WHO WE ARE
Ministry Leader
Stefan's career began as a commercial pilot where he honed his business development skills while leading a team of pilots and staff. However, his passion for community health, socio-economic development, and education led him to enter the full-time ministry as a project manager in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Today, with almost three decades of management and business development under his belt, Stefan has found new avenues to channel his passion. He has joined a church consulting team and is also a public speaker, utilizing his expertise to help churches and organizations create strategic plans for their mission endeavours.
Analytical Strategist
For the past 40 years, Mike had the privilege to serve the
Church in Africa, Asia, Europe, the Americas, and the Middle East. The
privilege of being with those who have sacrificed all for bearing the name of
Jesus has left a deep impact on his life.
Mike’s travels brought him into a deeper understanding of how every news event
points to a Sovereign and loving God, preparing souls for the Kingdom.
As an analytical strategist Mike’s desire is to assist mission-minded
believers, churches, and organizations to identify the season we live in and
engage in a deeper level of strategic mission involvement.
Church and Culture Analyst
Rev Richard Baird
(BA, BAHons (Psych) Mphil (Theo)) basically enjoys reading, writing and coffee – lots of coffee.
His passion is encouragement and teaching, which he expresses through devotional writing and is currently developing an encouragement ministry for workers in the field called Shepherd’s Community.
He also loves leading sung worship from the piano.
He loves exploring and encouraging Christian responses to cultural issues that we face, believing that we need All of Christ for All of life.
Political Analyst
Cheryllyn is the author of Through My Eyes: Life, Politics, Religion. As a former Member of Parliament in South Africa (June 1999 to May 2019), she made history as the first Member to have a private members bill passed and signed into law (paternity and adoption leave); she drafted and submitted 4 other bills including a constitutional amendment on the right to life of the unborn child and the Animal Protection Bill still before Parliament.
She has been a member of the International Panel of Parliamentarians on freedom of religion & belief (IPPForb) since2011, is a board member of the the Graduate School of Influencers and a lecturer for the School of Governance.
Cheryllyn Studied law and has an Honors Degree in Public Policy & African Studies (Research, Strategic Diplomacy and Transitional Justice).
Missions Assessment Analyst
Gary’s first profession and passion was teaching High School students Accounting and Business Economics.
As part of wanting to be prepared to be effective on the Mission Field, he completed a degree in theology
through the Baptist Theological College of South Africa.
He has had the privilege of serving in missions for 9 years in 2 former Soviet Union countries in Central Asia.
Gary also pastored a loca church for 8 years.
His desire is to serve the local church through assisting them to become effective in reaching their Jerusalem,
Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth.
Jacques van der Merwe
Videographer
Jacques started his journey after school as a youth worker in South Africa as well as summer camps in America. His love for storytelling and videography became more serious after going digital at the beginning of the 2000’s with a focus on creating content for Christian as well as corporate businesses.
Since before 2012 he has been involved in the TV industry but slowly migrated to online platforms like YouTube. Currently, he produces content for different missionaries and agencies as a media missionary.
He also developed and runs his own YouTube Channel called “The Adventures of Jack Hartland” where you can follow his travels as a media missionary.
Eastern Slavic Specialist Consultant
Riko finished his engineering studies in 1993 in Stellenbosch and soon after made his first short-term missions’ trip to Russia assisting in Summer Bible Camps.
This visit led to a missionary career of more than 25 years in the Yakutsk region of Siberia in Russia, with ministry activities ranging from pastoring a Russian speaking church, church planting activities amongst minority people groups and facilitating youth conferences.
Riko has recently gained his Pilot’s Licence that will assist him in his vision to reach remote areas with the Gospel.
Riko is married to Marianna, has 5 children and is currently residing in the Southern Cape.
Andrew Richards
Strategic Futurist
Andrew has spent more than eleven years as researcher, serving the missions community. He has written more than 200 articles providing a Christian perspective on world news and has authored three editions of the World Hotspot List, which have been translated into Russian, Arabic and Mandarin.
Andrew is Director for the Institute for Strategic Foresight (ISF), a not-for-profit ministry serving the Church and missions community with scenarios for the future, aimed at alerting them of new opportunities that will enable them to reap a larger and more fruitful harvest among the nations. ISF is based in Johannesburg. arichards.isf@gmail.com
www.isforesight.org
Jacobus van Zyl
He developed a love for serving in the Kingdom from a young age, thanks to the exposure he gained through the mission work his parents were doing in Africa. He honed his skills in photography and videography during his teens.
After graduating with a degree in psychology and sociology from the University of Stellenbosch, he decided to explore the possibilities with videography in missions. This led him to discover a passion for working with refugees in the Middle East.
He subsequently felt called for a more long-term commitment to the NEXUS centre in Lebanon, where he is currently serving.
Jacobus has a burning desire to provide younger individuals with the necessary exposure to kingdom work, encouraging a much-needed younger generation of missionaries to enter into long-term strategic missions.
Hythem Graham Betts
Transition Coach and Cross-cultural Consultant
Hythem, a Canadian by nationality, raised in the Middle East
and currently residing in South Africa, draws from a unique upbringing in the
mission field.
newhorizons@pobox.com
Thabiso Mashamaite
Currently, Thabiso's primary passion lies in mobilising the Church in Africa to become active participants in the Great Commission. He has channeled this focus into founding Commissioned, a movement devoted to seeing the church in Africa thriving and fully engaged in global missions. Through Commissioned, Thabiso is dedicated to inspiring, discipling and empowering the young adults, striving to build a vibrant movement that drives both spiritual growth and active involvement in God’s Kingdom.