Call to bless family of hospitalised Gateway News volunteer reporter

Faithful and talented Gateway News volunteer reporter Alf James has been in the intensive care unit of Life Rosepark Hospital in Bloemfontein for six weeks recovering from organ failure due to sepsis as a result of a perforated duodenum.

Alf, who lives with his beautiful family on a farm near Middelburg, Eastern Cape, has had several operations and currently, the restoration of his lungs is the main concern and his breathing is assisted by a respirator. Thanks to intensive medical care and prayer covering he is making progress but it is a slow healing process and it is putting a strain on the family finances.

Financial strain
Middelburg farmer Jannie Moolman, who alerted Gateway News to the supportive local community’s concern at the James family’s financial plight and need for support at this time, said: “There are so many amazing words to describe Alf James, but humility and love for God and his fellow man stands out for me.”

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Jannie, who hosted the Karoo Mighty Men Conference on his farm from 2011 to 2017, and continues to play a leading role in the Mighty Men movement, conveyed the excellent suggestion from the local community that we invite Gateway News readers to contribute towards the medical costs, school fees, and other mounting costs facing the family while Alf is in hospital, and his farmer wife Brenda, is at his side in Bloemfontein, leaving their teenage son, Brendan, to run the farm.

Book project
He continued: “Alf has done an awesome job of writing the book The KMMC Journey of Faith and Prayer. The book is going in for printing and the father of mighty men, Oom Angus wrote the introduction.

“Alf has been in hospital intensive care for 6 weeks now and our prayers are going out to him, Brenda and the three kids. There are more than a 100 prayer warriors on our WhatsApp group praying for Alf. We trust God for his complete recovery.”

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Local farmer and pastor Dave Turner, who has been coordinating the very active WhatsApp prayer group for Alf and his family, said: “For us it was amazing to see how Alf threw himself wholeheartedly into his new faith after accepting Jesus into his life. He wholeheartedly gave himself to getting to know his Heavenly Father, studying the Word, to involvement in the local church, to everything to do with Karoo Mighty Men and intercession initiatives.

“After listening to Alf’s incredible testimony on one of our KMMC Committee bus trips to Shalom [Angus Buchan’s farm], we realised that this was a defining characteristic that was evident in whatever Alf had done in his life — even before he came to know Jesus.

“What a joy it has been to walk these years with a friend like Alf — always friendly, always loyal, always ready to chat, always ready to serve, always excited about some newfound aspect of his faith, always reading up about worldwide events — Israel, harbingers and the like. All these things, often sacrificially and at the expense of himself. This was clearly evident in how he gave himself wholeheartedly to the writing of the KMMC book — endless interviews, research, writing, editing, adding another chapter, more editing, etc.

Heartbreaking
“It has been heartbreaking to see him lying there on the hospital bed, not having him around and missing out on all the above. We continue to trust and pray that God will bring about the total restoration of every part of Alf’s body, so that he can continue to wholeheartedly give himself to the work God has called him to, and continue to be such a blessing to all those around him.”

Lance Walton, who led the tent counselling ministry at KMMC events, and continues to minister at other such events, said: “For seven years we had the pleasure of Alf’s articles for Karoo Mighty Men Conferences which he brought to the readers’ attention for Gateway News.

“Seven years of the most incredible journey of our lives. The new salvations, hundreds of baptisms, physical, emotional and spiritual healings in thousands of lives. In The Big White Tent, Alf captured those special moments of the mighty move of God — pure revival — over the seven years.

“Today, we have those special memories that Alf witnessed and wrote about. All that everything, written was history in the making in the Karoo, as only Alf would capture.

“As we reached the end of a seven-year journey of Karoo Mighty Men on the farm Renosterfontein, we are deeply indebted to years sowed so selflessly into making Karoo Mighty Men happen and impact greater numbers of people each year and those who had sewn into the Kingdom,

“So we pray God’s abundance over every area of Alf’s James life, his wife and children.”