Last Sunday was quiet an event for me. We were having church service at the newly established church in Rufunsa, the village where we had a wonderful crusade in October last year. We travel there every weekend to establish the new believers in the faith. Much time is spent on teaching the Word.
Last Sunday we had an unexpected visitor. The local people of the area were all astonished to see the renowned tall and long bearded man attending church. He is known for being firm, a loner and the leader of what is known as Neighborhood Watch. Neighborhood Watch is a team of able-bodied young men who provide security services during night time. The tall stout elderly man is the leader of the security team. However, over the years he has fallen out with many people of his community. For a long time he hasn’t been in social circles, including church. This is the husband of the woman who got miraculously healed during the crusade.
The man listened to the sermon with wide attentive eyes. He seemed to be carefully scrutinizing every word he was hearing. As he continued listening, his face softened, a smile formed on his face and he was in tears, crying. It is Joshua, my son, who later (after the service) told me, “That elderly man was sitting next to me and he kept crying during the preaching“. After the service he came to speak with me and said, “When vehicles were coming here, and I saw men bringing blocks for the church building, I wondered what was happening, but then something said to my heart, ‘There is your church, that’s where you belong!’”
Pic 1: Sunday Service, Rufunsa, 20th February 2022
After the service one brother, new to the fellowship, approached me asking, “I have a problem at my home; I have received the truth of this Word and there is someone I told to come and hear. When I was in service last Saturday, I felt sad because the man needed to hear that sermon… Concerning my home, I told my wife to start coming for fellowship but she warned me that I had first removed her from Jehovah Witnesses to join me at the Pentecostal church and now she says she is not ready to come to the new church. But I want her here, I need my family to hear this Word.” My word to him: “Just be a good husband and father and continue with meekness sharing testimonies to her. A time will come when she will hear the Word and she will testify in church. If God speaks to a heart He will do the work in a person, if you try to convince and convert a person, they at any time can go back to their formal religious systems. Pray for her and I will be praying with you and we will continue visiting you“.
Pic 2: Sunday Service, Rufunsa, 20th February 2022
Just before I got into the car to start off, the young man who has been part of the team doing construction works, asked to see me. The young man has been forced to be on the construction site for two months now because of ongoing works. There was a time when he told me that since some works were on hold, they needed some time to come to Lusaka and maybe come back later when works resumed. I refused them leave but told them to stay on for some few more days. We sent them some money for food stuffs and that has kept them going. However, the delay has made him attend all the prayer meetings and with time he has accepted the truth and is so joyous about it. “Pastor, there is a dark spirit over my family. I need you to pray for my mother and my sister“, he told me. I asked him where his family is, and well, its quite very far from Lusaka. It is somewhere in Northern Zambia. I promised him that wherever they are, we will go there and pray with them. So, it looks like my next vacation trip is Northern Province. There are two families there that I have been longing to visit and this could be another call. God bless.
