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John Went Back November 7
-15
In April Harold and I met
Leon van der Eijk at our conference. He was excited about the book and the
message and wanted us to come back. I
want to dedicate this Newsletter to try and articulate what God did and to
give intercessors enough detail to pray. This is a picture of Leon and his
wife Silvie and son Dani.
Leon,
Silvie & Dani
The first unique aspect
of this trip is that our ministry was largely to young people. Our first day
was spent with Cees Bakker and Lucas Voss. Lucas was also at the April
seminar and has since gotten involved in real estate in Romania where land
prices are escalating. He has a degree in a business field and previously
worked as a trainer and consultant. He’s on something like his third round
of real estate deals and at the age of 31 he is about to go over the 1M mark
in profit on his next deal. He has a heart for missions in Romania also.
Every time I turned around God was showing me a young couple, with a strong
spiritual foundation, who were not afraid to be entrepreneurial.
 
Cees and Elly
Lucas & Krista
Wednesday morning Lucas took me through a World War 2 museum in
Arnhem; the unreached city in the movie A Bridge Too Far. I had forgotten
that the Netherlands was occupied for about 5 years during the war. The
effort to liberate Arnhem failed in 1944 and the Netherlands was left
occupied until the war was over. That event left a scar on the people. They
are prone to want to blend in to mediocrity and avoid standing out. We read
from Gen 12:2-3 about God making our name great to confront that spirit of
mediocrity as we shared about releasing Kings.
On Wednesday night (11/9) we shared in Groningen, a fairly new
church plant pastored by
Eugenie Kohl a young woman that just graduated from College. The church
is filled with advanced degrees and a remarkably high percentage of medical
students having fun. Her brother Tristin is a delightful friend and part of
the ministry team at the church.
 
Pastor
Eugenie Tristan
Thursday and Friday we were in Rotterdam sharing with a young
peoples group in Leon’s church that had allowed some older folks to attend
as well. We did an interview with a Pieter and
Aida Slingerland;
a 30 year old couple that started a company to make video games on contract with
Microsoft (all within the last year). On Friday he took me to his office and
introduced me to a staff of 20 “gamers” busy writing code for an X-Box game
with an apocalyptic theme. He’s planning to put Biblical overtones in his
games and minister in a market that targets an average age of 35 in a
thriving sector already larger than the movie industry. It’s an amazing
story that has the potential to propel him to a hundred million dollar
business in a few short years. That coupled with a missions forum that could
touch millions of lives.
Pieter
&
Aida
FGBMFI National Convention - Saturday, Leon arranged two
afternoon sessions with the National Full Gospel Businessmen’s convention. About
100 members and guests from around the Netherlands loved our message. They
asked for the notes and I posted them on our web site on the
Teachers Guide page under "Notes from the Netherlands." We had a retiring
member of the board pray for Leon in a prophetic act signifying the
impartation of a double portion from Elijah’s generation to Elisha’s
generation. It turned out to be a powerful prophetic moment as we prayed for
the influence of FGBMFI to increase.
Sunday Morning - We were back in Leon’s church ministering
to a packed church of 700 that is pastored by a delightful apostolic father
(Jan Sjoerd Pasterkamp) and his associate pastor, Cees Vijfhuizen. It was a house party. We shared on
Releasing Kings and prophetically claimed some new land for the church, the
city, and the nation. It was in this church we saw pastor Jan’s vision for
marketplace ministry already present. I then understood why Leon was excited
about our message in April. Of the 700 people an amazing percentage are
under 35 and the pastor has staffed his elders and deacons from that age
group. Leon’s wife, Silvie, is the head elder; a delightful, unassuming, but
very intelligent woman with an amazing administrative gift and a one year
old son.
Leon, Pastor Jan Sjoerd
Pasterkamp, and Peter van Aken
The Rotterdam Church is
EC Europoort
Prophetic Words - Here’s what we saw prophetically in the Netherlands.
The nation is the Harbor of Europe. The City of Rotterdam has the largest
harbor in the world, if you count the next planned expansion. The name of
the church was changed to Europoort to emphasize its mission to the
marketplace – the port city of Rotterdam. God is using the Netherlands as a
place where the gospel via the Releasing Kings message will be imported to
all of Europe and exported around the world. Kings will be teaching people
to fish by showing them an entrepreneurial solution.
Another Golden Age for the Dutch - In the 1600’s Jews in Spain
and Portugal were being persecuted. They moved to the Netherlands and sparked
what is historically called the Golden Age for the Dutch. It was a period of
great wealth and colonization around the world. God showed us prophetically
that He has another golden age for the Dutch. This time the spark is coming
from the under 35 age group… Bold, young lions will convert amazing
prosperity in the marketplace to amazing ministries around the world. God is
accelerating the maturity of these young men and women and he has already
put our message in their hearts. I didn’t convince or sell – I just
articulated a confirmation that resonated in their hearts and set them free
to possess a very large, personal inheritance. The Dutch are also a nation
of stewards as evidenced by their thoughtful approach to life and the
cleanliness of their homes and communities. Everything is neat and tidy. I
heard the Lord speaking; that he saw their faithfulness and was going to
reward them with cities… not in heaven but now.
Marcel did most of the
interpreting on this trip (another 30 year old). He’s a good example of
the future of missions. He’s a very capable management trainee in a large
corporation being groomed for a bright future. His wife,
Annemieke, is a doctor with a life-long dream to go
to Africa. It will be a few years, but when they do they will start a
hospital and I have a hunch they will do it with the finances God has
given them.
Marcel and
Annemieke
In The Sunday morning Service
I asked Corne and
Karoline to share about their plan to start another business. (Picture
below)
Corne and
Karoline
Corne emailed after I got
home...
Karoline and I really enjoyed meeting you and we
feel blessed that we got to know you. You taught us a message that touched
our hearts. We are truly Kings in God's service and we have a mission. God
started something new in us through the words you spoke and we move on with
increased passion to take new land for His glory. In church when I gave my
testimony, I forgot to share a great financial blessing. I told about the
opportunity to work 4 days and have 1 day to start my own business in job
coaching and career counseling. I told about the house God provided, with
the extra space so I can have an office where I can interview people. But I
didn't tell about the fact that God blessed us with the sale of our own
house. Within 2 weeks time!!!!. That's amazing when you looks at the economy
nowadays. After four years living in our house we made 75,000 euro's net.
with the house. God is good! I can use this money to continue my own
business and invest it in things that make money (as you told us.......) We
move July 2006.....
With most of the guys you met, Léon, Pieter,
Matthijs, Marcel, Pim.....we want to come together to see how we can give a
follow up to your message and tell more people about our Father in heaven
who wants to bless us and give us joy, happiness and a cup overflowing. I'm
really enthusiastic about working together with you and the other guys to
expand His Kingdom. We're excited.....Praise God for loving us and giving us
life abundantly. We'll keep you up-dated on everything happening here and
we'll keep in touch.......
 
Pim and Sabine Matthijs
Pim is a PHD economist and Sabine is a doctor - They
look like kids don't they? That's what struck me about the speed God is is
moving in this generation.
Personal Note -
This trip to the Netherlands was easily the most satisfying
and exciting
thing I’ve ever done. Something was released in my own heart that I cannot
put into words quite yet. I’ll keep you posted. I'm convinced the release of
God's people in the marketplace is on the level of a reformation. Luther's
reformation was about the priesthood of the believer; this Kingly
reformation is about releasing their ministry in the marketplace. It's
touching the next generation with anointing, wealth, and a heart for the
world.
We are in love with these wonderful people
and grateful for the role God has given them in Releasing Kings. Leon is
planning to gather a group of young couples that caught the vision and go
through the material in the teachers guide. I recommended they get ready to
teach the conference themselves. My sense is we are going to have more
opportunities than we have Harold's.
I also have to confess that I greatly underestimated
the value of our book, the impact of the message on individual lives,
and the value of live conferences. I witnessed the power of God being
unleashed in the hearts of men and women by simply explaining the
theology and experience behind releasing their hearts desire to expand
the Kingdom.Love,
John & Harold (are
having fun - Join us)
www.releasing-kings.com
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