I recently posted the story of our call to Italy at www.italyadventure.com. Many people have asked to hear more of the story. So, I have decided to tell...the rest of the story. To the best of my recollection, here is that story.
In the summer of 2001, I came back from a family trip where I spent two weeks in Italy. I returned to the US with an unquenchable love for all things Italian. It was in my heart as a third generation Italian-American.
Understanding that God loves to bless his children and give them the desires of their heart (Psalm 37:4), I began to pray. “Lord, you have placed this love for Italy in my heart. If you want me to do something with this passion, then speak to me. Tell me what I should do.”
Initially, I heard only one thing from God. Pray. So, that is what I did. I prayed for Italy, for the entire country. After several months of praying, I heard a K-LOVE radio ad about Italy for Christ. That seemed like it might be God’s answer, so I contacted Gaetano Sottile, the head of Italy for Christ, and asked him if he would have lunch with me in Rome. I had another trip planned with my family and it seemed like the logical thing to do. Gaetano agreed to meet me.
At about the same time, I was meeting with David MacDonald, Bobby Silva, and Elcio Silva at a gathering in Castle Pines Village. They called their gathering, “The Forum.” It was a group for men of influence, designed to help them fulfill their calling in the kingdom.
For the first time in my life, I began to piece together the unique calling God had prepared for me. The intersection between my training, my calling to the kingdom, and my success in business became amazingly clear. I remember the day when David McDonald challenged us to acknowledge our influence. I had become a man of influence and God was uniquely preparing me to reach other men like myself.
As the trip to Italy approached, I was still uncertain about what God wanted me to share with Gaetano at our meeting. So, again, I prayed. “Lord, reveal to me what vision you want me to carry to Italy.” It was just days before I arrived in Rome that God made it clear to me.
My family and I arrived at La Rampa, near the Spanish steps to meet Gaetano and Sondra Sottile for our God-ordained dinner. It was there, for the first time, that I articulated the vision for “reaching men of influence and unleashing them to use their time, talent, and treasure to build the kingdom of God.” As I shared this with Gaetano, he smiled, and tears welled up in his eyes. Why? He had been praying for this same vision.
God immediately knit our hearts together and within nine months Gaetano launched “Il Foro” (“The Forum”) in Rome. A few months later I joined the board of Italy for Christ, and for six years we continued to work together. I had the privilege of working with Guy to reach influential men and women throughout Italy.
After many trips to Italy, year after year, my heart began to open, and I began to explore the true desires of my heart. I began to share with people how wonderful it would be to have a villa, vineyard, and olive grove in Tuscany; and how beautiful it would be to use that as a place of vision for men of influence from around the world.
At the time, it was a passing fancy, the dream of an entrepreneur who loved to dream and loved to make dreams come true. It was over the next several years that God would transform this dream in my heart.
The first step in the transformation happened in the winter of 2004. My friend, Bryan Taylor joined me in Rome for the Convivium, the gathering of leaders from all over Italy, including members of the Italian Parliament and the Vice President of Italy. As we were sitting, having lunch in the Piazza just in front of the Pantheon, I shared this dream of the villa and a place of vision. Bryan’s response was simple, “Let’s go look at some land!”
At the time, I laughed, because my faith was still small, and God had not yet done the work in my heart that He needed to do. For Bryan, it was all possible. Bryan had purchased a resort in Austria, just outside of Innsbruck. His vision? He was building a place for men of influence to come and seek God together and for them to invest in their marriages.
The next step toward transformation occurred in the winter of 2007. I had the privilege of being part of a team of leaders who expanded Il Foro to Milan. While I was in Milan, sharing the vision with business leaders, sports leaders, and artists, God spoke to me again. He said, “Write the business plan for the villa, olive grove, and winery in Tuscany.”
I knew that God had spoken to me at the time, but I didn’t follow through on my assignment. While I was off building the kingdom of God, my marriage was falling apart. Michelle and I had grown apart, we were embittered toward each other, and we were both very close to giving up on 23 years of marriage.
As God is faithful, He had surrounded us with people to help us through this challenging time. Rich and Linda Case became our marriage mentors, shared their story with us, prayed for us, taught us to abide, took us on retreats, and walked by our side on the journey toward the restoration of our marriage.
During the three years of restoration, Rich and Linda built a Chateau in Castle Rock, CO. It is a beautiful edifice with seven bedrooms, designed as a place of residence; but more importantly, set apart as a place for couples to come and learn about the beauty that God designed for marriage.
The final step of transformation happened in the summer of 2009. Michelle and I joined Rich and Linda Case at a marriage retreat in Tuscany. We were also celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary. On the second day of the retreat, we met a couple that lived in Cortona. Since we didn’t have anything planned for our final days in Tuscany, they invited us to stay in the guest house of their property on the back side of Cortona.
When we arrived at their beautiful home, they greeted us, served us lunch, and let us know that they were leaving the next day. We would have this beautiful place all to ourselves on our final day in Tuscany.
When we woke up the next morning, we woke up to the most wonderful, “garden of Eden” experience of our lives. Our bedroom opened into a garden. We greeted the day with a stroll through wild lavender, poppies, monarch butterflies, and olive trees. In the grove, two olive trees had grown up just inches apart. They rose side by side, and formed what looked like a single tree, but each tree clearly retained its own trunk. The roots and lifeblood of the tree were intertwined below the ground, one sole source of life. The branches of the tree and the fruit they bore, appeared as one. The two had become one.
It was this day, that I knew from God that He had completely restored our marriage. The day in the garden was the most beautiful expression of love we had experienced in decades. The entire trip was full of God’s surprises, the ultimate surprise: He had restored our marriage!
It was in the wake of this trip that God revealed the rest of the vision for our lives, the dream of journeying together with couples toward the beauty that God designed for marriage. In the months that followed, God lead us to couple after couple who wanted to know more about the story of our restoration and who were ready to learn what Rich and Linda had taught us about abiding in Christ and what that means for an exceptional marriage.
By 2011, we began to realize that God was calling us to give away what had been given to us, the messages of abiding, agreement and authority. At about the same time, I shared this story with my friend, Scott Davis. His response was simple and direct, “If God told you to write the plan for a retreat center in Tuscany and you have not done it, you are in disobedience. Write the plan.” As a good friend, he held me accountable to write the plan. I wrote the plan, but still did not have a call to go to Italy.
For the last seven years, Michy and I have been teaching couples how to abide in Christ (John 15) and live in God's blessing of unity (Psalm 133). We started by serving couples at Denver Community Church, the eventually started leading our own retreats, first in California, then at Revelation Ranch in Jefferson, CO.
In the winter of 2016, Anthony and Nikki Testa, invited Michy and I to lead a marriage retreat just outside of Torino. After seeing God’s beautiful blessings at the villa God provided, we both heard from God that we were supposed to start learning Italian. It was a sign for us, but still not a definitive call from God.
It was at Grace Church of South Park, in December 2017 where John and Michelle were both confirmed in their call to Italy. The guest speaker that day was Ennys Kobak, from the Yali Tribe of Papua New Guinea. Since so many of the Papua tribes have been reached for Christ since the first missionaries were martyred more than 5 decades ago, he is being called to reach the unreached people of Indonesia.
When Michy heard Ennys say, “If I am not ready to go, I have forgotten who God is,” she immediately knew this was the confirmation of her call to Italy. Her heart was broken for the Italians and she felt this deeply all afternoon.
When I saw these simple words on a slide, “If I am not ready to go, I forget myself where I came from,” I also knew that the time to go to Italy had come. It was confirmed for both of us in unison.
To further confirm the call, Michy and I were invited back for another Italian retreat, this time in Eggberge, Switzerland. Over two weeks, we lead two retreats on the authority of the Kingdom of God. We hosted Italians from Torino, Portuguese from Luxembourg, and a young woman who joined from Switzerland after hearing about the retreat just two days before it started.
The Spirit of God was poured out upon the entire gathering. People were healed emotionally and physically. Marriages were restored. Hope rained down and there was no one left untouched by God. Several people were called into ministry and to use their newfound gifts of the Spirit. As happened so often in Acts, the Spirit is poured out to signify a new work of God.
We are now pursuing our call to Italy. And from our hearts, "We are thankful for the men and woman who have walked by our side for the past two decades, encouraging us and gently guiding us toward our vision to see marriages, influencers and artists in Italy transformed by the Kingdom of God."
You can read more about our journey at www.italyventure.com.
© 2018 - John Santaferraro