that which He requires and to release the Live School to accomplish His purposes and plans.

The dynamic presentations were done on six (6) screens that were spread out across the length of the conference room.

The people that came together made valuable contributions and gave significant insight into that which the Lord is saying at this time. 1 Chronicles 12:32 - "men of Issachar who understood the times and knew what Israel should do" - had a new meaning for me.

The presentation, prayer and faith that came from the Indaba has given birth to what I believe to be one of the most significant plans in the current mission world. The plan is to train thousands more missionaries worldwide to work in the many communities that are still hidden from the gospel.

The Indaba was not just an ordinary meeting or conference. I had never attempted anything like it before, nor partaken in something similar. To be honest, there were times when I felt completely out of my comfort zone. I found myself asking again and again if it could be true that the Lord was leading us to birth His vision in the Spirit by "declaring what is to be" and then in humility "presenting it to Him" who would ensure its execution.

In the course of our days together it became perfectly clear to me that unless one can see a vision of this magnitude in the Spirit - it would be impossible to witness it unfold in the natural.

Everyone involved had researched thoroughly and worked hard to put the presentations together. But in the end, after having unpacked our figures, information and plans, it was the Holy Spirit who came and breathed zeal into our hearts and wisdom into our minds. What we left with was a coloured-in idea of the outlines we had come with.

As Lydia and I drove away from Pure Joy after the Indaba, I felt a burden had lifted off my shoulders. The vision was now with the Lord. Our role is to listen and obey.

Since the Indaba, calls have come in and emails received that we never could have arranged. God has really sent out his angels to join our team. How amazing it has been to see the Lord open doors in places around the world.

What an amazing God we serve!

Please continue to stand in faith and prayer with us as together we attempt the impossible. After all, as we said in the final set of overhead slides "Impossible!!! But… God!!!"

Willie Crew

Bank details:
World Mission Centre
Nedbank
Branch: Hillcrest
Account No: 1602147868