Africa Trip Report

Muizenberg, South Africa

“Howzit!”  This is a South African way of saying, “Hello, how are you?”  Dr. John and I just returned from our Africa Trip, and we want to thank you so much for the prayer!  We also want to give a big thank you to our friends and supporters who helped fund the trip.   We are blessed by your generosity.  Our sister ministry in South Africa, Curare, hosted a seminar in Muizenberg, Cape Town. We had around 170 people in attendance.  It was amazing to see people begin to understand the Exchanged Life.  Around 45 people signed up to get training and another 20 people requested counseling.  After the seminar, the pastor of the church told me, “As long as I am the pastor of this church, we will continue teaching the Exchanged Life!”  Isn’t God so good?

John and I spent time with the board of Curare affirming them and helping them as they relaunch their ministry after the death of two of the board members (husbands of Nehlsie and Marcy).  Dr. John spoke at a church in Worcester, which is in the mountains outside of Cape Town.  We also were able to speak at the Care Group of the pastor, also the chairman of the board for Curare.  Again, God showed up and we counseled people toward victory and identification in Christ.

One of my favorite moments came on Monday before we left to start heading home.  On that morning we spent over 4 hours with a group of former gang members, now born again, and staying at a ministry called “Change Makers.”  I asked them what people said about them and they responded with “thief, gangster, or drug addict.”  When I asked them what they thought of themselves, the answers were not that much better.  But then, I asked them, “what does God say?”  I took them to Ephesians 1:1-6 and shared the truth that Christ says they are a saint, blessed with every spiritual blessing, chosen before the foundations of the world, adopted, and accepted!  From there, we spoke of rejection, and it was so hard hearing their stories of rejection.  Dr. John walked them through the wheel diagram, and I followed with the line diagram.

Dr. John played a video, called, “The Father’s Love Letter,” and I watched these hard guys just weep!  We received a WhatsApp message later that night saying the guys were still talking about the fact that the old man is crucified, buried, and now they are new creations!  How amazing!  They are no longer identified as thief but saint!  No longer are they known as drug addicts and gangsters but chosen and accepted.  Dr. John ended our time teaching on how to appropriate these truths and you could see the change as they responded.  We left them with the diagrams and workbooks, which were donated by a printing company in Cape Town.  (When the company heard about who we are and that we were teaching people how to overcome anxiety, they sponsored the printing of the workbooks for the seminar and extra copies for our time with Change Makers!)

Keep praying, as September and October are busy!  John and I will be at the American Association of Christian Counselors  Conference in Nashville September 13-16.  We are also teaching at Parkway Baptist in Lakeland, Florida on Saturday, September 23rd.  In October, Dr. John will be teaching in St. Louis, and I will be in Cleveland, Ohio.  Follow us on social media to stay current on what is happening at GFI!

Thank you again for your intercession and faithful support.

Mark McKeehan