Dear Friends,

This week I have been challenged by this passage in Psalm 118:

vs 19 - 20 "Open for me the gates where the righteous enter, and I will go in and thank the lord. These gates lead to the presence of the lord, and the godly enter there.

It is a Psalm of commitment; a Psalm of intent. "Show me where I can enter and I will". God never forces anything on us. It is in His nature to respond to our desire to see Him.

It is also a Psalm of declaration, "these gates lead to the presence of the Lord". This has been my prayer for us as a church, that the entrance gate to our building would lead whoever comes here to experience the presence of God in ways that will be life transforming.

Over the next few weeks through the preaching and the worship time we are going to be more intentional about seeking this transforming presence of God.

Our new series named "More Than a Song" starts this Sunday. Why not invite a friend?

Pray with us for a deeper more intimate way to connect with God.

Riaan

More Than a Song

For a long time I have been praying with our teams and with our pastors that God would do something extraordinary among us in our worship services. It may sound strange coming from a worship leader - but I so desperately long for a time when our worship goes beyond our few songs on a Sunday morning. I have so longed to see a move of God that takes people into the place where they are able to encounter the Spirit of God in a life transforming way. In the last while, something has been stirring. God is doing something new at Eastside.

This past Sunday I stood on stage and looked out at couples praying together; others on their knees in the aisles; many who came forward for prayer; outstretched arms and tears running down their faces. In that moment as I myself was overwhelmed by the move of God, I sensed God saying to me - "Get Ready".

Church, we need to get ready for God to do something amazing here at Eastside. We desire so much more of what we experienced this week. We long to see people freely coming for prayer during services, to hear new songs being sung, to hear the prayers of the saints being raised up to heaven.

To help us, we are starting our 'More than a song' series this Sunday. It will be a time of looking to Jesus as we prepare for Easter, but also a time of preparing our hearts for what God wants to do among us.

I also want to skip to the end of the series on the 9th of April and let you know that Janine Price, in my opinion one of the best worship leaders our country has ever seen, will be with us for our 9am service. Janine is an anointed singer and song writer, and has a special gift of ministry. I have absolutely no doubt that being here on that day will be an incredible blessing to you. Don't miss out!

Watch Janine singing "Forever" with Allan van Niekerk below

It’s Time

In the words of "Uncle Angus" Buchan - "If you can't see that we're in a war then you're blind as a bat". We would possibly say that a little more gently - but it's clear that Angus Buchan has been called for a unique purpose in a time such as this.

This past Wednesday our pastors were part of a delegation that met with Angus Buchan in Pretoria to hear about the national prayer event - "IT'S TIME" - taking place in Bloemfontein on the 22nd of April. This will be an unprecedented event in our country now as over a million people gather to pray. There is no doubt about it - Prayer moves the heart of God. As a church, we would love to send a delegation of Eastsiders to represent our community of faith at this historic prayer event.