When volunteer minister, Jared Thompson, approached the four rough looking men in a body shop to witness to them he wasn't sure what to expect. He timidly asked if he could talk to them about Jesus. They laughed and said, we don't plan to listen, but you can talk all you want. Then they resumed working on a vehicle. He began to share the gospel story and one by one the men quit working and began to give him their full attention. After he finished speaking, all four men prayed to receive Christ and then asked Jared questions about living the Christian life. Jared will never forget this moment when he participated in ushering four men into the kingdom of God!
Jared Thompson, along with three other ministers from Georgia, Eddy Rushing, David Brown and Marshall Kellett came to Zimbabwe to participate in Simultaneous Revivals. Even though they preached in 4 different Baptist Churches in Bulawayo, each afternoon the four of them went together to one of the churches where they participated in evangelism in the neighborhood around the church with church members from that church. (The church members from each church went out every afternoon even when the pastors were not with them. Pictured here are the U.S. pastors and witnessing members from Bethel Baptist Church.)
David said, "It was good that we partnered with local Christians because sometimes we encountered people who were dealing with issues we didn't have much knowledge of so they were able to handle those situations." David had an opportunity to witness to a teenage girl who seemed to have a lot of Bible knowledge and had many questions about the Bible, but she did not pray to receive Christ. Please pray for this young lady that the seeds which are planted within her will bear fruit.
While Marshal was witnessing to three young ladies, he realized pretty quick that two of the ladies were not very interested, but the third young lady paid close attention to him. Soon she began to weep and prayed to receive Christ. "It was amazing to see the Holy Spirit at work in the lives of the people with whom we witnessed," said Marshall.
Pastor Eddy came across a fifty year old man and shared the gospel and the plan of salvation with the man. He was so excited and immediately prayed to receive Christ. He told Eddy he had been searching for God's Truth for many years. He had attended many different kinds of churches, but no one had ever shared the gospel with him.
Even their driver, a Zimbabwe Baptist pastor's son, got in on the action! M. found seven boys playing soccer with a tennis ball in the street. At first the boys were reluctant to listen to him - they wanted to play ball. Eventually they began to listen to him as he shared his own personal testimony. All seven of the boys prayed to receive Christ. (Pictured are David, M., the driver, and Jared)
At times they came across people who weren't sure if they were saved or not, but after sharing the steps for salvation a person might say, "Yes, I have done that." So the team was able to assure them of their salvation and pray for them to continue to grow in their relationship with God.
Other Christians were facing difficult situations and the team was able to pray for them.
Passing out lollipops is not your usual modus operandi for evangelism, but giving a lollipop to one little boy led to an invitation by his Grandmother to come for a visit in her home. When this orphaned boy got home to his sick Grandmother she asked him where he got the lollipop. He told her that some Americans had given it to him. She told him to go get those Americans and invite them to their house. When Marshall and his witnessing team arrived at the house they found a very sick old woman. They shared the gospel with her and wanted to pray for her, but she refused. She was wearing some traditional beads and told them she could not turn her back on her ancestors. That very night the Grandmother became so ill she was taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital and a church member took the little boy into their home for the meantime. Pray that this Grandmother will not die in a lost condition. Pray that God will provide for the needs of the orphaned boy, especially if his Grandmother passes away soon.
A total of 149 decisions for Christ were recorded during the week of the Simultaneous Revivals.
One team member said the hardest thing about the experience was after someone prayed to receive Christ not being able to really spend time discipling them. The realizing that there was so much they needed to know. One boy in particular who had received Christ late in the afternoon as the team was about to head for their respective churches came running to them shouting, "Wait! I have some questions."
Pray that there would be good follow-up from each church and discipleship as well for these new believers.
Pastor Eddy wanted his team to also get some insight into rural Zimbabwe so on the last day they decided to take a drive about 15 miles outside of Bulawayo to see a more remote village."We passed by several huts until we decided to stop at one for no particular reason. We pulled up and the woman was digging a 10 foot deep toilet and was in her late 50’s early 60’s! She had 4 grandchildren with her there alone. She took us into her hut and we shared with her. It was a miracle because she spoke Shona in an Ndebele speaking area. M. and L., our translators, only spoke Shona! What a blessing from God. She accepted Christ and said that she had prayed for God to send her someone to tell her how to go to heaven because she didn’t know. She also said that she would sleep better from now on. The whole encounter was truly God-orchestrated."
Eddy and his volunteer team had such a great experience, they are already praying about coming a gain next year to do Simultaneous Revivals again in another city in Zimbabwe.
