Throw Away Your Spirit Belt

Categories: Clean Heart/Dirty Heart, Testimony, Witchdoctors/Spiritists

I'm Still Alive...

“The witch doctor said if I take it off I will die” Marcos said with large arm motions to a crowd that now swelled to over 300. “The witch doctor also said if I stopped sacrificing to my ancestors that their dead spirits will come back and kill me.” Every Mozambican eye from this little neighborhood in Xai Xai was riveted as this man spoke to them directly confronting the fears that presently bound them. “But I gave my life to Jesus 12 years ago. And I stopped my sacrifices and I threw away by spirit belt and look I am very much alive...and Jesus wants you to come alive too. It was like staring at a nuclear plant and wondering where all the power is coming from. This meek and mild man was preaching deep into the souls of his people. ”

Our Team

And that was just one moment of many that God moved as we planted a new church in this small neighborhood of Xai Xai. Xai Xai is a costal town about 90 miles above Maputo, Mozambique. Our outreach team was made up of 23 Americans, our friend Rick Sturz from Brazil, long time friend and Mozambican pastor Marcos Chambole, and 12 members of the Mozambique Youth for Christ (YFC) team. We flew into Maputo, met the local YFC team and drove up to Xai Xai. Our days consisted of morning training, afternoon house visits and evening open air evangelism. The YFC group was wonderful as they provided boundless energy of dancing, witnessing, translation skills and ongoing insight into various cultural differences. Marcos, who moved to Xai Xai six months prior to our arrival, used his home as a base from which we worked. Marcos gave us the history and layout of the neighborhood, and at night he would translate for me as together we presented the gospel message during film outreaches in the local soccer field. Many people made public professions of faith in Christ during this week which ended in the planting of a new church. This project was full of “God” events where Christ allowed us to see His hand at work. I had a wonderful time working shoulder to shoulder with others as we visited homes and shared the great story of God's love. To help convey the Gospel story we used the “Clean Heart / Dirty Heart” diagram that contains only one word “God”. During the morning training everyone learned how to use this drawing to share their faith.

Tears of Joy

While telling each and every story would not be practical, I would like to relay a couple of them. One involves the time I spent Heather. Heather is a counseling student at Denver Seminary and had come to Mozambique with the hope of touching someone's life. One afternoon as we walked along to dirt streets of our little neighborhood of Xai Xai, we came upon a group of women in the street. Heather had already met them and they asked her to come over and say hello. I asked Heather to draw the “Clean Heart / Dirty Heart” diagram for them while one of the YFC team members translated. While Heather drew in the dirt others started to come, until about 20 people were standing and listening to this simple gospel message. When done, I asked those there who would like to receive Christ and almost everyone said yes. Heather led them all in a beautiful prayer of repentance. After it was over I asked her, “Have you ever lead 16 people to Christ before?” “No,” she replied, “I've never lead anyone to Christ before.” As we walked away I said to her “those women will come up to you in eternity and thank you for coming.” Heather's only response was tears of joy. The joy associated with introducing someone to Christ.

New Church

The service was spectacular. The YFC team led worship, danced and gave personal testimonies. I gave a 10 minute message on following Christ and Marcos was introduced as the new pastor. During the service new people were asked to stand up and share and even though no one got up it was clear they were all exited and glad to be there. I remember thinking towards the end of the service, “Lord, this was really beautiful; I don't know how this could possibly have been any better than it was”.
At the very end Marcus was to give his personal testimony and close out the service. As he was thanking the people for coming he stopped in mid sentence and said, “No...that is not what God wants me to say.” and then he said, “If you want to join in what we are doing here then come up here and stand with me...who will be the first one to come?” “Oh no” I thought to my self, “What are you doing? No one was willing to stand and say even a kind word or testimony 15 minutes ago and now you want them to come up front?” Marcos stood there, just waiting. I stood off on the side, not blinking, hoping someone, anyone would stand up. After half a minute or so two young men stood up. One, after seeing only he and his friend were standing, sat back down. But the other continued forward and stood with Marcos. Both this lone man and Marcus stood, staring at the new congregation. A moment later an old woman came forward, then another young man, then some kids, then another woman, then a group of 10 came forward which included the young man who didn't come right at first. In the end 38 people stood with Marcos saying they want to help start this new church. This is one of those times that I'm glad to be wrong, especially if I'm wrong 38 times.
Marcos then asked the rest of us to circle around the new group of believers who are forming the Xai Xai church. We laid hands on them and prayed. We prayed for God's wisdom, for His Spirit to guide and keep these new creations, for God to use them mightily in this community. These moments are beyond description. Even those of us who were there cannot describe it to each other except to say what a privilege it was to be a part.

Saying Goodbye

After the service we served all those present a meal we had brought in from a local restaurant. It was a simple meal served in a styrofoam container which contained a piece of chicken, fish or beef along with French fries and some lettuce. Later we found out that most of the people there would only eat this kind of meal at a very special occasion like Christmas and that some of them had never eaten a meal this nice before. After we cleaned up, we all said our goodbyes to the new friends we made in Marcos' neighborhood of Xai Xai. We got aboard our little bus and slowly meandered across the deep potholes in the dirt road leading away from Marcos' home. Many of the kids, with which we had spent the last week, ran after us. Eventually the road became such that the kids could no longer keep up. As they begin to disappear, the younger slower ones followed by the older faster ones, I could not help but think that we were a part of something much larger than we will ever know in this life. So many individuals touched, loved and introduced to an eternal relationship with Christ. What an honor it is to serve. And if you support this ministry through prayers and finances, then you were there too. This story is all of our story. Together as goers and senders we are eternally changing lives. Thank you for caring.