CRUX - New Bible School Course

Why CRUX?

I was thirteen years old, in Grade 9, when one night at our local church in Pinetown, KwaZulu-Natal, Pastor Ben van Wyk called me forward and asked if he could anoint me for ministry. It was entirely unscripted — one of those unmistakably Holy Spirit-led moments. After he anointed me, he asked me to go and lay hands on people. For a self-conscious, insecure, tender-hearted boy, that was no small ask. But I did it. And as they say, the rest is history. God moved powerfully that night — through my hands. It changed me. I became acutely aware of the reality and weight of the Holy Spirit.

Later that same evening, a young prophet approached me and said he had a word. He believed God was calling me into full-time ministry — to become a preacher. He gave me Isaiah 58:1:

"Cry aloud, spare not; lift up your voice like a trumpet; tell My people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins."

That was 1985. I entered ministry in 1992 and have pursued one cause ever since: leading every person I know into a faithful, living relationship with Jesus Christ.

The whole of Isaiah 58 became the template for my ministry, particularly verse 12 — "You shall be called the Repairer of the Breach" — which shaped my identity as a bridge-builder and relationship coach. That has been my lane. My nature is to mediate, reconcile, and bring people together across their differences.

But since completing my PhD, I have sensed the Holy Spirit drawing me back to that very first verse — the one handed to me as a thirteen-year-old boy. I have never been a controversial or outspoken activist. I have always preferred the fragrance over the hammer. And yet, Isaiah 58:1 does not whisper. It calls out. It names things. It makes bold, even uncomfortable declarations about the sins and failures of God's people.

That tension — between my temperament and my calling — is the honest motive behind this course.

CRUX

One word. Five letters. Two thousand years of history.

In everyday language, crux means the decisive point — the moment everything turns on, the question beneath all questions, the hinge. In Latin, crux means cross. That double meaning is essentially the entire course compressed into a single word.

Every question the world is wrestling with — suffering, identity, leadership, justice, purpose, truth — finds its most honest answer at the same place: the cross. Not as a religious symbol, but as a historical event that fundamentally reordered the logic of power, dignity, and what it means to be human. The word CRUX works in every space — secular, academic, digital, spiritual — without triggering defensive resistance before anyone has walked through the door.

But CRUX is also about how we learn today.

We no longer sit and spend time reading about difficult subjects. We reach for quick answers. And when it comes to defending our faith, we need more than the ability to find information — we need to remember the core. We need complexity simplified and anchored inside a story, so that the key unlocks the door before we ever open a book. That is precisely what Jesus did. He never gave a lecture; He told a story that carried the weight of eternity.

That is the primary purpose of this course — to equip young and mature believers, honest seekers, and emerging leaders to define their faith around difficult themes: sincerely, accurately, and with sharp-minded clarity. To understand the crux of the matter and be able to hold it, articulate it, and live it.

May we all grow into seasoned, refined warriors — knights of truth — in a world that has never been noisier.

CRUX — Seeing the World Through the Eyes of Christ

CRUX: A 53-module Apologetics Bible Course by Dr. Jan Oosthuizen. Explore human motivation, real-world questions, and Christ-centered leadership in South Africa.

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