(268) “Outpouring that Changed a Community of Gangs” with Sandy and Princess Jensen

0:00 And I'm sitting there grudgingly in the back of the church and I'm going, can we hurry up and just pour this water over this baby and finish this already? I don't want to feed. I don't need your food. I just want to go. And I get up and I leave and I get to the door and I fell to my knees. The same sensation came over my body from head to toe and I fell at the door. And that began the journey. with God. God promises in Joel 2 .28 to pour out His Spirit on all humanity.

0:44 Welcome to Global Outpouring, where we contend for that promise outpouring, we equip for it, and we engage in this outpouring. I'm Philip Buss. And I'm Sharon Buss. Welcome to the podcast today. We have friends here with us today from the ends of the earth, from New Zealand, and they're going to share with us some of their stories of how they have had outpouring in their lives that has caused them to be used of God to change a whole community of gangs. Thank you so much for joining us today. We know you're going to enjoy this podcast. And before we get started, we want to encourage you, if you haven't already done so, to go to our website, globaloutpouring .net. and that you will make sure that you are on our mailing list so that we can stay in touch with you and you can know what's going on with this ministry and how we can minister to you.

1:45 And if you have any feedback for us, we'd love to hear from you. You can write an email to feedback at globaloutpouring .org, or you can use the feedback form on globaloutpouring .net. And let us know what God is doing in your life and how we can pray for you and how we can minister to you. If you've got an idea of something you'd like for us to bring to the podcast, we'd love to hear from you. Let us know where you're listening from. So, Sandy and Princess Jensen, we are so glad that you have joined us today on the Global Outpouring Podcast. Thank you. It's a pleasure to be here. We're just really excited. We've been hearing some of your testimonies, and I'm sure that as we talk some more, we're going to hear details that we haven't heard before. But I just love how God does things in people's lives, and He takes them from difficult situations and brings them into His glory and brings them into His outpouring. and then uses them to bring outpouring to others. So I'm not sure which one of you wants to start with your story first, but you both have amazing stories. Yes. Well, I think I grew up in a typical working -class family in New Zealand. My parents weren't believers. It wasn't a Christian home. Both my parents were workaholic alcoholics. Oh, my. And life was very violent.

3:12 I think I started cooking for the family from about the age of seven, being the oldest of four boys. There were no girls, so the job became mine. But it's given me a skill. Yes. An undeniable skill in cooking, so I am grateful for that. But my grandparents were Christians. Ah. And by their advice, I did get sent to Sunday school. And so I was introduced to Christ from an early age, but never really got to have a relationship with him. Gave my heart to him several times at different holiday camps and things like that. Even encountered some bizarre things. Like the first time I smelt the fragrance of the Lord, I think it was about 11 years old. I walked into this room and I could smell this beautiful smell.

4:03 Being a nosy person I was, I went around trying to sniff out, see who had this wonderful aftershave. Couldn't find it on anybody, but it was there on everybody. Oh, glory to God. And it wasn't until I got saved as an adult and started getting introduced to... other manifestations of his presence that I understood what it was then. Wow. So I went through a typical Kiwi childhood, smoking weed, drinking excessively. That seemed to be quite normal for people at our age group. Oh, wow. And you didn't have to leave school to start doing that. That just started. Wow.

4:43 And so, yeah, did that. Got caught up in... doing things like Ouija boards and astral traveling and seances and ESP and all sorts of bizarre things. But I really, now I know that was just a hunger for things of the spirit that was deep inside of me. It was just going to the wrong source. Right, exactly. Getting it from the counterfeit instead of the real. Absolutely, yes. And it wasn't until I actually... did have a face -to -face encounter with God that I began to realize the difference. The best high I ever got was in God. Yeah. The best feeling from any manifesting spirit. And free, yeah. Just cost me the rest of my life. Yes, that's true. Yeah. So, Princess, give us a little bit of your background. Yeah, I was brought up in a place called Auckland.

5:35 I was born in Auckland. I am from a place called Rotorua. It's where all the bubbly pools happen. Oh, okay. It's a big tourist place. I was only brought up in New Zealand right up to the age of eight and just turning nine. Then my parents moved to Australia at the age of nine years old. But I grew up in a Christian home. Oh. Yeah, we were taught right from the get -go who God was and how to have a relationship with God. And at a very young age, we were trained to train our spirit man at a very young age. Okay, and you're Maori, right? Yes, I'm Maori, yes, and both parents are Maori. And so we moved to Australia and also got into, I fell a lot because I was sexually abused at the age of six. Oh, no. For a while from my uncle and my husband. Turns out to be a great story. Because I stand in victory and I'm not a victim. I'm a victim. I stand in victory. Beautiful. So, yeah. So, yeah, and that happened. So that sort of had me blind for a long time. So I adopted a lot of bad behaviours along the way because of the cause of that. But, however, it's still my power of choice. Right.

6:50 So I got into some drugs and lots of it and I ended up selling at a young age. Age 13, I started selling. I'd get out of my school uniform, walk into the pub, and then start selling drugs in Sydney, Australia. Wow. And they all knew I was young, but who I worked for, they would never ever question it. So the family I was working for, you would never ever question it. A family. A family, that's correct. That's a key word, a family. That's correct, a family. And we're not talking about your father or mother. No, no, no, no. La familia. I worked for them for 25 years and I moved in the ranks very quickly.

7:33 Wow. And I ended up overseeing prostitute homes and illegal casinos in Sydney. Well, Sandy, did you know what you were marrying into? No. No, no, actually, God. Actually, it's better you don't know these things. I didn't tell him until he put the ring on me. No, I think I got blindsided by God there. He showed me her future, not her past. Pause, Selah, pause and think about that. Because that's really where we need to be living, looking at people, not at their past, but where God's taking them. And that's key to your story.

8:14 That's correct. That's the success of our story. Yes. So we ended up doing that. And then one day I had an encounter with God because I knew as a young child what it felt like to get a touch from the Lord. Wow. And so we learned this very young. And so when I was in my bedroom, 3 o 'clock in the morning, I got in touch with the Lord, and I had an encounter. And I went like this. I went, if that's you, okay, I know it's you. Send me someone to my door. I want B &B music. I don't want hymns. Send me to a real cool church. That was my list. And first thing in the morning, someone came to my door, and it was my niece.

9:00 And I was still a bit high. And so she said, oh, auntie, you need to come in for a baptism. We're baptizing my daughter. No, they call it a blessing over there, eh? Because she was only two years old or something. Oh, like dedication. Dedication, that's it. So I said, oh, no, I'm too stoned. I'm too drunk. Oh, no, can't do it. Last thing I want to do is walk into a church, not thinking what happened to me at 3 o 'clock in the morning. You forgot. And then she demanded it. She goes, Auntie, get in that shower, wash it off, and get to that church because you're one of the godparents. Oh! You don't want a drug head of an auntie to be one of your kids. And he goes, no, auntie, come on, let's go. So she was also looking at your future? Yes. She forced me, practically forced me to get in the car.

9:52 So I had a shower. She waited. She jumped in the car, and we had baby in there, and I'm sitting there grudgingly in the back of the church, and I'm going, can we hurry up and just pour this water over this baby and finish this already? I don't want to feed. I don't need your food. I just want to go. Wow. And I get up. And I leave, and I get to the door, and I fell to my knees. The same sensation came over my body from head to toe, and I fell at the door. Wow. And that began the journey with God. Wow. I was never the same ever again. Wow. How wonderful. I know.

10:33 So you hadn't met Sandy yet? No. Pastor Jack Harris was my first engagement. He came over, helped me up, and he said, welcome home. Wow. And I'm going, what? What are you doing? No, don't touch me. I know how you trick people into coming to your church. No, it's okay. Do you want us to drive you home? No, I can't go home. This is something else. So I sat there. It was the right music that I liked. And it was a cool church. And that's where most of my maturing happened, I suppose you could call it. Training happened. and how to train my spirit man and, yeah, work for the right people. Wow. Isn't that something? Yeah, so I went to go and finish that 25 -year job and I had to go and see Dad, Papa, we used to call him. And he was, sat there and I told him, I said, I'm moving on, I'm moving into a new space. And he goes, well, what do you mean new space? What are you doing? I give you lots of money, I give you houses, give you cars. What's wrong? Yeah, this is something a bit richer than that. Oh, wow. And he goes, what are you talking about? You can't do this. Because I made him a lot of money over the years, millions.

11:53 Wow. My last job with him was getting drugs into high schools. Oh, wow. And I did about five high schools at the time. So when he gave me a task, I did it. And I made sure I completed it. And that was the last time. I said, no, I can't do this anymore. Something happened to me. And he goes, what happened to you? What's wrong? What's the matter? I got a touch. I had an encounter with God. And I know you know who God is. Wow. I know you know him because you're Lebanese. Oh, yeah. You know him. And so I had an encounter with God. And his face just looked like, and he goes, okay, straight away. Wow. It's not like you got adopted by a different family. No. No.

12:44 Well, you did get adopted by God's family. Sometimes if you leave something like that, they don't let you go in other ways. It was a two -year process, so you can't leave them like that. You just have to do it. what they call a two -year process. Really? A stand -down. And if any of the companies or any of the organisations got busted, they'll come for you. Oh. But I was one of his most trusted. I moved through the ranks very quickly and made him a lot of money. I knew too much. I knew way too much to, you know, easily the police could have come to me and I said to them that I would never. Even if I'm a Christian, I would never, ever do that to you. He goes, I have to still give you two years. Okay, no worries. It's okay. So you continued to work for two years? No, no, no. He let you off? You stand down. But if any of the companies, you leave. Oh, yeah. You exit. But if any of the companies get broken into or get busted by the police, you take the fall. Oh, I see. Because you're the last one to leave the nest. Wow. Yeah.

13:58 Oh, wow. One of the things that I just want to encourage everybody with there, because a lot of times we don't hear about the background. And the background with Princess was that her mother was a faithful servant of God. She was an intercessor. Yeah. Wow. And she prayed for all of her children. In actual fact. The Lord kept her alive to see all of her children come out of whatever they were doing and come to the Lord. Wow. And that was the last one through the gates. The reason she got saved is, yes, God moved on her, but he was a faithful God to a faithful woman. And I just want to encourage any parents or any grandparents out there that are listening to this, and if you've got children that are in drugs or going through some really bad stuff, Don't stop praying for them. You are their salvation. You are the one speaking life into their lives. Don't stop. Pray until something happens. Absolutely. Beautiful. And then keep on praying. Yes, yes. And so there began the journey of my journey with God. Hung out with intercessors for a while to teach me how to connect and how to communicate. And then I met Sandy.

15:21 It wasn't a very nice meeting. She was still pretty raw. Very raw. We won't talk about that. But names were called. Right across the church. It was not very nice. And so what happened was I had to have him over. My mum, she goes, what did you, did you just say something nasty? Well, he is. He touched me on the shoulder and told me not to try and sing the words. Anyway, she said, oh, we love Sandy in this church. Sandy is highly respected. And we all call him the PP. Do you know what that is? The pastor's pet.

16:06 And so he was favoured by everybody. And his old Miss Princess comes along and works his stuff. But what happened was we had a forgiveness lunch. I was invited to it at my house. I walk in, they're all there. The food was all out. Sandy was there and all my aunties and my aunties and my sister and my mum. And I go, what's going on here? I've got to go and get ready for a party tonight. And he goes, you've just been to church. And I, yeah. One step in, one step out, you know. It's a process, isn't it? So she said to him, they were very disgusted of me because I was sort of drunk as I was going to church in Stone and I'm eating away there. But Sandy, it was Sandy, he sat there and as they were martyring me and being disappointed in me, Sandy said, I don't see that. And then that's where God...

17:09 It showed. Gave me a vision of what she was going to be in the future. Wow. And that vision was so strong and so clear. I couldn't stand her. A lot of people ask me, well, what do you think about Princess? And I thought, to be nice, I just said, not my cup of tea. Because you can't say something sometimes. You've just got to be polite about it. But there's just no way on earth was I going to be involved with that lady. But at that lunchtime dinner, the mother and the sisters were berating her in a terrible way. And actually, it was quite shocking to see these Christian ladies speaking this way to their daughter.

17:52 So God was very clear in what he showed me, what she was going to be like, this awesome, wonderful, powerful woman in God. And I actually said to him in that process, when I saw that, I said, that I could marry. Wow. And yet there was no way was I looking at her any way like that at all. No way, shape, or form. It was just like, you've got to be kidding me. Well, God was kidding me, all right. He got me. He blindsided me with his view. So how long did it take before you two got married? How long was this? That was probably about 13 or 14 months. Is that all?

18:33 Yeah. Wow. God did a quick work. Yes. There was a reason for it too. We ended up getting quite a few missions, ministries together, eh? And it was what we called tangis, funerals. So Māoris have funerals in a different way. We sleep with our... With our past. So they're in a coffin and we sleep right around them. Oh, wow. For the last three nights. Like a massive wake for three days. Yeah, like a massive wake. Three nights we sleep with them. Kind of like sitting Shiva. Something like that. Yes. Only with Shiva, sitting Shiva among the Israelis or the Jewish people. They bury immediately and then they spend the time together with the family. Oh. Yeah, well, we spend the time with the body. With the body. Tell the stories. Oh, yeah, background knowledge. Yeah, and then we got that ministry together. Oh, it was such a joy. It was so good because we saw quite a few souls come through that ministry. And also we also took on the Mums on the Move, which was a sports team, an evangelistic.

19:42 So there was only one of us. And the worst thing about it, our pastor comes over and he sits me down. And at this time, I couldn't stand our pastor either. And I was going, what do you want? What's happening? And I had no respect, no honor. They knew each other as children. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. You were locked in the past. That's correct. I was always looking at her past, what she was. And so I learned very dearly to listen to that. Anyway, so she goes, oh, you're going to be a cell leader. I said, you know I'm still smoking dope, don't you? Because I was always transparent. I was always honest with them. I didn't like hiding things. And they said, oh, yes, but God said that it's you. And you and I are going to be cell leaders together. But it's not any normal cell group. And I'm going, oh, here we go. The joke gets better. And then she turns around and she says, it's going to be a cell group that are unsaved people. I went, great. But I had dreams. I had dreams after about a month, and mine are very, very clear, and I remember them all. And so when I dreamt this, I dreamt of this team, these people, and I was playing sports with them. So she took me physically. In real time, she took me to the stadium, and we sat there. No one was in the stadium. We sit there, and I'm going, what are we sitting here for?

21:11 She goes, just wait. So this lady comes walking in. One lady and I looked over and, oh, what, what's wrong? That lady was in my dream. Oh, wow. She was, she was goal shooter. No, I swear, I swear. And I'm going like that to my spouse and she goes, oh. And then another woman, oh, my goodness, that lady was centre. Wow. All the team members that I dreamt of came through the door. Oh, my. And I said, oh, my gosh, this bleep. Really works. And she goes, what did you just say? This bleep really works. I have to tell you, it's taken 20 years to get that bleep in there. And she goes, go to the toilet, wash your face, come back out. And I'm nervous and I go, now what? Now what do we do? And she goes, go over there and everything will just flow out.

22:13 You go over there. Don't send me in the lion's den. You go. No, you know all the Bible. You know how to pray. You're the theologian. You get over there. And she goes, oh, gosh, get up. and walk over, everything will come to you. It's because you had the dream. Yeah. So that's right. Well, she could have told me that. Anyway, she walks over and I'm going, Kia ora, hello. In other words, hello. My name's Princess and I'm looking for a team. And, you know, to play with. And she goes, oh, we're just making up one now. You can join us. Wow. I said, oh, thank you.

22:55 She goes, well, can you play? I'm an all -rounder. What's that? All around is a shooter, center, defense. I can play anywhere. So what game is this we're talking about? This is a multi -sports. So you play netball one week, you play basketball the next week, you play volleyball the next week, and then indoor soccer. Wow. So it's a multi -sports. Oh, okay. Wow, I've never heard of that. So these women that I was playing with were mothers that stay home looking after babies. Oh. So we called the team Mums on the Move. Cut a long story short, three months later, four generations of each member of that team came to the Lord.

23:38 Wow. Their parents, them, three generations, and their children. In church, praising the Lord three months. That's how God works. Wow. As a result of that, we actually had to step into discipleship. Sure. That's the next thing. Yeah, absolutely. And we were the ones, because of our connection to them, we were the ones that were doing the discipling for all of them. Wow. And the awesome thing out of that, out of those people came cell group leaders, worship leaders, and pastors. Wow. So, you know, we got this revelation out of that, that God was using us to train up a new generation of leaders. Glory to God. And so we did not really understand that at the time because you just do what God gives you to do.

24:32 Exactly, day by day. But when you see the fruit, it becomes fairly evident what your purpose is. And I got to the stage where over half the church were our disciples. Wow. And this actually begins to create a different dynamic within a church as well because now your disciples are asking, why isn't everybody else doing what you're doing? And that's a very serious question. I said, well, stop looking at what other people are doing and just do what we're showing you and worry about that. Because it's not what they're doing, it's what you're doing. And so that became, but we knew then that things had got to a stage where now the influence that we were having in the church was actually. creating a very dangerous dynamic. Right. And we've seen a lot of church splits in the past. Yeah. So really it was probably time for us to move on before something like that actually happened. And then the Lord sent us on mission, and I was really glad for that.

25:33 So were you married yet? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, we were married. We missed that little detail. Oh, yeah, we were well into our marriage then. Okay. But we ended up, so I flew over to New Zealand. At this time. And we know for a month, we had two boys at the time. They were seven and six. And so we got up into the plane. We were up flying into Nelson. And next minute God says, you're coming home. And I went, what do you mean, home? Because my connection to God is good and I'm matured a bit. All the drugs are gone. All the alcohol's gone. All those stuff that's gone. All the world stuff. And I went, what? Did I hear right? You're coming home. You're not going back to Australia. I'm planting you here in New Zealand. So I get there and I ended up going to Nelson. We were in a caravan and, you know, had our holiday. And then I was praying with the boys. We had a prayer night and I said, I want you to go to Wellington. The Lord said?

26:40 Wellington, yeah. And Wellington, I've learned this, is at the south end of the North Island and it's the farthest capital from Jerusalem. That's correct. And it's the capital city of New York. That's right, capital. And so Nelson is just across the way. Okay. Across the water on the South Island, top of the South. So I fled to Wellington and that's where we ended up getting based at Pumari. I was still living in Australia. Right. Sandy was still working in Australia. We were here for a holiday. And then I go to, I want to cut out a lot of detail. I ended up going to the airport, stood at Wellington Airport.

27:25 And this woman comes by and it was my sister -in -law. And I said, how did you know it was me? Because we'd just seen your wedding photos. And I went, what? And she goes, are you here? Where's Sandy? Where's Joel and Jerome, our sons? And I told her and I said, what are you here for? You've got family. And I went, no, you're it. Who's picking you up? No, you're it. Can I hitchhike a ride with you? And I'll try and explain the best way I can. Oh, wow. The best way I can. So you just flew from Nelson to Wellington and you didn't have any connections. No, that was one of those miracle encounters that you hear about. And then next minute, you know, and I said, I hope I didn't look like that on my wedding photos. Because she just finished looking and I said, so I jump in the car. She drives me to, I said, I don't want you breaking your plan. I just want you to drive and I'll explain.

28:25 And I said, I want to buy a cheap and nasty home here. Cheap and nasty. I don't care if it's flash. I just want to buy a cheap and nasty. And she goes, okay. I didn't know Sandy, you and Sandy were coming back to New Zealand. So didn't I until about a day ago up in the air. So do you know any places that are selling their homes cheap and nasty? And I said, I've got the place. So she drives me to this place called Housing New Zealand. It's a state home place. Sort of like low income. That's correct. Low income. That's what we call it in the States. So I went, oh, okay. So she explained herself and, oh no, I earn too much money to be in your homes. And she said to me, well, let me be the judge of it. We got an appointment straight away. You're supposed to have an appointment first. And I cold called them and she came out and she sat me down. And then she went through and she goes, well, let me be the judge of it and we'll go through, tick the box. So you said you're staying, sleeping in a caravan with your two sons? Yes.

29:40 Tick. And I'm like this. And your husband is back in Australia? Yes, tick. Oh, I can't come in like that. Oh, no, no. Listen, darling, could you get the manager and just oversee this application? Because one thing I don't want to do is get you in trouble, and I don't want to come in the wrong way. I'm a pastor's wife. Could you imagine it? My husband won't be happy, and so won't God. Anyway, she goes, I am the regional manager. And I went, oh, okay. And I'm going like this, can I just have a moment? Is this you, Lord?

30:29 Really? Do you do this sort of thing? Like I'm talking like that in my mind. And I'm covering my face and going, really, Lord? And it was. Wow. But she said to me that you can only rent through us and get first preference of the buy. the purchase if you rent. But you've got to meet our criteria. That was it, tick the box. And I got it. So I flew in at 10, flew out at 1 o 'clock with a key in my hand. Oh, my. Never mind the 18 -month waiting list. Did you know that she was doing this? Oh, wait, I'm not getting to that yet. I ring him, and I'm going, I can't believe this, baby. He goes, well. Hold it, hold it, hold it. You're more connected than I am because you're the favourite one. Did you know we were coming back to New Zealand to stay? Did God tell you? And there was a long pause and I knew straight away. He goes, yes. How long have you known? Five years. I thought we had no secrets in this marriage. And he goes, darling, I couldn't tell you. I said to God, you need to tell your daughter. Wow. So where did he tell you? In the plane with the two boys. I felt like a single parent at the time. And he goes, wow.

31:55 And he goes, well, I got us a place. Well, God got us a place. He's opened the door. But we're going to purchase it in a few months. Anyway, so I turned around and I said, it's at a place called Pomari. And he goes, spell it. Spell it, princess, and I spelt it. And you know where it was, right? And he goes, Pumari. That's the proper pronunciation. And I went, yeah, I think so. And then he goes, yes, and he's bouncing up and down. He's screaming. He's going, yes, that's where the gangs are. That's where I used to smoke a lot of drugs. Yes. And I went, what does that mean? Are we going back into the world?

32:44 And he goes, no, no, we're going to go in a different man, a new man. Wow. And so that's where we got our first engagement. We moved in less than a year. We packed up the houses and we were told to give everything away. Give everything away and come only with your clothes. Right? Yep. Coffee machine. Oh, yeah. Can't leave that behind. He allowed you that one. Oh, I don't know about that. That cost me a year. You've got to be very careful when God gives you instructions. You've got to follow them. He must have been a very nice coffee machine. I didn't think New Zealand had any. Wow. That's why it's all done. Oh, okay.

33:27 That's why I brought it. It was British kind of tea. I know. It was the history. The lady at the airport, chicken, she lifts the bag up and says, oh, that's a pretty heavy bag. Yeah, and I said, I just bought new underwear. And she goes, pretty heavy underwear. They still got the price tag on it. So while she was getting the house sorted out, I was getting sorted out in Australia. And the Lord actually had me on the floor most nights. And the last thing that he said to me before I came over to New Zealand was, woe be unto the pastors who lead my sheep astray. And I go, oh, I'm not worthy. I'm not worthy. I'm not going to be. No, you're a pastor, but you don't lead my sheep astray. I said, okay, I'll just be a sheepdog. I'll lead them to you and let you sort it out from there. He's the shepherd. He's the shepherd, absolutely. Yeah.

34:32 And so in the process of moving into Pumari, of course, the first thing we started doing was praying for that community because it was. worst place to be living and it was terrible um we had to go in with nothing because we're moving into a community that has nothing yeah yeah and so immediately we transformed the house that we were living in by painting and and doing everything up and a lot of people you love to come to our house simply because it was like stepping into a new world you know because you You painted it up according to the lifestyle we were living in and used to in Australia, you know, with feature walls and nice leather lounge suites. And yet we came with nothing, but God provided a truckload of furniture for us as we were moving. We spent two weeks painting the place up ourselves. And of course, oh, you're getting free rent for that?

35:30 No, no, no. We are living how we want to live. And so we set it up and the neighborhood began to use our place as a rest stop. Stepping out of that community and into our house was like walking into the TARDIS, they said. I don't know if you know the TARDIS. No. Dr. Who was a science fiction character who had this telephone box. It was actually a UFO. And it was about the size of a telephone box, and you walked inside it. It was like a city inside it almost. I don't think that show hit America. No, it was a British one. Yeah, I've heard of it, but I've never seen it. Anyway, so they found it was different, and a lot of people would come just for the piece.

36:17 Wow. And that's how it began, just for the piece. But we had a pretty… quick and rough introduction to the community as Princess encountered the first visitor to our house. It was nothing to do with the churches or anything like that, but it was actually from one of the gang members' wives. Yeah, and she bought a box where I thought, a box of food, a box on the door to welcome me into the community. And then I thought it was a donation week. So I just grabbed a tin of canned beans and just put it in the box. And she goes, no, you fool. It belongs to you. This is you. Welcome to our hood, you know. And I'm going, okay. Pretty flash hood. But even within the first month, there was three murders. A lot of alcohol, a lot of drugs, a lot of crime, a lot of theft, a lot of everything. Everything that the enemy likes. And we were dead centre in it.

37:20 So before we get to our house, you've got to drive past their pad, their club, and then get into our driveway. So we see everything. And I went, whoa, this is like I'm getting punished. What seemed like exciting now turns into here I'm coming in with a Bible and God. Crikey, they've got guns and stuff, you know. Yeah, wow. But he said, trust in me. Yeah. With all your heart, my girl. And I will open up the windows of heaven for you. Everything you put your hands to, I will bless. Beautiful. Because of your obedience coming here. Beautiful. And in that process, very quickly we managed to get into the local community house, which was... It's almost like the centre, the hub of the community. Of course, that meant all the gangsters were in and out of that house all the time. And they needed volunteers, so she went across and started volunteering.

38:27 And we had our chance to start to work with these guys. And in that time, we got to bring about a whole lot of changes in people's lives simply by just... being there and loving on them going to the hospital when they're going to how many times we had to take the wives into the hospital because they got beaten up oh my how many times we had to go and pick up the guys from the police station because they got hauled and drunk Oh, wow. And so that was our normal lifestyle for a while. And you just serve the community, just love on them, start doing food parcels out. They came to us with a food parcel. All of that was organized out of their house, and very quickly Princess became, within a few months, became the manager of the place. Wow. And so we actually got to run our church out of the community house.

39:21 Wow. At that stage, we had five of us in our church. There was Princess myself, our two sons. Wow. And James. Oh, wow. Papa James, he was our first disciple here in New Zealand. He was your first disciple? Yes. Oh. We'll interview him in another episode. Yes, yes. So he's been with me for 16 years. Wow. And saw us go through the transition. Because when we came in from Australia, we actually had to get rid of a whole lot of religious. Sure. Thoughts and behaviours and actually transformed the way we did church all together. Sure. Because we came over with a devil -proof discipleship plan. Okay. Yeah, well, that went out the door. God said, no, I want fresh manna. My children deserve fresh manna from me.

40:18 Beautiful. I said, oh, okay. Chuck that out and said, okay then, how are we going to do this? How are we going to do that? And then the first thing that came was the word. Yes. That's it. That was our discipleship plan. And I'm going, okay then, then what? And then we started from there. But it was all about teaching people how to have a relationship with God. Exactly. And it's just like you and me. When I pick up the phone, if I've known you for a year or so, you'll know it's me because you know my voice. Exactly. The same principle as God. Right. I mean, us Māori people have known spiritual world for a very long time, since birth. You know, we brought eat, sleep and whatever. And so we're brought up really well with it. But what happened was that we ended up not teaching them how to. connect it was discovering how they are already connecting right that's good and it was not like we trained them it was like they already had it it's just that they haven't found it yet yeah so we started teaching them um what they were seeing and what they were hearing right and to find what was god and what was not good and so it went from there that way All the ownership is not on one person. Right. But they go for their answers straight to God. Exactly. And not a man. That's true discipleship. And it's not to say that you go away from the brethren because you need the

41:50 army for the witnesses, you know, the witness of one or two or three. Right. To back up your vision or your dream that you had. And so we started training there. But that came later on. But with the gangs, however, that was a different story altogether. It was all about education, upskilling, and employment, and housing, and business. That was a massive development. That was massive, yeah. We go in there, the percentages were like 95 % unemployed. Three generations of families that were stuck in that environment.

42:33 And that actually turned around within a five -year period to 95 % employed. Glory to God. And from homeless to homeowners. That was the next stage after the gangs. That was the next stage after the gangs. We took it out of the community and went into the city. And other communities started reaching out to the homeless out there, taking what we'd learnt working with the local gangs and applying the same knowledge that God had given us. And they were much more progressive in taking on God. In actual fact, from those homeless people, we saw in a three -year period.

43:14 During the COVID period, when it was near impossible to buy a home or get housing anywhere, 100 % success in getting everybody housed. Wow. 100%. And it got to the stage where the state agencies were coming to us for help. Glory to God. And sending their clients to us to deal with. We didn't mind that because in the process, they all got led to the Lord. Hallelujah. And after the COVID period, and we've got to keep moving because we're running low, 30 -odd families had established. home churches. Wow. And each of those home churches had roughly six to eight people in them. Well, three or four years later, that 30 has become 250 home churches. As they reached out to their families with the same help that they got. Beautiful. And leading them to the Lord the same way they were led. That's outpouring.

44:19 So that's absolute outpouring. Outpouring, yeah. So we saw our whole community turn over like that. One of the big benefits that we got, we were blessed to have an opportunity to buy all the land in the community that we were living in. Wow. And the Lord told us to put in a bid to buy it. Now that land was worth around about $16 million at that stage. So this is a few years ago now. And in the church was the five of us. Wow. And I was the only one working. Wow. I wasn't a pastor staying at home. I was a working pastor. And so, you know, I just had to fill in the time with everything I could. And you know what? We put in a bit and it got accepted. Wow. Then came the scary part. Yeah. 16 million dollars. Wow.

45:11 We got the money. Glory to God. God got the money. God set my wife up to find the right person, and we got the money. And then God pulls us out of the deal before we close it because it wasn't our purpose to buy the property. It was just to put in the bid and do what we're told to do. And sometimes God does that. Yes, he does. He sends us on a mission, not for us to fulfill that mission, but for us to learn something. Right. Very true. And I asked him that question, why did you do that for, Lord? Because you really upset my wife. And he said three things. The first thing was by putting in a bid, we got privy to all the information regarding the development.

46:00 Secondly, we got to see that God could do anything. Yes. That a church of five people could get $16 million. That's pretty amazing. Yeah. And that wasn't like over 10 years. 10 weeks this thing happened. Wow. And thirdly, I was to get alongside another pastor in the community who listened to what was going on and said, this is so crazy, it's got to be God. Can I come for a journey with you? His name's Pastor Greg Moti. Pastor Greg Moti, yeah. And Rich knows him as well. We lost the, so I was threatened because when we came back into the meeting, I had to renege.

46:40 But you have a 30 -day close. So, you know. So I walked in and I got threatened. He goes, you'll never work in this space ever again. I will make sure of it. In fact, you're going to lose your job. You'll never get to work in this space. And then he walked out the door and I said, man, I don't blame him for saying that. This was a long journey for our community. But anyway, he walks out and about two weeks the next, you know how you have tenders? and you have expressive interest, and then you get to win it, but they go to the next, lay it down, next person down. Well, this guy named Peter Savage, he's from City Living, and he ended up getting the deal.

47:25 He ended up paying the 16 mil. And then next minute, you know, he comes walking in. I didn't know who he was. He comes into the community house, and he goes, Oh, excuse me, my name's... Peter Savage. And I said, oh, yeah, what can I do for you? He goes, I'm from City Living. I own the property now. I own this property. I'm about to build all the homes. And I went, oh, wow. Wow, that's awesome. Well, welcome to our community. And he goes, what can I do for you? And I said, oh, I just want to, I'm just looking for somebody or something. I don't know. Anyway, I had a dream last night of a person. It could be a princess or a princess, a real princess or a person that goes by the name of princess. And I said, oh, that'll be me. And he goes, oh, really? And I said, no, really.

48:18 And I said, well, what are you doing? And his wife was next to him. And yeah, well, I'm princess. And he goes, well, what's happened? What did you dream? And he said, well, you are to build a team and to spearhead this development. And all in all, okay. And then his wife turns around. She looks at me and she goes, you know what? When my husband woke up yelling out the name Princess, I thought he was having an affair. Oh, no. And I said, well, don't you think I can get your husband? Oh, come on. Her and I are very good friends. Her name is Liz, and she's a lovely lady. She laughed, and we laughed it off. And I said, I'll be honoured to spearhead this for you. And I said, what do you think the team looks like? And he said, I want council involved. I want kiangora, low -income people involved, and all the agencies involved. And I said, okay then. Right, and so we had architects, we had the builders, we had all them, that sort of people. And the person that threatened me was there. He was the regional manager. He was the new one. So he sat there at the end of the table and I said, oh, thank you for, and I invited

49:50 everybody. I said, thank you for replying to my message and thank you for attending. And then I let them know, gave them an introduction of why we're there. And they were all in. I said, I just wanted everyone to go around to introduce yourselves and where you're from and what part you'd be playing and concerning the redevelopment. And the guy, when it got to the kainga ora guy, the guy that threatened me, he goes, and I'm going, hmm. And he said, oh, thank you for the invitation. Probably need to apologise to your princess. Oh, wow. For what I said to you. It wasn't a very nice thing I said. No right to say it. Beautiful. Closure. Mate, we're a team.

50:43 We're a family now. Wow. Yeah, water under the bridge. Beautiful, beautiful. So just to finish off on that story, and I think we need to come to a close just about on that. We saw our whole community redeveloped physically on the outside by the housing, but also internally with the training and education and the employment of everybody. And the next step, and I complained to the Lord about this, and I said, what about the Spirit, Lord? We've got every other base covered. What about the Spirit? And that's where those 30 home churches, which became 250. Was the next development of it. Beautiful. But that housing deal, the guy won it. He ended up having to pay another $10 million. Wow. Because there's contamination in the land from asbestos. Oh, no. And then it took another year and a half for that to be done. Wow. So we were saved by God. Wow. But he knew what was going on anyway.

51:44 Yeah. But we were saved by following his example. Yes. Abraham's example. Yes. You know, the promised land, which was the community, was the son, Isaac. Yes. And then he was told to take him up on the mountain and sacrifice him. He did that. And so we were told to sign up the deal. And then God says, stop. I've got a ram for you. Somebody else can pay the price. Glory to God. So I just want to give a quick overview of what really happened, what happened in New Zealand. So when we touched base there, there was family violence, heavy family violence. There was theft. There was murder. There was so much criminal activity happening. And then God turned. He poured his spirit out on all mankind in our community. And it was rearranged, transformed. But the thing was, the spirit also fell on believers as well.

52:42 Yes. Because he taught us how to look beyond what we can see. Yes. Beautiful. And I said, well, what does that look like, Lord? And he said, I'm going to show you the kingdom of God inside of people. That incorruptible seed. I love that. That's inside of people. Yeah. That I planted, that seed that I planted there. That's right. And so I thought, oh, this is going to be good. So we got to practice every day because we were with them every day. Beautiful. And so it was like setting myself up ready to practice. I love it. And then, you know, looking beyond the tattoos, looking beyond the crime, looking beyond, beyond. In actual fact, he was showing us what's to come. Beautiful. See how he sees them. And so he stopped letting us look at the present. We stopped looking at the past. Because that's one of the things that blinds a lot of people is their present. And then they start praying like this. Oh, Lord, Lord, please heal.

53:46 And that's a good thing to say. Lord, please heal of drug addiction. Then they start calling this thing out on these people. And I said, you're actually declaring this over them. And I said, well, our prayers need to be praying like it's already happened. Exactly. Lord, thank you for the healing. Lord, thank you for the addiction that you've healed. Thank you, Lord, for pouring your spirit out on them. Lord, I can da -da -da. But it's like, and I noticed that was happening, but he showed us how to build into them, build Christ into them, and that was an awesome thing. That's why it was 100 % successful. Amen. It's because we followed the instructions of the Lord.

54:29 Beautiful. And we did not go off. There was a few mistakes, but, you know. You make them. You're human. And you repent and you move on. That's correct. You don't stay there. Right. I think the key to it for the start for us was not to get God to try and bless what we were doing. Exactly. But find out what he was blessing and co -labor with him. Right. And I think when you talk to Richard, you'll hear much more about co -laboring as well. Okay. Well, let's do an episode with him. As we close, Pastor Sandy, would you please pray for our listeners? Father. Lord, we know that you have every need met. Lord, and I pray, Father, that people are encouraged to continue to pray for their loved ones. They're encouraged to look at their community and their towns and their cities and see the hand of God moving in the midst of them. Yes. That they would respond to what you were doing, Lord. And co -labor with you as you pour out your spirit on all flesh. Because we are in those days. Yes.

55:41 And they haven't stopped from the day of Pentecost. That's right. Until you return, you're going to continue pouring out your spirit, Father. And so I pray, Lord, that we all enter into this place of cooperation and co -laboring as we see heaven. manifesting on earth through our words, through our deeds, and through your Spirit. In Jesus' name. Amen. Your review helps the podcasting platform suggest this podcast to other listeners who are also looking for a great move of the Holy Spirit. Check out our website at globaloutpouring .org to find out more information, read our blogs, connect with us, and donate. You can also browse our web store for life -changing anointed books.

56:43 Until next time, this is Sharon Buss. And I'm Philip Buss. God bless you with His overwhelming, loving presence.