The Mighty Men of GLA

Last week Thursday, the 15^th of April, history was made when GLA sent their first group of men to participate in the epic Mighty Men Conference in Greytown.

 In the company of 14 warriors the three teachers were:

Major General Johan Oosthuizen, First Lieutenant Paul du Plessis and Lance Corporal Willem Taute. They were accompanied by Private Thomas Schulz and Chaplain Wilbur Wright.

The pupils were all foot soldiers from the 32^nd Battalion: Lawden van Niekerk, Johann Linder, Xanavan Dennis, Gareth Collins, Dillon Collins, Ntokozo Lethina, Liwonga Zinto, Johan van der Merwe and Enzio Pelman.

The excitement grew as we loaded the two bakkies after school and got ready for the long journey that lay ahead. We would have to cross the ominous plains of the Eastern Cape and cross the feared roads of the notorious Free State before finally arriving at our destination: Angus Buchan’s farm near Greytown, KwaZulu-Natal.

We drove all through the night and it took us 16 hours to complete the first leg of our journey. Following only the directions given to us we followed the winding gravel road through tall pine trees. As we rounded the final corner the trees gave way and our eyes were met with something like the first scene of Gladiator.

From every direction soldiers were gathering in the valley that lay before us. Already thousands of tents were pitched and lay stretched out across the sides of the valley. All that my imagination needed was catapults, chariots and battering rams to complete the picture. The scent of braaied meat hang in the air as hungry soldiers readied themselves for the battle that lay ahead.

That night, after the first session ended, I looked across the camp. The lights stretched out in every direction giving the impression of a densely populated city. “So this is what a camp of 400 000 men look like”, I thought.

 Over the weekend the men came together four times. The atmosphere was electric as all 400 000 men brought worship and glory to God.

Angus mainly challenged the men to be Watchmen in their families and in Society. Watchmen, he said, were the guys in the Old Testament who stood watch during the night on the city walls, sounding the trumpet to warn the citizens of an attack.

As Watchmen our responsibility is not only to protect our families and society of impeding spiritual danger but to also warn those who have not heard, that Jesus is coming again. When he comes he will come to judge and we need to be ready.

In society Watchmen are men of honour, men who are being looked upon as role models and spiritual leaders. As men we need to be bold and step up into the positions God has set apart for us.

Every now and then Angus confirmed the point he was trying to make with a deep, Zulu-like: “amen!”, only to receive the same reaction from the 400 000 men that sat in front of him. It sounded like a battle cry that would send a shiver down the spine of the devil himself and I could only imagine the gates of hell shaking in its foundations.

The atmosphere was electric, the worship was magnificent and the preaching was simple, challenging and straight to the point. At the end of Saturday evening’s session I could tell that every single member of GLA’s 32^nd Battalion was divinely touched or stirred in some way.

It was with heavy hearts that we packed up the gear the next morning. There was one more session left but we still had a 1000 km’s to travel back home and the foot soldiers still had school to attend on Monday morning. It was best we fell in the road.

As the camp fell behind the line of pine trees and the road stretched out ahead I lay my head back against the headrest. It was a great feeling to be part of God’s army. I couldn’t wait for my first watch and the first skirmish with these soldiers at my side.