Some of us were there, and I believe something broke in the heavenlies that weekend. My wife, Janet, had heard a word from the Lord (she believes) during the year previous to Waitangi 2017 and it was, "One Flame, two eighteen (2018)", and just recently we have seen a mainly Maori men’s movement spread throughout the North Island and even across to Aussie and Tonga called 'Man Up' – a brotherhood of men who have come out of gangs, addictions and domestic violence to be able to testify to the changing power of Jesus Christ.

A sister movement for women called 'Legacy' is also now up and running. Both groups are running 15-week courses where they support men or women to break free from a destructive lifestyle.

In May, 2017, I heard David Dishroon, who co-pastors Change Point Church in Tauranga, speaking at the Northland Leaders meeting in Moerewa on grace and truth, building the Kingdom rather than his own church. Right at the end, he related an incident where the Holy Spirit interrupted his thought patterns. He had been at a YWAM induction service in Tauranga when the son of a VERY prominent kaumatua, Monte Ohia, was speaking. (Hear the full 33 min message here).

In the 2nd World War, my father was a navigator on Stirling Bombers under the Royal Air Force and his squadron made many raids over Germany - including to bomb Peenemunde - to disrupt German secret weapon development of the V1 and V2 rockets which the Germans were sending over to destroy London.

The German anti-aircraft guns shot up flak to bring the bombers down and the planes were hit often and damaged. So they had to limp home to Britain and often crashed on the runways, or even the beaches. My father’s crew crashed ten of these giant 4-engined British bombers.  

One crash was particularly spectacular. As they limped back one night to their aerodrome, two engines cut out. Now you can land a Stirling bomber on three engines, but not two. The plane nosedived, hit the tarmac at 95mph, bounced on the 12 foot high tyres, slid along the tarmac and went right through a hangar – in one door and out the other without knocking (losing the wings and tail). The fuselage careered on until a broken down crane with chains and ropes dangling caught the remains of the plane and stopped it 25 yards form a bomb dumb… where bombs were stored!

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