Swanepoels Update - People Stories

This is Quintus Swanepoel, FamilyLife director in South Africa. I want to share some e-mail feedback that Isolde and I have received from people who have heard Dennis speaking here this week. One man who recently transitioned into a marketplace ministry to business entrepreneurs wrote in response to Dennis’ “Stepping Up to Manhood” message:

The director of a company where I serve in my ministry invited his top management (and some understudies) to the event on Friday. I had the privilege to sit at their table of 10 and observe their reaction to Dennis’ message.

One factory technical manager shared with everyone at his table that he was reluctant to accept the invitation to attend. He said he was very glad he came, and that he was going to call his two grown-up, married sons immediately to seek their forgiveness for the ways he had failed them as a father and role model.

The director of this company is a man of 41 who has been married for 12 years (let’s call him Ian). He and his wife have not been blessed with children. As Dennis was speaking, I wondered what was going through Ian’s emotions and what he could take away from the morning’s talk. When Dennis shared about three young black men he is mentoring, I realized, "That's it!" Afterward, during our breakfast, I challenged Ian to ask the Lord if there were three young men in his employ, who lacked the privilege of having a father, who he could disciple and serve as a role model. He was excited about the idea and took up the challenge. Of course, I'm going to hold him accountable!

I want to encourage you, Isolde, Dennis, and others at FamilyLife to keep up the good work and to thank you for your service to this very relevant and necessary ministry. You are helping to fulfill the Great Commission in our generation!

We sense a real need for what you are doing, especially in the marketplace where often the Christian business owner and his wife are not on the same "spiritual wavelength." We praise the Lord for your commitment and hard work!