Chapter Two: The History, Demography and Method of Operation of the DCC
2.4 Nellie Roberts
The power of God suddenly took a hold of me and all I could do was groan and speak in tongues from the innermost part of my being. It came out of me like a long roaring noise and I knew it was the Holy Spirit, but I stifled it so the pastor's wife wouldn't hear me where I was at the altar. I experienced the life changing love of God and it became an anchor for my soul. Instead of associating God with masculinity and rejection, I began to open up to Him as a father (2004:71-72).
Roberts recalls: "Our family lived in constant financial difficulty. I drew no salary because there was not money enough coming in with tithes and offerings"
(2004: 28). During the times of great financial difficulties in Estcourt, Roberts states that "(i)n those early years, we were unfamiliar with the principles of faith"
(2004:30). He later confessed, "Estcourt became for us a training ground for faith" (2004:30). Roberts' experiences in Malvern led him to say that;
[e]very bit of provision served to increase my faith. Later on I would see young preachers start in the ministry with everything they wanted, and I would watch them struggle along with weak faith because they were never challenged on a basic level to trust God for the next mouthful of food. Or they equated money with success, and when the money ran out they gave up on the vision - a serious mistake. God always provides for the vision even if there have been times and difficult situations (2004:38).
2.5 Joy and John Torrens (Senior-Vice Pastor)
Joy Torrens, daughter of Fred and Nellie Roberts, experienced several traumatic experiences as a child. Two such incidents occurred when she was only two years old. Her face was ripped open from her mouth to her ear, by an angry dog while her parents were visiting a parishioner (2004:120). Her face eventually received several stitches and, later on, plastic surgery. Later, Joy contracted measles that took her to "the point of death" (2004:121). After a miraculous visitation from God one night, Fred Roberts believes Joy was healed. "All traces of the measles had gone and there wasn't a mark on her body" (2004:121).
Joy eventually married John Torrens and was "adamantly opposed to going into full-time ministry" (2004:121).
Members of the church could be forgiven for assuming that John Torrens66 was
"born and brought up" at the DCC, and then went on to be reared and trained for the position of senior vice-pastor (second in command). This however is far from the truth. The story of John Torrens is that of a young Catholic man of elusive character, drawn from an alternate lifestyle of substance abuse and irrationality, and changed in a single moment in time.
The highlights of Torrens' personal testimony began when he was pursuing a Bachelor of Science degree at the University of Durban-Westville. A student in his chemistry and maths class began sharing the gospel with him. He later changed his degree to that of a Bachelor of Pharmacy. A certain incident that deserves special mention occurred when on a particular visit to Pinetown (west of Durban); Torrens spotted a fellow drug user. This individual had a packet of Bibles in his possession. When Torrens saw this he automatically assumed that his friend had "gone off at the deep end" in his drug abuse. He thought that the friend was now reduced to selling Bibles to fund his drug habit! This friend however, corrected Torrens' assumption, by telling him that he was actually no longer a drug addict, in fact, he had been totally cured of his destructive habit.
He went on to explain how the gospel had "set him free" from an addictive personality. This friend innocently became the catalyst and the initiator of the chain reaction that was to lead Torrens to the DCC.
Torrens' first encounter with the DCC occurred when it was based at the Embassy theatre. During the service Torrens experienced a strange phenomenon, which he describes in his own words: "I could see my life flashing before me and I knew that I had to get to the front of the church for that altar call." After this experience, a dramatic change took place in his life. His family recognised this, being amazed that this was the same person. His mother,
66 Interview with John and Joy Torrens 19/10/2005.
sister, grandmother and other members of his family became committed Christians after they witnessed the transformation in Torrens' life. This marked the end of the old John Torrens and the beginning of the new.
Torrens' new faith and enthusiasm led him to become involved in the life of the church. He began by joining the church band as a drummer. He then went on to enrol at the Bible School after which he pursued a Bachelor of Commerce degree and was called up to mandatory service in the army. During the course of Torrens' membership at the DCC, he began a friendship with Joy Roberts which later matured into a love relationship and then marriage in December
1990.
Equipped with Bachelors' degrees in pharmacy and commerce, Torrens and his new bride left for Cape Town in 1991 to establish their lives and careers. In the Cape, Torrens worked in both his fields of qualification. From 8-4 pm he worked as a Pharmacist and in the evening he did locum work for the stock exchange in the plush Cape Town suburbs of Sea Point, Hout Bay, and Blouberg Strand.
He eventually stopped the stock exchange work in favour of buying his own pharmacy in Clifton (also an upmarket area in Cape Town).
The finance for the purchase of the pharmacy had been approved when another event that would change Torrens' life occurred. Torrens recalls, "hearing God's voice" calling him to full time ministry. When told about this, Joy was not convinced about this matter since she preferred a life that would be distant from full-time church work and the disadvantages and negative effects experienced by Pastors and their families. She advised him not to get caught up with the
"emotions and excitement" of the church world, without knowing the truth behind the glamour and intrigue of full-time ministry in the charismatic movement. The couple then fasted and prayed concerning this matter.
At that time, an American prophet who visited their church in Cape Town prophesied to them, John Torrens recounts the prophecy: "The prophet told us
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things that were unknown to anyone else but ourselves, he told me about the fact that when I was five years old I had an angelic visitation, nobody ever knew about that, not even Joy"; the prophet went on to say to Joy Torrens, "the Lord says I have tricked you, I had to get a person from the outside for you to marry so that I could get you on the inside". The much needed confirmation that the Torrens' needed for their future came when the prophet declared, "for the Lord says, I have called you to my ministry". This was clear enough for the young couple who then cancelled their acquisition of the Clifton pharmacy, and began their work in Christian ministry in 1993 at the Good Hope Christian Centre in Cape Town. Torrens described their commitment as total and complete, "there was no plan B, or back door escape that we arranged for ourselves just in case if things did not work out for us in the ministry".
Their first years in ministry in Cape Town were difficult owing to the adjustment that needed to take place in the Torrens family, which by this time included a child. Financially, the couple no longer had access to the large sums they had been accustomed to earning in their secular employment. The church was building a new auditorium and the income of funds was erratic and sometimes not forthcoming; the ministers were therefore only paid when there were sufficient funds.
During this time they learned valuable lessons that would later prove to enhance their success in full-time ministry; the couple learned "total dependency on God, faith and trust".
In 1996 Fred Roberts visited the couple in the Cape and expressed his desire for them to work together with him in the DCC since there were some
"undercurrent activities by some Pastors who wanted to cause division".
Torrens and his family then returned to Durban in 1996 to begin their work at the DCC. He is now holding the position of vice-senior pastor. Torrens believes that he is not at the DCC in order to implement his own ideas and plot his own
course, instead, he wants to see the original vision of the DCC "enhanced and amplified". He experiences the general love, regard and co-operation of the DCC staff and members; however, he does admit that it is "hard to plough with another man's oxen".
Both John and Joy Torrens firmly believe that they should show consideration for their responsible position by "leading by example". They have stated that they will immediately step down from their current position if they fail in any way with regards to their character and leadership. Since their integration into the DCC, they have been responsible for leading the administrative and spiritual course of the church together with Fred and Nellie Roberts. They are in control of all operations in the absence of the senior pastor. John Torrens handles the spiritual matters of the church with a youthful appeal yet without straying from the aims and theology of the church. Joy Torrens directs the administration and the human resources of the DCC. She was also instrumental in the opening of the DCC Hope Centre Clinic after she became aware of the increasing stigmatisation of AIDS victims in society.