Pastors’ Conference Glorifies God in Malawi
MALAWI – International Missions Director Jeff Walsh and I (Africa/Europe Area Director Bryce Whiting) traveled to Malawi, East Africa where we held a pastors’ convention for 58 pastors from both Malawi and Mozambique. Because of the faithful offerings of God’s people, we were able to give food and lodging to all for the entire convention, and due to the strength of your prayers, the hand of God was upon us all from start to finish.
- The worship was energized by heart-felt singing and dancing. Musical instruments? Who needs them!? Their voices and facial expressions could not have been more joyful as praises were sung to the God of our salvation.
- Teachings focused on understanding and preaching from Bible stories in both the Old and New Testaments. Our personal reward came in seeing their eyes open to more understanding of the chosen passages than they previously had. New tools of interpretation were given to the pastors to help open the truths of even more Bible stories.
- We broke into circles of prayer over various topics, one of which was the covering of God over our families. They were reminded that the enemy of our souls will seek to hurt the man of God by attacking his family. As I mentioned this a young pastor named David stood to his feet. He testified that he had received a call from his wife, upset that his 2-year-old baby girl needed surgery. Another pastor testified that his house had just been robbed. We covered these brothers in prayer and then prayed for our own families.
- A shady spot was chosen for an open-air evangelistic time. The energetic singing drew a small crowd and Pastor Samuel Kasakatira stood to boldly preach the good news. We rejoiced when three young adults came forward and knelt unashamedly in the dirt to receive prayer and counsel.
- The convention highlight on the final day was a soccer match between the two conferences that was played competitively but fairly. Both sides were quite skilled and evenly matched, but Mozambique pulled out the 2-0 victory and took home the soccer ball as a prize!
Blessings! The entire event was marked by blessings. One significant blessing was experiencing a higher level of unity, despite cultural differences because we serve the God of all peoples.