In 1985 Leen felt the need to put on paper everything he knew about music as a ministry. So he wrote the book ‘Finale, biblical foundations for music ministry’ and it is literally a finale, a closing piece. There does not exist anywhere such a solid theological study about God’s use of music. When that work was done and came out in 1986 the book was quite a success, it had over the years 4 reprints. But for Leen silence came first , a time of prayer, a time of waiting. It was obvious that God would speak, but what and when? Of course all ‘normal’ work went on like tours, concerts, the Conti’s, publications, the Seminar, etc. But in Leens heart there was a time of waiting. So change came with the CA-seminar of 1986, it felt like the wind of Gods Spirit was blowing. After 4 weeks this period ended in a night that Leen could not sleep. So he got out bed and in the living room he prayed and read the Bible till suddenly the whole scenery changed “Look” and a hand started to draw a picture in red light, while in the same time Leen got explanation of what he saw. This 3-D-hologram remained there for appr. half an hour and disappered, leaving Leen behind as a total wreck. What he had seen and why, including the direction of the future actions to take, left him speechless. Today we have words for the picture he saw: the functioning of the civil society. Still till today this event is hard to describe.
Leen wrote down picture and meaning and this became the basis for all what happened afterwards, as he took action to work it all out.
-it became the basis for our shared mission statement:
“called to shape the culture…”
-the diagram was explained in 1986/1987 to staff, the leadership of the whole national and international movement. The green light was given to act on that, so that with great speed all the other arts were added to the national and international activities, including the CA-Seminar. National meetings for the other arts, like the visual arts, dance, etc became organised.
-and a process, that was already within CA and that had started with the participation of Floyd in 1984, got much stronger: people felt an ongoing ‘part of christian artists’, so christian artists had become a movement. Leen worked this movement out into structures of associations in the Netherlands and elsewhere, as to organise people was part of the big plan to be carried out.
-Leen started again to study the Bible, what did God say about creativity, the arts. As result a year later this study was published in the book ‘Royal Creativity, biblical foundations for creativity and the arts’. The book had quite an impact and still has an impact for renewal, participation to shape the culture, explains the importance to unite, the importance to become a positive force for change…
-a few months after this remarkable vision Leen travelled (beginning of 1987) around the world, visiting artists organizations in America, Australia, New Zealand, Africa and all over the world he got great confirmation about the concept within this vision: God had given a promise that through a renaissance of the arts a reformation/revival of society would be possible. It got more and more clear that it was of great importance to unite the Christian artists especially in Europe but to begin with in the Netherlands. And of course a lot of training should be made available to the artists, to bring them on the cutting edge. So we should even try to create a new school, an Academy. Next to make the artists into a force of influence that should have impact on several levels of society and become a factor of great positive influence, so that the anti-attitude against God and His values would be overcome, so that finally society is opening to hear the promises of God. Artists would be in front of the army, as in the days of King Jehosaphat… What a promise, what a sight… (N.B. wherever you read in this and coming chapters about arts/artists it refers to EVERY form of art like music-classical to rock-dance, theatre, media, writing, acting, all visual arts, architecture, design, commercial arts, etc., etc.)

Leen does NOT view himself a prophet. But what happened is still amazing and it left Leen, Ria, board and staff with an excitement about what God wanted to do and how He wanted to use this organization, located in 1989 in the Continental Art Centre in Rotterdam. Rotterdam, the largest port in the world, should be exporting Gods blessings and promises. Rotterdam seemed to be able to revitalise ancient promises of God: Erasmus (the greatest thinker of the Netherlands lived in Rotterdam, but the city let him go) and the Pilgrim fathers’ (who left Rotterdam to sail to the new world to start their colonies). Is this coincidence: the Pilgrim fathers’ church (where the puritans stayed and prayed before they embarked) is the homechurch of Leen.
And the Erasmus-university did for Leen and other organizations a special research among youth in 1998…