Let's have a chat
+555 5555 555
Send us an email
myemail@mailservice.com
My Media
Podcasts
The (Un)successful Podcast is hosted by Pete Portal. In each episode Pete is asking what does human flourishing look like, for followers of Jesus, in a world that is growing sick pursuing the wrong sort of success. You'll hear from a variety of guests who live and work in different sectors and with diverse spheres of influence.
In this conversation, Pete talks about how choosing unsuccess might be the best path to human flourishing. He shares his own story and the struggles that inspired this idea. In addition, he invites us to consider an alternative way of ordering our lives that looks less like the messages filling billboards and magazines and more like the one of scripture.
We all have feelings of failure and disappointment, in this conversation we learn to reframe our view of success within Jesus’ framework. Pete Portal was born in the UK but has lived in Cape Town, South Africa for the last 15 years.
In this 6-part series, explore how we as followers of Jesus can respond and walk through the disorientating moments in our lives, in the complexity of today’s culture, by looking to the ancient paths of Jesus.
Kyung Chul (Charlie) Kang is your host for this podcast, joined by Dr Jason Clark in the studio as they discuss mission and how we’re called to participate in it.
Later in the episode, we’re joined by Pete and Sarah Portal who are part of the 24-7 Prayer Community in Manenberg, South Africa, an area of poverty, high crime, and high unemployment. They speak about the ups and downs of ministry, having made the bold decisions to follow the leading of Jesus yet facing incredible amounts of betrayals and disappointments.
In this episode, we discuss:
Dealing with disappointmentsFinding Jesus in the places where injustice is rampantWhat does it mean to act justly, love mercy and walk humbly?How justice might cost us in terms of time, effort and reputationThe difficult balance between justice
Is the church in the West asleep?
Brian and Hannah are joined by Pete Portal, who lives with his family in Manenberg, a township in South Africa. Pete and his wife share their lives with young men coming out of addiction and gang violence, and they’ve seen God do incredible things in their community. Pete talks about how to grieve well in a context full of loss, violence, and injustice, and how Jesus enables impossible hope. He describes how a life in ministry has confronted him with how drastically God’s idea of success is different from the world’s. How has a worldly idea of success crept into the goals of the church? And what’s the solution?
Pete Portal shares stunning stories of addicts and gangsters meeting Jesus and being transformed, and how he went from living with a heroin addict to establishing a church community - and all the heartbreak and failure along the way. The reality and result of his life choices and the messy lives he engages with are a tapestry of mighty works of God, as well as relapse, hopelessness and despair, the miraculous and the mundane, all balanced on a knife-edge.
Talks
In this teaching, Pete shares with Kings Cross Church London.
Pete Portal shares from his new book, How to be (Un)Successful: An Unlikely Guide to Human Flourishing, and what it means to really know Christ more, based on Philippians 3:10-11. Pete is based in Cape Town, South Africa. Along with his wife Sarah and daughter Simi, they do life with young men coming out of gangsterism and drug addiction and help these young men find faith, freedom and wholeness.
“What does it look like to be an unsuccessful prayer movement in a world where there is an obsession with being seen?”
Pete Portal spoke powerfully about what it looks like be an unsuccessful prayer movement and how our pain can either be transferred onto others or be transformed by giving it to God.
“An unsuccessful prayer movement will measure itself by two metrics: the presence of Jesus, leading us to love the poor… We need to remember that the purpose of our life lies beyond ourselves”
Recorded live in Vienna at The Gathering '23
Interviews
The story of Maruwaan Scullard, a young man once wrecked by addiction and violence, who found Jesus one night through a miraculous healing, and lived his life forever changed.
Jonathan Tremaine Thomas talks with author and speaker Pete Portal on a vision for justice and mercy and how the Spirit empowers us for mission.
Pete Portal’s new debut book, No Neutral Ground, draws on his experiences from a decade living and working in Manenberg, a community repeatedly defined by its high rates of violent crime, substance abuse, and gangsterism. Through his church work in the community, Pete has managed to rehabilitate many lives and turn them around for the better. He joins Expresso to share more about his experiences.
Pete Portal leads an outreach project to gang members and drug addicts in Manenberg, South Africa. He tells Justin Brierley about his journey to faith as a teenager.
Pete Portal leads an outreach project to gang members and drug addicts in Manenberg, South Africa. He tells Justin Brierley about the story of Maruwaan who came to faith out of a Muslim gang, addicted to drugs, and his tragic death.
Pete Portal is a missionary in Manenberg, South Africa where he is passionate about changing the narrative of one of the most notorious gang areas in Africa. He is part of leading "Tree of life" church, part of the National team for 24-7 Prayer South Africa. Pete and his wife Sarah live with young men coming out of gangsterism and drug addiction and, along with a team of friends, disciple and re-parent these young men into faith, freedom and wholeness. Pete is also the Author of "No Neutral Ground" which I highly endorse.
