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 Some of the speakers of the Share Him Campaign. |
 Banner announcing the meeting. |
 Attendance Sabbath morning. |
 Children were asked to go outside to make room for adults. |
 121 people accepted Christ's offer of forgiveness and requested baptism. |
 Baptism was conducted in the local swimming pool by 3 pastors. |
 Some young people were baptized wearing their Pathfinder insignia. |
 Newly baptized members were given Bibles so they could continue their studies. |
God Blesses Motherwell
December 5 2008 / ShareHim in South Africa, Oct. 17 - Nov. 1 '08 #338by Heinz A. Volk
Campaign Site Narrative from Motherwell, Port Elizabeth in South Africa. The speaker assigned to this site was Heinz A. Volk.
On October 17 to November 1, 2008, ShareHim presented Christ for Port Elizabeth, South Africa. Conference personnel, pastors, laymen, and housewives from the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Ukraine, United States, and Canada spoke at 20 sites in Port Elizabeth and the surrounding areas.
I was assigned to the Motherwell church, in a black township where, according to one website, one did not dare go beyond the police station. Because of drinking, weekends are particularly dangerous, and in the two weeks there, I saw several accidents resulting in six fatalities, just on the way to and from my site.
But on Sabbath morning, more than 500 people crammed into the little SDA church to hear the word of God. As there was not enough room to contain them all, the children were asked to go outside so that the adults could sit. Listeners included Zulus, with traditional face paint and Khosas in their traditional dress. It was a surrealistic scene, where tradition joined with technology as Khosa grannies checked their state-of-the-art cell phones.
It was also a time of birth and rebirth, as well as church growth. A few days into the series, the young pastor's wife gave birth to their first child. At my site, 121 people accepted Christ's offer of forgiveness and requested baptism. Eighteen of these took their vows and were baptized on the last Sabbath, with the remainder taking further studies to prepare for baptism.
The local swimming pool was the venue as the 42 candidates from my site as well as from the two companies that the Motherwell church had spawned were baptized by myself and two Czech pastors.
To encourage them to continue their studies, the new believers were given a Bible in addition to their baptismal certificates.
I was assigned to the Motherwell church, in a black township where, according to one website, one did not dare go beyond the police station. Because of drinking, weekends are particularly dangerous, and in the two weeks there, I saw several accidents resulting in six fatalities, just on the way to and from my site.
But on Sabbath morning, more than 500 people crammed into the little SDA church to hear the word of God. As there was not enough room to contain them all, the children were asked to go outside so that the adults could sit. Listeners included Zulus, with traditional face paint and Khosas in their traditional dress. It was a surrealistic scene, where tradition joined with technology as Khosa grannies checked their state-of-the-art cell phones.
It was also a time of birth and rebirth, as well as church growth. A few days into the series, the young pastor's wife gave birth to their first child. At my site, 121 people accepted Christ's offer of forgiveness and requested baptism. Eighteen of these took their vows and were baptized on the last Sabbath, with the remainder taking further studies to prepare for baptism.
The local swimming pool was the venue as the 42 candidates from my site as well as from the two companies that the Motherwell church had spawned were baptized by myself and two Czech pastors.
To encourage them to continue their studies, the new believers were given a Bible in addition to their baptismal certificates.