Next month I’ll have been here in South Africa for one year. That statement to me is as much shocking as it is bewildering. Can that much time really have passed already? As I look back at the previous 11 months, I am in complete awe of all that has transpired. Though its happened day by day and month by month, what I see is that I’ve gotten to be a part of God-sized dreams becoming reality here in South Africa.

A Bible School program that was simply limping along has been brought back to new life. Having a building for students to come and learn, have access to internet and a library, studying, writing, and researching was a “someday” hope, yet God has made it a “today” reality. Each week, people are emailing me or coming into my office to get information and enroll in the program. It’s growing faster than we imagined it ever could and igniting the passion to be educated for the Kingdom of God in hearts all over the Western Cape.

The God-given vision and process of churches being planted across South Africa was a little spark held in the hearts of our team, and so often felt like a using a small torch to illuminate a sea of darkness. But in the blink of an eye, it has been transformed into a raging fire that is being sent out in all directions, even beyond the country’s borders into other parts of the continent.

I’ve seen church buildings built, wells dug, people called into ministry, hearts moved, hurts ministered to. I’ve heard God’s name praised in a multitude of languages, met African brothers and sisters in Christ whom have impacted my life in ways no one else ever could. I’ve seen kindness and incredible humility. I’ve seen extreme generosity in the face of poverty. And I have seen great hope in the midst of insufficiency.

But I think the favorite thing I’ve seen is the love of God overflowing beyond the boundaries and borders we make. Beyond race, beyond religion, beyond economics, beyond location, beyond situations, beyond pain, beyond culture, beyond language, beyond history, and beyond what is humanly possible.

Given all this, I can’t begin to imagine what the next year will hold. But one thing is certain-God IS moving in South Africa. He IS bringing light to the darkness.