Writing with a Purpose.
February 25, 2011 
119 Comments
This is a very intimate post and I thought it would be relevant here. I first posted this on Facebook and on another website of mine on Friday, August 21. I hope this gives you insight into who I am and where I come from.
I don’t know how many of you out there are writers/authors, but I’ve had a passion for writing all my life and I must say that I have always sucked at it. I would sit in front of the PC when I was still a young boy of about 14/15 in our home across the fuel garage in Doornpoort, Pretoria… or as they now call it; the City of Tshwane and write scattered words like a machine gun aimlessly stuttering bullets across an open plain in war.
I remember my first attempt very clearly, it was a story about a basketball player (a game I have always had passion for – slowly allowing it to fade away). I don’t remember the main character’s name really, but I do remember a coach called “Coach Eminent”. I have always liked playing with names that have some sort of subtle or subsequent meaning.
In school I loved writing. Often, I was sucked into my own stories like a portal opened up where I lived them out in my own imagination. I got excited writing, and it was this focus that I gave my pieces life and made them great portions of writing. I got good marks from teach, if you know what I mean. However aspirant I may have been the one day, I would not have fire the next.
I thought of writing for the school paper, which wasn’t too hard to get into, but I wasn’t dedicated enough. I already struggled at school, now, I’ll be dealing with deadlines and writing on stuff I don’t like. I was a bad steward too, because I went for photography instead… I also sucked at that, so that faded away.
Later I started to write poetry, more frequently, slam poetry; it’s a type of poetry that you speak over beats or simple music that ebbs and flows with the motions of the poem – or spoken word.
Music, now there’s another passion of mine. I love music, and as one grows closer to the Lord ones tastes become acquired and ones ear becomes trained. Perhaps a bit finicky too. Having taken up playing guitar now and then, I gave up on that as I simply don’t have the patience to learn or practice chords that much. I knew how to play a couple chords, but I poured myself out on hip-hop instead. And no, I’m not good with that either.
See, I am chronic asthmatic, a symptom that is now so far gone and matured in my body, nasal canal and chest that I need chronic medicine that costs me close to a grand per prescription just so I could breathe properly. It’s a sickness that my parents obviously didn’t care much to look into when I was younger.
I had a brief hip-hop career (can you call performing at youth ministry every Friday evening a career?) in hip-hop perfecting my own style of writing and it wasn’t half bad. However, anyone that is slightly involved in performing the art will tell you that you need to be able to breathe. Even amidst the struggle to breathe I still preformed every Friday, that was until a honest and straight talking boy, whom I love very much, told me that he couldn’t hear a thing I said. Since being able to hear the words were more important to me than to perform it, I gave that up.
I recently gave up fulltime youth ministry, too, because I kept feeling like a hireling (that means getting paid for ministry). After five or so months I got itching… not for ministry, but for preaching. I started sending out emails to friends and family giving my “Christian” opinion on current news affairs. It was a newsletter amiably called “Fire to the world”. I called it thus because fire was always a part of my ministry, and now, through the internet and mailing lists, I could send the fire to the entire world.
My efforts, along with the help and advice from my father, developed into a blog by the same name that I started on a blog platform that recently changed its name. I wrote under the pseudonym “Tony2Cents”, drawing from my love for mafia stories growing up – also playing with subtlety of names.
Even though one could gauge response from readers and link it to response one would get from congregation members, I saw the blog as my pulpit. However, I still wasn’t fulfilled. Don’t get me wrong, for what I knew and my experience, it was a fairly successful blog. However, it was on a platform and it gave me a boost in views as they promoted it constantly and to me it didn’t seem to be “real” success.
On the blog I wrote about what I would write about today: revival, passion and Jesus. After some time, I started to receive a lot of persecution, and people just got nasty. I was probably the only Christian who wrote uncompromising Christian content and everyone started gunning for me. My writings also started to get more prophetic and for that more persecution came.
Speaking about prophetic, during mid 2008 (which, by the way was the worst year of my life, in a spiritual sense), I wrote a book regarding my vision for this generation. It was aimed at young people and spoke to those I left behind at the previous church I served at. God did, however, instruct me to write it and I finished it in three days, published and printed 11 days later. Any professional will tell you that publishing and printing a book that quickly is d breeding ground for mistakes.
I am busy with another book on Unity in Church; which to this day still is still not finished. Perhaps that will be my masterpiece, as I hone my skills by writing everyday. I used to write like an abandoned vessel on water; bobbing up and down, left and right, as with the waves toss me. No captain, nowhere to go, nothing to do.
These days however, realizing my calling, I write with direction. I write because I am inspired. Clever stories about basketball players and trying to write for the darkside doesn’t fit me. I might venture to say: “It’s not my style…”.
I wrote that prophetic book, about a generation, and being of such bad quality, I got bad reviews from friends and people I admire that it blew the wind straight out of my sails. It was my first attempt, and I didn’t have money to spend on editors etc. I produced the book myself.
Then, on my birthday in 2008, a preacher came from Cape Town and ministered in our Church. I’ve met him briefly a couple years ago, and I’m sure hadn’t it been my birthday, he probably wouldn’t have noticed me that day. Bless God he did, and gave him a word from God for me. Among other things he said people hadn’t read the full book (which I knew – because the people editing the book had marks up until halfway through the book), and they said “ag, it’s the same old thing…”
Then he told me God is about to do great things through me writing, and when the “book” is finished, it will blow people away. He said some other things but I knew one thing at least, I heard from God when I wrote the book. The other thing was that God will use me in writing. He’s already started training me on the blog and other pieces.
Afterward, the preacher came towards me and did something no-one saw, which was very significant for me; he anointed my hands – he anointed me to write. Glory! I was so excited, and I basked in God’s Glory from then on.
Now, my point with this article is this; there’s always been a bug in me to write. I told everyone I am going to be a writer one day. And here I am… Sure, everybody authoring a blog are writers these days, but I believe it’s different with me. And even though there are people with far more superior skills out there, I believe, like David, I will “sink into my garment”.
Technically, I’ve been writing for years, since I was very young, but it’s only recently that I really started writing differently. With my blog, I learnt that in the Kingdom one needs to only write under the inspiration for the Holy Ghost. When writing Christian material one shouldn’t really expect much in the form of comments – especially if you have to “register to comment”.
The world doesn’t understand God, neither will it know Him, the Scriptures tell us that, but this is how the Holy Bible was written. I am not in any means saying that if you are anointed to write, a new form of “Scripture” will come forth, but we are inspired writers. There are so many atheists and extreme non-believers that write to destroy faith in the world through media formats.
Heck, there are even Christians that have become enemies of the cross, they write to destroy God’s people, men of God and anointed ministers – with all their mistakes… But they don’t realize they are being used to unworthy ends. These are generally called Heresy Hunters, and even thought they can provide you with Scriptural justification for what they do, I see nowhere in the Scriptures it taught to break down men of God, ministries or any such thing.
I have also recently started writing scripts for a Christian cartoon series that is in production as we speak. Even thought this may be frowned upon, I found it a great tool to use to reach people. It’s also a great extension to my writing portfolio.
The pinnacle of my writing career (for the moment of course) would be writing material for my Revival College. I have been collecting and posting revival material on a website called http://www.220generation.com/ for the last year or so and realized that it was really to no avail, because people were not “engaging” the material; which makes the websites purpose null-and-void.
I decided, being led by God and pushed by some friends, to open a college that teaches all the material on there in study format. I have been feverishly writing on the material and I believe it’s producing great fruit.
What will be the result? Well, revival of course, but from a perspective of expansion it will result in a text book on revival. First of a series of twelve, it’s gonna be great!. And out of writing, I believe, will come all the other perks where I could spread the message of Christ: appearances, seminars, teachings, talks etc. An outflow from where I was anointed at.
Why is writing so important to influence the world? It’s simple; almost everything starts with words written on a page. A good movie almost always originated from a book, which is then adapted into a script. All these processes need writers. Plays, from Broadway to a simple school play originate in written format.
Even websites and computer programs are “written”, be it in a different language. I believe writers influence the world greatly. A writer inspired brings the very thoughts of God into one Holy Book.
I have gone through so many trials and tribulations that I believe was God’s simple ways of wisdom to form in me the writer he wanted me to be. And unlike most blogs, which I found to have rubbish written on it, I write because I believe it will make a difference of eternal significance. Everybody that writes, of course, thinks his content is world-changing and important, I get that.
When I say that I’m writing with a difference now, I mean that I can see fruit from what I do. As every word I punch into the keyboard is the first-fruit, a sperm or perhaps even a birth pain to a revolution, a deliverance or a transformation. I’ve been in ministry for a couple years, and I realized that the grace to draw crowds and speak at large rallies isn’t really for me.
What I am capable to do is write, and produce works to God’s Glory in so many formats. So, from writing like a sail-ship without rudder or steer, I am now, writing with a purpose.
P.S. The top 3 commentators on my blog for Feb get’s a $95 prize
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Stop dreaming and make it happen!
Ivin Viljoen
Image courtesy of Gruar Codrin
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Exceptional publish you’ve caused proper here! The world wide web is stuffed of poor penning and I employed to be grabbed by your readability. Your alternatives are accurate and i will immediately subscribe to your rss nourish to remain as considerably date along with your up rising postings. Yes! I acknowledge it, your authorship style is astounding and that i will work harder on enhancing mine.
Hi Ivin,
I will self publish at Createspace. I already have an ebook up at a site called Smashwords (you can see it at http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/27227)
but I am also going to get it into print.
cheers,
Mon
Mon recently posted..Goal Setting Skills In Action- A Little Revision or The Surprising Power Of Mini Goals
Have a look at my training videos. It will guide you step by step on exactly what to do.
hhttp://authopublisher.com/self_publishing_revealed/index.htm
Thanks for stopping by
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Hi Ivin,
I think your writing will influence the world, so keep doing it! I write too and am currently working on editing and formatting for my first print book.
Thanks for this post. It was interesting to hear more about you and I loved your outlook on writing – it is very uplifting for another writer!
Mon
Mon recently posted..Goal Setting Skills In Action- A Little Revision or The Surprising Power Of Mini Goals
Thank you Mon, I appreciate your feedback and contribution greatly. I knwo I’m not doing this for nothing and at the end glorifying the one who gave me these gifts. I let slip things like this here and there.
How are you going to publish your book?
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