{"id":2665,"date":"2012-08-01T11:07:21","date_gmt":"2012-08-01T15:07:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/redletters\/?p=2665"},"modified":"2012-08-01T11:07:21","modified_gmt":"2012-08-01T15:07:21","slug":"they-stared-over-the-edge-of-execution-rock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/2012\/08\/they-stared-over-the-edge-of-execution-rock.html","title":{"rendered":"They stared over the edge of “Execution Rock”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>For the past year, HopeChest and AIM have partnered in creating the Swaziland Leadership Academy, a specific and intentional program designed to train Christian leaders from our CarePoints. Local leaders identify children from our CarePoints who qualify for this intensive discipleship and leadership training program. This story comes from the very first class of SLA students…the first 11 of what we hope will be hundreds to thousands of Swazi leaders who will commit themselves to godly leadership for Swaziland.<\/p>\n

Stand up<\/strong>
\nThey stood at the edge of Execution Rock, the last place countless prisoners had seen before falling to their deaths, overlooking the Swazi countryside. It was just a field trip, but these HopeChest\/Adventures in Missions staff and 11 young people would soon experience a truly divine moment.<\/p>\n

The youth were students of the Swaziland Leadership Academy, 11 promising kids selected from HopeChest CarePoints as up-and-coming leaders. The trip to this infamous and breathtaking spot would become one of the most powerful AIM Director of Swaziland Ministries Scott Borg had experienced.<\/p>\n

\u201cI shared with them the story of Jesus coming into Jerusalem\u2026the Jerusalem lament\u2026speaking out his dreams and heart for his people,\u201d Borg says. \u201cI told them I wanted to hear their dream and hearts for their people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Standing out is not typical in communal Swaziland. But Thokazani, the youngest of the bunch, and an orphan who had come up through the Mkhombokati CarePoint, could not help but speak his heart that day.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Thokazani<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The young boy talked of Joseph and Moses, and how they had been chosen and equipped for leadership at the time God had ordained for them.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I believe God has put something in me that will rise up in leadership of my own people,\u201d Thokazani said.<\/p>\n

Borg asked him to stand up. \u201cI want you to shout it out to your country.\u201d<\/p>\n

If standing out is hard for Swazis, standing up and shouting is even harder. The boy cleared his throat. He raised his arms.<\/p>\n

He shouted.<\/p>\n

\u201cI believe God has put something in me that will rise up!\u201d<\/p>\n

The entire group was caught up in the moment, and Borg knew the power of his next words.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho else believes that?\u201d<\/p>\n

One boy\u2019s passion for change and purpose and hope inspired the rest, as several others stood with hands raised, shouting that same dream over their homeland.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was just really powerful,\u201d Borg says. \u201cThe echo of what they were shouting was coming back.\u201d<\/p>\n

The group went into a time of prayer \u2013 not one of those churchy \u201cyou pray, then I pray, then he closes\u201d prayers either.<\/p>\n

They all prayed at once, in a chorus of earnest cries for Swaziland and for heavenly equipping. They ended with a song \u2013 \u201cJerusalem Lift up Your Voice and Sing\u201d\u2026substituting \u201cSwaziland\u201d in a declaration to their country.<\/p>\n

One young lady led out in the singing. On the way down the mountain she began to cry, feeling the weight of what she had sung. \u201cI know God has put something in me for leadership,\u201d she told Borg. \u201cAnd I know it is going to be difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n

Walking in the call<\/strong>
\nThese young people are now in an intensive leadership training program in South Africa. The program lasts seven months, and will develop these promising and passionate youth into leaders of CarePoints, communities and nations. Children\u2019s HopeChest and AIM continue to dream of what this academy will accomplish for the glory of God.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe point of the spear right now is this leadership academy,\u201d Borg says. He believes Africans are frustrated by corruption and lack of integrity in their leaders, and this academy will raise leaders of godly perspective and character.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s exciting is just to see the whole ministry mature, and to now see the effect of the CarePoints in the lives of the children who have been a part of the CarePoints for several years,\u201d Borg says. \u201cYou\u2019re starting to see a generation rise up.<\/p>\n

That is to me something you only see when you invest over a long period of time.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ongoing prayers and financial support of our faithful partners, sponsors and donors are what keep this academy and all Swazi CarePoints functioning. \u201cI hope that people can see the little things matter and they accumulate over time,\u201d Borg says.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou start bearing really good fruit if you keep at it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For the past year, HopeChest and AIM have partnered in creating the Swaziland Leadership Academy, a specific and intentional program designed to train Christian leaders from our CarePoints. Local leaders identify children from our CarePoints who qualify for this intensive discipleship and leadership training program. This story comes from the very first class of SLA…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":87,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57,126,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2665","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-africa","category-leadership-development","category-swaziland"],"yoast_head":"\nThey stared over the edge of "Execution Rock" - Red Letters<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/2012\/08\/they-stared-over-the-edge-of-execution-rock.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"They stared over the edge of "Execution Rock" - Red Letters\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"For the past year, HopeChest and AIM have partnered in creating the Swaziland Leadership Academy, a specific and intentional program designed to train Christian leaders from our CarePoints. 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A tireless advocate for fatherless children, Davis has spent most of his adult life calling U.S. believers to become the hands and feet of Jesus Christ to the 143 million orphans living around the world. Through those connections, thousands of orphans now have the bright and hopeful future--one that is filled with opportunities and the love of the one true Father. Davis speaks hundreds of times each year at churches and conferences, mobilizing the church to action on behalf of the poor. He is the author of four books. His most recent novel, SCARED is a fictionalized account of his first-hand experiencing living and working with orphans in Swaziland, Africa. Davis' blog is the premier resource for the latest developments in Christian orphan ministry. Davis also currently teaches courses as adjunct professor at George Fox University in Newberg, OR. When not traveling the globe, Davis resides in the mountains of Colorado in the small community of Palmer Lake. He and his wife Emily have seven children, including two adopted daughters from Russia.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/author\/tdavis"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2665","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/87"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2665"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2665\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2673,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2665\/revisions\/2673"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/redletters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}