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
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