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"If This Sermon Goes Well, I'll Get Baptized"
July 26 2010 / ShareHim in Guatemala, Jul. 9 - Jul. 24 '10 #455by Aaron Brude
Campaign Site Narrative from Zacapa, Zacapa in Guatemala. The speaker assigned to this site was Aaron Brude.
The Zacapa Seventh-Day Adventist church is located about 20 miles north of the hub city, Chiquimula. The ShareHim group stayed in the Canja hotel, which was essentially a pool park, consisting of 8 pools and several slides. The drive each evening went from Chiquimula up through the mountains then down into Zacapa. Every day, the pastor would pick me up around 6:15pm, arrive at the church 6:45, set up equipment, eat food that a church member provided, start the program by 7:30, and preach from 7:50-8:40pm. Average attendance was around 73, and of those were an average of 18 non-SDA visitors. On the final Sabbath, there were a total of 115, with 20 visitors.
On Thursday of the first week in Guatemala, I arrived at the church during the evening to do some preparation work. After asking the pastor, via my translator, Alex, the mandatory questions/checklist and setting up the equipment, everything seemed to be in place; the series was ready to begin the following night. I decided to practice with my translator for a short time. However, almost instantly, we were having problems. Alex had difficulty understanding me, so we tried variations of our set-up: switched microphones, adjusted frequencies of mics, moved speakers around, changed my tone of voice. Even with all of that, the problem remained. I ultimately stopped using the mic, and then he was able to understand me a little better. Alex told me the previous day that he was not used to hearing/speaking English, and this was his first translating experience.
After earnest prayer on Thursday night and Friday, it was time to preach the first sermon. By the time I arrived at the church, I felt completely peaceful, and knew that everything would work out that night. When Alex arrives, he tells me that he has prayed a lot, and I tell him likewise. By the end of the evening, I was praising God for his blessing on the sermon. Alex understood me completely during the sermon, with only one or two questions about what I had said.
The next morning, several minutes before we go out on the podium, Alex tells me he told God that if the sermon went well, he would be baptized. Instinctively, I knew promising God isn’t wise, but I felt he was sincere and had faith. I grinned because I knew the sermon would go well, just like the previous night, and therefore, he would be getting baptized. I felt the Holy Spirit move me and I was even more empowered for preaching. The sermon went great that morning.
The entire trip was an amazing blessing. The great dependence on God through prayer during the trip was very eye-opening. I found that the more I was in prayer, the better the results. And when prayer was lacking, things would not go right. Constant prayer was (and still is) essential.
The last few days of preaching in Guatemala aroused a great desire in me to continue preaching in the United States. First, with preaching in my home church for awhile, and then, by God’s will, do a large evangelism series within a year or two. I feel called to preach within the SDA church, because many members seem “luke-warm,” and lack of earnest prayer is a major cause.
I will continue to pray for the Zacapa church. On second Sabbath of my stay, the church had 3 baptisms. The Sabbath following the final day, there are 21 more baptisms, which includes my translator, Alex. There were also many requests of preparation for baptism during the campaign. Many people will be baptized during the next few months at the Zacapa church. God blessed the series greatly and I pray His work will continue to grow in Guatemala.
On Thursday of the first week in Guatemala, I arrived at the church during the evening to do some preparation work. After asking the pastor, via my translator, Alex, the mandatory questions/checklist and setting up the equipment, everything seemed to be in place; the series was ready to begin the following night. I decided to practice with my translator for a short time. However, almost instantly, we were having problems. Alex had difficulty understanding me, so we tried variations of our set-up: switched microphones, adjusted frequencies of mics, moved speakers around, changed my tone of voice. Even with all of that, the problem remained. I ultimately stopped using the mic, and then he was able to understand me a little better. Alex told me the previous day that he was not used to hearing/speaking English, and this was his first translating experience.
After earnest prayer on Thursday night and Friday, it was time to preach the first sermon. By the time I arrived at the church, I felt completely peaceful, and knew that everything would work out that night. When Alex arrives, he tells me that he has prayed a lot, and I tell him likewise. By the end of the evening, I was praising God for his blessing on the sermon. Alex understood me completely during the sermon, with only one or two questions about what I had said.
The next morning, several minutes before we go out on the podium, Alex tells me he told God that if the sermon went well, he would be baptized. Instinctively, I knew promising God isn’t wise, but I felt he was sincere and had faith. I grinned because I knew the sermon would go well, just like the previous night, and therefore, he would be getting baptized. I felt the Holy Spirit move me and I was even more empowered for preaching. The sermon went great that morning.
The entire trip was an amazing blessing. The great dependence on God through prayer during the trip was very eye-opening. I found that the more I was in prayer, the better the results. And when prayer was lacking, things would not go right. Constant prayer was (and still is) essential.
The last few days of preaching in Guatemala aroused a great desire in me to continue preaching in the United States. First, with preaching in my home church for awhile, and then, by God’s will, do a large evangelism series within a year or two. I feel called to preach within the SDA church, because many members seem “luke-warm,” and lack of earnest prayer is a major cause.
I will continue to pray for the Zacapa church. On second Sabbath of my stay, the church had 3 baptisms. The Sabbath following the final day, there are 21 more baptisms, which includes my translator, Alex. There were also many requests of preparation for baptism during the campaign. Many people will be baptized during the next few months at the Zacapa church. God blessed the series greatly and I pray His work will continue to grow in Guatemala.