Johan Smith

Johan is happily married to Helena for 31 years. They have three kids whom they dearly love: Louise, Dirk and Marli. They are all married and therefore there are also two sons in law and one daughter in law in the extended family: 6 wonderful children! And very important: three special grandkids: Lilia, Luke and David. Johan is a trained economist who, as a passionate follower of Christ, is involved in ministry for about thirty years – 14 of those years full-time at Moreleta Congregation in Pretoria. In 2002 he started off as youth pastor and built a youth ministry with about 3 000 kids, teenagers and young adults. He lead a team of about 300 volunteers during these years. Then he was appointed as the leader of the congregational focus at Moreleta Congregation, including all the ministries in the church: amongst other the kids, youth, young adults, men’s ministry, women’s ministry and ministry for singles. He lead a dynamic, motivated and excellent team of staff and hundreds of volunteers in the process. For the past 16 years Johan authored and co-authored about 25 books. Most of these books focusses on kids, youth and parents. He also authored three books specifically for women as well as a book on depression, anxiety and burn-out. In April 2016 he started a non-profit company, VitaAmp: Vita = life and Amp = amplify. VitaAmp focusses on three main areas: (1) Parenting/healthy families (2) Leaders in the service industry (school principals, teachers and pastors) and (3) Youth leader development He is doing this by travelling extensively throughout South Africa. VitaAmp will be visiting and doing ministry in all nine provinces in 2016 and onwards. Via the website: www.VitaAmp.org, newsletters are updated every two weeks for parents, leaders and youth. The aim of VitaAmp is motivation, inspiration and the empowerment of these groups of important people in our communities. Life is relationships Johan has a life motto: “Life is relationships”. For him that is the symbol of the cross: everything starts with your relationship with God and that forms the root for all other relationships. Wherever you go, wherever you are, life is all about relationships. In the home you will find marriage relationships which greatly are in danger today. There are also parent-kid relationships at home which is in danger as well. In many cases it can be defined as battles rather than relationships. Inside the home brothers and sisters also have to live in peace with each other. An important part of the family is the relationship between grandparents and grandkids. It can either be a blessing or a terrible challenge. “Life is relationships” is all about explaining and understanding the Outside of the home you have relationships with friends and at work you will find yourself in relationships with colleagues. At church you are confronted with relationships with spiritual brothers and sisters. Inside the church and faith framework you also have to decide what your relationship with unbelievers or “outsiders” will be. The Word of God and the example of Jesus are loud and clear about these two relationships. You live in a world on mother earth and believe it or not it is important to have the right relationship with nature. The earth is damaged. The earth is moaning and groaning. It is time to hear the Word of God on this important relationship. Technology developed rapidly and is damaging relationships – especially marriages and family. It is time for us to relate correctly when it comes to technology. In short: that is the book! May you experience wonderful hours of reading. May you hear God’s heart on relationships. May you grow in your relationship with Him and others.