OUR STORY
Small Beginnings
Most great things have had their beginnings in the most humble of ways. Even the birth of the Savior began in a humble little town called Bethlehem, which hardly drew any attention from the leaders of that time. But from that little humble beginning came forth a plan of God that has touched lives around the world. GMRN is a lot like that. It began in obscurity in a small humble place, but now is reaching out to touch the nations with the Word of God and with His power.
In January 1997 the Lord opened the way for an Assembly of God minister who had felt the call of God to the Apostolic Ministry, and his family, to leave their homeland of South Africa and travel to a country that they knew little of. Les and Daphne Crause packed up their computer business, and their ministry from home to go like Abraham into a land that they did not know. They went with only the knowledge that God was calling them to fulfill a word that He had given them years earlier when they were first married. Now what had been only a dream and vision was about to become a reality.
God had said, "You will travel overseas to places you have never heard of" and their first stop was a little town in Mexico that was as insignificant as Bethlehem. There the Lord spoke very clearly to Les and gave him a test to pass which would set the tone for the future. The Lord said, "I will bring you people from the around the world to train and teach what I have taught you. You will equip them to go forth and touch the nations, and they will rise up and bring change to this world. But you cannot advertise yourself or make your name known. You must remain in obscurity and you will be known only through those whom you will train and send forth."
When Les was prepared to accept this initial condition, the Lord indicated that he had passed the test. Like Solomon of old, his motive was not to make a name for himself or gain great wealth, but simply to be an instrument of God. Yet even as God told Solomon that great blessing would await him because of his commitment, so also the Lord promised that the ministry that arose would touch the nations and would blaze a new trail for the Body of Christ. Had they known the full price that they would have to pay for this, Les and Daphne might have been tempted to pack their suitcases and fly home again. Yet they pressed on and paid the price gladly.
It Started With The Daily Blessing
With a guaranteed monthly support from only one sponsor Les and Daphne began to experiment with the internet as a means of reaching out with the Word of God. Starting with the most primitive of web pages, hosted on a free server they began to formulate a plan for ministry that would reach out using the modern technology offered by the Internet. Though Les was a computer programmer by profession, he had little experience in creating web pages, and so began a learning curve, where Les came up with the concepts to create pages that were not only functional but also pleasing to the eye.
The first outreach began with a Daily Word and a mailing list was created to send out a portion of teaching every day by email to those who were interested. The first ones on this list were family and close friends, but the list soon began to grow and more and more people showed an interest in receiving the teaching which Les was putting out each day. At this point in time there was no real vision for the kind of ministry that would develop, and a final name had not yet been chosen for the ministry. But slowly, behind the scenes, God was beginning to put together the pieces of what would develop.
Ministry Registration and Arrival of Craig and Colette Toach
With the increase of contacts made via the Internet, and the increasing numbers of people requiring personal counsel and ministry, it soon became clear that it was time to expand and increase the ministry staff. It was also necessary to set up a permanent home for the ministry, and give it a final name that could be advertised online. So Global Ministry Resource Network was officially born in November 1998, and GMRN was registered officially as a bona fide ministry and a bank account opened in San Diego, California. Everything was now set to build a ministry and license those who qualified to be ordained as GMRN ministers.
Plans were made for family to join Les and Daphne, and Craig and Colette Toach began to make preparations to also leave South Africa and join them in Mexico to help carry the ministry load. The GMR Executive Team was now formed all dedicated to the work of the Lord, working together in close harmony and pooling all their talents and abilities to help the work develop and grow.
Everything was in place for expansion and growth, and there was much anticipation concerning the future, but then the first major obstacle appeared.
The Enemy Strikes. A New Look at Finances
No work of God that has any impact can continue for long without receiving some kind of opposition from the enemy, and this ministry was no exception. The work had grown and many were receiving ministry daily, but there remained only one source of income. It had been a policy from the beginning to not make financial appeals, but to offer all ministry freely, and this was possible with guaranteed support. But suddenly the only source of income came to an end.
With no form of business activity permitted under their visas, and with little chance of doing business where they lived, the GMR Executive found themselves with one of two choices. Either they had to close down the ministry and return to South Africa, which was not financially feasible anyway, or they had to now begin to use the ministry to create a source of income for the future.
Appeals for support brought small amounts from those who really cared, but it was clear that without being able to minister to real live people, this would never generate even enough income to feed the families involved. So a decision was made that would affect the future development of GMR and would result in the production of ministry materials that would become a new standard in training for those in the Fivefold Ministry.
Taking the initiative, Les decided to preach a series on the principles which God had revealed to him, and which he had used personally for some time in his own personal life. These principles now became vital to survival and the continued growth of the work. So was created the teaching series that is the foundation of all that is taught by GMR, which is The Way of Blessing. Preaching to only the team members, but also directly into a video camera, Les began to preach principles of blessing at a time when there was often no food on the table and the children were crying out for something to eat.
The First Prophetic School
God was faithful, and the audio tapes made from these recordings began to sell and generate further income. But it was still not enough, and Les continued to preach and teach on other topics. An attempt to offer ministry training online on a donations basis failed, so Les began to preach a series on the Prophetic Ministry, and as this grew it began to take the form of a full training for prophets. As the tapes began to come together, Daphne, who previously had been employed as a typist and computer operator, began to type transcripts of the teachings so that they could be made available in printed form in addition to the audio tapes.
In time there were sufficient lectures on the Prophetic Ministry to offer a training course to prospective prophets. And now for the first time, the income began to come in portions that could support the GMR Team. The course was launched with a full curriculum in mind, but the lectures did not come as easily as hoped. It seemed that before any new principle could be added to the lectures, the members of the team had to literally "live" the lecture and prove it in practice in their own personal experience.
Subjects like 'Death of a Vision' were produced at great price to the Team. The lecture on the Prophetic Preparation touched so many lives, but it took great suffering and death to many areas of their lives for this kind of teaching to come forth. And soon Les was not alone in producing the lectures, because Colette Toach, who had risen up fully in Prophetic Office was now able to assist in this. Starting with just a few teachings, she soon rose up in power and authority to become the leader of the ministry training, as Les was called to move into a new teaching series - The Apostolic Ministry.
The Fivefold Training Mechanism
God began to show how important it was that the Fivefold Ministry be restored to the Church, and while the Prophetic Course was still in the process of completion, the Lord began to show the way to do this. The next major study course that was destined to come into being was the training for the apostles. The Apostolic Movement was still in its infancy, but the Lord showed Les that he was to receive teaching directly from the Lord on this. He had been prepared for this many years earlier when God first called him to step out in faith to obey the apostolic call. Now it was time to fulfill this call and to lay a new foundation for the future church, by establishing a training for the End Times Apostles.
As always, this required living the lectures, and by this time Colette had now risen up also into Apostolic Office and was ready to assist in producing the lectures. Thus began a preparation and preaching of what now exists as the full Apostolic Office Course. It took exactly three years for this to be completed, as each team member lived the lectures and then they were preached. Les and Colette worked together to form a full training foundation for those whom God would call to be his End Times Apostles.
Along the way, the Lord added other teachings for the remaining fivefold ministries of pastor, teacher and evangelist. These were not as intensive as the apostolic and prophetic courses, and were put together under one heading, thus making up a third training course to complement the other two.
Putting all these powerful resources together, the first school was launched, but it took some more years of training and hard work before the completed vision of GMR International Training College reached its full potential.
The Vision Grows
As the training courses of GMRN were launched online via the internet, the Lord began to show the GMR Executive how they could produce their own books without the excessive cost involved in publishing a book. Using the talents that God had placed in the various team members, the first published books were made using simple tools and materials and were bound by hand. The first book to become available was of course the Way of Blessing.
Daphne continued to work hard to not only transcribe all the lectures and teachings, but to edit and format them in a form that was acceptable as reading matter. Craig assisted in the design and creation of presses to manually bind the books. Les worked hard on the computer systems, creating and programming the software that would power all of this online. With a full team effort GMR was soon producing all of their own books without the use of a publisher. And before long it became clear that this was going to be a large part of the function of this ministry. So it became necessary to create a separate business division of GMRN in the form of a publishing company, which was called the GMR Publishing Company.
Now everything was in place for GMRN to reach out and touch the world. God had begun to bring in many for training, and as time went on, students began to qualify as prophets and apostles. It was necessary that these people be recognized and hands laid on them in full ordination. So GMRN began to hold international conferences, and what had begun as only an online ministry finally became a real live ministry, ministering to real live people. God began to bring in those who would rise up to take their place in the inner circle of ministry with GMRN, as fully trained Apostles and Prophets.
Reaching The Nations
God sent in leaders from around the world, including many from the United States and Canada, but also some from Europe and other nations such as New Zealand, Singapore, Russia, Africa, England and Spain. The time was right for the Team members of GMR to move out from their home base in Mexico to touch other nations. The first Team Members to reach out officially in this way were the Toach family, and they left Mexico early in 2003 to spend an extended period of time in Switzerland.
Working with others, who had come for training originally from Switzerland, the groundwork was laid for an outreach which would become a hub in Europe. Traveling to surrounding countries such as Germany, France, England and Wales, Craig and Colette observed the situation in Europe and their hearts were stirred to see the huge need for the Gospel and the power of God to penetrate those nations. Following this Apostles Les and Daphne Crause traveled to Switzerland and spent time laying a groundwork for future development. While observing other countries such as Holland on their way through, and spending time also in Italy, the needs for the nations of Europe became very clear.
The Lord gave a clear vision showing the need to train workers to send into the nations of Europe and its neighbors.
Beginning then with Main Centers in the United States and Europe, GMR is reaching out to the nations of the world, training those who wish to be used of God, and establishing ministry centers in every continent. As those who are trained, qualify and are placed in office, they will be sent out as the Apostles and Prophets of old, to go and break new ground for the Kingdom of God, and to cause the Word of God to reach the nations. The Church will be built in every nation, and Pastors, Teachers and Evangelists will find their place in the new Church that God is establishing in these End Times. They will fulfill the call to prepare the Bride of Christ for the soon coming of her Heavenly Bridegroom.
AMI Steps Forward.
By the year 2008 much had been accomplished by GMR. The full training mechanism for the Apostle, Prophet and Pastor were complete, along with the near completion of full training mechanizms for the Evangelist and Teacher. GMRTV was also birthed and started broadcasting it's message to the world with ongoing success.
The first GMR Band music CDs were recorded and sold. Free online courses drew in Christians from every denomination and walk of life. Finally GMR was beginning to make its impact on the world as God had promised. A bright future lay ahead. It was at this moment that the Lord gave a very clear message to Apostle Les and the Executive that it was time for further change. Enough time had been spent in establishing resources and it was time to move on once again to practically applying everything the Lord had taught us.
Now with a firm foundation, we were ready to provide further training, covering and licensing to Ministers all over the world. And so Apostolic Movement International was birthed. A full ministry division that would embrace both the resources and all live ministry. Equipped to be a covering for Fivefold Ministers internationally not only has AMI given a covering, but also brought every GMR division together under a single banner.
Live Schools and Travel
Now that the foundation is firmly in place, it is clear that AMI must rise up to a new level of influence. Increasing international travel, The Executive Team are geared for where the Lord will send them to establish the Ministry Centers that are needed.
The story is far from over and although it has taken years to establish a very secure foundation, the work now is increasing in momentum and magnitude.
Become a Part
Becoming a part of GMR (Now under the Umbrella of AMI) is as simple as enrolling in one of our Free Mailing lists. If you would like to establish a closer relationship with AMI and its leadership, then these are the steps that you can follow:
1. Join as a Student of GMR
With our full training mechanizm in place, those who are serious about becoming a GMR Minister and setting up their own training schools that are accredited by us, are required to know our materials.
2. Become an AMI Associate.
For those willing to pay a price, Apostle Les D. Crause and The Executive Team work closely with associates who desire to come under their covering and receive further training to do their ministries.
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