Mahatshula Baptist Church

The weekend of November 26-27, 2011 was a very special time in the life of Mahatshula Baptist Church. The celebration began on Saturday, the 26th, with a baptism service during which five young people were baptized. The ages of the candidates ranged from 11 up to 24.
When I arrived at the church before the service, a makeshift baptismal pool had been set up beside the church shelter, consisting of a circle of chicken wire with a large tarpaulin draped over it. Church members were still carrying water to fill the pool, so there was a bit of a delay until they had enough water to immerse the candidates. Then, things moved very quickly, since a small hole was discovered in the tarp, and all the baptisms had to be done before the water leaked out.



One of those being baptized was the oldest daughter of the pastor of the church. At the age of almost 12 years, P. made the commitment to follow Christ in baptism after her confession of faith earlier this year. How wonderful for Pastor to be able to baptize his own daughter, and as well as his nephew during this service.



Another young man, T., (pictured above) was baptized at the age of 22. Even though he was born into a Christian family, he found it difficult to find Christ. Submitting to peer pressure, he occasionally drank, watched ungodly videos, and fell into other temptations that he knew were wrong. When he became a Christian four years ago he says his biggest challenges were, “growing in his relationship with God, changing his mindset, forgiving those who have wronged him, and letting go of some of the stuff he knows God wants him to get rid of.” Pray for T. and other Christian young adults in Zimbabwe as they seek to overcome peer pressure and grow daily in their walk with God.

One other young man, and a teenage girl rounded out the candidates for baptism that day. The Sunday morning service the next day was a time of thanksgiving and celebration for the entire church. We heard reports from the various ministries of the church, from the ladies’ Bible study group to the youth, worshiped with songs and prayers of thanksgiving, celebrating the Lord’s Supper, and hearing a message from the Word from a guest preacher.

After the service, the ladies of the church laid out a feast to end all feasts to bring to a climax our weekend of celebration. Wonderful food and fellowship was enjoyed by all. And oh, so much food! Out of their meager stores, these ladies went all out to share with the church the very best of what they had.

Please pray for Mahatshula Baptist Church as they reach out to the community around them. Pray especially for these new believers who were baptized during this weekend of thanksgiving and celebration. Pray that they will be a light shining in the darkness in their community, and that they will share boldly the Savior that they have accepted as Lord of their lives.

Wildfire churches in Mberengwa

We have just recently returned from a trip to the Mberengwa resettlement area where the gospel is spreading like wildfire!

The first church, you may recall was planted in March when a group of volunteers came from Bryan, TX. to work with us and Pastor I. Shortly after that 97 were baptized in a Shona speaking village area. Among those baptized that day was Mr. M who had heard the gospel was being preached and walked many miles from his Ndebele speaking village area to hear the gospel.

He then returned to his own village and began preaching the gospel! A few weeks later he phoned our convention evangelist (Pastor I. ) to say, “When can you come to my village to preach and baptize. We have more new believers here than the other group does!” So Pastor I. took some Ndebele speaking lay-leaders with him and they preached and baptized about 100 new believers.



Since then, both the Shona speaking church and Ndebele speaking church have begun new churches! There were 6 groups that we knew of, but when we traveled to Mberengwa recently discovered there are now 7!

Pastor I. realized the need for on the ground lay-leaders so he is training two men – Mr. M. who will continue to work with his Ndebele people and Mr. R. who is the man behind so many of the church starts among the Shona people. (Mr. R. is the man in the khaki colored clothes holding the list of people being baptized. You may not be able to tell from the picture, but he was dancing with joy as a friend was being baptized.)



Before the baptism, Pastor I. called the baptismal candidates together to speak to them about what baptism means and that in order to follow Christ, they would be required to leave their old traditional practices behind.



Pastor I. then sent any men who had been directly involved with the ancestor spirits to Gregg for counseling and prayer to break their ties with the spirits. The women were sent to his wife E. and Donna.

On this day, there were 34 new members from several of the congregations who had previously not been baptized. Pastor I. asked Mr. M. (in tie/dye shirt) to assist in the baptism that day so he could learn how to do it properly.



It was a joyful time of celebration as God’s children boldly proclaimed they no longer belonged to the prince of darkness, but the God of Light.

Baptism in Mberengwa Resettlement Area

Excited shouts and laughter could be heard as people from 4 villages in South Central Zimbabwe walked swiftly toward the baptismal site.


The drizzling rain and temperatures in the upper 60's could not dampen the enthusiasm of the 97 new Christians awaiting baptism in a ditch filled with runoff rain water.


Two pastors entered the water then led the new believers in a hymn, a scripture reading, and prayer. As the names of the new believers were called, they lined up and waited for their turn as they watched the baptism of others before them.


Among those who were baptized were young children, teenagers, as well as young, middle-aged and seemingly ancient adults.


One elderly gentleman could barely walk from shaking so badly with Parkinsons, but he was determined to publicly demonstrate his new life in Christ.



The head men of two of the 4 villages were baptized as well as the headmaster of the local school.


The joy on the faces of the new believers was evident as they came up out of the water.





In African culture, baptism is very significant. It publicly demonstrates a person's willingness to break with his traditional religious beliefs and practices.


"Therefore, if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature, the old things passed away, behold new things have come." (II Corinthians 5:17 NAS) Pray that these new creatures would truly leave their old ways and ancestral spirits behind and learn to walk in the Spirit of the Living God!