GERARD, HIS LIFE
Gerard Blankespoor was born on 29 April 1950 in The Hague, the beautiful city behind the dunes, as the child of mother Miep and father Henk Blankespoor.
His parents were hard-working tradesmen, first with a horse and cart with vegetables and fruit, later on with a regular vegetable hall in The Hague and a second store in Wateringen.
Both made many hours to build up their business and at the beginning of the sixties this resulted in the first supermarket of Wateringen, after which a second supermarket followed in Rijswijk.
Top left: Wedding picture parents – Top right: Gerard two years old – Bottom: Grand opening supermarket Wateringen
Gerard grew up as the youngest of three sons in a predominantly harmonious family and attended kindergarten and primary school in The Hague.
He had one problem, namely he could not keep his urine at night. Gerard would first go to a children’s colony in Epe for 6 weeks and later for another 6 weeks, a solution that was quite common at that time for such a problem.
By than he was 8 years old and after this period in the colony he received a treatment to stimulate his sphincter muscles, after which the problems disappeared.
However, Gerard had to spend one year extra at primary school because of his time spend at the colony, but this did not distraught him and he completed his primary school time with a positive test for secondary education.
A relaxed three-month time at the colony
DURING TEENAGE YEARS:
Gerard received everything a child can whish for during the period he grew up and lived with his parents.
The only disturbing factor in the Blankespoor family was the development of the oldest son Henk Blankespoor, named after his father.
At a relatively young age Henk had already come into contact with religion of the christian faith and from that moment on he fairly quickly wanted to dictate the family with his extreme views of what should be allowed or not.
This caused a great deal of tension and led to a psychiatric examination among other things of son Henk.
This did not help a great deal and from time to time tensions were palpable.
Meanwhile tested for the HBS, Gerard decided to go to the MULO, as most of his friends went there too.
In this period Gerard lived in Wateringen and went daily to the MULO located at Overvoorde park, first on his bike and later on his Puch (without properly working brakes by the way).
Curious about all the problems that his eldest brother Henk caused in the Blankespoor family, Gerard decided to visit the church which Henk was a member of, when he was 12 years old.
This was the first time Gerard came in contact with faith, but could not agree with the way people believed. He also could not properly place the opinions they had about all kinds of things and he therefore decided not to become an active member of that church.
In that period Gerard could not see any value in studying which in general resulted in very bad results at school.
At the age of 16, just before his final exams, Gerard decided to quit his education and went to work in and for the company of his parents, despite attempts by his parents and his school mentor, Mr. van Dorssen, to change his mind.
So Gerard went to work as early as 5 o’clock in the morning to buy fruit and vegetables with his father, and ended up working for 6 days a week.
In 1968 Gerard obtained the professional Grocery diploma and in 1969 his Shopkeepers diploma, with in his mind taking over his parents’ company.
General Shopkeepers diploma
SEVENTIES:
In that period Gerard meets his future wife at his parents’ grocery store, who became pregnant of him in early 1971.
This woman, named Ardiana Geertruida Hendrika Oostrom, called Jane, then ends the relationship with Gerard in order to abort the unborn baby.
This leaves Gerard pretty much broken.
He finds it ethically irresponsible and for about 3 months he begs her not to abort the child.
Eventually Gerard and Jane marry on May 4, 1971 and their daughter Claudi is born on October 18, 1971 in Delft.
At that time they live in the same house as Gerard Blankespoor’s parents in Wateringen.
Unfortunately, due to the rise of large supermarket chains, there is no real future for Gerard in the company of his parents.
Through mediation of an acquaintance of his parents, Gerard started working at the Ministry of Defense in The Hague in 1972.
However, there was not enough work at the Ministry, so together with a colleague from the same department Gerard mainly fills his working time playing chess.
In the meantime Gerard managed to get a Schoevers typing diploma, at the expense of the Ministry.
By then Gerard has bought and rebuilt a house in Maassluis and that is where on May 19 1973 his daughter Maritza Blankespoor was born.
In that period there were many parties at Gerard’s home or at the neighbors, which was a very common phenomenon at that time.
Besides the many sexual activities that Gerard’s wife Jane already had from the age of 15 before they married, like a sexual relationship with a married market vendor, all kinds of sexually intimate contacts arose during these parties.
In the wake of these activities, Gerard finds the house-barber André in his underwear in front of the stove in the living room as he came home after work.
Gerard would later say that all of this underlines the shaky foundation in their marriage.
Because of the boring work at the Ministry of Defense and because he wants to earn more money for his family (Jane was a full-time mother), Gerard decided to try his luck and applied for a job as a police officer at the Municipal Police of The Hague at the end of 1972.
After a long process of psychological examination, testing, family research, medical examination, suitability for sports and conversations about his motivation, Gerard was accepted on June 1 1973 as a risk factor due to a lack of a specified motivation, in the function of pupil of police at the police department of The Hague.
Gerard equitably recognizes too that he was actually only motivated to join the police in order to earn significantly more salary.
The motivation to work at the police, or rather the lack of it, appears to be a correct conclusion of the police commissioners, who pestered him with all kind of questions.
However, during the full-time 1-year training at the police, Gerard gets a like for it as well as motivation and develops himself as one of the best, if not the best, pupil of his training year, with regard to knowledge of the Penal code and Criminal Law, Constitution, Special Laws, Weapons and Self-defense.
Gerard in action while obtaining his police sports diploma
Only with regard to the Sport exam, especially running, he has to let others go first.
From the 140 maximum achievable points, Gerard gets 110. A performance that he was rightly proud of and still is.
In 1974, Gerard receives his police diploma from PhD. C.N. Peijster, Chief Police Commissioner in The Hague, and becomes officially appointed as a constable of the Municipal Police.
Left: Score card police exam – Right: Police diploma
Swearing in ceremony as police officer of the municipality of The Hague
Hereafter Gerard first enters a daily routine with the help of a mentor for 3 months, stationed at the training office at the Archimedesstraat (6th section).
During this supervision in daily practice, Gerard also received his diploma English for police officers.
After these 3 months, Gerard Blankespoor was transferred to the Soesterbergstraat office (4th section).
After working there for more than 3 months to the full satisfaction of his superiors, Gerard is transferred to the training office at the Archimedesstraat, where he teaches newly graduated policemen the practice of everyday police-life in his new function as a mentor.
For that time an unusually fast transfer to a mentor’s agency, but initiated by Gerard’s legal knowledge and explicitly exceptional practical functioning on the street.
After he has functioned as a mentor for about three years, Gerard takes on a new challenge and, together with three other colleagues, he becomes a community policeman “new style”, in order to bring the police closer to the public.
Top left and top right: Newspaper clippings of appointment of the first community police officers – Bottom left: Gerard’s business card as community police officer – Bottom right: Gerard and co-community police officer active on the streets
At that time Gerard also plays with the idea of studying Law at a university, in order to be more effective in what he wants to do for the society as a whole.
Eventually Gerard takes another direction.
1976 is also the year that Gerard decides to give more substance to his personal life, by recognizing from then on that man is not autonomous, but has the Creator God above him.
This changes his view on his fellow man, including criminals, and creates more balance in his acting as a policeman, without affecting the values and standards of the police itself.
Meanwhile Gerard is becoming more and more interested in humanity as a whole, so after having been promoted to police sergeant he resigns from being a community agent in 1979 in order to work at the Aliens Department at the headquarters of the police of The Hague.
Promotion to police sergeant
EIGHTIES:
In addition to his knowledge of the law, Gerard is also more able to practice his social nature and inner needs at the Aliens Department, not only to correct his fellow man as a policeman, but also to provide social support with advice and action.
Many foreigners who need a residence permit to stay legally in the Netherlands are therefore grateful to Gerard for the legal and practical assistance he has provided.
In that period, Gerard is already taking people into his home in The Hague, to help them with their addictions.
This did not alter the fact that Gerard was also regularly involved in raids by the Aliens Department in restaurants, companies and houses where illegals were suspected to stay.
In addition Gerard organized meditative moments with like-minded colleagues and foreigners during lunch breaks at work at the Immigration Service.
During those meetings it was all about converting the gospel into the praxis of the present, so that it does not remain a beautiful theory, but practised in reality, transformed into deeds in the real world. After Gerard’s inner turnaround in 1976, he realized that if he wanted to give a profound form to his vision on God and man, something more was needed than to be just a police officer and the associated possibilities.
Gerard started studying in 1980 at the ICI, an English theological BA-study and obtains the certificates Psychology, Apologetics, Gospel or John and Pastoral Ministries.
The vocation and inner urge of Gerard became so strong, that he decided to resign in 1982 from the Municipal Police from The Hague, in order to study theology at the Central Pentecostal Bible School in Zeist.
This happened in September 1982, and if ever he should regret his choice, he was allowed to return to the Municipal Police within 3 months without a job application, according to the Mayor of The Hague.
Testimonial from Chief Commissioner of the Police of The Hague, expressing his gratitude for the work done by Gerard in the Aliens Department
Gerard, however, became a full-time student in theology.
This did not happen without a struggle! His oldest brother, Henk Blankespoor, was already a pastor of an ecclesiastical congregation in The Hague for a number of years. Gerard Blankespoor and his family had joined this church in 1977.
In that period, Gerard collided with Henk Blankespoor, partly because of the fact that Gerard, according to Henk’s view, shouldn’t take people in to help them to get rid of their addictions.
This taboo Henk Blankespoor imposed on him was completely ignored by Gerard, as well as the fact that Henk Blankespoor thought and still thinks (see Letter from Henk to Gerard in 1995) that Gerard has no or can not have a calling, because if so, he, Henk, would have known this.
Eventually Gerard and his family left the ecclesiastical congregation of his brother Henk in 1982, to join a broader thinking and acting, internationally operating English-speaking community in Osdorp.
The pastor of that church, affiliated with the Assemblies of God in the USA and the Netherlands, has paid the first three months of Gerard and his family’s stay at the Bible school, in order to give Gerard more time to sell his house in The Hague.
Henk Blankespoor meanwhile, has never been able to swallow Gerard’s departure from his church, as this clearly shows that Henk Blankespoor was a dictator, who did not listen to people around him, including his own board.
This resulted in 1984 in the departure of more than 50% of the members from Henk’s church.
They all criticized Henk the same way as his brother Gerard already did in 1982.
Since Gerard’s eldest brother Henk has always suffered from a chronic self-overestimation of his power and influence, he has sent an angry and humiliating letter about Gerard to the board of the Assemblies of God and the Bible school in Zeist.
In this letter Henk states that it is inappropriate to accept his brother Gerard as a student against his will (for a detailed report, see also Letter from Henk from 1995).
This way Gerard’s theological education started, not supported by his brother Henk and, in his wake, his other brother Fred.
Also the rest of the family, including Gerard’s mother (his father has been deceased in 1979), found giving up a well-paid job at the police in order to go “walking on heavenly air” irresponsible, especially because Gerard had three little children.
Despite this turbulence and opposition, Gerard and his former spouse pushed through and started to work as cleaners for 2 hours a day after Gerard’s lectures. This brought some extra money in and it also made sure that the family was insured against medical expenses.
At 8 o’clock in the morning the lectures started until 12.30 hours. Before that time they had breakfast and Gerard’s children were brought to school. In the afternoon there was the possibility, besides the mandatory courses, to take additional courses, such as Greek, Latin and Hebrew.
Gerard decides to do this as well and has to work hard to finish these additional courses with a good result. The 3-year course in theology has been completed by Gerard with very good end results, despite being in Apeldoorn every afternoon and Sunday, where he has been appointed as an assistant-minister in the Filadelfia congregation.
On the left: Diploma Bible School – In the middle and on the right: Monthly magazine Filadelfia
Once graduated in 1985, Gerard officially became a minister of the then small Filadelfia congregation of approximately 10 adult members.
At the same time, he also becomes a full member of the Brotherhood of Pentecostal Churches in the Netherlands (affiliated with the Assemblies of God in the USA).
The Filadelfia church cannot pay Gerard a full-time salary, but fortunately Gerard has found a good paying job at the US-based organization of TV minister Jimmy Swaggart during his studies.
For these J.S. Ministries, Gerard became the official Dutch-speaking translator.
This yielded him more than enough money to support his family during and after his studies.
Jimmy Swaggart Ministries. Top left: The student accommodations with restaurants – Top right: The church with ten thousand seats – Bottom left: Access to the telecommunication center for worldwide broadcasts – Bottom right: One of the editing rooms for preparing the videotapes for the broadcasts
Gerard also had other extra earnings during his studies; translating books from English into Dutch for the USA-based International Correspondence Institute.
Once appointed as full-time minister of the Filadelfia congregation, Gerard faces the challenge of turning the almost empty church into a thriving and viable community again.
He is working energetically with the help of an external youth group, which supports him with street theater.This attracts the attention of young people who, appealed by the message, join the Filadelfia congregation.
From this increase in church members Gerard recruits his own evangelistic street drama group and the church starts to grow and flourish in such a way that a larger gathering place for Sundays has to be found.
This was found in the community center Kayersheerdt in Apeldoorn. The evangelization street work attracts many visitors every week, including drug and alcohol addicts who want to get rid of their problems.
As much as Gerard Blankespoor likes to try to find a place to stay for these addicted people somewhere in the Netherlands, he does not succeed; everywhere there are long waiting times.
Believing in a practical Christianity Gerard practiced before, he decides to invite these people in his private home, to guide them from there. Due to his time at the police and his pastoral knowledge and experience, Gerard Blankespoor, followed by other families of the Filadelfia church, managed to take in dozens of addicts in order to help them.
But the need to help addicts continues to grow and the families within the Filadelfia Church have no space left for new-comers. In consultation with the Filadelfia Church Board Gerard decided in 1987 to turn the old Filadelfia building into a crisis guidance center with a few office spaces.
In the meantime Gerard Blankespoor brings in his income from the Jimmy Swaggart Ministries as an additional income for the Filadelfia church, making more money available to employ full-time paid employees. In that period, the care for addicts is legally accommodated in the Foundation for Assistance Guidance Apeldoorn (called SHEBA).
At the same time, they are looking for a bigger building next to the crisis center, to be able to regulate the steadily growing reception work in a better way.
This building was found and purchased with the help of the ING bank in 1988.
A center outside of Apeldoorn, located in Epe, becomes a fact, so that a complete one and a half year rehabilitation and recovery program can be followed for a maximum of 48 people, male or female.
The church congregation of Filadelfia has grown to more than 200 people and it is decided to remove the partition wall in the community center Kayersheerdt on Sundays, in order to be able to receive more people.
The work for the Jimmy Swaggarts Ministries also has grown to such an extent that Gerard Blankespoor officially is appointed as director for the Netherlands in 1987.
Also a separate media foundation is being established, called World Ministries, for promoting and selling videotapes and LP and cassette recordings.
The day-to-day management of the World Ministries foundation is in the hands of a specially hired fulltime employee.
In addition to the two aforementioned foundations, Sheba and World Ministries, the foundation Helping Hands was founded in 1988 to support social social work in parts of Africa and Eastern Europe.
The work of the Filadelfia community and that of SHEBA in particular, acquires national and international fame, with the request to support local churches with relief goods elsewhere in Europe and to employ the street drama teams as well over there.
In consultation with the board of Filadelfia, Gerard Blankespoor decides to respond to these requests and in 1988, 1989 and 1990 various trips are made to Spain, England and Poland (at that time still behind the “iron curtain”). Transport of people, sound equipment and relief goods was no problem, as SHEBA now has a number of small vans and a large coach.
The drama team of the Filadelfia municipality in action in Wroclaw, Poland, with the touring coach of Sheba in the background
The growth of the Filadelfia congregation and the blessing that went with it, was enormous at that time, but so was the pressure of the work.
Many members of the congregation, including Gerard, were busy day and night with all the activities and with providing pastoral help for the addicts, including the annual trip to Terschelling for the people who were taken in for care.
In addition, between 1987 and 1990, Gerard Blankespoor went to Louisiana, USA, for the work of World Ministries four to five times a year, for one or more weeks.
In 1989 there was a need for the appointment of a full-time director for the work at SHEBA.
As a result, Gerard Blankespoor did not have to do this any longer.
For this position as director, Jan Pieter Overduin (see False Charges) signed up with a great deal of fuss. He said he was the man for this position, with his heart in the right place (?).
Appointing Jan Pieter Overduin as director of SHEBA, turned out to be a big mistake and the beginning of the end of SHEBA and the depopulation of the Filadelfia congregation.
THE NINETIES:
Jan Pieter Overduin did not want to put himself into the service of the philosophy and foundation of SHEBA. He had his own agenda.
Jan Pieter Overduin wanted the actual leadership and to be the determining factor of Filadelfia and the affiliated foundations SHEBA, World Ministries and Helping Hands.
With hindsight, it turned out that this Jan Pieter Overduin already left behind him a whole trail of unrest and of sowing discord at various churches in Apeldoorn and surrounding cities.
At SHEBA as well, he began his destructive work by setting staff members against each other, playing people off against each other and sew division as a result.
With lies, ruse and deception he also played the board of the Filadelfia congregation and the separate board of SHEBA off against each other.
This backbitting and unrest became so fierce that some of the board members of Filadelfia called for the assistance of the umbrella organization of Pentecostal churches in the Netherlands, The Assemblies of God.
However, their help could no longer turn the tide for Filadelfia and SHEBA. For this, the poison, distributed by Jan Pieter Overduin, had been working too long. According to Jan Pieter Overduin, the blame laid with Gerard Blankespoor and he had to step down and resign from all of his functions. Then he, Jan Pieter Overduin, would ensure that things would be put in order again and the peace would return to SHEBA and Filadelfia.
He was, according to himself, the right man for this position.
Gerard Blankespoor’s life’s work should and would become Jan Pieter Overduin’s life’s work.
Jan Pieter Overduin should and would become the celebrated man in SHEBA and Filadelfia.
The amateurish manner in which the delegates of The Assemblies of God tried to give their help to the Filadelfia congregation and meanwhile the constantly hampering of Jan Pieter Overduin, did not and could not result in leading the problem in the right direction.
It should be noted that the success of Gerard Blankespoor in the Filadelfia congregation in the previous years has led to actions by the board of the Assemblies of God to accommodate successful activities of Gerard’s church under the direct leadership of the board of The Assemblies of God, such as the representation of the Jimmy Swaggart Ministries in the Netherlands.
This would allow them to make a good impression nationally and internationally.
Gerard systematically refused to cooperate in the years before the seizure of power in the Filadelfia congregation.
The far from professionally executed mediation in the conflict that arose within the Filadelfia congregation, cannot be separated from the interests of The Assemblies of God in the activities of Gerard’s church, or in other words a conflict of interest was clearly present in the opinions and decisions of the Assemblies of God’s board regarding this conflict.
In October 1990 when Gerard Blankespoor was on the annual excursion on Terschelling with a part of the SHEBA staff and the entire population of addicts, The Assemblies of God decided to sideline Gerard on the instruction of Jan Pieter Overduin.
The authorization given to Gerard Blankespoor to withdraw money from the bank account on Terschelling had already been withdrawn. Gerard was informed by telephone about this. After consultation with the staff present on Terschelling, Gerard Blankespoor informed The Assemblies of God by telephone that this coup was unacceptable to him and other staff members.
Gerard also informed them by telephone that he would immediately resign from all his duties within the Filadelfia congregation and the affiliated foundations.
Gerard Blankespoor gave the opportunity to the staff on Terschelling and others in Apeldoorn, who wanted to follow Gerard Blankespoor in leaving Filadelfia and her foundations, (to make him known about their decission) their decision known to him.
Half the people of the rehabilitation center and part of SHEBA’s staff decided to do so, as they certainly did not want to or could not work under the management of Jan Pieter Overduin. This separation from the Filadelfia congregation resulted immediately after leaving Terschelling in the founding of a new ecclesiastical community the evangelical community De Rots and De Schakel as a new rehabilitation center for addicts, both located in Beekbergen.
Due to the growing demand for rehabilitation of addicts and a request for a better way to support these people, De Schakel has been forced to move a number of times to a larger location. In 1994, De Schakel has grown to a reception capacity for 48 men/women and the evangelical community De Rots also expanded considerably.
During the course of the years 90/91, the De Schakel foundation bought three vans for the transportation of the inhabitants to all kinds of work experience projects and to the sports hall in Apeldoorn. In 1992, Jan Pieter Overduin asked for a meeting with Gerard Blankespoor, to talk about the past and to apologize (SHEBA has since been shut down).
From this conversation it appears, that Jan Pieter Overduin, having heard of the enormous growth of De Rots and De Schakel, also wants to penetrate here.
But Gerard Blankespoor blocks this and Pieter Jan Overduin leaves frustrated.
At the end of 1993 Gerard Blankespoor purchased an old SRV-car (a Dutch service vehicle), renovated it and converted it into a “soup trolley”. Soup and other food was provided to the homeless of Apeldoorn every week.
This initiative is funded by the diaconate of the evangelical community De Rots.
In September 1994 Gerard Blankespoor started a study at the VU (Free University) of Amsterdam at the Faculty of General Theology. Gerard wants to develop a scientifically based recovery program for De Schakel. For this theological study, specializing in Practical Theology under the guidance of professor PhD. Gerben Heitink, Gerard Blankespoor develops the Hermeneutical Nouthetic counseling method.
This method is also developed and applied directly into the practice of the supervision within De Schakel.
At the end of 1994 for both De Rots and De Schakel an area of over 11 hectares was purchased, under protest and opposition of alderman Bolhuis of the municipality of Apeldoorn, who saw his private interests harmed if the land was purchased by De Schakel.
On the left: One of the housing units of De Schakel – In the middle: Office unit of De Schakel – On the right: Restaurant De Schakel
On this new site are several barracks, a large kitchen with accompanying dining room, workspaces for all kinds of practical training, a church and several offices.
Just before De Schakel and De Rots are moving to this new home, a number of staff members leave the organization for all sorts of personal reasons, but namely because the new accommodation was too great a risk.
After consultation with ING Bank and the accountance agency which supported De Schakel, as well as in consultation with the remaining staff members, Gerard Blankespoor decides to continue the purchase and relocation.
In the first week of January 1995, they moved to the new site and facilities and the rehabilitation center is a fact where a maximum of 130 people can be taken in.
The Evangelical community De Rots now also has its own church building in this area, with a capacity for 300 people.
On the left: Dining room of the restaurant – In the middle: Shared living space in each housing unit – On the right: Church Hall Evangeliegemeente De Rots
By the course of time to mid-1995 Gerard Blankespoor built up several national contacts.
As a result, as well as by the referrals from the Ministry of Justice, De Schakel is already rapidly reaching its maximum capacity of 130 people.
On May 3 1995, one day before their 25-year marriage, the former wife of Gerard Blankespoor, Jane Oostrom, decides to take off with an addict named Rob Engels. In retrospect, it turned out that Jane Oostrom (see False Charges) had a (sexual) relationship with this man for some months, which was about to be brought to light.
Gerard Blankespoor withdrew himself for some time from the active involvement with De Rots and De Schakel and during that period the management was controlled by skilled staff members.
Jane Oostrom also found it necessary to inform a newspaper about her leaving her husband.
So in the middle of 1995 the newspaper published an article, in which Jane Oostrom told that Gerard Blankespoor threatened her and that he also had a sexual relationship with Ingrid Dijkkamp, the wife of the former bookkeeper of De Schakel (see also False Charges).
This news led to a lot of commotion, especially at the ING bank, which forced Gerard Blankespoor to resign from his chairmanship of the foundation De Schakel.
And so it happened.
Meanwhile, Gerard Blankespoor had found a private investor who was willing to take over the mortgage from the ING bank of De Schakel, worth 2.2 million.
By the end of 1995, the deal was settled and the work could be continued on the reconstruction and strengthening of De Rots and De Schakel.
In 1996 Gerard Blankespoor obtained his propeadeutics diploma at the Vrije Universiteit in General Theology and he started the second phase to obtain his diploma for the first part of his final program in 2000.
Propeadeutics diploma at the Vrije Universiteit in General Theology
Before that, Gerard had already started with the 2nd and the last part of this final program, the so-called specialized part. In Gerard’s case the specialization in Practical Theology under supervision of Professor PhD. Gerben Heitink. Gerard only had to write his thesis in 2000, in order to obtain the title of Doctorandus.
Because of the great demand from the Dutch Antilles for a (good) decent rehabilitation and support of drug- and alcohol addicts, Gerard Blankespoor traveled to Curaçao and Sint Maarten in 1996 to meet with various ministers.
The appointments for these visits were made by the director of the Antillenhuis in The Hague, which functions as a kind of embassy for the Dutch Antilles.
Two directors of De Schakel with a delegation from Curaçao
Registration form of the Chamber of Commerce at Curaçao
Gerard Blankespoor also visited Bonaire on the orientation trip to Sint Maarten and Curaçao, and eventually decided to make a permanent office for De Schakel on the island of Curaçao funded by De Schakel.
This office will take care of a good transfer of addicts from Curaçao to the Netherlands.
In order to ensure a responsible and safe transport for all De Schakel guests, a number of vans were leased in 1997.
This was also necessary due to a strong growth of the external work experience projects of De Schakel.
Besides his university study, Gerard led De Schakel and De Rots in such a way that there was a need for expansion again, now to 350 beds.
In consultation with the private investor, ground research was done of the woodland part of the site of De Schakel and after that drawings were made and submitted to the municipality of Apeldoorn, for the building of dozens of new living spaces.
On a trip to the USA in April 1997, Gerard Blankespoor meets the great love of his life Caroline Blaas.
They decided to marry on September 3th of that year and are consecrated as a couple in the evangelical community De Rots by the Antillean minister Carlos van Langeveld. The latter was also employed by De Schakel as a second man next to Gerard.
A great day for Gerard and Caroline, which ended with a Surinamese meal for everyone, under the cozy sounds of the Antillean band Trio Tamicos.
The next day the tired but happy newly wed couple traveled to Jamaica for a well-deserved 14-day honeymoon.
On the left and the right: Gerard and Caroline Blankespoor
Also in 1997 deputies of the political parties of the House of Representatives visit De Schakel at an invitation.
These deputies are very much under the impression of this rehabilitation center that is running without a subsidy from the government.
In 1997 also De Schakel’s first addiction specialist was appointed together with two qualified nurses. In the course of 1998, a second addiction specialist joined and the Medical Service Department of De Schakel gained strength.
A psychologist was also hired at that time, in order to provide an even better support in guiding certain problems, with which some of the addicts struggled.
In 1998 the first opposition of the municipality of Apeldoorn becomes clear in the delay of the transfer of the social benefits of the inhabitants of De Schakel up to 3 months.
This leads to a financial shortage, which has to be resolved by generating more donations (see the statement of De Keursteen in False Charges under Department of Justice).
Afterwards it would appear that the reason of this opposition of the municipality of Apeldoorn against De Schakel was caused by the false charges due to the false reports at the police done by Jan Pieter Overduin and his son Martijn Overduin of alleged sexual abuse by Gerard Blankespoor together with De Schakel’s expansion plans to 350 beds.
In March 1999 a discussion takes place at the office of Professor PhD. Gerben Heitink of the Free University (VU) with Gerard Blankespoor and Simon Wezeman, chairman of De Schakel, to set up an interdisciplinary scientific study into addiction care, as offered by De Schakel.
It will be a two-year research with facilitation through the Faculty of Theology of the VU.
The offered expertise consists of Practical Theology (Professor PhD. Gerben Heitink), religious colloquialism (PhD. H.C Stoffels) and psychology of religion (PhD. H.A. Alma), as well as an expert on the subject of addiction care, provided by the Faculty of Medicine of the VU.
The estimated total costs for 2 years of research are 204.465,00 guilders.
The paperwork and calculation of the interdisciplinary scientific study into addiction care of The Free University
Thanks to the inspiring dedication and hard work of Gerard Blankespoor and his close associates, the De Schakel foundation has developed into the largest private rehabilitation center for addicts in the Netherlands.
It has become an organization with visible and measurable success and results, developed in and by practice and theoretically underpinned hermeneutical method, which was to be scientifically tested in 2000.
However, on May 18 1999 it becomes clear what Jan Pieter Overduin has been brooding for years, to take revenge on Gerard Blankespoor.
In the sick minds of father Jan Pieter Overduin and his son Martijn Overduin, the idea rises of an ultimate revenge on Gerard Blankespoor, namely making false police reports at the police against Gerard Blankespoor of alleged sexual abuse for years by Gerard Blankespoor of the unstable Martijn Overduin (see also False Charges).
Jan Pieter Overduin thinks that by doing so he can destroy both Gerard Blankespoor and his life’s work De Schakel.
This last thing succeeded because of all the publicity in the newspapers, on TV in the Netherlands and the Dutch Antilles as well as in the USA (see also Media and Documentary Evidence).
Foundation De Hoop from Dordrecht takes over the rehabilitation center and the activities of De Schakel under the name of Horeb. Director Teun Stortebeker from De Hoop, finally has his way, the Schakel is no longer the largest private rehabilitation center in the Netherlands.
He did not continue De Schakel but simply let it go bankrupt. In those days he also found it necessary to underline once again how immoral Gerard Blankespoor was, he even knew many others who would have been abused by Gerard.
Of course this is a lie that apparently mainly comes from envy and resentment towards Gerard Blankespoor, which unfortunately is a very normal phenomenon for many Christian leaders in the Netherlands.
This is partly underscored by a page size publication in the Reformatorisch Dagblad (friends of Foundation De Hoop), in which they let an former staff member of De Schakel, now in the service of Horeb, explain what a terrible leader Gerard Blankespoor is and how bad De Schakel operated under his leadership.
De Hoop/Horeb needed this publication full of lies and half-truths in order to suppress the desire of addicts to return to the regime of De Schakel. Not long after this employee was fired.
At a later moment this man apologized for this interview, which Gerard Blankespoor experienced as a knife in his back. Gerard Blankespoor accepted his excuse.
In all this Gerard Blankespoor stays strong, despite all the humiliations and injustice.Not that there were no difficult moments for him and his wife Caroline.
There certainly were, especially during the 103 days in custody in the penitentiary in Rotterdam, where an imprisonment with a maximum of 12 years was hanging over his head.
But also afterwards, while building a new meaningful existence after losing De Schakel and the evangelical community De Rots, Gerard Blankespoor has experienced some deep emotional moments, which he has overcome each time with the support of his belief in God and the unconditional assistance and support of his great love Caroline, who has always remained faithful to him, and this way he has given these experiences a place in the inner processing of the deepest humiliation that a human being can experience; to be accused of things that did not took place at all.
There is and was no smoke at all, let alone fire!
It is striking, according to Gerard Blankespoor, that the Christian community in the Netherlands in general has enjoyed the false charges and the loss of De Schakel and De Rots, and that none of the church executives in the Netherlands contacted him nor visited him in prison; people he worked with to a greater or lesser extent at that time.
Only loyal staff members of De Schakel visited and supported him in prison. Not bitter but disappointed in the lack of one of the most fundamental spiritual principles of Christ in these leader’s daily Christian life.
According to Gerard Blankespoor the answer to this must be found in the fact that he was no longer seen as a sincere and practicing Christian. Too bad, but only One has the final say in this!
Another phenomenon that Gerard Blankespoor has encountered with increasing amazement, is that when someone no longer occupies a certain position, in Gerard’s case a nationally and internationally known preacher and counselor, you actually do not matter anymore and some (Christian) people, even from his immediate environment, even go so far that he had achieved nothing at all, at least nothing of value to society.
This despite the fact that Gerard Blankespoor’s life’s work was not destroyed by his fault, but by lies and deceit and false police reports.
Gerard Blankespoor also rightly remarks that these types of individuals are often poorly educated, show their opinions in an unfounded manner and seem to have no knowledge or insight in history of man in general and in particular that of Gerard Blankespoor.
These kind of people are also able to cut down figuratively and sometimes literally anyone who stands out above the ground.
An observation that is of no use to Gerard Blankespoor, because these people are just too stupid to be able to gain insight or knowledge.
Two thousand:
The acquittal in April 2000 is not the end of all legal consequences yet, such as obtaining compensation etc.
Until well into 2001, all sorts of legal proceedings are conducted to the High Court.
A procedure is also started against the false reporters that ends with a denial; The High Court in The Hague makes the remarkable statement that it is allowed to lie. According to them, it is the false reporters’ truth and they believe in it.
Statement of the completion of the first part of Gerard’s study General Theology at the Free University
On August 1, 2000, Gerard receives from the VU (Free University) the statement that he completed the first part of his study.
For the specialization, the second part, he has already attended all the lectures, but Gerard decides to first process all the tensions and the emotions around the false charges and to postpone the graduation thesis for obtaining his title Drs. (Doctorandus) in Theology.
In the middle of 2000, Gerard Blankespoor founded a holding company called Lazar International BV, with Lazar Sales Office BV as the operating company, specializing in the maintenance of industrial buildings.
This in cooperation with The Southwestern Petroleum Company (Swepco) from Dallas, Texas USA , where Gerard Blankespoor and his staff also receive their theoretical and practical training.
Finally, four company cars were operating in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany and Gerard receives several American Awards, including two Eagles for “most orders” and “largest dollars increase”.
Top left and right: Before and after the renovation by Lazar Sales Office BV – Bottom left: Three company cars from Lazar Sales Office BV – Bottom right: Certificate issued by SWEPCO in Fort Worth, Texas, USA
In October 2007 Caroline and Gerard Blankespoor decide, after many years of hard work in the Netherlands, to immigrate to Bulgaria, to build up a whole new life.
First they go to Razgrad, in the northeast of Bulgaria, to work for a Dutch Real Estate company.
After three months they start to work for a Dutch orthopedic shoe factory, also located in Razgrad, to finally end up in the capital Sofia.
It is now June 2011.
Skyline Sofia Bulgaria, seen from Gerard and Caroline’s house
TWO THOUSAND AND TEN:
In Sofia they are going to live in a beautiful detached house, with 7 rooms and 3 bathrooms.
With a lot of effort and hard working for various companies in Sofia, in 2012 Gerard and Caroline founded the company Dunamis International Ltd, specialized in Real Estate, trading and dentist trips.
Jan Pieter Overduin with his sick, jealous mind and actions destroyed a lot, but did not destroy the blessings for Caroline and Gerard, nor can the truth be concealed about his conduct.
In the long run justice will triumph and the truth, as well as the lies of Jan Pieter Overduin, will be displayed.
Despite the fact that Gerard Blankespoor now enjoys his AOW (pension) plus a Dutch and Bulgarian pension, he remains, like his wife Caroline, active to carry out the message of God’s love for men and animals in practical deeds.
Gerard also started writing about all kinds of topics of present interest, which also can be found on this site.
From 2007 to the end of 2017, Gerard and Caroline have intensively reflected, meditated and, above all,
historically looked back on the value of the Bible as a whole, God and Christ in particular,
and the role of people in their development of their personal or non-personal beliefs through the ages.
Among other things, this led in 2019 to the aforementioned op-eds on this site,
with as a practical consequence the foundation of Vital Awareness,
which is focused on giving free counseling to all people who need help with any kind of life questions.
Gerard Blankespoor can also be seen and heard on YouTube with short messages under the name of Vital Awareness.
In addition, the non-profit foundation Vital Awareness receives voluntary donations to support orphans,
to promote animal welfare and to provide scholarships to talented gypsy children in Bulgaria.
The Vital Awareness foundation also supports other non-profit organizations in Africa, the Arab world and the USA.
If you want to know more about the counseling options of Gerard Blankespoor and the non-profit foundation Vital Awareness led by him and his wife, please visit our website www.vital-awareness.com.
We are grateful that Gerard, supported by his wife Caroline,
was able to lay a new foundation for the exercise of his calling.
