Beer and spirits vs Bible and The Spirit!

An amazing night ... have I ever said that before? Yes, but this was truly amazing. But, as usual, I run ahead of the story.

Joy in the morning ...

These are truly beautiful people. About a hundred of us crammed into the CCAP building – a flimsy and airy structure that looks as though it could blow over in a windstorm. This is evangelism training. I extend my series on “What is the Gospel?” while John and Sue repeated their sessions each for a different audience. Such attentiveness and joy. Their singing is an inspiration to us. 

Each of the Presbytery ministers participate and their response is to say that we must repeat these presentations before the whole Synod when they meet in General Assembly. In a way I am surprised by their reaction – all I do is present a theological explanation of the Gospel according to the Scriptures.

The theme of my presentation is “You don’t need me”. My purpose is to encourage these dear people that they can understand the Gospel by understanding the Scriptures themselves and that they can evangelise Zambia better than we can. It’s been a humbling experience.

Fireworks at night ...

Have you ever preached against the music and noise of a sports club drinking bar? Picture this - on one side of the soccer arena: Christians from CCAP ... the other side: an open air sports club with amped-up music, drinking and lots of noise!

The choirs sang, the sun sank under the horizon, the preachers preached. I felt heavy, I sensed the distractions, I thought the children were noisy and the crowd less attentive than the previous night. But I enjoyed preaching. I always enjoy preaching God’s gospel in a way that would honour him. The opposition from across the paddock was making it hard. But little did I know that God was going to have the last laugh!

About ¾ of the way through my address – fire broke out. At the corner of the sports complex, a power pole caught fire and spectacular fireworks were coming from it! Sparks were flying everywhere - the night sky was alight. I preached on – pleading with people to remain. Saying something like: “This fire will only last a moment, but the love of God lasts an eternity”. Yes, it sounds 'corny', but it was the first thing that came to mind! I needed to keep the crowd!

Then, the fuse blew, the lights went out, the music stopped, the whole place went dark ... EXCEPT ... EXCEPT ... our side of the stadium! Yes, by the work of God, our lights and power remained. All around us was dark. The community was blacked out. THIS IS A TRUE STORY ... I have 500 eye witnesses. I was floundering a bit by this stage, but I babbled on. My job was to save the occasion and call the people to stay. 

The people came back. The stadium settled. I handed to John S who preached with the Holy Spirit’s power and with great conviction ... in the quiet: no drinkers, no music ... we had the night to ourselves. About 100 people came forward for counselling. We have no idea why each person came forward, but the pastors are following them up. Some came to know the Lord tonight. We are hoping that one of them might be a future “Stephen Lungu”. Will you pray?