FOUND IN COMMUNITY by Samantha Ortiz

When Eddie Phiri first walked through the doors of Hillsong Cape Town in 2009, he felt utterly lost and alone. Finding himself in a new country without work or family support, he went to the one place he knew he might find a sense of home. As the words of “You Hold Me Know” by Hillsong United wrapped around him, Eddie knew he was meant to be there. This grace was a God-given certainty in a season of swirling change.

Zimbabwean born and raised, Eddie lost his parents at a young age. Raised largely by extended family, growing up he often felt he had little in the way of care or understanding. Ultimately it was lack of options for employment that drove him to leave Harare as a young adult looking for work in South Africa. Armed with little but his faith, and a relationship with Jesus that had set him apart from his family of origin from a young age, he left his homeland for the hope of a better future.

South Africa can be a problematic place to navigate for foreign born Africans. Only a year before Eddie’s move, a wave of xenophobic violence swept the nation in 2008 leaving 67 people dead. This was the atmosphere Eddie was walking into, but it was his only option.

After a short time in Johannesburg, Eddie had to leave after disagreeing with the relative he was working for about the ethics with which he ran his company. This was how he found himself at Hillsong Cape Town, being encouraged in a dark season by a song written on the other side of the world. This was the foundation on which the rest of his story unfolded.

Since the age of nine, Eddie had been singing worship throughout Zimbabwe, for crowds of up to 5000 people. Though he was sought after for album deals, he never saw worship as a career for himself. But singing worship was what he intimately knew and deeply loved. in Cape Town, he felt God telling him he wasn’t there to sing. This was the toughest time in Eddie’s life. He was in a new country with no employment, no home and no family support. Church was the only safe place for him, but being told not to do the only thing he felt he knew had stripped him of his last sense of familiarity.

In spite of all this, Eddie still had a strong conviction to serve. Not knowing what else to do, Eddie decided if he couldn’t sing, he was going to serve the calling that he loved. With no background in production whatsoever, he started at the beginning. He picked up a cable and learned how to roll it. This simple act of service was the start of a new trajectory that would define his life for years to come.

Even when Eddie was living in a homeless shelter for four months, he went to church every Sunday and faithfully served. Whilst living at the homeless shelter he begrudgingly participated in a retreat they held meant to inspire the residents to reflect on their dreams. Having only recently begun serving at church on production, Eddie wrote something down he didn’t believe would be attainable – to be a sound engineer. He received feedback that it was highly unlikely he would succeed; and if so it was a goal that required a formal education and would take him up to ten years.

Eddie did it in five years, without a formal education. Entirely self-taught, he achieved this dream by showing up every Sunday. Eventually he became a project manager, found employment in the church and helped launch other Hillsong campuses in Cape Town.

Eddie often felt like he wasn’t qualified to be a sound engineer or a production manager. He felt like he was an imposter in what was a professional environment. But he kept showing up anyway, believing in what he calls the power of presence.

2012

His faithfulness and aptitude were seen and fostered by the people he surrounded himself with. He began his journey wanting everything to be perfect, but along the way learnt that perfection and excellence are two different things. He then took his team and the people he mentored on that journey – that elusive ‘perfection’ may not be attainable, but giving it your all results in excellence. Sometimes that is even better.

Eddie’s greatest joy now comes from leading and developing others, both in his team and through mentoring Hillsong College students. He uses his origin story to encourage others that “the whole world around you doesn’t have to be beautiful for you to achieve your purpose.”

Ultimately his journey did lead him back to singing worship. It was through this that he met his Australian wife, Katrina, when she was serving with the Hillsong Africa Foundation in Cape Town. They moved to Australia in 2016, and now serve at the Hills Campus together, where Eddie continues to inspire excellence within the production team.

The theme of feeling enfolded by the church and his Creative family continued in Australia. When Eddie and Katrina lost their baby girl halfway through her pregnancy during the first Covid-19 lockdown, it was this family who grieved with them at the hospital. They coordinated meal rosters and turned up at the door with “homemade goodness and a smile letting us know we weren’t alone.” Eddie, Katrina and their three-yearold son Jensen are now awaiting their latest adventure: the arrival of twins later this year.

Despite this sometimes harrowing journey, Eddie retains a humility and unwavering faith. At his lowest point where the only thing remaining was his faith, he found his belief in the treasure God had deposited inside of him. This seed took root and grew into something magnanimous and beautiful. This is the treasure that he now delights in unveiling in others.

If Eddie could tell his past self who walked into his local church feeling lost and alone twelve years ago anything, it would be that staying somewhere for a long time does not make it a destination. The sands of life are continually shifting under our feet, and sometimes even after a prolonged season God is whispering to us that He has somewhere new for us to travel. Listening to that still small voice sometimes leads to our greatest adventures yet.

FOUND IN

COMMUNITY

Words: Samantha Ortiz

A young woman sits alone in her room, the blue light of the computer screen illuminating her face. The dreams in her mind had been so bright. So vivid. And the thrill of expounding them, satisfying beyond explanation. But as her eyes revisit the words before her, doubt fills her gut. Her cheeks burn with shame and her fingers trail to a single key. Delete.

Another frantically pours out her heart into a journal. She’s longed to create music and poetry for years, but she’s only recently found the courage and space to try. What will become of it? She barely knows. She doesn’t know where to go from here, she doesn’t know if she should. Is this worship just between her and God or for others as well?

A new husband, with his eyes on the future and a passion to see others grow, toys with an idea. A book is in his heart, one detailing his journey and lessons, and he wants to bring it to life. But does he have the skill, the grit, the tenacity to write? He’s a teacher and a leader, sure. But dare he plunge into this new avenue? Dare he try? These are snapshots of people in my life. Real people with a gift for words. I’ve discovered them as I’ve discovered myself: in community. Like-minded and like-souled, we are drawn together by calling; a people compelled by a sense of duty to bring what is birthed in the secret-place, to the public eye. It isn’t the goal, just where our stewardship has led us.

But making that jump, from secret to seen, is daunting, and there’s no one-way-fits-all to get there.

And yet I can tell you how you won’t get there; and that’s alone.

My name is Samantha. I’ve been enamoured with writing for years. In the creation of worlds and stories I find myself incredibly close to God and His truths. It’s my worship. But it wasn’t until five years ago, that I was prompted to share my words for the first time. Right away I knew I couldn’t do it alone. I needed help. Community. So finding it, became my mission. I dipped into overseas critique groups and writing communities. I forced myself into vulnerable interactions, letting strangers read my work and accepting their feedback.

COMMUNITY

Eventually I started a Writers Connect at Hillsong Greater West Sydney. The two women above were among the first to join, though at first, they wouldn’t even call themselves writers. The young man reached out shortly after, wondering with excitement and anxiousness, whether he should give it all a go. Like me, they’d all been stuck in the secret-place, unsure how to move forward. Unsure if they should.

But everything changed once they found one another.

After three months, the first young woman’s community challenged her to write and NOT delete; to face her fears and doubts and keep going. Now, she’s writing the sequel to her first ever completed novel.

In community, the song-writer grew bold enough to share her lyrics and melodies. We discovered that her music so perfectly interwove with my latest novel, that I ended up putting her words among my own. Beautiful, breathtaking, partnership.

The man plunged in, deciding to learn on the go. He didn’t aim to do it perfect, but shared his fresh, raw work so that others could help him make it better. Rather than learning alone through years of drafting and editing, he jumped into community. I can’t help but admire his courage. He doesn’t realise how many years he’s saved himself by doing this small, brave thing.

As for me? I’d never go back to doing it alone.

Even for a writer like me, there are no words to describe the elation, satisfaction and peace that comes from sojourning beside a like-minded, like-souled individual. We aren’t meant to do any of this life alone, least of all the stewardship of our gifts. I like to believe, when we commune this way alongside one another’s Godgiven-purposes, we get to experience a portion of what God experiences, living in perfect community within himself.

I don’t think I need to convince you to create. But maybe you need convincing that you weren’t meant to create, alone.