At our Gospel
Festivals, we see miracles. Blind eyes are opened by God. Deaf ears begin to hear.
Cripples stand up and walk. These kinds of miracles are frequent and always
exciting.
But, one of the
greatest miracles at our recent Gospel Festival in Antananarivo, Madagascar,
was how the local churches were unified in supporting our evangelistic collaboration.
Sometimes,
getting pastors to work together is like herding cats. Churches often have their
own agendas and their own schedules. Sometimes, when an evangelist comes to
town, churches will politely decline to participate or even attend.
This is why I
rejoice when pastors get excited about reaching the lost, and catch the vision
for what God can do if the entire body of Christ works together. When pastors
are willing to put aside their logos and their egos to work together, an entire
city can be impacted.
This is the
miracle we experienced in Madagascar. Arriving three days before the Gospel
Festival was scheduled to begin, I asked a pastor at the airport, “What are the
churches doing to prepare for the Festival?” He eagerly told me, “Tomorrow, we
are meeting in the marketplace to pass out invitations to everyone there.”
The next morning,
I was tired from jet lag but decided to go to the market to see for myself what
was happening. To be honest, I thought there would be 15-20 people participating,
but to my surprise, hundreds of church members from all over the city were
gathered.
One man brought
a bucket of homemade glue so he could stick posters to the walls. Another
pastor had the creative idea to turn the Festival posters into walking
advertisements. Church members glued a cardboard strip to the top of each
poster and used string to turn the posters into a costume for a human
billboard. They had prepared enough posters for everyone to wear.
The marketplace
in Antananarivo is several streets wide and two kilometers long. It has
everything that a Wal-Mart offers, but each item comes from a different shop.
If you want tomatoes, you visit the tomato stall. If you want batteries, you stroll
down a couple of streets and visit a battery store. If you want to buy a
pencil, you go and visit a stationary merchant.
The teams fanned
out across the marketplace and offered every person the enclosed flyer with the
details of the Gospel Festival, visiting every stall and shop. They also asked,
“What do you need prayer for?” Right there in the market square, before the
festival even began, people were giving their lives to Jesus.
Our first day in
the marketplace was so successful that the believers decided to return the following
day. But on the second day, they brought their musical instruments. Soon, the
sounds of drums, horns, guitars, and accordions filled the city center. The churches
formed a parade and danced, sang and played in the streets.
As they marched,
they announced, “If you need salvation, come to the Festival. If you need
healing, come to the Festival. If you enjoy music, come to the Festival.”
Because of the enthusiasm of the churches, thousands of Malagasy people came to
the parking lot next to the soccer stadium right in the middle of downtown Antananarivo.
Thousands of people were saved at our Gospel Festival.
It is your
faithful financial support that allows us to print posters and flyers to invite
people to come hear the Gospel and receive Jesus as their personal Lord and
Savior. Thank you! The part you play in helping us to print these flyers is
just as important as the role of the believers who hand them out by the
thousands, and their role is just as important as that of the preacher who
shares the good news and invites people to respond to the altar call. We are
all part of the body of Christ and every role is important. Thank you for
playing your part in helping us impact the nation of Madagascar with the story
of Jesus Christ!
