The last few days I have been away to Gullbotn, our retreat centre, together with my close friends and co-workers for the Lord. We have spent a lot of time talking about the powerful move of the Spirit in the world today. There is a spiritual mega shift taking place and we don’t want to be spectators to what is happening but be partakers and pioneers of the move of the Holy Spirit.

The only way to be used by God to influence and transform our society is to spend time with God in prayer and in the word. Only when we live in the presence of God we will be able to bring his life changing presence and influence with us into our neighbourhood. We have come to realise that the covenant community, the church, the people of the Living God, is an agent of change as long as it lives a Kingdom life and has a Kingdom agenda.

I have been visiting the website of the Jesus Revolution of the Philippines started by Jerome Ocampo recently and I have been blessed by their zeal of the Lord. God is using them to give young people something to live and die for!

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When you see him for the first time you wouldn’t think he is anything but a nice Philippino pastor. But as soon you hear him sharing his vision or his dream you realise that this man of God is a true revolutionary!

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This weekend the covenant community in Bergen has had a wonderful visit from the Philippines. Two men of God with a message for our nation have been with us and they have been a tremendous blessing to all the believers who met them. There is a new breed of young leaders being raised up in the world today to change the nations of the world.

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Erling and me have been away a lot the last weeks. We were more than five weeks in India and had a fantastic, wonderful time. We visited many states, we went to Darjeeling in the north, we were far South in AP, we visited our favourite city Jaipur, but we went also to many other big cities and small places. We experienced God’s protection and care, his daily guidance and power from the Holy Spirit. We met so many dear friends, we were blessed to see their commitment and faithfulness to their Master. We were moved and blessed to listen to their testimonies. By the grace of God we were able to share and give to them from the rich resources in the Word of God. The relationship with our sisters and brothers in the covenant communities were strengthened and we got to know new precious people. I love children and I was so exited when I could hold small, tiny babies in my arms, or other young ones who dared to hold a white hand. I had also the privilege to give name to three newborn girls! I am also very happy when I can show how I love the sisters and women I meet and not least the old ones are grateful for a warm hug.
Most of the time our good friend Zephry was together with us and he is a great blessing to us and he was giving very good teaching and insight about being good leaders where we had leader’s gatherings. We have known his family for many years and they are very dear and special to us. God is so good to us, I am so grateful for being able once again to go India. Except for a natural tiredness caused by the time difference I felt refreshed and strengthened after coming home.
We stayed only one day at home. Then we went by car to Jæren to visit family and friends. We stayed in my home where I spent my childhood. The house is empty now because my very old mother is in a nursing home. We visited her a couple of times and many relatives. We celebrated our son’s Birthday and had the joy of being with our grandchildren Jonathan and Mathilde. It was some enjoyable days.
But now we are home again and it is good to be home. We have dear families and friends here too and it is something sweet to be in your own lovely home for a while. Home or away, the best place is to be where God wants us!

Today I have spent some time with the students in Bergen Bibelskole to talk about being a prophetic people.Obviously some of the things I shared caused a lot of questions and I allowed myself to be sidetracked into many discussions on related topics. One of my many weaknesses is that I like discussion and dialog in the class. I think that helps the students to think for themselves and come to a deeper understanding of the topic. The problem is that some people prefer to receive ready-made answers and opinions. I will not allow such people to die in their sin of passivity and laziness!

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While we were visiting Chandrakant he introduced us to two former Bible School students who within 6 months after leaving the school had started two churches each! I was full of admiration for these young zealous men of God. Their story is not a unique one. In India many Bible School students are starting churches when their course is finished. No wonder that the number of new believers are growing all the time!

It is my prayer that we will see the same thing happen in our own country. Some of our former Bible School students of Bergen Bibelskole have been involved in church planting, but I like to see it happen on a much larger scale!

Some of us desperately want to see a Church Planting Movement sweep millions into the Kingdom in Europe.  For this to occur, we will need tens of thousands of church planters and millions of ‘people of peace’ who are prepared by God to start a church in their home (or dorm or office or….).  But, where will we get these leaders? 

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This month sees the launch of SeedStories – adventures in church planting. A site dedicated to encouraging those who are starting new communities, and helping existing communities on the journey. This site is worth visiting if you are interested in authentic Christian living and reproduction of covenant communities.

During our time in India we had the privilege to visit our longstanding friend Chandrakant Chavada in Nadiad, Gujerat. It was a great joy to spend time with nearly 600 leaders of covenant communities that were gathered for leaders’ fellowship. I was even able to help my friend to start his own blog! It is agreat joy to welcome Chandrakant Chavada among the bloggers! I am convinced that his blog will bring many blessings to God’s people. Just click on his name and you will be taken to his new site!