While being honoured to join remotely in the wedding ceremony of our AE International Missions Director, Emmanuel Kwizera and his beautiful bride Coco in Kigali, Rwanda, recently, I was once again reminded of the extensive team of faithful and dynamic folk in active service for the Lord throughout the cities of Africa.

Having the opportunity to join the AE International Convention in Kigali last November, I was awed and humbled to meet many great men and women of God mostly from Africa, but also Australia, the United States and Europe. What was common to them all was a deep joy and passion to use any opportunity to evangelize and spread the Good News of Jesus. I learnt so much.

I was first introduced to AE as a young Christian student in Pietermaritzburg in the early 1970’s, and it was then that the vision of Michael Cassidy and his team captured my interest. Michael is one of those people who you get to know really well before even meeting him. When I was a 10-year old God spoke to me about having a heart to serve others, and although it took me some time to process this, when Bridget and I married at twenty-two we made the decision to support AE both prayerfully and financially. This was a decision that we have never regretted, and over the years have eagerly followed the amazing work of Michael and his teams. Michael and Carol through their active involvement in FOCUS ON THE FAMILY became mentors for us in our joint desire to raise our children in the ways of the Lord. All four of our children and their spouses know and love the Lord. Such a blessing!

One of our pastors reminded us recently that God has oodles and oodles of grace to give. He likened it to the Victoria Falls: a waterfall cascading all day, every day, unceasingly being poured out in great abundance, so that we have freedom to worship and live for Him. What a vivid picture! And it is because of this that the AE teams across the globe seek to tell others about Jesus. But may I exhort you to pray regularly for African Enterprise, and especially our AESA Team Leader, Theuns Pauw, currently recovering from Covid19, for us to continue to be relevant to all. We ourselves may not be able to go out into the world to evangelize and be salt and light, hands and feet, but we CAN play a small part in the eternity of others. For those of you who have faithfully supported us over the years, a BIG THANK YOU!

Every blessing,

Rob Langley
Board Chair | AE South Africa

The 2020 Foxfire team, even under lockdown conditions, continued to grow and develop in their understanding of the Bible, Jesus and the Gospel. Using various social media platforms, they were able to write their Module One exam on Exploring the Bible. This module provides an overview of the Bible and introduction to Biblical Theology.

Some students emailed their exam answers while others scanned and even took pictures of their submissions. All in all they did very well and are now busy with the second module which explores the life and ministry of the One God sent to save the world and be its king forever – Jesus Christ. They have been keeping up-to-date through a weekly check-in and review of the week’s study material via Zoom.

Fundiswa Khumalo said the following with regards to her experience of Module One: “Module One for me was interesting and I enjoyed and learnt a lot about how the Bible is structured and the message that it contains. The exam was not what I expected, but it wasn’t that hard, just longer than I expected.

Another member of the Team, Mucalynn (Kelly) Koetzee said: “the Module on the Bible made me see the Bible from a different perspective and made me more interested to study the Bible further.

Gary Almeida
Training Officer | AE South Africa
galmeida@ae.org.za

The Michael Cassidy and Friends Legacy Project has been moving forward nicely in these last few lockdown months. Michael has written two thirds of his new book on the theme of “Deep Waters of the Disciple.”  He still struggles with shingles but stays positive and always keeps his sense of humor and seeks out opportunities to encourage others. He has made fortnightly short videos for our Facebook page to connect with friends of the ministry. Carol is also well and always busy caring for Michael, her household and others.

We have restructured and expanded recently. Liisa Zondervan who had been overseeing the AE Legacy project for a season, is now focusing fulltime on the missions training side of the ministry. Emmanuel Kwizera is now overseeing the Legacy Project on behalf of AE International, and he has asked AE South Africa to help grow the Legacy Project for the international partnership.

We have since done a detailed analysis of all the areas where the Legacy Project can grow and the practical steps we need to take on every level. For this purpose we have enlisted the expertise of Robyn Gruijters who played a key role in growing the Michaelhouse Legacy Project from an archival storage room into a top notch physical and online archive with a museum and social media presence. She will help us move our dreams into reality.

Finally, our documentary project is also progressing well. Frans and Rene Cronje recently came to the AE Centre to do the final filming of the narrator, Audrey Mbuyazi (an AE board member), AE team leader Theuns Pauw and the AE property. It has been quite interesting to see the project take shape over the last year and to experience the envisioning and problem solving process. We are excited to be in the home straight of the project now.

Please also see below for some info on Michael’s books and booklets. Please email me if you would like to place an order.

Warmly in Christ,

Charlene Pauw
Legacy | AE South Africa
charlene@ae.org.za

PAUL – THE “PRAYER-WARRIOR”
 
Whilst the converted Saul of Tarsus, arguably the greatest apostle of all time, was undoubtedly a mighty man of prayer, it is to a mighty woman of prayer that we are referring, our very own Biggie Paul, who retired on the 30th June 2020 bringing to an end her twelve year tenure as a member of the AESA team.
 
It all started when she attended a Youth Leadership Conference at AE and felt that God was calling her to fulltime ministry. She resigned from her secular job at the end of that year to pursue God’s calling on her life; a calling that led her to AE and into a prayer ministry that has touched the lives of those with whom she works and worships, and those affiliated with AE worldwide.
 
Psalm 121:1-2 is Biggie’s favourite passage of Scripture. Having cried out to the Lord through her challenges and storms and seen His hand move through the power of prayer, it is no wonder that she has become the prayer warrior that she is.
 
Heading her list of fondest memories at AE is ‘morning devotions’. She describes AE as a family of God that gathers to pray together, that loves and cares for one another like soldiers on a battle field looking out for each other; and that radiates this love on the mission field!
 
Unsurprisingly Biggie holds AE Missions chief amongst her lasting experiences of ministry. Being steeped in the prayerful preparation leading up to the event; witnessing the Holy Spirit at work in those being ministered to and having the privilege of seeing people coming to faith are all spiritually uplifting experiences that are indelibly etched in her memory: they enabled her to find God in a new way.
 
No-one ever retires from doing the work of God and Biggie remains actively involved in co-ordinating prayer for the International Partnership of AE.
 
Biggie, thank you for your contribution to the work of AE, we wish you well in this new season, enjoy the family time and keep strong in the faith!

Gavin John
Communications | AE South Africa
gjohn@ae.org.za