Dear Friends

A very special greeting in Jesus Name! It is with great joy that I can report to you that we have just returned from Yorkshire England, where we spoke at the first Mighty Men's Conference in Pately Bridge. God moved sovereignly and we saw over two thousand men deeply moved by the presence of God and determined to go back and start new lives. They came from all over the British Isles, Ireland, Wales and Scotland. They are very excited about what God is going to be doing in their lives in the near future. My trip to Yorkshire came just after returning from the Mighty Men's Conference in Karoo. We saw over four thousand men bowing their knee to Jesus Christ. We thank God for the men that are carrying on the baton, men of God.

On the media front, it has been a very exciting time for us here at Shalom. The movie "Ordinary people" is really picking up momentum and Sony in the United States of America are very keen to take it on. I have just heard from Frans Cronje that the movie "Faith Like Potatoes" is now being shown in Moscow, Russia. God is so good! He is no respector of persons, my friend, He will use any person that will put up their hand for Him. Acts 10:34, "So be encouraged, God is still determined to bring His kingdom to earth through ordinary people like you and I." The new book, "The Mighty Men Journey" is doing so well and we thank God for that and for CUM books that have taken up the initiative. "A Mustard Seed" is now going international with Lion Hudson Books, so we are so excited about what God is doing. We also have our challenges. Unfortunately we have had to stop with the five minuter "Family Time with Angus" on ETV due to financial constraints. We do still screen on Sunday mornings though. We trust that God will turn this around in the near future. We have had such a wonderful response from the man in the street with regard to the five minuters. I feel so blessed when the ordinary folk come up and greet me in airports and other public places. It is the ticket collectors, the security-guards and the general public who are watching us on ETV. So please trust with us that God will make a way so that we can continue with that program on commercial television.

As I write this letter, I am preparing to speak at a Sportsman/business men's breakfast at the Shark Tank in Durban; the day before England plays South Africa at Kings Park Rugby Stadium. I can't wait to meet the men that are there, apparently they have already changed the venue three times, as the crowd is getting bigger. We praise God for that. Ian McIntosh the former Sharks and Springbok rugby coach, will also be sharing his testimony, I am really looking forward to hearing that. I am just so overwhelmed that God is prepared to use nobodies to do His work, just like me. Be encouraged my dear friend, God is no respector of persons. He will use those who are available and willing. He is looking for men and woman who will put up their hand for Him, 2 Chronicle 16:9, " For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him.”

There is a tremendous urgency that is welling up inside me to see that the gospel goes out to the lost. I was sitting in the International Departure lounge at Heathrow Airport, I had four hours to spare while waiting for my connecting flight to Johannesburg. I walked up and down terminal five looking for a Christian bookshop, but there was none to be found. There was every other kind of shop, but not a Christian bookshop. In desperation, I walked into an ordinary bookshop and asked the Ghanaian lady at the counter if there was any Christian literature in her bookshop and she said unfortunately not, nothing at all. I realised as I walked out of that bookshop that we may not become complacent and feel that the job is done. We live in a very special nation in South Africa where the gospel is freely available in most shops, however that is not the case around the world. We need to get on with the job that God has called us to and that is to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature, Mark 16:15.

We are going into winter and there is a real bite in the air, early in the morning. The grass is often white with frost, sometimes it looks like snow and the cattle are putting on their winter coats. Fergie, my son, is already starting to feed his animals extra food to compensate for the lack of protein in the grass. Andy and Greg are doing very well with their strawberry project. They have managed to put up tunnels to protect the strawberries from the frost, so we rejoice that they will have less stress in this regard, this winter. We praise the Lord for His provision. I am very excited about our children at the Children's Home, one of our boys is going with me to the businessmen's breakfast at the Shark Tank. I want to give him a special interview with the Sharks academy because he is playing such outstanding rugby. Please pray for him, Sipho George. We are believing that he will be flying the colours of South Africa in a few years time and I know that he will be unashamedly outspoken for Jesus Christ. Our nine little grandchildren are growing by the day and our oldest is now a teenager and we just thank the Lord for their stand for Christ. Grandchildren really do soften ones heart. There is a bond between grandchildren and their grandparents which I cannot explain. Jill and I spend a lot of time praying for them each day.

Paul says to us very clearly in 2 Timothy 4:2, "Preach the Word." God has impressed upon me that we need to actually speak out about our faith. Starting first and foremost with our loved ones at home and then with our co-workers in the marketplace and then whenever we get an opportunity. On the sports field, in the marketplace, in school and in the university, we actually have to preach the Word. We can write books, we can make DVD's, we can make movies but at the end of the day there is nothing that will compensate for actually preaching the Word. I feel that in the First World Nations, the fire of the gospel is running at a very low ebb. My prayer for you is that we keep fighting the good fight and running the race, so that we can say with Paul in 2 Timothy 4:7, " I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race and I have kept the faith." You don't have to be afraid of offending people, because I can tell you right now, you will offend people. The gospel itself, is offensive to people in the world. If you have to preach on the verse John 14:6, in some first world nations that is enough to send you to jail. They say it is an offense to other faiths when one says that there is no other God apart from Jesus Christ. We need to be bold, we need to be sensitive, we need to be loving, but we must never ever compromise. May God bless you as you continue to preach the gospel at all cost.

Yours in Christ Angus & Jill

and The Shalom Team