Day 5: Sunday Service
Last year, I had the privilege to preach in the tent for the Sunday service. It was like preaching under the big top! I must have done well enough because they asked me to preach again this year. Not only is it amazing to preach to them, but this year it was also my 33rd birthday!
My message was based on “the wordless book” which explains the Gospel in a few colored pages. I gave a variant of this message a week and a half before at Mountaintop for a family service, and although I didn’t use Play-doh like I did then, I think the message came across clearly.
While I was waiting for my turn to preach, a young boy came over to me and was hanging out for awhile. He ended up just laying on my chest and falling asleep! I wish I knew what his name was, but it was a pretty cool beginning to the service for me.
When I first started preaching, there was a woman translating for me. Her name is Anna, and she has a special place in the heart of our group because she named a child after someone in our group, Austin. She translated for about two minutes, and then another gentleman came up to translate, his name is Pastor George. I had not met him before, but we were a great team preaching together. There’s just something about having a shadow, someone else with energy that really pumps me up while I preach!
I found out the next day why he wasn’t up there in the very beginning with me. It turns out that he was driving to the village (he lives about 20 miles away) and there was a car coming around the corner that hit him, and his car went into a ditch! It took about two hours for someone to come and help pull him out of the ditch, and then he came straight to the village. Needless to say he was a bit frazzled for being so late, but I didn’t even know it!
I mentioned on Day 3 about the feeling of electricity in my hands while I was praying, and I felt it again while I was preaching. It was only there for a short time, but I could definitely feel it.
Remember Austin? This child is probably two years old now, and he wouldn’t stay in his seat during my preaching. Well it turned out he was walking around the whole time during my message, going from person to person. He even at some points was hanging out by me! I only noticed him once, and apparently I almost stepped on him a few other times! (I just noticed, he’s in the top picture by the pole, with his back turned to the camera!)
After the service, the group headed out to a place called God’s Window, which is a view of a good portion of South Africa. When I was describing it to my wife, she said, “kind of like Rock City when you look out on seven states?” I guess you could say that, minus all of the gnomes! In the picture with me is my roommate on the trip, Chad.
Needless to say, after a day like this, I was whooped! People ask me how I thought the sermon went, and really I never know what to say. I usually say the things I planned to say, and other things I didn’t plan to say, but I have no idea what sort of impact it makes on people. The people in my group are always for loving and encouraging about it, and I really appreciate their feedback. I guess my prayer always is for people to be impacted more by the word of God, rather than the vehicle he is using to say it!









