Zambia Field Reports - October 25th

Youth Seminar
Hundreds of young people attended the Youth seminar held at the University Christian center in Lusaka. Many traveled a long way to hear God’s word for their life. Praise and worship was led by a local team and a TSC team led by a member of the TSC choir. The worship was so powerful, the Holy Spirit came down upon the gathering and began to touch the hearts of even the youth team organizing the event. One team member preached a powerful message about being set free from shame that drew many to the altar. Another team member gave a very courageous and transparent testimony about sexual immorality in her own life, and how God dealt with her and brought her out of it. It was awesome to hear someone be so open and vulnerable in order to challenge and encourage others to turn away from sin and seek God. Our team member from Zambia sang a beautiful song in the local language based on Psalm 23 and the young people from the audience joined her in a moment of reverent worship that left all of us quiet before the Lord. In the afternoon, TSC youth leaders gave a training seminar for youth leaders in a separate area outside the auditorium, while the main group continued inside. As usual when the Lord orchestrates things, the messages and testimonies are built perfectly upon one another. In this nation where over 60% of the people are under the age of 25, God had a challenging word for this generation to resist sin and seek God with all their heart and strength, for in doing this they will find forgiveness and freedom to be what He has called them to be.

Teaching Teachers to Teach Children
The children’s Ministry team is here to hold seminars to train Sunday School teachers how to teach the children. They will be conducting two seminars a day in a different church each time every day this week. Today was their first day. One of the team members, who almost changed his mind about coming to Zambia because of the intense spiritual warfare he experienced, realized that the Lord wanted him to be able to relate to the sufferings of the people he would be meeting, because many here are depressed and full of sorrow in their heart. The team leader told him, “before you start, you need to make sure these people are saved.” He was taken aback by her instruction as they were all supposed to be Sunday school teachers. He obeyed and asked them to close their eyes and raise their hands if they had not accepted Jesus into their heart. To his amazement 80% of those in attendance raised their hands.

Alex
The team visiting AIDS patients experienced great warfare today. Wherever they went, they kept missing the people they were going to visit. Determined not to let Satan have his way to prevent this dying people from hearing the gospel, they persevered and one team member was finally led through a labyrinthine local market in a very poor area of town to meet Alex, in his last stages of AIDS. She found Alex on a bed in a 2x4 room surrounded by flies, so weak he could not get up and could barely talk.  Alex whispered that he had wanted to commit suicide because he was so humiliated by this dreadful disease, and everyone disdained him for it. The team member’s heart broke listening to him, and the Holy Spirit led her to sing the song “My Help” softly to him. She asked if he wanted to receive eternal life and when he said yes, she led him in the sinner’s prayer. As she left him she was overwhelmed at the faithfulness of God. That he would go so far out of his way to save someone the world had rejected. To save Alex.

Chawama Market
One of the teams followed a mobile PA unit announcing the crusade and medical clinics through the Chawama market handing out fliers to invite people to the crusade. The Chawama neighborhood in Lusaka is one of the city’s poorest shanty compounds. Most of the people who live in there are so desperately poor they cannot even afford the inexpensive transport to the stadium. Two women team members were “really, really scared” to walk around the market fearing people would crowd them and hassle them, but they overcame their fears and headed, alongside other members of their team, right into a bar where men were drinking to share the gospel. The team leader ministered to a man involved in witchcraft and led him to the Lord. When they explained about sin to him he said he did not really understand. One of the women team members knelt down picked up some dirt and rubbed it on her t-shirt, explaining that sin was like the dirt and that Jesus can wash the sin away, just like we can wash the t-shirt, and make us clean again. Her husband, who is also in her team, will never forget what the Holy Spirit led his wife do that day, so this one man could understand what Jesus did for him.

That’s Why We’re Coming
The red team, which is visiting hospitals to minister to the patients, went with two pastors deep into a shanty compound  into one of the bars with prostitutes working and loud music blaring in the middle of the day.  The team began to share the gospel with the men in the bar. One of them turned off the loud music and they began to listen. The team invited them to the crusade. As the team left, one of the men said, “you are the only persons who have ever come to preach about Jesus in this place. That’s why we’re coming.”

This is Not the Kind of Drink You’re Used To
Doing street evangelism this afternoon, a team member approached a group of men drinking on one side of the street. She invited them to the crusade. One of the men asked her if there would be drinks at the crusade. She quickly replied, “not the kind of drink you’re used to, but living water which will never make you thirst again,” and she shared the gospel with them. The men took off their caps and asked her for prayer.

With Jesus I Can Make It!
One team member who had never gone on a missions trip before had prayed that he would be willing to do whatever the Lord asked him to do on the mission field. Today he found himself tearing down a barbed wire fence in the stadium and helping out at the medical clinic doing whatever needed to be done. He loved every minute of it but his favorite part was less spiritual – “it felt good to be called Dr. Stewart! When I told them I was not a doctor, they said, 'yes, doctor.' Only the Lord can do this! I didn’t even have to go through the seven years of medical school!"