ALAIN WALLJEE - A KINGDOM AGENT
I am sure that you have heard the quote attributed to Mark Twain, “The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.” Sadly, the latter remains a mystery for many. So many people are content to live their days without direction, purpose, or a sense of destiny.
My destiny found me like John Green fell in love. And he fell in love like you would fall asleep: slowly, then all at once. It was in the way I was born and raised. It was in the providence of my salvation and in the direction my choices steered me.
The experiences brought on by my choices and the realities forced on me by fate, led me to the ultimate discovery: Who Am I? And why am I here? .
This is a story about me, but I cannot help but pause here and take a moment to help you with your own process of discovery. In my book, “Living In Victory: The Journey From Where I Am To Where He Wants Me To Be,” I have a section on “The Story of the Lily.”
You grow into your own because of, and in spite of people and circumstances. Jesus used the beauty of the lily to draw a comparison with the extent of God’s care for us as people. And in doing so He revealed a pertinent truth. God creates beauty out of and in spite of hardship.
When we hide from the scorching sun in air-conditioned offices, or cower in our homes from the raging storms, God leaves the lily to face the sun and to face the storm. And then God takes glory from what that lily ultimately becomes because of and in spite of its circumstances.
You become and grow into your own or into a problem because of your response to the people and circumstances forced on you and that you chose. Sometimes we get what we want, but often we do not want what we get. And, more often than not, we forget that when you get what you wanted, you lose what you had… And in this process of layer-peeling we eventually discover the pearl of destiny that awaits each one of us.
I was born to an unmarried mother at a time when that kind of thing was still a shame. So, I was born into shame and could not stop the fact that shame had a hand in the way I was raised, or at least in the way I grew up. But it was not just the public shame, it was also the hidden shame stemming from family secrets of disgrace that makes your own family treat you in a manner that they would not otherwise have. And those unknown burdens raised me too. And I am as much a product of them today as I am of the things that were public knowledge.
For the sake of work, at a time when daycare and childcare were not as easy as they are today, I was raised by my grandparents in a small town to allow my mother to work in a different city. When she got married, I lived with them. And so, I grew up not quite anchored anywhere. And that too became a pattern and a seed for further brokenness.
My story is the kind of story that grace enjoys telling. For in-between my written account, lies the unspoken realities of my anger, bitterness, rebellion, pride and all the ingredients that make the recipe for mistakes. But grace found me. And that was not as simple as it sounds, for my brokenness was not on the outside. As far as the world was concerned, I was okay, and for a long time I thought that I was okay too! But I was not okay. My brokenness was hidden in memories that I only recognized when God showed me the patterns borne out of my brokenness. Patterns that ended up governing my life and choices.
My need was of the kind that was hidden even from me and that is the hardest kind of sickness to heal. But God has a way of bringing us to progressing points of zero where each time you end up there you realise that there were more about you to expose and that the previous point of zero was not really zero but just the zero you understood at the time. That is why it is true that God knows us better than we know ourselves and that it is okay to trust Him with our journeys. For he knows how to get us to where we need to be in our lives. Sometimes the road is winding and seems unnecessarily long – but even the delays have a purpose in His all-pervading plan.
I made moral mistakes, financial mistakes, ministry mistakes, relationship mistakes, career mistakes, judgment mistakes – many mistakes. In fact, mistakes and I were close companions for a lot of my life! But I saw mistakes like an innocent child view a dangerous friend whom his parents warn him against – I could not see the danger! Mistakes and I have a very less intimate relationship now, but I suspect the guy does not keep too far away from me, just in case I am not quite over him yet! LOL.
But how I got to where I am is only divine providence. Me growing up with my grandparents in Kokstad – raised by a man born in 1913 and a woman born in 1920. That connection with the ancient makes sense to me today. My mother marrying my stepfather and the role he played in my life and in finding Christ also make sense. Me not anchored to a birthplace also played a role in my church-planting ability today. My own childhood brokenness and adult mistakes comprise the story of grace that inform the anointing of the Spirit that operates through me and through the ministry that God had called me to.
What drives me is the natural inclination to want to fix things and make things better for people. I do it in community service. I do it in church pastoring. I do it in preaching and teaching. In fact, my teaching in church is naturally aimed at helping people become all that they should be and to help them live out their purpose.
My work in the police as a chaplain saw me help make things better for police members and employees and in the process, I built relationships that last to this day that are mutually beneficial and stand me in good stead in the communities I serve. But through my work in the police my administrative and writing skills were identified, admired and utilized. I had a hand in policy development, report writing, and a lot of the support work that become the foundation on which daily operations run. And I could do the daily operations too!
But because my gift of writing and analytical thinking was discovered, it gave me the courage to write publicly. I have written articles for Joy Digital Magazine, Gateway News and even local newspapers in Port Elizabeth.
I have always had a lot of Word in me, and it was inevitable that I would release a book, which I did in December 2016. And before I could even think of writing my second book, a friend saw the quality of my writing in my book and asked me to write his book. That experience launched me into ghostwriting, which is one of my income-generating activities today. To date I have written books for local and high-profile clients, and I even have an international client on the books.
My political commitment is a kingdom one: to bring righteous leaders into government and as such I support the oldest and biggest post-democracy Christian political party in South Africa. This support has led me to political activism and even a seat at the table regarding local governance in Nelson Mandela Bay.
God has led me to plant four churches to date, including Bay Christian Church where I am serving now, and where God has directed me to build it into a kingdom stronghold in this world.
Bay Christian Church is a place for the broken to find healing and restoration; it is a place for the wanderer to find purpose, for the strong to find alignment and for the happy to find a home. At Bay Christian Church we build leaders and overcomers and facilitate the transformation of victims into victors. That is my mandate. That is my ministry. That is my assignment in the body of Christ.
My own life is a testimony of the restorative power of grace and my kingdom message is an expression of God’s power to heal, deliver, grow, improve, correct and align. Everywhere I go and everything I do give effect to that purpose.
My prayer is that you, dear reader, will find in my life a pathway of hope and in my work, writings and ministry tools for your own growth and for the improvement of your quality of life. My grace in the body of Christ is a Joseph-like ability. To go before; to go with suffering; to shine in oppression; to suffer betrayal; to suffer delays; and yet remain true to my calling; and then to have my gifts make room for me and ultimately enable me to be a blessing to many. In fact, my assignment is to help people live a full life, the way God intended, and to stop the assignment of death that seeks to rob people of their lives, futures and hopes.
While God designed the plan for your life, He has called me and people like me to help build you according to His plan!
If anything, let my life, work and message be a bridge between where you are, across the chasm of obstacles, trouble and impossibility, to where you need to be in your life!
