Quote from Forum Archives on March 13, 2008, 5:05 pm

Posted by: prophetic <prophetic@...>

The following are some very interesting replies to last week's
article- "AFRICA BECKONS YOU":

(1) DAVID SERVANT writes:

Hi Andrew, and greetings from the Andes Mountains of Peru.

I'm sure you knew that I would be overjoyed at your recent "Africa
Beckons You!" article. Not because you mention something I once
said in a sermon, but because what you have said is so true.
There are so many frustrated revival and repentance preachers in
the U.S. Yet the U.S. only represents 5% of the world's
population. And most Americans have had ample opportunity to
respond to God. Meanwhile, the majority of the other 95% are
waiting to hear any biblical truth for the first time. So figuring out
what we should be doing isn't rocket science. "Shake the dust off
your feet and GO!"

As you noted, in Nigeria, and elsewhere---even where some form
of American "Christianity" has been embraced---the people have
yet to hear the true gospel. And when they do, many respond
positively, realizing that they've formerly believed a lie. I can't tell
you the number of times in the past where African pastors have
said to me, "We've never heard an American teach or preach what
you have proclaimed." And if you can get out beyond the major
cities of the developing world, you will go where Christians and
pastors have not yet been corrupted by a false gospel, because
generally few American preachers are willing to suffer outside the
comfortable accommodations of a major city. (Praise God!)

So I'm glad to hear that you are heading back to Africa. Africa
needs you and thousands more just like you who will take a
gospel of repentance and genuine faith to the multitudes. And
there are places all over the world where humble men and women
of God with a true gospel can spark major revivals. So go for it!
And keep encouraging others to do the same!

(2) TERRY PARKER writes:

Just want to encourage you and confirm what you said in your
latest email concerning taking the Gospel message to the Third
World. My wife and I have been going back and forth to the
Philippines for many years now, as we have a passion to take the
Gospel to the nations. I got born again in 1988 and from day one I
just had a deep desire to be a "missionary" or a minister of the
Gospel. Within one year of salvation, I connected with a team of
believers going to India. It was amazing as I experienced the power
of the Holy Spirit flowing through my life into the lives of hungry
recipients. The blind saw, lepers were healed, the lame walked,
deaf & dumb were restored. Not to mention the countless number
of people who came to the Lord.

I, also, am a strong advocate for taking the Gospel out and
majoring, or focusing in places where the message is actually
received. I have always adhered to the Word, in that we are to
shake the dust off our feet if we are not received in a particular place.

When we first started going to the Philippines in 1994, our
"Christian friends" said we were wrong to go before having
successfully ministered in our own backyard. However the call
was there and we just went, in spite of the opposition which
seemed to always come from within the church. They said that the
Philippines was a "soft" missionfield and that missionaries only go
there for the easy pickings. Well, we certainly didn't see much
response to the Gospel in our then home nation of NZ, so we head
off for Davao City in the Southern Philippines.

In the last 16 or so trips to the Philippines, we have witnessed
hundreds of people surrendering their lives to God through the
message of Christ we preached. Several churches have been
planted and other churches here in Australia are now starting to
get involved through prayer and financial support.

This is just a taste of what God has done through our lives and
through our simple willingness to go wherever He calls. There is so
much more that we can testify to, but I'll refrain in this letter. We
are not experts, religious bigshots, but rather just ordinary
believers who believe what the Bible says.

So, keep on preaching the truth brother. It will certainly bring some
sort of persecution, but I seem to remember Jesus say that
persecution was just part of the territory if we are to follow Him!!!
Persecution just serves to make us stronger in our relationship
with the Lord - hallelujah!

So the remnant church continues to wage war and survive against
the odds, Glory to God!!!

(3) CARL HENDERSON writes:

First let me agree with you completely about the fishing hole
analogy and the call to world missions!

My name is Carl Henderson my family and I are missionaries in
the Philippines for the last fifteen months (see our website at
www.m-o-r.net).

We did evangelism ineffectively for 17 years in the US and
effectively for 3 years after we discovered the Way of the Master
(WOTM) and The Elijah Challenge (TEC). [Ed Note: One teaches
you how to preach REPENTANCE, the other teaches you about
performing MIRACLES in Jesus' name! - ed.] We did street
ministry for about three years on the streets of Houston, Dallas,
Galveston (during Mardi Grass), the Rio Grande Valley (US -
Mexican border area) and a little in Mexico.

Although we had success after learning and using the WOTM in
the US, God called us to missions after I retired from my position
in Federal Law Enforcement. When we arrived in the Philippines
we found ourselves better equipped for ministry than 95% of the
missionaries we met. Some have been twenty year veterans in
the mission field and yet they don't know how to effectively share
their faith or preach repentance. After our street experience we "hit
the ground running" in the third world, and we have a greater
ministry in just a few months than those who have been here for
12 to 20 years.

Our experience (My wife and my two teenage sons and I)
preaching repentance and witnessing on the streets of Houston
left us very well prepared for the Philippines. We have had an
amazing ministry here and God is moving all around us. We have
seen hundreds come to repentance (not easy believism-"wonderful
plan for your life" nonsense) and we have seen hundreds of people
healed which we rarely saw in America.

In seven months we trained 400 evangelists in "Way of the
Master"/'Elijah Challenge' and they have planted churches (16 that
we know of), baptized 100 believers in one village and started a
church, tripled the size of their churches in three weeks, in one
case a church of 36 members brought in 75 new believers in a
single day's outreach. Many have told me we have to stop doing
evangelism because they need to disciple the new believers. We
have developed an obedience based discipleship program (versus
the normal knowledge based programs) so they can disciple the
new people quickly and get them into the harvest fields working.

I strongly encourage street evangelists with a "Passion for God
and compassion for the lost" to come to the third world and preach.
They must really love the people because they are different than
Americans, which can be trying at times but God is on the march
in the third world and we must move where HE is moving.

Get an easy to understand Bible (Non KJV - I came with a NKJV)
so that those in there audience who are using English as their
third or fourth language can understand (comprehension is more
important than having the most accurate translation - most will
only have a third or fifth grade English understanding) and come to
Repentance (turning from sin). Preach the word boldly and with
power, and watch how God will use them.

I agree with you completely, and I strongly recommend that all
with experience on the streets of the US, come! Leave their egos,
comforts, expectations, and nationality behind, and serve as a
child of the King, and help push back the darkness in the third
world. Come to where the harvest is plentiful! Expect dirt, bad
food, frustrations, inefficiency, difficult conditions at times, and
smells, but souls will come into the Kingdom if they will preach
repentance. We have it so much better than the Apostle Paul,
how could we dare to complain!!!!

I saw more fruit in three months on the streets of Houston preaching
the WOTM (repentance) than in my previous 17 years of
evangelism. I have seen more fruit in one month in the Philippines
than in the previous three years preaching WOTM (repentance) on
the streets of America.

I have many times lain in my bed at night in tears; weeping with
joy that God has used me so powerful in a crusade, where many
repented, and miracles flowed like water. We experience things
every month that I used to only read about in the Bible. Taste and
see the Lord is good, but especially taste and see here in the
Third World, where the hearts are tender...

The harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few... pray to the lord
of the harvest, and just as important, obey and "GO."