the officical opening of our building and the PURE DESIRE CONFERENCE

Our building is beautiful! Can I say that?? Yes, I can. Please bear with me, I am biased I guess. On last sunday we had our official opening of our church and its dedidaction. It was wonderful, bewond words!! However, even before that one took place, we hosted a PURE DESIRE conference in our building. This is aprt of the partnership Coastlands Community Church has with East Hill in Portland Oregon. God has moved and touched and eluminated HIS truth in hearts here. I am very excited to see how this will be implimented more and more.

YOu know my heart about Healing and Restoration....now this is the entrance of a new level !

enjoy the pics....

H.E.A.L. with Jesus - a diagram

This is what I believe God is showing me for the calling He has for me...in South Africa and even beyond!

May the broken be healed and may Christ be proclaimed!!!

H.E.A.L. - the five finger mission statement

The following will help us all to focus on what God has called me to in South Africa and beyond.
As simple as a hand, so is what I believe the Lord is showing me for my life. A hand has 5 fingers, four fingers and one thumb to bind them together.
When I see a hand, I see four fingers showing the mission statement and one thumb to bind all together symbolizing Jesus through whom I am able to do this. Only with Jesus I am able to point to healing and restoration, to encouragement and accountability and to healthy leadership as well. The hand is only complete with the thumb.

• One finger stands for H.ealing and restoration- this means the process a person needs to get unstuck, to see change and to be restored inside out.


• Another finger stands for E.ncouragement and exhortation- this means the importance of giving encouraging words during a healing process.


• Another finger stands for A.ccountability and Application- this means to stay in reach of others, to share deep thoughts and emotions with others and to let specific people talk into our lives. Application is a very important component. It means that I need to be practical and to have tools ready to be applied in real life!


• The fourth finger stands for L.eadership and constant learning- It is important to know what healthy leadership is and also that we need to learn constantly.


• The thumb symbolizes Jesus and HIS role in this mission. He is the beginning and the end and through Him I will be able to be God’s hand extended.

This hand shall be extended to an aching world in need of healing and restoration, in need of a change, in need of life, in need of JESUS.

God is using ME

HI, my name is Kerstin Berthold. I love my name. It means: Belonging to CHRIST! My name is the program of my life! I am glad to be Kerstin and not anyone else! In the past 2 weeks, God has renewed my mind and soul and I feel He gave me new and fresh water to drink. I realize how much I felt overwhelmed with the idea of being a missioanry sent to a different nation. Now, not only my mind, but my heart udnerstands what it means to be called, sent and loved in all the processes. God called me, Kerstin, with all my good and all my bad traits, feelings, thoughts. I am glad that I am not a superwoman...just Kerstin. God has called me to bind up broken hearted, to point to HIM and talk about HIM, to be a living testimony of HIS love, hope and strength on this earth.

I am ready!

I am ready to be Kerstin, be renewed on an ongoing basis ........

God rekindled my heart: where does HE send me?

God has rekindled my heart for it this week as well:
In my quiet time, I saw a picture of a theatre house, a dance rehearsal room with the jury sitting down with the crowd and up on stage a spotlight waiting for the main person to enter the stage: First there came a woman, she told the story of a broken lady which moved me (sitting in the jury) to tears. She broke down as the next candidate came on stage: a man, not knowing who he was, lost and wounded. One after another came…. hurt people, beaten women etc. My heart ached and I cried heavy tears. “These are the people I send to you, Kerstin. And what you are feeling now is only a slight little bit of what I am feeling in my heart, says the LORD!”

It is to those that God called me and whatever I need to do I will do and whatever I need to learn and be challenged with, here I am God, use me.

Missions work and the role of the church

I am learning more and more how big missions work. It is the will of God to go and share the good news and make disciples. The latter is a big part of the mission God has given me.
My heart is to disciple in the area of healing, to share resources and to pour out myself to point to God. May His any person's identity in Christ be revealed and the truth will set this person free. The Lord is the healer and perfecter, the healer and restorer of our souls.

As a missionary I can give the church a part in this, so that the church can own what God is calling me to as well. This seems then to be for the greater glory because the church opens herself up for more in His kingdom. This can bring new life to the church and can give broader vision and new vision to her members. It is like catching a bug, it is contagious and sooner or later it is not about the missionfield that God has given me, but about the Lord doing HIS work in the missionfield as well as in the church supporting and walking with me. This is an exciting symbiose, an exciting teamwork.

I will write a more detailed entry about what God has put on my heart as a missionary for HIM.
It is about HIM , only about HIM.

Jesus showed me a vision = the foundation of this healing ministry!!!

A few months ago, in the middle of a worship service as I am singing and praising God, I had a vision..clear before me....I would say I lived the vision:

I saw me standing in a dark corridor. In front of me was Jesus. He looked at me very calmly. As I looked over his right shoulder, I saw a door standing open. Out of that room came a hideous smell. It smelled like death , pain, fear and the most horrible thing you could imagine.

I panicked and wanted to run. "Fear not, my Kerstin, "said Jesus," would you go with me?" He pointed to that door and I screamed: "NOOOOOO, Jesus are you nuts?????? I won't go near that door, near that room!"
In my mind, thousands of thoughts ran back and forth: Well has Jesus ever let you down? No. Has he been mean to you in any way? No. Well, then go with him and trust. So I did and I thought I should do it quickly so I would not change my mind out of this immense fear that I sensed.

We came to that room and the smell was nearly unbearable, I felt my gag reflex and my whole body revolted. I wanted to run away, run as fast as I could to a place as furthest away possible. Jesus took my hand and we entered the room.

To my right I saw a carcass- that is where the hidous smell was coming from. We walked past that and Jesus sat me on a white hospital bed right across from that carcass. We both sat there and I struggled with the smell, with the strong urge to run and the panic that had taken hold of me.

As I looked at that carcass, I realized that the carcass was ME. I was in a deep shock and did not know what to do. Jesus sat down right beside me, on the left side of me; he took my left hand into his and put my head on his shoulder. Then he said the following:

"Kerstin, do not be afraid, what you see in front of you is only an echo of the pain, the fear and the death that has happened to you. It is not real. I am real, squeeze my hand! I need you to stay in the pain of your wounds a little bit longer, so I can fully take this pain away from you. It is part of my healing that you need to feel it and not run away or fight it away. Stay with me and trust me, I AM HERE WITH YOU!"

Wow, I suddenly found myself back i the worship service, totally
amazed for Jesus had just shown me how HIS healing ministry works and how much I
just want to run away as soon as I encounter pain.

This I take as the foundation of the healing ministry that God has put on my heart. It is about HIm and how He can help us to deal with our wounds, the wounds from our past and all the hard stuff, the death inside of us.

May Life come forth and may Healing begin in Jesus' matchless name!!!!!