Born in the village of Genderen, which is your most cherished childhood memory?
Actually, there are no cherished childhood memories. From a very early age I became a victim of bullying, which caused that I was alone most of the time and afraid to mingle with the group at school. Sure, I knew how to hide it, but I don’t think back to these days as a happy time.
How were you first introduced to writing?
From a very early age I’ve always loved to make my own papers and magazines. At that age they were very childish, but I’ve always wanted to become a journalist. At high school I became a member of the school paper for two years. Although it was fun, I don’t really consider that real ‘writing’. In the past years I’ve written many articles, but thanks to Amazon’s KDP I started to explore the possibility to bundle my articles and to publish those as a real book. When that actually worked and when I had my own first book in my hands, as a paperback, that’s when it became real to me.
Who is the most supportive person in your life when it comes to your writing?
That is my wife Esther, without a doubt. She has always encouraged me and is always the first to read my new articles and books.
Are you a "re-reader" or are you a "read-it-once-and-I'm done" person?
I guess that depends on the type of book, but usually I find it sufficient to read a book ‘only’ once. I am blessed with a good long-term memory, so I usually remember what is important anyway.
How did you come up with the idea for your book, On the edge of revival?
That book followed a series of teachings I have done in Dordrecht, The Netherlands. I’ve been raised in a Christian family and went to Church every Sunday. Yet I didn’t see much happen in Church. I’ve heard all the stories about God, about signs, about miracles and about power, but to me it was that. Stories. At the same time I saw how more and more people were leaving Church and how many Christians are just not sincere and are just pretending. When I became a Christian myself, at the age of 20, I started to actively read my Bible and discovered that God’s power wasn’t just a thing of the past. That raised the question why so little of it is visible in Churches these days. We hear so many people talk about revival, but what is a true revival? More importantly, what can we do to receive the fire of God? To see miracles happen? And at what cost? All those questions were my starting point and resulted in the series of teachings, which were later bundled in the book ‘On the edge of revival’.
What motivated you to start your career as a helpdesk employee in 2000?
As a result of bullying, at one point I could take it no more and left school. That meant that I became a dropout, without any degrees. To me that was better than to be the target of bullying. Therefore, I just started to work as a production and warehouse worker. Not my dream job. So I decided that I wanted to do more with my life. Since I was good with computers I wanted to try to pursue a career as an IT professional. I just started to apply for low IT positions, without much success. That was mainly because of the lack of degrees. But I refused to give up and ended up sending out hundreds of applications, until one day… I was hired!
What challenges did you face while writing about life story in your book 'Never living a lie again'?
That book was the hardest one to write. My other books are often teachings, which is far easier to write. Yet this book was and is extremely personal to me. My life wasn’t a happy life and I have known many pain and grief. Therefore, my main challenge was having to relive all of that again and writing it down. Another challenge was that it needed to be real. Normally people are writing their life story about their successes, but I wrote this book about my failures. Hence, it needed to be as real as possible. So, while writing, I needed to suppress the urge to make it better than it actually was. My main reason for this was and is to show people a real life, with real failures and real hope. I always teach that a true Christian is not distinguished by the lack of errors, but by how he deals with them and how he responds to it. Last but not least, we often live our life based on what people have said we could or could not do. Sometimes these sayings are true, but most of the time they are not. These sayings of people can become a prison, limiting us in what we do and wasting actual talent. However, I believe that with God all things are possible. Therefore, we can stop living a lie and step out in faith.
What is LoveUnlimited Ministries about?
The Bible mentions in Hosea 4:6 that God’s people are being destroyed because of a lack of knowledge. That is still true today. When we’re facing hard times, when we’re under attack, when we’re being persecuted, there’s always a reason. That reason can be that satan has an open door in our lives, through sin. It can also be that God is testing us, in order for us to grow to greater maturity. However, many have no idea what’s going on, they can’t deal with the circumstances and they give up. Our aim is to teach people to be depended on Jesus Christ and to be filled (baptized) with the Holy Spirit. We teach people not to focus on Christian leaders and to not blindly follow everything they say and do. They can help us, they can teach us, but ultimately it’s up to us and our relationship with God. Once that relationship is solid, you can learn how to hear His voice and to follow His lead. So basically LoveUnlimited Ministries is all about Jesus and helping people how to find Him, whether they’re new or lifetime believers. Eventually we would love to make His love more practical, by starting a home for the homeless. My prayer has been for God to use me for the least of these, the people everyone else looks down at. That may not give me much respect with man, but I believe that especially these people are precious in God’s sight.
Why do people never consider a suicidal person's feelings?
It is extremely hard to look at the outside and to know what’s living inside of someone. Many assume that hints or sayings about suicide are just a cry for attention, but who sees the broken heart inside? Who can tell how bad the pain is? Many people are so busy with their selves, with what they feel, with what they want, that they simply don’t care enough. It still amazes me how the value of a human life has decreased so much these days. Yet I believe that every life is so precious. If you’re reading this and if you’re struggling with these thoughts of suicide, I’m talking especially to you. Your life matters. No matter where you come from, no matter what you have done. The worst of sins can be forgiven and no life is to far gone for Jesus to save, heal, deliver and restore. As Christians I believe we should be aware of the people around us, especially when they start sharing about thoughts of suicide. The life of a Christian is no longer about him- or herself. It’s all about Jesus. And the life of Jesus is all about the lost, the hurting, the broken and the wounded ones. Thoughts of suicide are often just a way of telling yourself that there is no way out anymore. I am here to tell you that there is. Suicide is not the answer, Jesus is. Just give Him a chance.
In what ways do you hope to help people through LoveUnlimited Ministries?
By helping people to find their way to Jesus. Whether they’re searching or whether they lost their way. Our aim is to reach those who have never accepted Jesus as their Lord before and to reach those who have been raised in faith, who even may have been a Christian, but lost their way. How I would love it to make this practical in every single way, but especially for the least of these. I don’t care about the size of one’s wallet. We’re here to help. Free of charge. I know what it’s like to feel lost, hopeless and desperate. I know what it feels like to want to give up. Pain, sadness, depression, hopelessness, they have all been a part of my life for so long. There is a way out.
How has been your experience of organizing several conferences, seminars and theme-evenings?
In 2009 we first started to organize some small gatherings, which grew to organizing conferences. Our first conference took place in 2010, which became The Heart of Worship Conference. During that conference we had the honor to have Terry MacAlmon as our guest. In the years that followed it has grown further, not always is quantity, but most certainly in quality. At first my experience wasn’t that great. I've never really been a confident person and was afraid of being in front of a group of people. Doing teachings was terrifying to me. Afterwards, I couldn’t even look at the recordings of myself. This is why most of my teachings were never published, and even deleted, on channels like YouTube. Only a few years ago God touched that area in my life and from then on my ‘fear of man’ started to fade.
What made you decide to make a career switch to IT recruiter in 2005?
At one moment I was asked to assist recruitment in finding new IT professionals. Until then I had never done this before. While doing that and talking to many professionals, I discovered not only that I was good in it, but also that I liked it a lot. Especially the networking part, talking to all different kinds of people etc. So I decided to give it a shot, which worked out for quite a while.
Where did you meet Esther Prijs for the first time?
That may be very cliché, but we met in church. From the first moment I noticed her immediately, even though she had a boyfriend at that time. As soon as I heard that relationship ended, I didn't waste any time and asked her out. To my great surprise, she said yes. She has been and still is God’s greatest blessing to me.
Which is the next book you are working on? When is it due for release?
At the moment I’m not yet working on a new book. I always wait for the right inspiration and timing.
When did you join AllAuthor? How has your experience been?
I think that was a few years ago. My experience has always been very good and positive. The site offers a great platform for me to showcase my books and to have them found by search engines. I sure plan to continue to use AllAuthor for all my future releases.
