Youth pastor wants to impact nations
Former Stirling Pre-Primary School teacher and Stirling Presbyterian youth pastor, Caitlin Bands, 27, returns to the Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry (BSSM) in California, United States, in August for ministry training.
Bands only recently returned from a life-changing experience with the school of ministry, where the top student for the past two years has been South African.
“My heart is for the generations to come and this year has equipped me to fulfil that passion,” said Bands.
“We learnt a lot about life coaching and core values such as honour, and I want to live that out and impart all that I learnt before I go back.” Bands is the daughter of teachers, Dave and Janet Bands. Dave is the principal of Arcadia Primary and Janet runs her own pre-primary school.
BSSM enrols 1 200 first-year students and only half of that number are accepted for the second year. The third year of study involves an internship which can be done anywhere in the world, where churches work in association with Bethel.
The bssm.net website states: “We owe the world an encounter with God” and the school’s main purpose is to train revivalists. A revivalist is one who is “focussed, passionate, one who is willing to pay any price to live in community, purity and power because they are loved by God, whose manifest presence transforms lives and cultures”.
Bands said her first year of study focused on the Father’s love, identity, Christian foundations and service, while the second year will incorporate aspects around leadership and being empowered to take risks and step out in faith. “We had a choice of advanced ministry training options and I chose to focus on children, hosting God’s presence, prayer and intimacy and divine order.”
Bands said Africa and South Africa were in the spotlight and eight teams came to the country in March. One group met Mandla Mandela in Cape Town and prophesied to him before undertaking a tour to parliament. There are currently 20 South Africans attending the school and a Port Elizabeth woman – a pastor – is into her second year of study. Bands has to raise her own funds for her studies, which is the same as a year’s full-time study at any university in California.
“I had hoped to get a part time job to support myself but I am not allowed to work on a student visa. But God was good and I always had enough.”
Bands undertook a 10-day trip with a group from the school to Tijuana, Mexico, where they ministered in various churches and witnessed many people being healed from illnesses. The students also served the city of Redding by staging Sunday school classes where they ministered informally to children. Among Bands’ many highlights, was being prayed over and receiving impartation from Bill Johnson, the head pastor at Bethel, Heidi Baker from Iris Ministries in Mozambique and Brother Yun who wrote the book, The Heavenly Man about the persecuted church in China.
The foreign students at the school are from 64 different nations around the globe.
Bands has dreams of ministering around the world.
For more information on BSSM, go to bssm.net or to hear more about Bands’ trip contact her on 072 598 4595.
BY GAYE MOONIEYA