Good afternoon Saints.

A word to my Sister Jenny and the children, Sister Jess, Brother Allistair, Brother Liam and Brother Stephen. Dad was a tower of strength to you all. You had the greatest dad in the world. Sister Jenny, you have a great job to do as you need to be there for your family. God will give you strength to do that.

I met bro Steve in 1981…40 years ago.  He pointed my family to the word and have accepted and never questioned his preaching of the word. His preaching always came from the throne room of full of might and face. To my children…he was uncle broth Steve. To me he was my pastor, my friend an my brother. He is an icon to me and my family and I know I will have fellowship will him soon. I love you bro Steve.

Dear Francis Family

Please accept my deepest condolences for your loss. Mr. Francis is indeed with the Lord and may his soul rest in eternal peace. He literally lived and represented Christ on earth. I’ve been very privilege to have filmed a couple of weddings that Mr. Francis officiated, without my clients knowing I’ve listened to Pastor Stevens recording over and over again and enjoyed the preaching each time. In Zulu we say ‘uyibekile induku ebandla’. He allowed God to use him ‘Ube isitsha esihle’. I’m no longer in the message but Bro Steve had an amazing impact in my life and for that I will be forever grateful.

Kind regards

Pastor Steve to me was like a father, friend and confidant. I knew him for over 10 years, most of which at a distance as he preached for us at Conferences in Limpopo at Pastor Makola’s church. It was in the latter years that we related closely, having visited him in New Castle where sister Jenny treated us to consumptions meals. He always addressed me as Doctor Tim, though academically I am, but have always tried to keep private. He made sure he fed me to quotations from brother Branham messages on regular basis. I always referred difficult subjects such as the Throne to him and I was moved at the manner in which he guided me through the Bible and the Message, showing where the throne is located in the latter days. His selflessness and humility will be missed for years to come. While many prided themselves in preaching overseas, he prided himself in having turned down such invitations and preferred rather to stay home with his flock. I truly will miss those quotations, the smile and true love. We missed a gallant soldier of the cross.

Hi all family

I have known Steve from early days of cricket in the Newcastle district. When we had the family part of our cricket club the values of this wonderful man started in roads in my life which I was unaware of at the time. I have always regarded Steve as my second father and when I needed sound advice I would turn to Him which at the time was quiet often. Dining with Steve was a feast he provided more than enough to last a week.

Only after I moved away from Newcastle did I realise what impact God had in my life but how he used Steve to be an example for me to learn about myself in ways I never thought possible. What really got to me when I urged for what he had in Christ and the seed was planted so deep in me I can use the term I can taste it. I returned to Newcastle and we met up and I explained what impact he not only had on me as a person but as a son whom felt loved without condition.

Steve we will miss you but only for a short while and your attributes will always be near my heart as you were one of the few who really knew me and for that I am proud to say that.

You are Steve the man whom God used to provide me in the correct choices.

To the family we will all be strong in our faith till we all meet again.

God bless

Greetings in the precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ, it is hurting to admit my longtime friend and brother is gone on to be with the Lord.

I first met Brother Steve in 1975 when we went for our medical examination at the then Iscor, and in 1977 when I gave my heart to Christ, the Lord led me to Bethel assembly where Brother Steve was the pastor. I grew very close to him and his family, and to say we had some of the greatest meetings and fellowship will be an understatement.

I have yet to meet a Christian as unselfish and kind as brother Steve.

Finally, to sum up his character he was what someone said: when one is in the presence of a great man, he will always make you feel like you are a great person, and thus bring out the best quality out of you!

I could say so much, but time and space would not permit. I had the honour of playing golf with him, and we had some good fellowship which I will always be grateful to God for.

God bless.

This is a tribute from my family and I to a wonderful man of God.  

It is my privilege to be able to give this tribute to Pst. Stephen Francis. It was late 2014, I was so hungry, desperate, emotional and confused spiritually, it was one of the toughest time for me and yet a glorious time of my life having later realised.  I was overtaken by the open book and struggling to find consensus with others and more importantly myself as to what I was seeing and experiencing spiritually “The coming of the Lord”. It was at this time of my life, 7 years ago that I met my precious brother and elder.

I have two memorable moments that I had with Pst Stephen that will stay with me. I will share one of those moments with you.  One day in this tumultuous time of my life, I was invited by Pst. Paul our precious brother to hear Pst. Stephen speak.  He began by greeting and then he opened up the scripture from Revelation 10: verses 1-7, my belly began to turn with such great excitement, I asked myself? Is he going to speak about “That Topic”, “calmed down” a little voice spoke inside of me. Then he gave his title “The Descending Angel”, he then typed that out with a few similar events in the scriptures and eventually ended with the Cloud on Sunset Mountain, 28^th February 1963. I was on edge all the way through as revelation was coming in, doubts began to disappear or at least some of them. At the end of the sermon it was cemented in my heart that whatever was leading me to believe the open book had to be about that “Descending Angel”.

I don’t know what you will make of this but somehow after that day, I knew that this man had something to do with me. I went home and a few days later, I dreamed that Bro Allister and I were chasing away dark shadowy figures out of a house and Pst. Stephen jammed the door and held the door. For me the interpretation was clear and to this day it has held true as I interpreted it. I knew what I had to do so; I visited him in Newcastle a few years later. The opened book was the reason I met him. So there was a very close connection regarding that, therefore I feel I must pay tribute to my precious brother.

He didn’t know me, neither did I know him, but since I had been grappling with this topic and nobody at that time was sharing this with me or could plainly explain this. The good Lord used him to support the belief in the open book and the connection to Revelation 10. I knew this wasn’t a doctrine of a man because I had never even heard about the opened book or the bride age in my 20 years of believing the message. God was working with me, how this man could preach about something I was pondering on! So I knew it was that Descending Angel that was revealing himself to me that day when I heard this message preached. I was taken away!  

Every time I heard of about him coming to speak, I did everything to be there and not to miss it. Being a minister myself, I saw a special gift in him, the way he brought the open book message, it was  in a very different way of which  my family and I enjoyed. I later met him with the Merebank brothers again, as we came together to fellowship. Merebank needed someone like him at that time. We enjoyed the messages that was coming through every time he visited us. We even had some nice fellowship together which strengthened my understanding and secured the path that the Good Lord was leading me. He respected the boldness I had in just speaking of the coming of the Lord openly. He showed confidence in us as younger generation preachers. We didn’t spend a lot of time together however certain occurrences does stand out, one such as I have mentioned above.

I am grateful to have served with a great man of God who has done a wonderful job in delivering the message appropriate for the day and age. I am grateful for his firm stand, ongoing encouragement and the influence and role he played in the economy of God. What really stands out for my family, yet with all of this, he remained simple and not boastful. His impact speaks through the character of his children. It will always be remembered in my heart of how the impact of his sermons affected my family, the church and I. So parting, I bid farewell to him for now in the flesh! But not for long, we will meet him again maybe even sooner than we think. I encourage his wife, his children and extended families, the church in Newcastle, his colleagues, fellow believers around the world to continue in the same footsteps and be strong and faithful.  I would like you to read the psalm of life by Henry Longfellow for encouragement but I would like to close with this last three verses:

Lives of great men (Pst Stephen Francis) all remind us

We can make our lives sublime,

And, departing, leave behind us

Footprints on the sands of time;

Footprints, that perhaps another,

Sailing o’er life’s solemn main,

A forlorn and shipwrecked brother (Br.Shadrach),

Seeing, shall take heart again.

Let us, then, be up and doing,

With a heart for any fate;

Still achieving, still pursuing,

Learn to labor and to wait (all of us).

God Bless

I was a young enthusiastic cricket player when God introduced me to the Francis family.

The three brothers were fanatical cricketers and very talented musicians and the more I spent time in their company the more I was drawn to them although we almost always played against each other.

The rock of this wonderful family was Pastor Steve Francis.

He always called me Joe and made an immediate impression on me since the day I met him.

Uncle Steve, as he was affectionally known gave so much of himself to the game of cricket and to the community of Newcastle that I am convinced the club cricket would have crumbled and disappeared had it not been for his intervention and passion.

The man with the golden smile would always treat you like his own family and would do everything in his power to see others smile.

Uncle Steve was a very respective administrator, the fairest human being and probably the most loved and respected cricketer in the history of Newcastle.

But how was this possible?

Well, it’s easy to answer. He was God’s soldier and he lived by the values of a true Christian. I always joked with him and told him that he would undoubtedly get a double story home if he passed away and to this day, I still believe that.

To the Francis family, you can be so proud of the way Steve lived his life. You can be so proud of the example he set and for the way he touched people’s lives in so many ways.

I am just grateful that I had the opportunity to meet this wonderful man and that he showed me the way that a Christian should live and the example that one should set.

Uncle Steve, you will be missed but I will strive to follow in your footsteps and to live with the values that you taught me.

I am forever grateful to have met you! 

Your Heavenly life has started so wait for us before you start the next cricket match because I would like to be on your team!!�

I met bro Steve here in Durban. I first heard him preach in Umkomaas when we heard a combined service. What impacted my life most was his everyday preaching since the beginning of the lockdown. The series “God’s letter to the bride”,�

“The 12 gates”

” The Scarlet thread..”,

The way he prayed for saints like Str Lucy Noriega, Str Eureka, Bro Bobby, Str Daniella, his sister Gonsi and many more. The way he believed what he was preaching like the sermon The “10 Amens”.

He was a blessing to me and my kids could not wait to hear him say “God bless your heart”.

We will remember him always.

Today is a very sad day for me to say goodbye to the most wonderful person I met.

We use to call him Brother Steve. He was a friend to our family and was always available when there was need in our family.  I remember they invited me to a service and I met dear Sister Jenny for the first time. The last time I saw him was at my mother’s funeral in Standerton. He and sis Jenny came all the way from Newcastle to attend the funeral. What a great couple.  Since then I never saw them again as I moved to Bloemfontein but he use to contact me at least once a month. He made us part of the daily teaching of the Word.

We are losing a great man but we know it was his time to go home. 

To Sister Jenny I just want to say we know it’s very hard for you but God will take your hand and you will be fine.

Please keep in touch, as I am on pension and had to move to my daughter in Gordon’s bay. 

Thank you

To the beloved Francis Family 

It’s a task that is impossible for me to write in words the relationship we had this short space of time with Brother Steven Francis. 

However, I will try to give a condensed tribute, as there will be hundreds of tributes coming from all over the world. We as a family from Pretoria are saddened deep in our hearts at the passing on of our dear brother. In this short time that we have known him, we experienced something very special and unique about him that drew us to him. We have seen and experienced that he not only preached and taught the Spoken Word, he lived the Spoken Word. That is what drew us to him. We have and will always give him respect for his character as a brother, a father to his children, husband to sister Jenny, a person, and list goes on. 

Importantly, he has fulfilled the Lord’s purpose in getting the Bride ready. Therefore his passing on as put tremendous fear of the Lord in our hearts to know, it is time for us to leave for the marriage feast. As he has told us in one of his sermons that we must put away our petty issues and get ready. 

He has left the precious Word of God in teaching, preaching, and mentorship for us which we will embrace till we are called.  We share all sadness, sorrow, pain and emptiness with the Francis family, friends, relatives and especially to sister Jenny.

In conclusion, we salute Brother Steven Francis as a servant to the Spoken Word.

Kind Regards