Germany
October 23 to November 1, 2003, we held evangelistic meetings in Berlin, Germany’s capital city. It was a very special event–well planned and coordinated by the brethren. Here is an incomplete list of preparations they undertook to make this campaign a success:
1. They printed colorful, attractive invitations and distributed them in different neighborhoods of the city.
2. Closed circuit television advertising of the meetings was broadcast.
3. They gave out Christian literature to people in downtown shopping centers.
4. The believers in Berlin worked diligently to personally invite their friends and neighbors to the nine multi-media presentations.
I am reminded here of the counsel of Ellen White: “There is need of coming close to the people by personal effort. If less time were given to sermonizing, and more time were spent in personal ministry, greater results would be seen.” The Ministry of Healing, p. 143.
“The Lord desires that His word of grace shall be brought home to every soul.
“To a great degree this must be accomplished by personal labor. This was Christ’s method.” Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 229.
5. Individual and collective prayers were sent up to heaven to ask the Lord for guidance and power.
As a result of good planning and the Lord’s help, the meetings were well attended each evening. The slide presentations contained colorful graphics, Bible texts, and occasionally animation and sound that appealed to the heart. This method of labor proved very effective in presenting the truth of God for these times.
“Men are needed who pray to God for wisdom, and who, under the guidance of God, can put new life into the old methods of labor and can invent new plans and new methods of awakening the interest of church members and reaching the men and women of the world.” Evangelism, p. 105.
Bulgaria
November 4 to 6 and 10 to 12 we held evangelistic meetings in downtown Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. A nice-size hall was rented in a good area of the city, a location that helped attract visitors to the meetings.
“It requires money to carry the message of warning to the cities. It is sometimes necessary to hire at large expense the most popular halls, in order that we may call the people out. Then we can give them Bible evidence of the truth.” Evangelism, p. 75
As in Germany, the six nightly meetings in Sofia were also enhanced by the use of visual presentations and sacred music. Ellen G. White has good counsel in regards to singing. “There is great pathos and music in the human voice, and if the learner will make determined efforts, he will acquire habits of talking and singing that will be to him a power to win souls to Christ.” Evangelism, p. 504.
“There are those who have a special gift of song, and there are times when a special message is borne by one singing alone or by several uniting in song. But the singing is seldom to be done by a few. The ability to sing is a talent of influence, which God desires all to cultivate and use to His name’s glory.” Testimonies for the Church, vol. 7, pp. 115, 116 (1902).
November 9, several of us had a wonderful opportunity to visit a government orphanage where we saw about 40 children, ages eight to eighteen. They all seemed very happy to see us–adults who cared and showed interest in them. It was very moving to witness the warmth that radiated from their faces. They all seemed to me like little magnets tugging at the hearts of their charmed and smitten visitors. They were so hungry for love and affection! Is there an inspired counsel for us to follow in this regard?
“Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.” James 1:27.
“For I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.” Matthew 25:35, 36.
Italy
The small town of Giulianova on the Adriatic coast was the place where evangelistic meetings were held November 17 to 22. For this special occasion, we rented a beautiful and spacious hall on top of a hill. A group of dedicated brethren who came to Giulianova for a missionary training seminar distributed 17,000 invitations. They placed large and small posters on walls and storefronts throughout the town. An advertisement appeared even on the front cover of a local newspaper informing the town about our outreach.
The Lord heard the prayers of the believers who desired that sincere souls would come to these presentations on end-time prophecy. The call of the Lord brought new visitors to the hall every evening where they also heard special music by brother and sister Salemi and brother Yapci Trujillo Pérez from the Canary Islands. The songs were truly beautiful and inspiring. God be praised for the gift of singing of these three young people! All in all, the evangelistic meetings were successful in reaching people who had a hunger for truth and righteousness. We left behind souls who want to enroll in the Bible correspondence course and receive Bible studies. May the Lord bless all the follow-up work that needs to be done in the little town of Giulianova, Italy.
Kenya
November 26 to December 4 we held evangelistic meetings in the village of south Kisii. This hilly, predominately agricultural area has a dry climate and is without electricity or running water. Nevertheless, the brethren were able to hook up a generator to light up the meeting hall and provide electricity for the video projector and laptop computer. White bed sheets served adequately as the projection screen. Some nights the crowds were so large–450 to 500 strong–that there just was not enough room for everyone inside the hall. Some had to look through the windows from the outside and scores of very well behaved children were seated on the floor. They were, literally, everywhere around my feet! Word spread quickly in the village that a white man had come to preach the Gospel. Curiosity and interest moved many to attend the public meetings. About 30 visitors had to walk by foot two hours from their homes. Their sacrifice and effort in attending the meetings proved a rich blessing to them. All the lectures uplifted Christ our Lord and urged everyone to prepare for His soon coming. I cannot forget to mention the superb singing of the Kenyan people. It was thrilling to hear the different groups and choirs sing without any musical instruments. What beautiful harmony!
Did you know that in one part of the capital city of Nairobi, the people do not have electricity or clean running water? Yes, that is the stark reality for one million destitute people who live in the second largest slum in Africa. They are deprived of the basic necessities of life, let alone the comforts and conveniences that you and I take for granted. The uneven, pot-holed dirt streets are littered with decaying matter and filthy garbage of broken bottles, rusted cans, greasy papers and other unsightly objects. As one walks the narrow streets, there are steady streams of foul-smelling sewer water flowing by the small, rusted sheet metal shacks. The sights and sounds are shocking and unimaginable to a Western foreigner. And yet, in these conditions of extreme poverty and wretchedness, there were a few people who were searching for God and who in their search found a wonderful treasure – God’s pure church.
On Sabbath, December 6, about 40 people gathered together to worship and praise the Lord. The building where they assembled was old, small, and much deteriorated. But they loved the Lord and were rich in faith. Poverty can sometimes lead people to the cross of Jesus.
What is your attitude toward the poor? Are you willing to reach out in a slum section of a large, wicked city to help the needy and hopeless? The prophet Isaiah gives us good advice on this subject: “Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?” Isaiah 58:7.
The Spirit of Prophecy says: “In the providence of God events have been so ordered that the poor are always with us, in order that there may be a constant exercise in the human heart of the attributes of mercy and love. Man is to cultivate the tenderness and compassion of Christ; he is not to separate himself from the sorrowing, the afflicted, the needy, and the distressed.” Signs of the Times, June 13, 1892.
“I think of the many cities and towns, even in our own country, that have never heard a discourse upon present truth, and have no knowledge of our faith, or of us as a people. The solemn warnings for this time have never fallen upon their ears or convicted their consciences. My burdened heart goes up to God in the wakeful hours of the night that he would work by whom he will, to warn the world of their coming doom. Who are living out their faith? Who, with singleness of purpose, are lifting up to the view of the impenitent, Jesus Christ and his matchless love? Where is the living zeal that will make the impression upon minds paralyzed with sin, that we believe what we profess, that the end of all things is at hand, and that what is done in the work of preparation must be done quickly?” Review and Herald, June 3, 1880.
May the Lord pour out His Spirit in Africa and in the entire world so that sinners yearning for salvation may be found. There is still a great missionary work to be done before our Savior’s return.
Children in an orphange in Bulgaria
Bulgaria 2003
Germany 2003
Missionary workers in Kenya
Kenya 2003
Evangelistic meetings in Kisii, Kenya