Celebrating the legacy of Pastor Dermot Sandalls

Pastor Dermot Sandalls passed away on August 26, at approximately 6am on Sunday morning, whilst his darling wife, Glenda, was sleeping peacefully beside him.

Pastor Dermot was born in Estcourt in 1937. His late father worked for the Natal Roads Department and their family moved around frequently. He was the second eldest of five children and became a printer by trade. Later in life, in April 1982, Pastor Dermot and Glenda Sandalls felt the call of the Lord to move to Estcourt and preach the gospel.

ALSO READ: Boys take up pledge for Christ

After a chain of events that only God could have brought about, the Sandalls family moved to Estcourt in May 1982. The Estcourt Christian Centre was opened in June 1982, at premises in the centre of town. These premises consisted of a shop, which was used as a hall for meetings and two small offices.

As the work grew, Pastor Dermot acquired another shop and so they developed their ministry from there.
At the same time, they were also ministering in Colenso, 35 kilometres away, which was a separate ministry at that stage.

God permitted the work to grow until 1986 when their hall was literally overflowing with people at every meeting, quite a few having to be seated outside the doors. Pastor Dermot began to look around for land just outside of Estcourt that would make it possible for all races and creeds to fellowship together.

However, God miraculously provided nine acres of prime land in Estcourt for the erection of a new building.
Foundations were laid in July 1986, and the building operations involved everyone in the church. The men laboured faithfully on site every weekend whilst the women provided refreshments for them. It was a time of rich fellowship, great unity and one purpose.

Christmas Day, 1986 dawned and the new “Midlands Christian Centre” home was opened at that meeting amidst great rejoicing and thanksgiving to God.

Pastor Dermot had a heart for young people and during his lifetime he founded many ministries that would reach the younger generation. He founded Fountain of Life Pre-School at Wembezi, as well as Dayspring Crèche in Ntabamhlophe.
He also built two schools on the Midlands Christian Centre premises, which are the Estcourt Christian Academy Pre-School and Estcourt Christian Academy.

Greystone, a campsite 13 kilometres from Estcourt, was developed as part of their vision. Towards the end of 2001, a property was purchased in Colenso, which has been renovated and developed as an orphanage and care centre, “Ikhaya Lethu” (Zulu for “Our Home”).

In 2007, Pastor Dermot was diagnosed with lung cancer. Putting his faith into practice by trusting the Lord and going for treatment, he was miraculously healed.

In 2009 he was again diagnosed with colon cancer, and again the Lord healed him. In 2011 he was diagnosed with brain cancer and was given six months to live.

ALSO SEE: Midlands Christian Centre Pastors head up international trip

However, Pastor Dermot believed he had not yet finished his mission on this earth and he was healed for a third time. Due to his unswerving faith, Pastor Dermot lived another seven years, defying the specialist’s prognosis. Pastor Dermot lived his life by faith and always gave all the glory to God. His favourite saying was: “I am on the winning side!” Today his family and friends rejoice that Pastor Dermot has finally crossed the finish line and met his Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. He was a loving husband, father, grandfather and friend and he will be dearly missed.

He fought the good fight, he finished the race, and he kept the faith. A memorial service to celebrate the life of Pastor Dermot Sandalls will be held at Midlands Christian Centre on September 7 at 11am.

Click to receive news links via WhatsApp. Or for the latest news, visit our webpage or follow us on Facebook and Twitter