Podcast Archives - Oceans Ministries

Kingdom Encounter

October 28, 2025/0 Comments/in Inspiration, Podcast/by Tim Spykstra

This is the 4th time a group of students from Holland Christian Middle School have traveled to South Africa for a Kingdom Encounter.

The Kingdom Encounter trip is about serving, hiking, journaling, enjoying creation, and encountering opportunities to grow in faith through other cultures. Oceans Ministries desires for each student to know they are loved by their heavenly Father!

Be blessed as you read a few of the experiences this team encountered. OceanView Care Center

I thank God for the week at the care center and the opportunity to help out and bless the kids and teachers while serving in a community that really needs it. I pray for the teachers that they can continue to bless others and do their job amazingly and know that the Lord is so proud of them! I pray for the students and that they can know how much God loves each and every one of them and that God has an amazing plan for them as well as the people around them.

The Township of Jim Se Bos

We went to Jim Se Bos and helped people who don’t really have any food at all. It changed me in a spiritual way because I could go and serve people and help them have a meal, and I saw the look on their faces when they got the food. I am very thankful for Pastor Raymond because he is always helping people and trying to help everyone have a better life, like giving them food and giving the children a place to have fun and learn about God.

I am very thankful for the ladies who were working in the kitchen. While we worked together we danced and sang beautiful worship songs. I am very thankful that no one got cut or hurt while making food and that everyone had fun. Many people were thankful for their food, and I pray it can nourish them and keep them sustained.

In the United States, we are very blessed. Even when we go to a place like South Africa, we are living in a nicer place, eating better food, and have more opportunities than some of the people that live there. I encourage the people that are reading this to pray for the people of South Africa. Pray for their safety, health, and most of all that they come to know and love Jesus because when their earthly bodies die they will be able to have eternal life in heaven which will be the best thing that anyone will ever experience no matter where they live.

I also learned that it doesn’t matter where you are or what you have seen because you can still turn to God for guidance. I also learned that helping people brings me lots of joy and peace.

Playing Rugby at Fish Hoek Beach

One afternoon we met Pastor Raymond and some of the kids our age he had brought with from Jim Se Bos at the beach. We played a version of rugby because we didn’t know all of the rules. While we were playing, one of the lifeguards that was watching came down the ladder and played rugby with us. When everybody got back from the beach we had pizza for dinner.

Family Time at Oceans Retreat Center:

Each night after dinner we had family time where we would share our highs and lows of the day. A few nights we had a guest speaker. One night Andrew spoke about his story and ministry. He talked about glorious inefficiency, which is the idea that we try to do things efficiently and don’t always think about the big picture plan. Glorious inefficiency means that God does stuff maybe not the most efficient way but always the big picture best way. We also talked a lot about the power of prayer. Looking back on our days and the opportunity the will have to pray over the teachers at Oceanview Carpenter, we realized more than ever how important prayer is. It can truly change a situation around.

On the very last night we talked about our takeaways from the trip. My takeaway was about God’s love and faithfulness. I talked about how God loves and listens to us no matter what we are: strong or weak, bold or meek, poor or wealthy, sick or hurting or healthy.

Praise God for how He is moving in the hearts of young people!

Hope in the Winds of Adversity

January 10, 2023/0 Comments/in Inspiration, Podcast/by Tim Spykstra

Holding on to my hat as I made my hike up the mountain knowing it was going to be a windy prayer time. But instead of going to my usual spot which blocks the wind I felt urged to ascend to the highest point. Gale force winds quickly caused me to get on all fours as I reached the top and thinking to myself “I’m too old for this.”

These North East winds off of the Atlantic can be brutal as only a few months ago they tore down a rusty radio tower leaving it in a tangled mess. On this day the only way I could stand was to grab ahold of a cement post marker and hang on for dear life.

After being pounded on for a few minutes I descended to a cleft in the rock and pondered creation’s power. As I begin to pray over various situations I thought about how many people are facing difficult winds of change and adversity already in 2023. There have been sudden unexpected deaths of loved ones, chronic health issues, a terminal diagnosis, a painful divorce, battles with addictions, economic woes, severed relationships, and a culture that seems in constant chaos.

My mind went back to the cement post that kept me standing in the midst of turbulent winds. Two Scriptures came to mind, Hebrew 6 and Psalm 91. Both of these texts preach on how we as believers find security and hope when the winds of adversity are way too powerful for us to stand against.

Soak in these Spirit breathed words of Hebrew 6:

“And now we have run into His heart to hide ourselves in His faithfulness. This is where we find His strength and comfort, for He empowers us to seize what has already been established ahead of time- an unshakable hope! We have this certain hope like a strong, unbreakable anchor holding our souls to God Himself. Our anchor of hope is fastened to the mercy seat in the heavenly realm beyond the sacred threshold, and where Jesus, our forerunner, has gone in before us. He is now and forever our royal Priest…” (18-20, TPT).

These words are a beautiful commentary of Psalm 91 which describes our anchor of unshakable hope this way:

“He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty…He will cover you with His feathers and under His wings you will find refuge…” (1-4, NIV).

Oh, Praise the Father for the gift of Jesus!!! His finished work opens the door into the Holy of Holies where by faith we kneel on the heavenly Ark of the Covenant, sheltered under angel wings.

I stood up from my little wind shelter and looked at that cement post again thinking about the unmovable power of living on the mercy seat. No matter when the storm gales Christ holds on to His children. Not only can we survive the spiritual battles but we have this “unshakable hope” which gives us the spirit of victory knowing eternity is secure in His everlasting arms.

May 2023 be a year of “unshakeable hope” living with Jesus on the “mercy seat.”

“Spirit Lead Me…”

January 22, 2019/0 Comments/in Inspiration, Podcast/by Tim Spykstra

We drove onto a dirt road that twisted through shacks made of whatever materials could be found and arrived at a pre-school made of corrugated metal. Inside were beautiful children being taught and cared for by women with big hearts and bright smiles. Here was a little oasis in a troubled township called Khayelitsha, which is home to over 1 million people just 20 minutes from the modern city of Cape Town South Africa.

As Mike and I spent time in this township learning about it from various ministries we were overwhelmed by what we saw and heard. The need, poverty, violence, spiritual darkness, and injustice goes beyond anything I have experienced before. The pastor who took us to visit the pre-school shared that only 5% in that township know the love of Christ and the church struggles to survive in this spiritual war zone.

We learned from the leaders of Beautiful Gate, another powerful light in the darkness, how the schools are underfunded and don’t have enough qualified teachers or resources to effectively teach. They also shared with us the family crisis of fatherless homes that leads to gang violence that permeates the townships with fear.

As we were touring Beautiful Gate’s campus a young girl ran up to Mike and I and asked for a hug. Then she wanted us to watch her play on the play ground set with a group of other children. As we got ready to leave she once again wanted to give hugs and followed us back to our car and with a contagious smile said, “I love you!” A couple of mornings later I was reading about Paul’s vision of a man from Macedonia standing and begging him, “come over to Macedonia and help us,” (Acts 16:9). As I read these words my mind went to the little girl who needed hugs and love and the Spirit’s voice calling and tugging through her words.

I’m not sure what it all means yet but I know the Spirit is again calling Oceans to step out in faith to follow His leading. We had so many divine appointments and meetings that only the Spirit could have arranged. One morning Mike and I were worshiping together by listening to a play list of worship songs and sure enough the song Oceans popped up and called us again to live in radical faith following the Spirit’s leading:

“You call me out upon the waters – The great unknown where feet may fail – And there I find you in the mystery – in Oceans deep my faith will stand – Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders let me walk upon the waters wherever you may call me…”

Ask the Spirit to lead you today to a God ordained encounter that will will advance His name and love in way that He alone will be praised and glorified through you!

The Steps of A Disciple

August 21, 2018/0 Comments/in Podcast/by Tim Spykstra

A disciple of Christ will experience amazing highs and difficult lows and yet grow to know the amazing power and love of Kingdom of God breaking forth into the world.

Be blessed as you listen to Michele Bennett’s story of living as a radical disciple of Jesus Christ in Lesotho Africa.