As a seasoned leader, author, and outdoors enthusiast, I'm driven to empower individuals to thrive. With roots in South Africa, my journey's been a rich tapestry of experiences – from growing up on a cattle farm to serving as senior pastor/leader of a church in Durbanville, Cape Town, for 25 years. My heart beats for authentic leadership, meaningful connections, and unlocking human potential. I love public speaking, whether that is before a large or small groups of people. I love engaging people, challenging them to think for themselves.

A former civil engineer turned theologian, I hold various diplomas and degrees, including a master’s in Practical Theology. My master’s focused on comparing leadership in business and social sectors, leading me to author A Traveller’s Guide to Leadership. I aim to inspire, uplift, and challenge the status quo through my writing.

Books: "Journey: A Traveller's Guide to Leadership," "Unshackled," and "Finding My Lost Voice" reflect my commitment to empowering others. I'm fuelled by the Bible and African wisdom. When not writing, I'm woodworking, mountain biking, or gardening. My faith is my bedrock, and I serve God with wholeheartedness. I am busy writing two books. The first is an educational fantasy series for older children, and the second is engaging with an agnostics questions about faith in God. Both books are in their early stages.

Married to Heidi for 34 years, with adult children Christopher, Kaitlyn, and son-in-law Quindan. Family, after God, defines who I am, and I love being with and amongst the people I love.

https://basilsparks.co.za

www.durbanvillebaptist.com

Welcome to 12 Minute Converse with Jesus Believers.

God chose first to have a conversation with us, his creation.

Our prayer is that this listening space brings growth and transforms your life forever.

Praise God for you Pastor Basil.

How are you doing today?

I'm doing very well, thank you.

Yeah, great to meet with you as well.

So after being in Cape Town for 25 years, it is still that beautiful, is it?

Oh, for sure.

It's a beautiful city.

It's a city of great contradiction as well.

I mean, you obviously have the poorest of the poor, a lot of people moving into Cape Town from the rural areas around South Africa because of the prospect of work and so on.

And then you also have the super rich and people.

So you've got these great contrasts if you look around the city, but it is a magnificent city in terms of the nature and the beauty of the city itself.

Was family first a gift you were given or a standard you had to build from scratch?

I think it really has come as a gift to me, to be honest with you.

My wife, she has a different story and so for her, family was very difficult growing up.

For me, I come from a very big family.

I've got five siblings, a mom and dad who've been together.

They're still alive.

My dad's 95 and my mother's 90 and they have loved each other for over 70 years now.

So we've been given a gift, which has been this most amazing gift of a family who appreciate each other and love one another.

So from my side, definitely wanting to carry on that legacy really.

And for my wife as well, I mean, obviously she had a different story, but for her, she wants the story that we have as a family.

So absolutely beautiful really just to know that and to be able to live in that.

Would you say your pastoral journey really started within your family when you give the example of your wife not having the same template that you had?

I think it has helped a lot.

I think that my calling started before I met her.

So this is, we've been married 34 years now.

And before that, I was a civil engineer working on sites and that in itself is a long process of how I got to move from engineering into pastoral work.

But certainly being married to Heidi has helped me gain so much perspective on what people go through and experience along the last journey.

And then also just for us to draw a line in the sand for ourselves and say, this is what we want and this is how we want it to look long-term.

How did you meet Jesus?

When I was probably about 17 years old.

I don't know if you enjoy cricket at all.

Come on, we always beat you guys.

Come on, what are you talking about?

Well, we'll have to see.

There's a World Cup on the go at the moment.

And so now I met the Lord and the ministry of a man by the name of Trevor Goddard many, many years ago when I was in grade 11.

It was a bit of an up and down journey initially, but then after settling a little and having some defining moments happening in my life, I really just realized that I had to do it now and just keep going with the Lord 100%.

Wow.

Well, congratulations for that journey.

When studying and even after meeting God and having the mind of a civil engineer, did you ever encounter concepts that didn't work well with your mind for the concept of salvation, for example?

I've always had a very questioning mind.

And I think to a large degree, it didn't lead me away from God, it led me to God, if I'm really honest.

I know that in my early days, whilst a lot of the questions that, you know, because obviously you're questioning everything as a civil engineer and things have to work from a scientific perspective.

But I think over the years, the questioning actually led me to God.

And whilst I've always tried to be real and I've tried to encourage the congregation to be real with their questions and not try and wash over things that they are thinking about and rather engage them.

You know, there comes a bit of a fork in the road where you actually have to decide one or the other.

And fortunately for myself, that's how I decided.

So there are still questions you have and things that you grapple with, I'm sure, like everybody does, but it actually led me towards God rather than away from it.

Of your three books, tell me about Finding My Lost Voice, where did that title and the need for sharing that story come from?

I think that came from actually a young lady of colour was reading my book, The Unshackled.

And when she was commenting, she was saying she made some comment to the effect, and I'm not going to be able to quote it 100 percent, but that's looking at it from a white man's perspective, being in my late 50s, being a pastor in today's world, pretty much being cancelled because of those reasons, and especially in a South African context.

And that really got me thinking and I really asked the question for myself, is my voice lost?

Have I got a role to play?

A lot of people, a lot of white South Africans have almost dialed out because they feel as though they can't speak up and they can't have a voice for good and for God.

And so that kind of started the journey and there were big areas that I wanted to talk about and speak about.

And so that's where it came from.

It's just from what she had said initially where she heard that it was kind of the basis of the book.

She was like, what are you going to say?

What are you going to say?

I didn't mean it in a bad way.

So I said, no, I think you intended it in a bad way at all.

But it did get me thinking about just how have we lost our relevance?

Have we lost our ability to speak when we should be speaking up about various things that are happening in society around us?

And so that led me to the various topics that it addresses.

And a number of them I have experienced personally, but some of them I haven't.

And so I spoke about nine big subjects that, you know, where people, and especially Christians, have lost their voice to a degree.

Yeah, I appreciate that work.

I'll definitely be checking that out.

What's on the horizon for you, Pastor?

I'm 60 now and you have to think now, what's the next 10 years?

What's the next 20 years?

And certainly, you know, you don't want to be a fulfillment of the book that I wrote in the sense of losing your voice and losing your ability to make a difference.

What I've really realized is that of empowering younger leaders and empowering younger men and women of God and trying to get them to take the baton and being a mentor.

I think some time back, you know, somebody said to me, Basil, you need to be a father in the house in the sense of you need to be the person who's empowering others and making sure others are getting the opportunity to do what you've been able to do all your life.

And so I think that's really where it's at.

I think that's where my heart and my passion is.

And so just walking with younger men and women and just seeing how they can flourish in their walk.

And so, and I think the congregation here has a very open heart and open attitude towards my leadership.

And there is no pressure on me to do anything in the next five or 10 years.

That's part of my journey, but it may start taking a different direction over the next couple of years.

Well, I appreciate you passing by my friends.

I have a conversation with me.

Amazing audience.

Links are in the show notes.

You can definitely click.

Find out more.

Pastor Basil, a pleasure.

I treasure.

Thank you for being and what is inspired by 1200 Congress.