Dolf de Voogd van der Straaten

“Cry aloud, spare not; Lift up your voice like a trumpet"

Isaiah 58:1

Personal Biography:

Dolf preachingWhen he was five years of age he was already aware of the presence of God in his life. His parents came to Jesus when he was nine. God kept him through His grace, blessed him, trained him and educated him with great love, and he developed in serving the Lord. Yet there can be no increase of maturity in following Jesus without testing and trials. In the beginning of 1991 he even lost his focus on everything except Jesus. Nevertheless, God restored and renewed him, and from 1994 until 1998 God moved him into a new season of church leadership and into a development of the prophetic and apostolic ministry. At the beginning of 1998 he started travelling as a prophet.

He believes that God is restoring the prophetic ministry to the level He wants it to be in His Kingdom. The text above Isaiah 58:1 speaks of lifting your voice like a trumpet. It speaks of a shofar, a prophetic voice and it inspires him to bring a prophetic word from the heart of God, which will encourage you to go for change in your personal life, for a change in the church and in your ideas about church.

Dolf is married with Firdaus. They have two children, both married, six grandchildren and they all live in Vlissingen in The Netherlands.

Prophets:

Prophets tear down inner obstacles and outer systems that stop people from growing in the understanding of who Jesus is. They destroy specific mindsets and man-made traditions that stop people from becoming more mature and freer. Due to this ability, prophets are often unwelcome in the prevailing Christian culture. They do not preach a feel good, personally enriching and self-centered gospel. They are often a threat to all systems that are not really Kingdom focused and Christ centered.

They express grace and a broken heart and are not motivated by legalism and a judgmental attitude. Prophets live in, and minister from, the realities of the New Covenant. Prophets build from a platform of internal ethics and accuracy in their lives; not from the exercise of their gift. Building relationship has a high priority for them.

Prophets are by nature primarily builders, not servants of 'bless me clubs'. They're concerned with strategic and long-term change. Prophets are sent to speak truth from their hearts and not in the first place to 'bless' people by telling them how wonderful they are; how rich they're going to be; and how they're going to change the world. Godly understanding, plus conformity to the understanding is the essence of being prophetic.

Author

Dolf is the author of a book "Through the eye of a prophet". The Kingdom of God is bigger than the church and a progressive change of thinking is very important to bring the church on a higher level of maturity and freedom. In this book Dolf will challenge you to focus on Jesus and on expanding the Kingdom of God. Renewal of our thinking is of utmost importance in order to come to a higher level of maturity and freedom.

Serving the body

A prophet has a God-given ability to bring forth a clear unveiling of the Person of Jesus Christ, through the opening of the Word of God, by the Spirit of God. As a prophet he teaches the people and this lifts up burdens and destroys yokes.

He is involved in:

Organizing equipping seminars in order to encourage the Body of Jesus, to help people to grow toward maturity and to see people function in their gifts in the Kingdom of God. Receiving people at home from The Netherlands and abroad. Advising leadership and churches. Building individual relationships with local groups and strengthening and imparting them and their leaders with practical instruction and teaching from the heart of God. Developments of many new expressions of church. In serving many in nations all over the world. He has travelled in Europe mainly to: Belgium, France, Switzerland, Germany, England and Romania and to countries in other continents such as: India, Australia, U.S.A., Japan and Malaysia. Egypt has been visited many times, relationships have been built there and God allowed him to serve in different groups and denominations.

Dolf does not charge a specific amount to minister but comes on a love-offering basis. We ask that you provide for travel expenses and accommodations. He is willing to serve you while trusting the Lord to meet the needs of the ministry of Shofar. We are sensitive to your desires and particular situation as our aim is to understand the specific needs of your group, so we may minister most effectively.