Johannes Slabbert: Finding a relationship with Jesus

Johannes Slabbert was born near Victoria West, a small ranching community in South Africa. His family owned two separate sheep and cattle ranches that totaled 37,000 acres. They raised around 11,000 sheep and 80 head of cattle. They also trained American Saddlebred horses, which they showed and sold.

 All of Johannes’ family still live in South Africa, including a twin sister and an older sister.

He was raised in the Dutch Reformed religion, and that is exactly what it was, a religion, he said.

“Church was a religion, not a relationship. If you did good then you were good. We went to church every other week and followed the rules and regulations set down by the church. I rebelled. I couldn’t follow that,” he admitted. “They were prune-faced Christians. That just wasn’t appealing to me.”

At the beginning of eighth grade Johannes went away from home to an agricultural school for grades eight through 12. The school of about 250 students was an actual working ranch. 

“We went to school from 8 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Then we all had chores to do, such as feeding chickens, milking, tending to the sheep or working in the hay fields. In the evening everyone played rugby. This gave me an opportunity to start over and build new friendships, which was good. But church was not a part of this life,” Johannes explained.

After school he became a horse trainer in South Africa. He was set up to come to America in 2003 with the purpose of exporting their horses to this country. He began living in St. Charles, Ill., still training American Saddlebred horses.

In 2005 he moved to West Virginia, where he met his future brother-in-law, who was a horse farrier. He introduced Johannes to MaryBeth, who was the pastor’s daughter at the Baptist Church. They began to date.

She was quick to tell Johannes, “If you care for me, you’ll come to church.”

He said he felt very intimidated because she was the pastor’s daughter, and he had not lived a life that would be pleasing to him. He didn’t feel he was good enough for them, he said. But he went, and on Nov. 4, 2006, he and MaryBeth were married and moved back to Illinois. 

In the horse business he moved a lot. After a month of marriage they moved to Boone, N.C. MaryBeth began working for Samaritan’s Purse, an international Christian disaster relief organization. The organization helps victims of war, poverty, natural disasters, disease and famine with the purpose of sharing God’s love through His Son, Jesus Christ, according to their mission statement.

In 2007 was the last time Johannes trained horses. He quit the horse business when he was “at the top of his game,” he said. He didn’t know what he was going to do.

“God started working in my life. It was the first time in my life I had to look for a job. Three months later I took a job for a landscaper, mowing grass. You need to understand that in South Africa it’s not like it is here. Mowing grass is the lowest job a person could possibly have,” Johannes explained. “When I called my mother and told her I was mowing grass she said, ‘Oh, Johannes, can’t you do anything else?’ God was humbling me. I did that for two years.”

Samaritan’s Purse had a job opening in disaster relief. They asked Johannes to go on a deployment to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, for two weeks.

“Although Jesus was still not appealing to me, I really wanted the job, so I went,” Johannes said. “I began to see the joy of the Lord in those guys. They told clean jokes. I’d never seen anything like this before. After two days of being there I accepted Jesus into my heart. It was all because of the joy of the Lord those guys had.

“Following Jesus is not just following rules and regulations. God gave me a desire to share the joy and love of Christ.”

He went to Haiti with Samaritan’s Purse, responding to the earthquake in 2010. 

When he returned to Boone, he got a position at Samaritan’s Purse International Headquarters. There, his job was pushing mail carts, which again, he said, was the lowest job there. 

“God was still humbling me. I pushed mail carts for a year,” he said. “Later, I was blessed to be the procurment specialist for the international relief side of Samritan’s Purse for four years. I went through some hard times. I would call up others to pray for me and encourage me. God spoke to me and showed me that the difference between them and me was that they read their Bible every day and I didn’t. So I began reading my Bible every morning, and I began to experience a personal relationship with God,” he said.

Samaritan’s Purse assigned a project to Johannes that took him back to South Africa.

“The Sudanese government was at war with its own people causing thousands to flee to a place called Juba, South Sudan. One of the ways Samaritan’s Purse responded was with food aid.” He continued explaining, “Part of the response was hauling loads of 50-kg (110-lb) bags to the refugees for food distribution. This required 20-ton trucks. As the procurement specialist, Samaritan’s Purse sent me to South Africa to source eleven 20-ton trucks and drive them up to South Sudan. We traveled in a convoy for 12 days through South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Tanzania, Uganda and finally to South Sudan.”

Later, in West Jefferson, N.C., Johannes’ assistant pastor Steve Ashley invited him to go on a visitation with him. He enjoyed this, but still had no thought of becoming a preacher. On the way back from visitation Ashley played a song sang by Jason Crabb called “Somebody Like Me.”

“It spoke of loving and caring for the lost -- being the  hands and feet of Jesus. God was changing and calling me to full-time ministry,” Johannes said. “I never thought I’d be a guy to share the life of Jesus with others. I came here to do horses. I had no desire to preach because of the life I had lived, but God kept at me.

“I was leading Vivienne, my oldest daughter, on my neighbor’s horse one day. God spoke to me and said, ‘You are gonna use horses for my glory.’ I had no idea how that would work since I had no horses or resouces to make that happen.”

Christmas of that year Johannes’ family went to his in-laws, and his brother-in-law met him at the door and told him that if he was called to full-time ministry, he needed to go to Wyoming, Johannes shared.

Johannes met with the North American Mission Board. They sent him to Wind City Church in Casper to work as a church planting apprentice. He preached, led small groups and evangelized for a year. 

Johannes began, “We felt God calling us to Lovell.The Missions Network website had the description of Lovell. They said it was a ranching community at the foot of the Big Horn Mountains that needed people that can relate to others with horses, cattle and sheep. I thought about my background  in horses and being able to use mustangs to reach people (for God).”

He was talking to a friend from Cody who suggested Cowley. 

“I didn’t know anything about Cowley, but we went. As we got to Cowley, God showed us this is the place,” Johannes shared.

“I didn’t come here because I thought I was cool or wanted an adventure,” he said. “It was truly God calling. When we first came, some wondered if I had an agenda. I got to thinking about that. I do have an agenda. God changed my life. I have lived the ways of this world. I understand people not wanting to come to the Lord. My agenda is not anything for myself. 

“II Corinthians 4:5, 6 says, ‘For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said let light shine out of darkness, has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ,’’’ Johannes read from his Bible.

“It’s not about following a checklist of right and wrong. It is about falling in love with your savior and having a deep intimate relationship with Him. This relationship transforms your heart. Jesus will do things in your life that changes you into the person He wants you to be, and it is all through a personal relationship. As that grows, you want to do right and honor Him. Oh, if I can get all men to understand that, then they will see what a great gift Jesus is. That is my heart and my calling, call it an agenda if you wish, to give men and women the gift of a relationship with Jesus,” he said.

Johannes enjoys shooting guns, hunting, fishing and camping, anything outdoors, but he said his hobbies are mostly through his kids. He has five children, Vivienne, who is 11, Hendrik, 8, Victoria, 6, Joshua, 4, and Billy, 10 months. MaryBeth, his wife, is a stay-at-home mom.

“She does a lot of things behind the scene that no one knows about,” Johannes said. “She works with the children’s ministry and worship team, also.”

The most moving time of his life, he said, was when his son went through heart surgery. 

“To see God move and give peace is amazing. When Joshua’s surgery was done, they moved him to a regular room. After he came out of surgery he was breathing on his own, which they didn’t expect. Twenty minutes later the doctor came out and said he had good news. Joshua was calling for his mom. They had said his vocal chords could be damaged and would effect his speech. It was expected that he would be in the hospital for two weeks. He came home in seven days. We saw the amazing power of the Lord,” Johannes praised God.

Johannes Slabbert has pastored the Water of Life Church in Cowley since 2017.  

BY TERESSA ENNIS