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Summer Adventure in Zambia

This summer we had an adventure. No, we didn't climb Mount Everest or walk across the Sahara Desert. But in a very profound way, 13 of us, students and teachers, experienced the power and reality of God. On Wednesday, August 27, we arrived in Lusaka, Zambia and the next day we were preaching. This was a unique evangelistic event sponsored by Global Evangelism and the Voice of Prophecy. Lonnie Melashenko spoke for the main satellite series, reaching all of Africa and parts of Europe, and we students preached our own meetings in the surrounding villages and compounds.

Our venues varied. At some sites, there were thousands of attendees who came to hear our messages, and at others we had smaller numbers. Chris Clemons had roughly the most people at his site by the end of the two and a half weeks spent preaching. He had around 5,000, but as he put it, "There were just too many to count."

Each of us had the humbling experience of sharing with those precious individualsÑGod's sons and daughters, people who are so beautiful, so rich and full of spirit, love, and culture. In exchange for that humbling experience, they shared with us, and lives were richly blessed and changed all around. It was a joy and a privilege unlike any other to see people invite God into their lives and make decisions for baptism. Over and over again, He made it clear to us and to those to whom we spoke that He is an intimate God who loves and longs for each of us.

In the midst of the preaching, the singing, and the sickness, lives were changed for God. We heard moving testimonies from locals and even came away with our own new testimonies. One group cast a demon out of a woman. Dave Thomas was struck by an amazing conversion story of a layevangelist who worked with him. After preaching, Matt Vincent helped a dentist extract teeth. Children were enthralled with stories from the Bible told by the "White People" and were eager to learn new songs. We even learned to have more faith when things did not go as planned. Chris Clemons learned that lesson from his dear friend Lewis (pronounced LAYwees) when the electricity went out one night.

There is no way every experience could ever be fully captured and relived, for each of us grew in such meaningful ways. We went to Africa to be of service, to do something lasting, and maybe even to test our speaking skills. Through a variety of ways, God brought each of those purposes to reality. But He did even more than that. Through seemingly insurmountable obstacles and unexpected, sometimes difficult surprises, God revealed himself to us and gave us the gift of his presence and help. We cannot out-give God. And that's a lesson all of us learned this summer in Zambia.

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