A mover and shaker of souls

SHE exudes a warm but authoritive presence in contrast with her youthful appearance, and when she grabs the microphone it is with the certainty and confidence of a seasoned public speaker.

Evangelist and pastor Caroline Pitout of the AGS Kerk Sonder Mure, is only 27 years old, but her passion for people burns like a fire when she pleads the cause of the weak, the vulnerable and the forgotten.

She instinctively knows the hearts of her audience and does not mince words when it comes to alcohol and drug abuse and the dangers of human trafficking.

Addressing students of all ages, she slots into their level of understanding with ease and breaks the ice with quick wit and a charming smile.

‘I sleep, eat, dream and talk souls. Everything is about souls.’

This young woman literally runs where angels fear to tread.

While most hide behind closed doors and preach doom and gloom, Caroline rounded up a small band of volunteers and scoured the underbelly of the city, searching for survivors of the sex trade.

Racing a sex worker

Armed with food, she literally once kicked off her shoes and outran a sex worker who bolted at the sight of a church delegation, because she thought she was about to be evangelised.

When the sprinting pastor reached her target, she gave her a bread roll.

‘I was not good for their business though,’she jokes. A hovering pastor is worse than a police car.

She also admits to fervent prayer when she recently attended a fraternal meeting in the rural areas with a fellow pastor.

They were stopped by an angry mob, barricading their way with stones as part of a xenophobic protest action and commanded to pull over.

Their emergency prayers were answered when one of the protesters read her fellow pastor’s T-shirt with the church logo on and gave them safe passage.

Caroline matriculated at Grantleigh, obtained a Bachelors in Theology degree and answered a calling to the AGS Kerk Sonder Mure.

Here she is tasked with mobilising churches in discipleship and evangelism, currently also training interns to work in schools.

She is involved with Judea Harvest and has a dream of a local revival, taking the whole city by storm.

‘We are now in the planning stages of tent crusades which we hope to kick off in June.’

When not preaching, Caroline keeps herself girded up for the task by running and rowing, because ‘you never know when you are going to need it,’ she says with a naughty grin.