When I was three years old my parents got divorced.  I grew up in Bloemfontein.  My mother took us (i.e. elder sister, twin brother and myself) to church regularly.  I am grateful to God for my mother's love and care. I was confirmed in the Dutch Reformed Church at the age of 18.  I completed high school in 1993 and moved to Pretoria in 1994 to pursue studies in Civil engineering at the University of Pretoria together with my brother, Alan.

The year 1994 proved to be a momentous year in my life.  I was taken out of the familiar environment of my youth and had to adjust to life in a big city.  A final year theological student at that time took pity on me.I observed in him a godly character, which challenged me.

The Lord was gracious to me that year.  I attended church faithfully and spent much time studying God's Word and in prayer.  Towards the end of 1994 I realized as I looked at my life that I had no righteousness of my own (Rom 3:12, 23).  Rather, my sin was before me and I knew I was in need of God's mercy for salvation.  By God's grace I prayed and sought forgiveness (1 John 1:9).  By God's enabling I placed my faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, His perfect sinless life and His sacrificial death on the cross of Calvary (John 1:12).  As the hymn writer says "My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness."

In 1998 God lead us, Liza (now my wife) and myself to Lynnwood Baptist Church (LBC), with Pastor Ronald Kalifungwa, Wilhelm Odendaal and Richard Blackbeard the elders at the time.  At LBC we were exposed to exegetical preaching of God's Word.Pastor Ronald passionately preached the Gospel with clarity as I never heard it before.

At LBC we've had many opportunities for ministry.I've been involved in; evangelistic outreaches of the church (door to door outreach and the student ministry), Sunday school, visitor's ministry, leading a discipleship group, annual church camp and pastors fraternal, church administration and a church building renovation project.  I have served as a deacon in the church for the past few years.

The elders have created opportunities from time to time for me to lead Worship Services, teach in the adult Bible class, lead prayer meetings and preach sermons.

Sense of call to the ministry

The desire to become better grounded in the Word of God, a better equipped preacher of God's Word (2 Tim 2:15) and possibly be prepared for the pastorate has often been on my mind since 1999.I   believe by God's providence this became a pressing matter for me in 2007.I took this matter to our elder Richard and he in turn took it to the church.I have sought counsel widely and prayed much in order to know God's mind regarding the ministry.  Our elder, Richard Blackbeard, as well as my previous pastor, Ronald Kalifungwa, responded favourably and encouraged me to pursue training.

Above all God through His Word made things clear (Ps 119:105) to us.

My desire is contained in Joshua 22:5 – "But take careful heed to do the commandment and the law which Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, to love the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways, to keep His commandments, to hold fast to Him, and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul."

Why LTS?

By God's providence He brought along Mark Raines (now elder in the Church in Holland Michigan) to minister at LBC for 6 months (July 2007 to January 2008).  Mark studied at LTS and informed me about LTS.

In short; LTS was founded by Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones for the purpose of training pastors and preachers.  It is a 2 year programme and follows a highly practical approach to training, presenting the students with opportunities for ministry.

I considered a few other options but given my particular situation, the training "package" at LTS made the most sense to me.

We will value greatly your prayers as we venture off to LTS! May our great God work in us all both to will and to do according to His good pleasure