History

Names are very important. In scripture, people were given names that indicated their character or nature, or had a prophetic significance. Abram changed his name to Abraham and Jacob's name was changed to Israel. The angel told Mary that her son was to be called Jesus... and the angel told Elizabeth to call her son John.

The name of this ministry is also significant and was not chosen because I needed something that sounded good. It was the answer to prayer.
The desire was to adopt a name that was not just unique, but one that reflected the ministry style and nature.

Bashan:
Bashan is a geographical district that was part of the inheritance given by God to the half tribe of Manasseh. The region is comprised of smooth, soft earth. It is a fairly level, very fertile, grain-producing plateau of south Syria extending across the Yarmuq to the foothills of Gilead. It is largely many-peaked mountainous countryside that is rich and fertile and was renowned for its agriculture and dairying industry.
Some commentators described it as “The salad bowl of Jerusalem”. It is possible that it was richly forested with great trees (see Psalm 68:15; Isaiah 2:13; Ezekiel 27:6).
The fat bulls and cows of Bashan were proverbial (Psalm 22:12; Amos 4:1), as were rams, lambs, and goats, all of them fatlings of Bashan (Ezekiel 39:18). It features in prophecy, describing Calvary. Psalm 22 speaks of Jesus on the cross, saying, “Many bulls have compassed me: strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round”.

It was not until after I moved to Mount Tamborine, that I discovered the similarity between the Bashan of Israel and Mount Tamborine, Australia, but we went there for a specific assignment and that assignment has been completed.  For many years, Marge and I functioned in an itinerant role, traveling to the United States, Japan, India, Canada, Europe, Africa and elsewhere, with material circulated in many other nations, but always had the vision of creating a ministry center that would be vastly different to what is often seen in Australia. This is now starting.

I wanted to start a new church on Mount Tamborine for a long time, but the Lord kept telling me to wait and it is hard for a preacher to be given a vision and told to wait. A genuine prophetic vision has no expiry date.

It took many years to lay a strong ministry foundation and cultivate relationships with prominent ministries around the world.
If you look at a construction site, a lot of preparation work goes on before actual construction of the building itself commences. The site has to cleared and prepared before anything else is done, the foundations laid, services and support infrastructure made ready, often taking extensive time with no apparent development. A casual observer might see nothing but a security fence and a big hole in the ground as the foundations are prepared and the utilities and other services are brought in. Eventually a structure emerges and when finished becomes occupied.

We did that and the dream became reality. Many years ago, the Lord said, "Robert, the day will come when people will walk through the doors of your church and into the tangible presence of God. Watch and see what I will do". We have already witnessed this.

Relocation:
I mentioned before how we started on Mount Tamborine in Queensland, Australia, but there was something inside me that I had for decades that started to emerge.

It was a return to the place of my nativity in Adelaide, the capital city of South Australia.

I had previously visited there to speak with the leader of the denomination to which I then belonged to talk over the matter and he was prepared to assist me.
The Lord, however, told me to wait. I have learned that there is a definite time and season in the things of God and the bible is full of references to that extent. It was simply not the right time.
This posed a problem on what to do until the move. The Lord told me to occupy (as seen in Luke 19:13). That word occupy means to keep oneself busy in a trade or occupation. He explained that I was to do whatever He asked me to do and to do it well, so I kept myself busy in occupying.

I did not want to be seen to be unstable and certainly did not want the people to whom I was ministering to feel any areas of uncertainty. After all, we are an independent, non-denominational ministry and they could not call for another pastor from an organization. I know many other pastors and spoke with them and to those in our own church. The members saw what was happening and as the time drew near for our relocation, I began to see them established in new good church homes. They were happy with this arrangement. Some families will follow us to Adelaide in due course. I would like everyone to follow us of course, but the decisions are theirs. 
As we prayed more on the matter, the Lord spoke to Marjorie and me independently of each other, telling us to read Deuteronomy chapter 1. Here was the confirmation we required. It clearly stated-
 The LORD our God spake unto us in Horeb, saying, Ye have dwelt long enough in this mount:
 Turn you, and take your journey, and go to the mount of the Amorites, and unto all the places nigh thereunto, in the plain, in the hills, and in the vale, and in the south, and by the sea side, to the land of the Canaanites, and unto Lebanon, unto the great river, the river Euphrates.
 Behold, I have set the land before you: go in and possess the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give unto them and to their seed after them. Deuteronomy 1:6-8.  

Everything in that passage of scripture related directly to us.  For example, the great river mentioned is our River Murray. The Lord in essence then told us, "what are you waiting for". He said that He was closing the door in Queensland and was opening doors for us in South Australia. We made the decision to move and once we did, things fell into place so well and so quickly, we felt as if we were dreaming. 

 I am not advocating that everyone does such a thing, but it seems that many ministries I know in the United States grew suddenly and in amazing manner only after they moved. Now that our assignment on Mount Tamborine is finished, we have moved on and now reside in Victor Harbor, a beautiful historic place a short drive south of the city.

It  is a sleepy hollow at times but it is a holiday hotspot in season, There is a unity amongst most believers that is rare. There is an "atmosphere" about the place that engenders much community interest and involvement with a high proportion of volunteers. I believe that this could ba a place where God can move in a wonderful way, if His people permit Him.
Geographically, we are on the shores of the Great Southern Ocean and marine life abounds. Southern Wright whales visit here every year. South of us is the Antarctic circle. Since moving here I have joined the volunteer sear rescue squadron and it is a wonderful lifestyle that offers many possibilities.

Our Vision:
Bashan Ministries has a global vision that extends far beyond the boundaries of a local church environment. Our vision may be summed up several ways-

• Reaching the lost: To reach the lost whenever possible, wherever possible and by every means possible.
• Healing Crusades: To conduct healing crusades throughout Australia and in other countries.
• Practical Aid: To provide practical aid and support to people in our community and beyond and to help God’s people in any way we can.
• Preparing God's People: To help God’s people prepare themselves for a massive visitation of the Holy Spirit.
• Preparing God's People: To help God’s people prepare themselves for the return of Jesus Christ.

Reaching the lost:
This is a powerful driving force within us. My personal desire is to conduct as many crusades as possible on a global scale as we can. We are already reaching into other countries, where our goal is to reach millions of souls and change the destinies of nations.

Healing Crusades:
All of our meetings are open to the Holy Spirit. We allow the Holy Spirit to have his way at every opportunity and witness signs, wonders and miracles, as the Lord goes with us confirming His word. I take scriptures literally, in that if God said it, that is good enough for me. As a result, we experience the tangible manifestations of the presence of God. We do not seek for the spectacular, but there is a definite marked and often tangibly evident anointing on us that the observer can see and feel physically. The Gifts of the Spirit are often evident, with remarkable accuracy, impact and effect.

Practical Aid:
Our vision is to provide practical aid and support to Christian and non Christian alike. We have a commitment to our community, to our churches and to other believers in particular.
Our vision is to provide practical aid and support to others. This will range from the growth and distribution of fresh fruit and vegetables from our own agricultural projects that are being planned, to helping others in distress. In those situations we will not be acting like a traditional charity, but will embark on Spirit-led or guided assistance. On most occasions this may be on an ad-hoc basis, although planned programs and projects may be employed.

Practical aid also extended to other ministries and churches.

Training is an inherent part of our vision. We include this in the practical aid section to help other ministers and ministries by training them in the ways of God. We do not plan on having a bible school as such as there are enough already in existence, with varying degrees of success but aim in teaching God’s people principles of faith, ways of living and ways of obtaining revelation from God for themselves. This training will be by all possible means.

Preparing God's People:
This is a two fold operation. The first is to help people get ready to receive and retain the blessings and the anointing that is upon us in these closing days. The Holy Spirit is visiting the church world wide, but many parts of the church still do not know the importance or the significance of this wonderful event and the person causing it. We have had “revivals” in the past, but this will eclipse all them and it is a new thing. It is not a revival as such, yet many areas of the church still pray for revival, because they so not know God’s timetable and agenda.

Our vision is to reveal his ways as well as his acts to God’s people. We are committed and dedicated to preparing the saints for the imminent return of Jesus and to the spreading of the Gospel in the whole world… to every tribe and nation in accordance with His great commission.

The core of this part of our vision is depicted by our motto, “Preparing the way”. We function like a modern day “John the Baptist”, who came to God’s covenant people telling them to get ready for the coming of Messiah. It is evident that a very large portion of he church is simply not ready for his second return and without getting off onto tangents and the like, our objectives are to reveal the ways of God to his people so that they will be ready. John was in fact a revivalist. He was the voice of revival speaking life into dead religion, turning people away from rules and regulations that religion binds people with, towards true emancipation that can only be found in Jesus. He did everything wrong according to the way most ministries or denominations think today! He deliberately sent his disciples away by redirecting them to Jesus. 

Part of our objective is to help the restoration of all of the five Ascension Gift Ministries to the church. According to Ephesians chapter four, they are the Apostle, the Prophet, the Evangelist, the Teacher and the Pastor. They have been provided to release the saints into the work of the ministry and come into a full knowledge of the truth. Our desire therefore is to see Christians everywhere, regardless of race, color or denomination, fully liberated and enjoying all that God has for them and thus fulfilling the great commission to preach the Gospel in every nation.

• Helping them to become rooted and grounded in the Word of God
• Helping believers receive revelation in the word of God
• Helping believers to enter into and enjoy a deep intimacy of relationship with God
• Revealing to believers that we have an amazing covenant relationship with God (a covenant relationship involves certain rights, privileges, duties and responsibilities that are binding upon both parties. This is a covenant signed, sealed and ratified by the Blood of Jesus Christ)
• Helping them to reach the place where they live victoriously
• Helping them to become proficient in the biblical principles of faith, love and righteousness
• Showing that Christians can and should exercise the levels of faith that are pleasing to God
• Showing that all of God's promises are good and available to all who will accept them
• Showing that not only are we are called to proclaim the Good news of the Gospel, but declare in every way that Jesus Christ is Lord

Global Evangelism:
God has a heart for the nations, as scriptures reveal many times (at least 336 times in the bible). The Hebrew Word is gôy, meaning nation, heathen, Gentiles and people (and God loves people).  Jesus gave commandment And He said to them, Go into all the world and preach and publish openly the good news (the Gospel) to every creature [of the whole human race]. Mark 16:15.

Global evangelism is obviously on his heart and he has placed this desire on our hearts.

I am committed to global evangelism, because Jesus said that his gospel had to reach into every nation, tribe and village before he returned.We can reach these places with television and in person and my goal is just that.
I have visited places in India for example where the local people advised me that I was the first foreigner to EVER visit that region. I found it hard to believe, but from the responses by the population, it was evidently true. God has placed at least sixteen nations on my heart already and I intend to go as often as possible to each and every one of them.

The Internet is a powerful tool that we are working with. I dislike keeping statistics if they are used for incorrect purposes, but we do need to ascertain our performance to ensure that we are functioning well as wise stewards of what God gives us.
The last time I checked on our performance, we had 510,000 visitors to this web site.
This equates to 42,500 visitors a month.

In essence then, without having a literal church building at present, our present "congregation" is more than 10,600 each week.

Please pray and help us in any way you can to see these things come to their fruition. We invite you to partner with us in these ventures. 
I hope that you have been blessed and inspired by our ambitious yet realistic vision. I invite you to share with us and sow into the ministry and help us fulfil the commission. Should you feel like supporting us, please write for details.

Thank you for your time and support.

Robert.