Amazing week of school ministry!

Friends, it is impossible for me to describe how amazing the last five days of school ministry has been! I can’t be anything but humbled that God has worked so mightily this week. I’ve been blessed to share the gospel in nine schools with over 8,000 students and almost 7,000 of them said that they were willing to repent of their sins and trust in Christ alone as LORD and Savior!

 

We have faced some minor difficulties with local police. Don’t worry, I haven’t been arrested again! Apparently, a group has recently gone around the schools promoting anti-government rhetoric. So, they insisted that at least one police officer goes to each school we speak at to make sure we aren’t sharing anything but the Gospel of Christ. The police we have spoken have been very gracious and have even encouraged us in our ministry. It is a strict ministry policy that we don’t discus local politics no matter which country we are in. It still amazes me that the authorities are actually insisting that we share the Gospel in public schools!

 

Ultimately, it hasn’t been an issue. In fact, it means that we are sharing the Gospel with more people! A police officer came up to us today after a school program and said, “Thank you for sharing, I’ve decided it is time for me to become a Christian.” Isn’t it amazing how God takes things the Devil attempts to throw at us with malice and works it out for good? We are supposed to go by the police station tomorrow morning to give that police lady a Bible and share some basic counseling with her.

 

There are so many stories I could share with you guys! I could write for hours about all the days of ministry and everything that has happened in schools. I guess we will just have to share more in person later! I have posted many photos to facebook. This link should allow everyone to see them whether you have a facebook account or not.

 

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2032994&id=79501181&l=a6b4753370

we also have many photos from all mission trips available online at

http://www.davidstockwell.org

 

Thank you all so much for the continued prayers! We are leaving tomorrow for a week of ministry in a town called Rusape. We’ve been told that it is unlikely that we will have internet access there. So, don’t expect to hear from us for a while. Thank you all again!

 

In Christ,

Steve Stockwell

Galatians 2:20, Crucified with Christ

CityCelebration Report

Hello friends. Hope everyone has been doing well back in the states! We have been having a blast here in Zimbabwe! Today, we sent Amy, David, and Dan back to the states. So, it is just Scott and me for the next two weeks.

We have had several great days of ministry since my last message. We had a great crusade, or CityCelebration, Friday through Sunday. It was in one of the poorer, less “churched” parts of town. The first night, there were only about 20 people in front of the stage paying attention. However, when it was time for the alter call, 50 came forward to commit their lives to Christ! They were apparently listening from off in the distance where we couldn’t really see them. The second day about 350 came to the crusade, and the third day about 400 were there. Overall, about 350 came forward to say they wanted to give their lives to Christ! In fact, there are so many new Christians there that we have decided to plant a new church for everyone who attended the crusade!

There were a few people at the crusade who stood out. One young couple with a new baby attended all three days after coming forward the first night. He wrote an incredible ‘thank-you’ note for all of us on the third day I hope to get copied so we can share it. There were also two little 11 year old girls that came several nights and committed their lives to Christ who said that they had never heard of Jesus before.

We have 3 more days of ministry in schools here in Bulawayo, and then Scott and I are leaving for another city called Rusape to spend a week ministering in Churches and schools there as well. Please continue to pray for us and the thousands of students that will be hearing the gospel. Thank you again for all the prayer and support.

In Christ,

Steve Stockwell

Galatians 2:20, Crucified with Christ

Doing well in Zimbabwe!

Friends, it is indescribably great to be back in the harvest! Our team has had two excellent days ministering in schools. However, the last three days I have not been feeling very well. I think there is just some allergen in this area that my body hasn’t quite adjusted to yet. I’m feeling much better today though. Thankfully, yesterday, I was able to rest, as some of the other team members into the schools. But today I had the opportunity to share the gospel in two schools…

                  

Now, I have to lay a few disclaimers for our ministry.  Some evangelists are criticized for being too focused on “numbers” and are criticized for reporting erroneous results in order to get more support. We honestly try to report as conservatively as possible. We usually round numbers down. In some ways, we even pretty much try to convince people NOT to give their lives to Christ - unless they are totally serious!  Honestly, the number that is most important to us is “one.” One Spirit, one Savior, and one God glorified, one boy dying of AIDS finding hope in Christ, one orphan crying tears of joy while finding love in his Heavenly Father, one boy seeing you a few days after receiving Christ and telling you thanks for telling him how to be saved and telling you that he can already sense a change in his heart.

We also realize that it is not possible for us to determine who is really saved or not. We believe it is our duty to share the gospel as clearly as possible and call for people to repent and trust in Christ with a public profession of faith. We also believe that it is our duty to honestly and conservatively report results to the best of our abilities. Whether each individual person gets saved or not is between themselves and God…visit our website at www.davidstockwell.org/overwhelmingresponse for more information on my father’s conviction on this issue.

Anyway, I had the privilege of sharing the gospel in two schools today. The first was an elementary school with about 800 students. They were an amazingly well-behaved group of students with a headmaster who really seemed to have a heart for Christ. I don’t think there is a better sound in the world than hearing about 600 young students saying the sinners’ prayer! The second school was even more amazing!

We were told when we arrived that we would be allowed only 10 minutes to speak to the 1600 high school students because they only had a thirty-minute assembly time and two other people needed to speak before us. One was just a lady from the school that needed to say a few announcements. The other was a man from the Zimbabwean blood bank promoting a blood drive coming up next week. When the man from the blood bank heard what we were there to do, he made it clear to us that he is a follower of Christ and said that he would cut his announcement short because, “the blood you are speaking about is more important than the blood that I’m speaking about!” He ended up going on stage before us and kept his word about keeping his announcement short. He even finished his time on stage by saying, “This blood drive creates a lifeline for people on earth, but the blood of Jesus that my friend is about to talk about creates a lifeline for eternity!” what an amazing and completely unexpected introduction! I love how God works things out (-:  

I was able to deliver a slightly shortened presentation of the gospel and it was amazing to watch the Spirit work. You could see almost all the students’ faces change from excitement to conviction to hope and finally to joy! 1,200 of the students there committed to turn from their sins and make Jesus Lord of their lives! The past two days, our team has spoken in 10 schools to almost 10,000 students and about 6,000 have made the commitment to follow Christ. I love Africa! I LOVE JESUS!!!

Please keep us and all of the people we share with in your prayers as we continue ministry in schools. Tomorrow is supposed to be the busiest day on our upcoming schedule and we are speaking in 12 schools. Thank you again for all the prayer and support.

In Christ,

Steve Stockwell

Galatians 2:20 – crucified with Christ

Zimbabwe Tomorrow

Hey friends, we are leaving for Zimbabwe tomorrow, March 8th at 4:15PM. Please keep us and the people of Zimbabwe in your prayers throughout this mission campaign through April 9th. It is starting to look like internet access will not be easy during this trip. I will do my best to keep everyone as up to date as possible. Everybody has been added to the DSEA ministry email list and already should have received an email about this trip. If you would like to be taken off this list, there is a simple "unsubscribe" button on the bottom of each of their emails. Thank you so much for the prayers and support. Hopefully there will be plenty of amazing stories to tell throughout the trip and once we have safely returned!

In Christ,
Steve Stockwell

One week until Zimbabwe

Hey friends, sorry I haven’t had too much to say these last few weeks. Some of the details have begun to work out for my transition to full time ministry. I sent out my application to join the Gideons. It looks like I will be able to spend at least one day a week at Central Texas LifeCare counseling young guys who come in for STD tests and possibly even speaking in schools about STDs and abstinence. I have also had it on my heart to organize a group of people in the New Braunfels area who have a passion for evangelism and are willing to do/pray for street witnessing in our area. This might include organizing an evangelism training course to help start this ministry. I’m officially starting to get excited about the upcoming trip to Zimbabwe! I will be there from March 8^th-April 5^th. We are planning to share the gospel in several churches and in several dozen school assemblies to tens of thousands of students. Now is the time when we need prayer the absolute most. Please pray that God will send the Holy Spirit to Zimbabwe in front of us and begin doing the work before we even get there. Pray that He will begin opening doors and opening hearts to hear the good news, that their hearts will be good soil ready to hear His word. Pray that we get our flesh out of the way and that we will be pure, clean, holy vessels to carry God’s word. And pray that we will have safe travels and that all of our financial needs will be met. Our main prayer verse as we GO is Isaiah 61:1,

“The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me,
 because the LORD has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor;
 He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
 and the opening of the prison to those who are bound.”

Thank you all so much for the prayer and support! I’m not sure what internet access I will have while I am in Zimbabwe, but I’ll do my best to keep everyone as up to date as possible. Thanks again! 

In Christ,

Steve Stockwell