CURRICULUM VITAE Of RODNEY WALTER FRANCIS
Born
17th January, 1942, at Palmerston North, New Zealand. Brought up on a farm
raising sheep, pigs, turkeys, and milking cows. Dropped out of school at 15 to
work on my father's farm because "there was nothing else for me to
do."
At
17 years of age (1959) I was saved in an Independent Pentecostal Church (known
at that time as "The Open Door Mission" in Palmerston North), after
being brought up a very nominal Presbyterian. After a short time I backslid for
a period of 4-6 months (the most miserable time of my life!). Then, at 18 years
of age (1960), God spoke to me (when still backslidden) and called me to serve
Him. The power of that word turned me back to God. I got baptized in water by
full immersion, and then sought the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. The fear of man,
plus other inferiorities and insecurities, hindered me from receiving in the
presence of other Christians.
A
month or two later I was sovereignly filled with the Holy Spirit at 5:30 a.m.
one morning while rounding up the cows for milking. I began speaking with other
tongues as fluently and clearly as though I had been speaking them all my life.
That morning God spoke to me the second time and told me He "was raising me
up to be a minister of the Gospel, and that His sign to me was that He would
open doors for me to preach right away." That is what happened, and I have
been preaching ever since.
I
remained loyal to the Pentecostal Church I was saved in, and eventually became
its Pastor from 1974-1991, spending a total of 31 years there. It was during my
time of being Senior Pastor that I was able to bring the church into an
"Association," then a full "Affiliation" to the "Elim
Churches of New Zealand, Inc." (We were in Association from 1979 to 1985,
and became Affiliated in 1986). Unfortunately the church lost its way and was
closed down at the end of 2005.
In
1987 I was elected on to the National Executive Board of the Elim Churches of
New Zealand, Inc., a position I held until October, 1997. I voluntarily resigned
so as to give more time to minister to the Body of Christ world-wide.
Jean
and I have been involved in helping "The Pentecostal Church of Fiji"
(PCF) since the end of 1966, being looked upon by many there as "spiritual
parents" of the work. Numbers from New Zealand and overseas have been able
to minister in the Fiji Islands on short-term Missions trips as a result of my
involvement there.
On
25th-27th November 2004, I was the Special Guest Speaker at the first Annual PCF
Conference held in Lautoka. The Celebration Service on Sunday 28th saw
approximately 1,200 present in the meeting.
In
April, 1964, I founded "The Gospel Faith Messenger" Ministry, which is
mainly a literature ministry providing salvation, healing and follow-up
materials to help people find Christ and get established in the Christian faith.
"The GFM" has three Bible Correspondence Courses in circulation
(available in both the "Authorized King James Version" (KJV) and the
"New International Version" (NIV) of the Bible):
-
St.
John's Gospel - 19 Lessons;
-
The
Book Of Ephesians - 7 Lessons,
-
Divine
Healing - 12 Lessons.
These
require answers to be filled-in from the Bible, the Lessons to be sent in to a
GFM Office, which are then marked and returned with a personal letter of reply.
Thousands have gone through these Courses over the years, and currently several
thousand students are on our files. Certificates of Completion are given on
completion of each Course.
We
have a range of 15 different Salvation/Healing/challenging Christians type of
Gospel Tracts. I have authored more than 34 different booklets, books and
teaching manuals.
"The
GFM" Ministry presently has five Offices in operation (Hamilton, Palmerston
North and Waitara, New Zealand, Soroti, Uganda, and Port Vila, Vanuatu), giving Christians
voluntary involvement in ministering to people world-wide through anointed
Gospel literature and letter writing. This Ministry has gone into over 100 nations and still continues today, reaching out to the multitudes in many parts
of the world.
From
1974-1979 I was the Managing Editor of "The Evidence" magazine, the
official publication of "World Outreach" Missionary organization,
founded by Dr. Len J. Jones (the present Director is John Elliot, Singapore, and
the magazine is now called "nations"). Len was a New Zealander with a
big vision.
In
March, 1992, my wife and I moved from Palmerston North to Hamilton, N.Z. to
become an Associate Pastor in the "Hamilton City Elim Church." This
move enabled me to be free from the Senior Pastoring role and released me to
minister to the wider Body of Christ, both within New Zealand as well as
overseas. My overseas ministry trips have taken me (to date) to the following
countries: Fiji Islands (many times), Vanuatu (several times), Solomon Islands
(twice), Papua New Guinea (three times), Hawaii (twice), USA (several times),
Hong Kong, Canada (twice), Barbados (twice), England (ten times), Wales (ten
times), Scotland, Guernsey (Channel Islands), Isle Of Man, Switzerland (several
times), Italy (six times), Germany (three times), Singapore, Thailand,
Indonesia, Malaysia (several times), Nepal, India, Philippines (five times),
Tonga (twice), Tanzania, Kenya (three times), Nigeria, Dubai, Sharjah and
Australia.
On
31st December, 1999, Jean and I officially resigned from both the Hamilton City
Elim Church and the Elim Churches of New Zealand, to go full-time with "The
GFM" Ministry (with no financial support guaranteed). This was a faith step
and one that has proven to be the right decision. The GFM Ministry instantly
stepped into a new season in God. We are believing God for even greater days
ahead for this multi-faceted Ministry.
I
am credentialled with "The Gospel Faith Messenger" Ministry and the
Elim Churches Incorporated (ECI), the headquarters of which are in Malvern,
England, U.K. I function as a "Pastor to the Pastors" to many Leaders,
as well as mentoring in the Apostolic/Prophetic ministries.
Part
of "The Gospel Faith Messenger" Ministry are our 6-7 days
"Prophetic Equipping Schools" (PES), formerly called
"International Training Schools." A number from overseas nations
have attended so far and have been greatly blessed by their experiences. Some
have returned to their churches and seen the Holy Spirit break forth in their
midst; all because of things they learnt at "PES" and their time in
New Zealand. The NZ Schools are run at "En Hakkore," Waipiata, Central
Otago, and at Mission Bay, Taupo. We also run these "PES's" in other countries as we are
able. To date we have held them in Manila, Philippines; Lautoka, Fiji
Islands (twice); Nuku'alofa, Tonga; Kuching, East Malaysia (twice); Nairobi,
Kenya (twice), and Abak, AIS, Nigeria.
My
ministry strengths are in the area of encouragement, imparting Gifts of the Holy
Spirit, the Prophetic Ministry, inspiring others to know who they are in Jesus Christ, and to fulfil
their destiny through knowing who they are in God, and Who God is in them.
"Equipping for Leadership to the Nations through the Power of the Holy
Spirit" is our Ministry motto and is very much a part of my message today,
challenging Christians to become competent and confident in their ability to
lead others from where they are at, e.g. to either saving faith in Christ, or to
help mature them, and so reproduce themselves in others to the glory of God.
I
have developed a "School Of The Holy Spirit" which can run for as many
Sessions as is required. These are very effective in releasing people into the
Gifts of the Holy Spirit in a practical way. A 14-Session one was run in
Swansea, Wales, in 1997, and a 10-Session one was run here in Hamilton, New
Zealand, in 1998. In 2000 one was held in Northampton, England (9 Sessions),
Braintree, England (10 Sessions), and St. Mellons, Cardiff, Wales (9 Sessions).
Shorter versions have been run in the Philippines, Fiji Islands, Papua New
Guinea, Italy, Tanzania and Kenya. The developing of Prophetic Teams is
something very much on our hearts.
I
have also conducted Seminars on:
-
Learning
How To Prophesy (people prophesy for the first time in these).
-
The
Word Of Knowledge (people have words of knowledge for first time in
these).
-
Releasing
The Gifts Of The Holy Spirit
-
Guarding
The Prophetic Word Over Your Life. (what you do with it, etc.).
-
Hearing
And Knowing The Voice Of God
-
Counselling
And Deliverance
-
Ministry
Preparation
-
Knowing
Who We Are In God ~ And Who He Is In Us
-
Birthing
A Vision
-
Capturing
Your Vision!
-
The
Occult And Satanic Covens In New Zealand
-
Equipping
For Leadership
-
The
Power of God's Love.
-
The
Ministry Of Impartation.
-
Divine
Healing - A Key To The Growth Of The Christian Church.
I
married Jean Hunt (born 16th December, 1940) on 22nd September, 1962. She was a
daughter of the previous Pastor (Clarence Hunt) in the church in Palmerston
North. We have served the Lord together all our married life and have one son,
Mark (now 40 years old) who lives and works in Paraparaumu, NZ, with his wife,
Tania, and daughter, Annahlise and son Brayden. (Mark runs his own computer
business called Paradigm PC's). They are currently on an exciting journey with
God! I left farming on my wedding day and joined the New Zealand Post Office as
a postman, where I worked from 1962 to 1974 until stepping into full-time
ministry. Jean is totally supportive of me in the ministry and releases me to
fulfil the call of God.
We
continue to actively enjoy the ministry, training leaders and seeing many lives
enriched by the Word of God. We have several "Timothy's" in full-time
ministry today. I really enjoy running "Timothy" classes (also called
an "Equipping Station") with potential leaders, based upon
relationship, being open and honest, character building,
"nitty-gritty" discussion times, discovering, developing and releasing
the will of God in our lives. Comments we have had from these are that they are
the most beneficial times of any church meetings people have ever been in!!
It
has been my privilege to minister in many different churches, a number of Bible
Schools, Colleges and Institutes in different parts of the world, the most
notable being "Christ For The Nations" (Dallas, Texas, USA) (the
largest Pentecostal Bible College in USA) where I have ministered on two
occasions (1995 and 1998) (four days each time). I also get invited to speak in
National Ministers' Conferences internationally, as well as Leadership Training
Sessions.
From
1992 to 1999, we were based in the "Hamilton City Elim Church" as an
Associate Pastor, being released for six months of the year in ministry to the
world-wide Body of Christ. From May, 1998, until September, 1999, I was Acting
Senior Pastor of the church until such time as a new appointment of a Senior
Pastor was made.
Rodney
ministers through the mail and E-mail to numbers of leaders in many nations,
giving them encouragement through personal letters, tracts, Bible Studies, audio
cassette messages and books. Many of them tell me I am the only person
encouraging and helping them in their ministries.
In
the year 2000 Rodney launched "The GFM" Prayer Support Letter,
encouraging people to pray for this Ministry. It is sent out to more than 100 nations (mainly via E-Mail) ~ this Ministry feels the power of that prayer
support.
In
the year 2001 Rodney launched the "Barnabas Bulletin," a monthly
encouragement letter for Christian workers and Christians generally. From
nothing it has risen to touch thousands in more than 100 nations of the earth
(mainly via E-Mail)!
In
the year 2003 Rodney launched a new E-Mail faith/teaching ministry called
"Faith Messages." To date the responses to these have been very
encouraging.
In
November 2007, Jean and I moved to Paraparaumu on the Kapiti Coast in New
Zealand. From here we continue to minister to thousands of people world-wide, as
well as to hungry hearts in this region who are eager to know more of the power
of the Prophetic Ministry and the operation of Spiritual Gifts (1 Corinthians
12:1-11).
From
this CV you will see that we are a ministry couple whose hearts and vision
extends both inside the local church and outside the local church into the
"uttermost parts of the earth" (Acts 1:8).
