South African Evangelistic Mission
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South African Evangelistic Mission
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 Missionaries to Gordon's Bay, Rep. of South Africa Rev David Haag came to South Africa with his parents as a 12-year-old boy and went back to the States with no desire to ever be a missionary. However, God gave him a definite call, and he returned with them to be a missionary in 1958, after meeting Donna, who had a missionary call since childhood. She joined the Haag’s in 1960, and in 1961 David and Donna were married in Port Shepstone.
Since then, they’ve worked with their parents, the late Paul and Helen Haag to build a growing network of churches, ministries, and resources. They called it the South African Evangelistic Mission, and, in the true spirit of its name, it exists to fulfill the Great Commission especially in the many untouched rural communities through:
· Evangelism
· Missions & Community Transformation
· Church Planting
· Education & Leadership Empowerment
· Pastoral Care and various other ministries
This network extends to many countries and include South Africa, Mozambique, Namibia, Lesotho, Malawi, Ivory Coast, Egypt, Mauritius, India, England, USA and Mexico. The Mission’s national office is situated in Durban, and operates throughout several regional offices in the country of South Africa.
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South African Evangelistic Mission
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Written by David and Donna Haag
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Monday, 07 June 2010 23:39 |
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"Choice Morsels" Friends,
God continues to bless in so many ways. We spent the weekend in the inland city of Estcourt with Pastor and Sister Steven Frank and their church. God did surely anoint the services. Tomorrow several of us plan to drive to Port Shepstone for a 70th birthday celebration for Sister Vonnie Freeman who has worked with the SAEM since 1971. Presently she is very ill in a nursing home, but will be brought to one of the churches where many of our Zulu workers will be gathered for the celebration. God bless you. David and Donna Haag
ONLY FOR A SEASON
"He [Moses] chose...instead of enjoying the fleeting pleasures of sin. Hebrews 11:25 (NLT) or "rather - than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season." (KJV) or "passing pleasures of sin" (NKJV)
Between missionary services in the USA, we stopped for a lovely scenic walk along Lake Huron. Posted along the shore was a sign warning visitors, who might be tempted to take some of the beautiful flowers, that the flowers are actually invasive. This meant they were obnoxious weeds, and if planted elsewhere would choke out good plants that animals need for food. It would be easy to wonder how such lovely-looking flowering plants could actually be so devastating.
These deceptive plants remind us of the above verse about the pleasures of sin. It is true that indulging in certain practices can, at first, be much fun and gratifying to our fleshly appetites. At first, the results of this sinful indulgence do not become evident. The alcoholic, living on the street, never, ever thought he or she would come to this stage of life when they took those first few drinks. The drug addict, when the first time they smoked marijuana, thought that it was only to have fun with their friends - never, ever realizing it would lead to other drugs and addictions, almost impossible to overcome. The young person thought it great pleasure to indulge in sinful sex - never, ever giving it a thought that their partner could be HIV positive - oh, what disastrous results! Just as it is a choice people make, to take harmful but beautiful plants to their homes, so it is a choice people make to start enjoying pleasures that could eventually result in tragedy. How important for every person to keep every undesirable "weed" out of their lives - it could very well be a "matter of life or death"!!!
It Is Your Choice.
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South African Evangelistic Mission
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Written by David and Donna Haag
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Tuesday, 01 June 2010 19:56 |
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Dear "Choice Morsels" Readers,
This past weekend has been busy, but we are so thankful we can again be about our Father's business in South Africa. We are getting over jet lag, and feel more like ourselves. We need your continued prayers. David and Donna Haag
PRAY FOR ONE ANOTHER
"Never stop praying, especially for others. Always pray by the power of the Spirit. Stay alert and keep praying for God's people. Pray that I will be given the message to speak and that I may fearlessly explain the mystery about the good news." CEV Ephesians 6:18,19
As we travel across the United States holding services in partnering churches, we often hear people tell us that they have been praying for us - some it seems on a daily basis. When we were in a church in Ohio, we met a young lad by the name of Caleb. Becoming fondly attached to children and young people, I gave him a carved elephant from Africa when we attended a missions conference. Going home, he put our prayer card on their refrigerator door. Suddenly one day Caleb told his Dad that he felt they needed to pray for the Haag's, so he and his Dad went to the picture and prayed for us. We don't know, but perhaps at that moment we were going through a difficult situation, and God brought us through because of Caleb's prayer.
Words cannot express our great appreciation when we hear people are praying for us. We know it has been the prayers of God's people that have many times kept us from harm and danger. We know our health has held up these many years because people have prayed for us. We know financial needs have been met because someone prayed for us at a moment when we did not know what to do. We know, when going through times of discouragement, someone cried out to God for us. Souls were saved and sick healed because someone was praying. Most likely they did not know why they had a burden just then, but it was God giving them that burden and they were praying to our God Who hears and answers prayer. Prayer is something every Christian can do - you don't have to go to seminary to learn it, as it comes from the heart of a Bible-believing person who believes in our God Who listens and answers prayer.
Prayer has no time or distance limits. |
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South African Evangelistic Mission
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Written by David and Donna Haag
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Thursday, 27 May 2010 10:23 |
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Dear "Choice Morsels" Friends,
Praise God who gives us all good things. We arrived safely back in South Africa last night - for another six months. How thankful we are to be able to continue God's work wherever He would have us to be. Thanks again to every person and church that showed us so much Christian love while we were in the States. Thanks to all our South African family for praying for us. May God reward you all abundantly.
Tonight our people here are planning a 70th birthday party for me (Donna) here at the Mission office complex. It is so good to see our spiritual children again, and we are trusting God for great victories. God bless you. David and Donna Haag
ELEPHANTS
"Because God's children are human beings - made of flesh and blood - Jesus also became flesh and blood by being born in human form. For only as a human being could he die, and only by dying could he break the power of the devil, who had the power of death. Only in this way could he deliver those who have lived all their lives as slaves to the fear of dying." Hebrews 2:14,15 NLT
When visiting the game reserves in Southern Africa, my favourite animal is the elephant. With their enormous bodies, natural strength and stamina, even when they flap their huge ears in frustration, it brings fear into the hearts of people. They have been known to be able to push over a vehicle with a thrust of their bodies. However, even these enormous animals can be trained, if their training begins when they are young. In the country of Zambia, we have ridden elephants, sitting behind a trainer. By the way, elephants have very hard and rather raised backbones, as well as wide bodies, making the ride rather uncomfortable. However, even these gigantic animals have their weak points. It is said that if you take a small elephant and every day tie a rope around its leg and around a tree, eventually you can exchange a stake in the ground for the tree and a grown elephant will stay there - thinking it cannot move farther than the rope. It could be free, but is in bondage the rest of its life.
The life that many Christians live is far below the victorious life Christ wants us to live. When Jesus is truly Lord of our lives, the devil has no power over us, other than what we allow him to have. When Jesus died on the cross, He broke the power of the devil. It says in Romans 8:14,15, "For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. So you should not be like cowering, fearful slaves. You should behave instead like God's very own children, adopted into his family - calling him 'Father, dear Father.'" NLT. Too often God's children are like the elephant roped to a stake. We get the mindset that we cannot be free from doubts, fears, unbelief, works of the flesh, or any other bondage. The Word of God says in John 8:36, "So if the Son liberates you [makes you free men], then you are really and unquestionably free." AMP. The Lord wants us to live a life of victory in every area of our lives. It is not an impossibility, it is our privilege as a child of God. Even the devil knows he cannot keep us in bondage when Christ is in control of our lives.
Complete freedom can be ours.
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South African Evangelistic Mission
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Written by David and Donna Haag
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Tuesday, 18 May 2010 10:13 |
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Choice Morsels" Friends,
In one week's time we are due to be on our way back to S Africa. We will miss the graduation of our grandson, David Donyes, but will be able to attend his graduation party this weekend. Several of our family, including David, plan to visit us in S Africa this summer. David plans to spend time assisting us in any way he can in mission work. We need your prayers. David and Donna Haag
TUMBLE WEED ANXIETY
"For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." II Timothy 1:7 - "perfect love casts out fear, because fear has
torment." (I John 4:18b) (MKJV)
While driving on the interstate highway across the western Kansas prairies in strong winds, suddenly our quite new vehicle started making a strange grinding noise.
Immediately, fearful thoughts entered our minds. What if it were brakes, or a wheel, or even a broken transmission? We had been visiting churches and telling about the work in South Africa, and had a schedule to meet. What if mechanics in the nearest small town could not fix it? We reasoned that the nearest garage for our type of vehicle could be a few hundred miles away. Praying for God to see us through this difficulty, we got out of the vehicle, but saw nothing underneath the vehicle or under the hood, that could be making that bad noise. Finally, we drove slowly and found a tire garage where they jacked up our vehicle. A short while earlier, while driving in the strong winds, we did see thistles (tumble weeds) flying across the highway and, unbeknown to us, one had come across our path and had firmly lodged itself between the front tire and frame of our vehicle. All that had to be done was pull it out - whew, there we were, breathing a sigh a relief and offering up a prayer of thanks that there was nothing seriously wrong.
How often in life when some disruption comes into our lives, fear at that moment becomes more prevalent than faith. We feel a pain in our bodies and the enemy tells us, "what if it is cancer or some other serious illness?" We hear that people are losing their jobs where we work, and we think "what will we ever do if my spouse or I lose our jobs?" Someone in our family is late arriving home, and fear comes of what if they are in a bad accident? Newspaper reports tell of dreadful things happening in our country, and fear arises in our hearts making us think, "What will ever happen to my family?" The list goes on and on.
Now we know just as oil and water do not mix, so faith and fear do not mix. God is not the author of fear - the old devil is. Therefore, when fear takes over our minds, we need to first stop and realize that it is not God talking to us. Then, we need to remember that things are likely not as bad as they may seem at that moment. Sure, there may be a problem, but we are serving a God Who wants us to just trust and believe Him in faith. God may not always keep us from problems, but He has promised to be with us and bring us through those problems. "I am with you all the days (perpetually, uniformly, and on every occasion), to the [very] close and consummation of the age. Amen (so let it be)." (Amp) (Matthew 28:20b). Perhaps the perceived problem may only be a minor one - like a tumble weed rubbing somewhere!
Fear Has Torment - So Why Go There |
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South African Evangelistic Mission
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Written by David and Donna Haag
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Tuesday, 11 May 2010 10:06 |
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Dear "Choice Morsels" Friends,
Greetings from rainy, cool Wisconsin. We are pretty well staying close to home for these next 2 weeks before we leave for S Africa. This coming weekend we are planning a family holiday near Two Harbors, Minnesota. We are so thankful for our family, among whom God is answering so many prayers. God bless you. David and Donna Haag
CRISIS PRAYING
"While we live, we live to please the Lord. And when we die, we go to be with the Lord. So in life and in death, we belong to the Lord. Christ died and rose again for this very purpose, so that he might be Lord of those who are alive and of those who have died." Romans 14:8,9 (NLT)
Flying from Cape Town to Durban on a ministry trip, our traveling companion was a hardened old fisherman. By talking to him, you could see that God was not really a part of his life. Looking out the windows, we could see some unusual clouds and weather, which could have signaled a storm was coming. This man, of course, had been used to looking for signs of a storm while fishing at sea. Asking this man if he were ever in a bad storm at sea, he said "Three times in fifty years I thought I would die." I asked him if he prayed, and he said, "Actually, I thought about it."
It is amazing to hear stories of people who give God little or no place in their lives, thinking they can do things on their own. However, when they are in life or death situations, suddenly they call upon the Lord for help. Why do they do that? It is because every one of us is born with the inward desire to worship something - we are spiritual beings. Often a person can go through life with little thought of what happens when they die. However, when it comes to a life-threatening crisis, from their innermost being they realise this is not the end, and where will they go from here? How privileged we are when we personally know that should we be in a life or death situation, we do not have to quickly begin emergency-praying, but we prayerfully approach our God as our Heavenly Father, knowing He is always with us - whether in life or in death.
God should be our God - in life and in death. |
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