The Reghert Van Zyl Interview

In university Rehgert was a man who lived for the pleasure of his own desires, endlessly roaming from one party to the next. But God had a plan to show him what Life to the Full really meant. After consuming certain hallucinogenics one night, Regret completely passed-out knocking his two front teeth out and breaking his nose from a fall. While lying unconscious on the ground in a pool of blood, Rehgert had a vision - he imagined himself in a dark, lifeless void, isolated and alone. Rehgert remembers calling out for help, to no avail. “Spiritually, that’s where I was.” - In a dark space and alone. It was from that moment on that Rehgert saw the reality of his situation and God fully arrested his heart, making him a slave to righteousness as opposed to sin.

This the story of a man once lost and now found, a man who lived for his own desires but now lives for God’s. Rehgert is now the Regional Coordinator for Christian Surfers  and Israel and the impact of his life and his wife Vanessa’s on the nations, is testament to what God can do through lives fully surrendered to Him. Culture of One.

On coming to Christ

While I was studying, I went through a dark time trying to find peace and enlightenment through Hinduism, Buddhism, drugs and hallucinogens. The further I walked down this road of exploration and experimentation, the darker my soul felt. At one particular party, I took something that made me pass out completely. While passed out I had a vision, I imagined myself in a dark, lifeless void, isolated and alone. I remember calling out for help but though there were people around, no one could help me hear me or even see me. The vision was such an accurate reflection of my life at the time. When I came to, I had a broken nose and two broken teeth from the fall but I began to see my life for what it really was. 

Around that time, a friend of mine started going to church and I saw how his life was being transformed by Christ. One night I joined him - and it just felt like Jesus was calling me back. I made a decision then and there to change my life. The next day I told my parents that I was going to quit everything and come home.

From that day on, I was sold-out for Christ! Christ became my everything! I was so thankful and grateful to the Lord for saving me from the brink of death that I decided to dedicate my life to Him and His work alone.

On starting in surf ministry

I started working with a Dutch NGO in 2007, specifically with kids on the streets in George, South Africa. The goal was to reintegrate street kids into society, and I acted as a houseparent, making sure that they were living and surviving. Trying to get them out of drug abuse and prostitution was incredibly tough. As time moved along, I realised that just telling these kids what to do wouldn’t help them - I needed to take a genuine interest in their lives; I needed common ground, so I drew from the one thing God had given me in life: surfing! It provided the perfect tool. Surfing itself won’t change lives, but I could introduce the kids to Jesus through it. In faith, like in surfing, you can’t expect young people to fend for themselves. They need to be taught; they need guidance and mentors.

The NGO wasn’t too interested in supporting this new idea of restoration through surfing, so I took the two free days I had in the week, in between waitering and odd jobs, to spend time with the children that I had met through my work. I started with nothing, but gradually God opened doors for it to grow. Eventually we had a full on house with a half pipe - a space where the kids could hang out and feel safe. And that’s how the idea of Aleph was born.

On Aleph’s purpose

Aleph’s slogan is “Restoration through Recreation” and our primary aim is to share the message of restoration. No matter how badly we’ve messed up, God can restore us to the people we were meant to be.

Aleph Surf believes in restoration through recreation

On Sungi & Jimeal

There was this 11-year-old kid called Jimeal that showed up at the garage we started operating from at the time in Jeffreys Bay - and he ended up bringing all his friends. Like many of the kids, he had a difficult family situation and struggled with anger issues. When he started getting angry and cussing, we would  challenge him to exercise self-control , send him home and tell him to come back the next day. No matter what happened, he would always return. Over time, the group of kids he brought dwindled away, but Jimeal was faithful and stuck it out through the years.

And thus we could walk alongside Jimeal, mentoring and working with him as he grew up. Jimeal went on to do a program at YWAM, travelled to Namibia and even went to Brazil. When you come from a community where 90% of the people won’t ever leave the country, that’s something truly incredible. Jimeal has grown into an amazing young leader within his community, a shining light in the darkness, a testimony of what your life could be like when Jesus restores it.

Aleph also walked a long journey with two amazing young women, Sungi and Nancy. Their family had fled Zimbabwe and ended up in Jeffreys Bay as refugees. Coming from a Christian home with parents that loved the Lord, Sungi and Nancy decided to join Aleph in 2012. My wife Vanessa spent a lot of time with them, speaking about their faith and their relationship with Jesus. It was incredible to see how God blessed the two young women, as they applied God’s principles in their lives and were obedient and faithful to Him.

They applied themselves at school and were blessed with scholarships to a good school. When they graduated from school, the dream was of course to continue on to university. Through God’s goodness, Aleph was able to raise funds to send the young women to university. Sungi is now a civil engineer, while Nancy is a journalist!

On meeting his wife

I met my Californian wife, Vanessa in the US, through mutual friends and we started dating shortly after. She passed through South Africa before starting a job in Kenya. When the job in Kenya fell through, she ended up staying with my family and I for three months - years of dating compacted into three months. Our desires and interests aligned from the start, so the decision to get engaged and then married was easy and came quickly. She’s always had love for Africa and had spent time working among communities in Uganda and Rwanda. Our vision has always been to teach skills and empower communities to create their own income. Vanessa’s role in Aleph has been to teach women in Jeffreys Bay to sew, and together with them create an Aleph clothing range. 

On Christian Surfers

I feel proud to represent Christian Surfers. We don’t identify just as surfers: our main identity is that we’re followers of Jesus and we just happen to love surfing too. When I went to my first international conference in 2008, I was blown away by all the people from all over the world that shared the same passion for reaching beach communities for Jesus that I had. It was so encouraging. We’d sing songs and prayer together - each person in their own language - it reminded me of that verse in Revelations… “a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb”.

When you hear of other Christian Surfer chapter’s struggles and wins, you feel less alone. It feels incredible to be a part of this family on mission and network around the world supporting you.

On his purpose on earth

My mother has this saying - and it’s stuck with me over the years: “You were not created to be a worthless waste, but to be inhabited by God.” I don’t want to live my life with a bit of Jesus in me, I want Jesus to be the centrepiece of my life. My purpose is to make His name and His kingdom known.

When I die, I want to be remembered as a passionate lover of God, more than anything else.

Aleph is one of six projects supported by Groundswell Aid. If you’d like to find out more or support Aleph in any way, head over to www.groundswellaid.org.