God Seekers
God Seekers
The Verb is Seek
Definition
Seeking God is about living lives that seek Him in everything we do. He is our purpose and our passion.
The God of the universe said through Jeremiah that if we seek Him with all our hearts, we will find Him.
Origin Story
In 2007, Anna-Marie challenged about 20 young people saying, “Let’s sell everything we have and put what’s left in a backpack, and travel the world seeking God and serving people.”
We started this journey without a name. In asking God what our focus should be, He highlighted Psalm 84: “Blessed are those whose hearts are set on a pilgrimage.” We realised that this was not just a journey, but a pilgrimage. We have to fit everything we take with us into a backpack and simplify life like a pilgrim does, so our senses are opened up to discover. We also need to stay flexible to adjust plans along the way. The Word of God, faith and the Holy Spirit are central to our pilgrimage.
This was the birth of Global Challenge and of our core value, God-seekers. After that year, we wanted to see if the experience could continue and be turned into a God-seeking lifestyle. Every day since then, God has been inviting us into His adventure. As we follow step by step, He leads us to discover more of Himself.
The Essence
The Supreme God is inviting us into His inner circle, saying, “I can be found – you will find me”. There’s great exhilaration and joy when you look for a treasure and you find it.
We can’t be a God-seeker if we think we’re going to stumble upon Him along the way. The promise is only ours if we give ourselves to Him completely.
We also find that God sustains a life of full surrender. It’s a wholehearted journey. You’re allowed to take detours and have questions but it does require discipline. Spiritual disciplines are not heavy, but rather pathways to God’s freedom.
Live to Love
Live to Love
The Verb is Love
Definition
We aim to unselfishly love God and the people He has placed in our lives. Jesus said that the world would know we’re His disciples by our love for one another.
Origin Story
In the early days of Global when we travelled as a team together, almost every second week, we’d read in Scripture that we have to love each other. That’s the birth place of our community: where we travelled together and had to learn to love each other. Many years later, hundreds of people have moved to Jeffreys Bay to be part of something that God is doing here. There’s a generation that’s desperately looking for community – where love is real and authentic. That’s our challenge: to love as Jesus loves us, so that the world will know that we are His disciples.
The Essence
It’s a challenge to love when someone hurts us, to forgive, and to ask for forgiveness. If we don’t get this right, the world won’t know Christ. We emphasise what it looks like to love one another. The essence of life is to love.
Creative Ventures
Creative Ventures
The Verb is Obey
Definition
Creative ventures refer to the spaces where God places us where we have to be creative. We intentionally use our creativity and imagination to serve Him in new and innovative ways. God inspires us with ideas. Our task is to obey them.
Origin Story
After returning from our first year-journey, we settled in J-bay as a missions organisation. One day, when walking through a shopping mall that had closed down, the Holy Spirit prompted me (Anna-Marie) saying, “This can be a school”. This came as a shock as we had no expectation of venturing into education. We had no idea what we were doing. We just obeyed God step by step. Things kept unfolding as we were walking it out. Five hectares of land was donated, which turned into 7.5 hectares and over the years, we bought more.
We had no money, but we sensed God was saying, “Start with the foundations”. For three years, we built a school without any money from week to week. God provided in awesome, creative ways, never doing the same thing twice – always providing in new ways.
God brought more people into the story. Jacobus Scott had studied architecture and returned from our world journey after two years. Anna-Marie told him he had to design a school. He said he was unable to. He’d only studied and never designed anything. The school, Global Leadership Academy was Jakes’ first design.
The Essence
God’s Creativity
When we embarked on our first world journey, the phrase, “Climb the mountains, swim the oceans, run the trails” came to mind. There’s tremendous beauty in creation that reflects God’s glory.
We are passionate about God’s creation, but there’s more…
He invites us to join Him in creating.
An Invitation to Create
God invites us to co-create with Him. Ministry is a springboard where He allows us to do this together with Him. We’re often boxed in with preconceived ideas of what it should look like. There’s faith and risk involved. The essence is obedience. God, the Creator, invites us to create beauty, laughter, and spaces of joy and impact. We would miss out if we were thinking inside the box. God can and will and wants to create beauty on this earth. He wants us be a part of this.
Travel the Nations
Travel the Nations
The Verb is Share
Definition
We deliberately use simplistic means and circumstances to travel to foreign countries and nations where we’re dependent on God’s leading. We use opportunities He presents to share His love with people who might not otherwise have an encounter with Him.
Practical Application
Many years ago, just after the war in Bosnia, we had the privilege to help with camps. It was a mission to get into Bosnia! We were only able to get visas in Libya or London. We couldn’t get to Libya, so London it was! We had to travel through Europe for at least a week to get to our destination.
Taking young people with me (Anna-Marie) on these travels, I realised that many things happen organically as we do life together while travelling. The uncertainty, unpredictability and uncomfortable situations we go through are excellent opportunities for discipleship. They draw us to God in a new way.
After one of these trips to Bosnia, we went to an island, Korčula (said to be Marco Polo’s birthplace). I had read about Marco Polo’s travels from a very young age. I was prompted to take a group of young people around the world and see what God would do. This was the beginning of what would become our Global Challenge One Year journeys.
The Essence
At Global Challenge, we’re unashamedly in love with travel. There’s a stigma that only rich people can travel, but the Bible is full of travel-stories. God uses travel as a wineskin to produce fruit and new wine in our lives. Jesus travelled, Paul travelled and trained the disciples in this way. This is counter-cultural in a society where classrooms were created to keep people inside.
The journey is not about travelling in itself – it’s about people who matter to God.
Servant Leadership
Servant Leadership
The Verb is Serve
Definition
To lead well is to serve well. Jesus (God Himself) is our model. We need to be willing to get our hands dirty so we can build God’s kingdom.
Origin Story
For our very first world journey, we took a fresh approach to travelling to foreign nations. We asked how we could be effective in reaching people with a frame of reference that was vastly different from ours.
We bought round-the-world tickets and went into spaces and countries we had never visited before. We connected with people in whichever way we experienced the Holy Spirit’s lead. We learned to use gaps of time where we had to wait for a boat, train or plane to seek God.
He led us to serve wherever we went, from orphanages in India to helping people rebuild after a mudslide in Guatemala. Wherever His Spirit led, we were available to be used by God to very practically be His hands and feet to people He would identify.
On our return to South Africa, our Global leadership team was doing Church Planting training in Cape Town when a devastating fire destroyed 80 homes in the Red Hill settlement in Cape Town. The Holy Spirit prompted us to stop our classroom activities so we could help people rebuild their homes.
The Essence
We view Jesus washing the feet of His disciples as our blueprint for servant leadership. The essence of service is sacrifice. Jesus is our model. He didn’t simply do acts of service out of duty, He lay down His life and challenged His followers, saying, “You cannot be my disciple unless you give up everything”. To follow where He leads, we need to understand that this means that we are His servants.
The Flywheel Prophecy
I see in my spirit a flywheel, these are large wheels. What they do is they turn very slowly at first, but once there is an initial effort to turn them, the very weight of the wheel itself, the very momentum of the wheel itself, keeps it going and increasing.
There is built within this flywheel a grace to roll, to move to empower, to release and distribute that power, that momentum. And what I see is that kind of momentum coming upon you.
Your responsiveness is that simple nudge of the flywheel, but the power itself is the power of God. Like the wheels within wheels that Ezekiel saw, they moved on their own – you will be pulled into the momentum of the Lord moving forward and it will be beyond your natural speed and your natural strength. In the same way, as a flywheel makes no noise, it just rolls with the momentum built into it.
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Even when things are put into motion and accelerated in ways beyond your ability to count, contain or control, it will give way to awe because that is your ultimate calling. When the momentum takes over and it is beyond your ability to count or control, you can experience awe and wonder that is deeper, higher and wider, because you know the flywheel of God is God Himself moving through your longings, your sighings. As it is written, “all of my sighings are known to you, my days are written in your book, my tears were kept in a bottle.” All that built momenta for the day that the Lord says: “Now is the time. Now I will be exalted. Now My name will be lifted up. Now men and women will behold Jesus as Holy Lord and set Him apart in their hearts as King.“
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And this momentum will release worship in you, a wonder in you and worship and wonder in those that it accelerates through. The reward is just like the reward of the servants of the first miracle John recorded. It wasn’t any of the high profile characters that knew the miracle or the banquet host or the bride or the groom, it was the servants who were doing their work off-camera, backstage, behind the scenes, in the place of no profile, they were the ones privileged to really see that there was no natural explanation for water gaining enough momentum to change its molecular structure into joy. You are reserved for that insider knowledge, that intimate moment when you can look at the One across the crowd and He will give you a knowing look ‘We did this together. All this momentum came from being together.’
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The Global Challenge Story
2006
The First Ever World Race Kicks Off
Eight Americans and eight South Africans, under the banner of the World Race, travelled around the world for the first time!
Read More…Anna-Marie Franken, our founder, led the team. Unknown to her at the time, five of the eight South Africans would stay on with her to start Global Challenge – Stefan and Estee Kleyn, Clara Miles, Anthony Jacobs and Anita Labuschagne are still involved to this day.
2007
The Very First Global Challenge Journey
The next year a team of 26 students travelled to more than 21 countries over a period of 11 months.
Read More…They had the privilege of circumnavigating our beautiful planet. Stefan Kleyn and Clara Miles were the team leaders.
Towards the end of the year the first ‘80 Days Around-the-World’ expedition departed; led by newlyweds on their honeymoon, Francois and Anita Labuschagne. They travelled for uh….. 80 days…. to 11 different countries. The 80-Days journey continued annually until 2010.
Read Less2008
Da Hub as Home Base
The new Global Challenge team was sent to an FCE base in Zambia for training. Meanwhile back in SA staff numbers grew to 8 people.
Read More…Together Ann, Stefan, Clara, Anthony, Willem, Janine and Corneli travelled to Cape Town to attend a 6-month Church Planting Experience (CPX) course hosted by All Nations. During this time Floyd McClung and Joe Ewen became spiritual fathers of Global Challenge. Through the years they helped them grow by giving invaluable apostolic wisdom and prophetic insight.
One night while in Jeffreys Bay, Johan McFarlane, a close friend, mentor and later GC board member, received a dream from the Lord. In the dream he saw a very specific image of a section of a house. He immediately sensed that God wanted to use him to provide a base for Global Challenge. He stood up, even though it was the early hours of the morning, and started driving through Jbay, looking for the house. After a few hours he found it! In front of the house, slightly hidden behind a bush, was a small ‘for sale’ sign. He promptly secured a loan on their own house, bought it, and made it available for use to Global Challenge!
This confirmed Jeffreys Bay as Global Challenge’s home town. The house was dedicated to the Lord and named Da-hub – after a favourite team stopover, a sleepy holiday town next to the Red Sea in Egypt called Dahab.
In December that year the first short-term expedition, a 2-week outreach to India, also departed.
Read Less.2009
3 Different One Year teams sent out
For the first time training was hosted by Global Challenge in Jeffreys Bay.
The One-Year journey became three and all three teams departed together from Jeffreys Bay after completing their training.
Read More… The Northbound team spent most of their time in the northern hemisphere, especially Eastern Europe, Russia and the rest of Asia. Southbound explored the South American continent and other countries in the southern hemisphere. Explore Africa spent all their time on the continent of Africa, starting in the north and making their way down to South Africa.
Towards the end of 2009 the Lord curiously started to bring the educational needs of Jeffreys Bay into the spotlight. With no high school in town at that time, a strong desire to serve, and a few qualified teachers among the ranks, talks quickly turned to exploring what it would take to start a school.
Read Less2010
GLA was Established
With the start of the decade two more teams were added to the yearly Expedition mix, bringing the total to five teams, and travelling around the word.
Read More…Work-your-Way was a journey for men who travelled around the world and paid their way by taking up job opportunities along the way. They pioneered the legendary (and bloody) work opportunity on sheep farms in Australia.
Hidden World was a journey specifically focussed on countries in South America.
On the education front, after numerous talks and no few miracles, Global Leadership Academy, the very first high school in Jeffreys Bay, opened its doors inside the empty section of a local mall! Marietjie McFarlane was the principal, accompanied by 7 teachers, with just over 30 children attending.
In April of that year, a little over 3 months into the first school year, 7.5 hectares of land was donated to Global Challenge by a local developer for the building of a high school. What an outstanding miracle! Check out the video of the teacher’s reactions when they received the incredible news. At the end of that year, when the news was announced to the parents, everyone responded in shock and awe; some clapping, some kneeling and some crying. The donation of the land was central to the growth of Global Challenge since it also later became home to the Global Challenge office and Oakridge, the primary school.
The starting of the school and five teams travelling around the world kicked-off a small boom of people moving to Jeffreys Bay. As teachers, more Global Challenge staff and other volunteers joined, a small growing faith community of people started coming together. The first signs of this forming community were prayer meetings held in a living room on Sunday afternoons. Later, with the leading of the Holy Spirit, more people started meeting in small gatherings or house churches.
Entrepreneurial members of the newly formed community ventured out and started Global Junction, a coffee shop in a local mall.
Read Less2012
We Start Building on Campus
A new one-year journey called Distant Islands was launched. They specifically travelled to island nations, like the Caribbean.
Read More…Back in Jbay, despite the donation of the land, there were no funds coming in to start construction work on the school. Eventually, after the discovery of a South African who builds log-houses with big eucalyptus tree trunks, the decision was made to start the construction of a log-home on the grounds. Staff and volunteers rocked up for work. The first days were marked by the arduous task of removing the bark from the massive tree trunks by beating them with hammers.
Read Less2013
Dig the Foundations
The following year, as the log-home approached completion, and troubled by the fact that no funds were coming in for the construction of the school, the founder spent a weekend praying.
Read More…She heard the Lord say, “Dig the foundations.” Scraping together what little funds they had the instruction from the Lord was duly obeyed. And so, the construction of Global Leadership Academy started. As every step of the construction was completed the Lord provided for the next.
2014
Tree Tops, Little Oaks and Long Term Missions take Flight
Meanwhile, while GLA was being built and teams were travelling around the world, other initiatives were being pursued by members of the Global Challenge community in Jeffreys Bay.
Read More…Due to the growing nature of the local Global Challenge Community, which included a number of young families and newlyweds, the need for a pre-school became evident. In the centre of town Anita Labuschagne and the Vermeulen family started the Tree Tops pre-primary school.
Also, Lynette Schulz, challenged by her own children’s education needs, started a small home school program for primary school children, known as Little Oaks. Later on, as the school developed and grew it became Oakridge and moved to join GLA on the campus grounds.
Many of the team members that came back from their journey were called to go to another nation or country to serve for a longer time. So, it was that, after a couple of years of preparation, the Roodts (both in the medical field as a doctor and a nurse) crossed the waters and made their home in the Middle East. Their departure marked the start of Long-Term missions in Global Challenge.
Read Less2015
The Nations are Waiting
The next year another member of the community, an occupational therapist, joined the Roodt family in the middle east. She specifically went to work with disabled refugee children.
Read More…Also, one of our long-time staff members married a missionary and departed with him to Maasailand in Kenya.
Members of the community, challenged to represent Jesus in downtown, Jeffreys Bay, started Créma (now First Light), a coffee bar and Routed Roasters, a coffee roastery.
Read Less2016
History is the Making
Our fourth send-off! A family departs to China.
Read More…On 29 August 2016 GLA moved into their new home on the Campus. A historic day!
Read Less2017
Nations here we come!
A young lady, passionate about the nations, moves to Panama!
2018
The Campus Grows
Oakridge moved and joined Global Challenge on the Campus!
2019
Let’s Party
At their ‘Decade Party’ conference at the end of that year, Joe Ewen gave a prophetic word saying the next decade would be a ‘decade of change’.
2020
The Flywheel
The ‘decade of change’ arrived very unexpectedly in the form of a pandemic!
Read More…Our One-Year team had to be evacuated from Brazil and served for the rest of the year on a farm in SA and in Jeffreys Bay. Everything else, schools, work, the office all ground to a halt.
As everything started coming out of lockdown the founder organised Global Challenge into a new vision and structure called ‘The Flywheel!’
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