OVER 350 SOULS BAPTIZED INTO CHRIST in June
MALAWI
Above shows the tent meeting in Lilongwe, the capital city of Malawi. It was wonderful how the congregations worked together to make it a success. The brethren fed us, loved us and encouraged us whilst working with them.
You can see many of the people could not get into the tent and had to sit on the outside of the tent. 10 souls were baptised during our meeting in area 23/24. It was wonderful.
As the tent was erected and sermons preached, many World Bible School lessons were handed out. The brethren from Malawi assisted in handing out the lessons, as well as answering as many Bible questions as possible. The whole idea is to sow the seed and stimulate evangelism.
Above shows how we preach without putting up the tent. Just stop in the market place and preach. Many people come around and hear the Word. They also get free WBS lessons.
As one preaches, people repent and are baptized. You can see me attending Sunday service with my jeans on. Not the right thing to do, but I had no option for my luggage went missing on route to Malawi. It did eventually arrive. Lets just say, I had to rough it up for a number of days. I also got some tummy bug and that got me running to the long drop and back. They say: Africa is not for sissies.
We then went on to the prison. Brother Gondwe, who has a Senior position in the Malawian government, heads up the prison ministry. He got journalists from the TV and Newspaper to witness the Gospel Chariot working at the local prison. We preached and handed out lessons. 80 people came forward to be baptized. The journalist questioned us, saying we thought you were going to be preaching and handing out lessons. They said, you did not mention anything about baptism. Brother Gondwe appropriately replied: 'It is the POWER of the Gospel that brought them forward'. I have never seen so many being baptized. It was hectic.
It really was hectic. 80 people being baptized.They were pushing and shoving. Last year 50 were saved at the same prison. Brother Gondwe is doing a wonderful job. We then handed out literature and they fought over it. God is working in Africa. Yes, even in the Prisons. Many prisons. Every office of ours has a prison ministry at this time. Something we did not initially plan. God showed us through our data base. We soon found out that we needed to do something.
Then when lessons and literature were handed out, they fought over it. I stood there and could not believe what I was seeing. Brethren, this kind of thing just inspires us to do even more. We need to find more literature. The week before we got to Lilongwe, 95 high school students were baptized into Christ. That happened in the north of Malawi. The brethren of the Church in the area were so happy, because many of their children in their community were baptized.
This was amazing. As I stood there they were fighting to get up onto the stage. Then, when they were up on the stage, they were pushing and shoving to get into the little change room to get changed into wet baptism garments. Some were in such a hurry, they were stripping naked. We had to tell them to keep their clothes on. The Chariots work best when we work with brethren from the other different countries. Just like in this case. Brother Gondwe goes in every week. We now come along and assist. Then after our departure he continues with those new Christians.
These are the men working with us in Malawi. From right is Moster Kanyinji, our main coordinator in Malawi, a highly respected brother. Then we have Harrison Nkabelani, who is also a Malawian, but who lives in Plettenberg Bay with me. We taught him to drive last year and so he works most of the time with me planting congregations in the Cape, except for June and July, when he joins the Chariot in Malawi. It is wonderful to have a right hand man who knows Malawi. The man with the blue shirt is Dimpo Motimele from our GCM Pretoria office. Dimpo works with me on all planning and strategies. He also teaches at our Pretoria Bible School. This man will run GCM one day. I really believe so. He is helping in Malawi while Harrison gets driving experience. Then we have Langton from Blantyre in the south of Malawi. Great men these are...Amen
Above, another great evangelist. Bongani Mabena. Bongani works on Chariot 1. He has been with GCM for some time now. He has traveled as far north as Kenya with GCM. He has a wife and son. The photos show Chariot 1 working in Venda. There were 25 souls baptised this month of June. I have just returned from Venda and some great things are happening regarding this work.
Above shows the preaching of the Gospel during the day as well as at night. Brother OT Malindi heads up the work in Venda. He works with many congregations to make this all happen every year. Gospel Chariot Missions has an office in Venda. We also almost finished building the Bible School. Read below and see some exciting developments in Venda.
Here you can see local preachers taking turns to preach the Gospel. The brethren in Venda are a lot like the brethren in Malawi. They plan the Gospel meetings months before the Chariots arrive. They get all the congregations involved. So it is not a burden on one man or one congregation. They do a fantastic job. The Chariots are used for revivals, church plantings and even leadership training. Hundreds are baptized every year, but the wonderful thing is, they look after the young Christians and young congregations.
ZAMBIA AND TANZANIA
Above shows the preaching in Zambia and Tanzania. Jonas Maseka from Rundu works with us on this Chariot. As you can see sometimes the tent is erected and sometimes not. This is the same Chariot that is now in Malawi. It left South Africa in March. Then went onto Namibia, Zambia, Tanzania. What we do, is rotate drivers as the months go by.
The Gospel Chariots attract attention and people listen. The Chariot will stop in Market places and we put chairs out for people to sit on. People will come over and listen to the Word. This way, one can preach in a number of areas in one day. Meaning more people will hear and more WBS lessons will be distributed.
Here you can see the Gospel being preached in a park setting with some trees supplying some shade. In Zambia GCM works with brother Rabson Mhango from Lusaka. This year saw us work with the Namwiango mission in the southern part of Zambia. There were 20 baptisms there. Zambia is slow compared to Malawi, but it is getting better every year as they learn to work with us. Our dream is to get all countries running on all cylinders.
Here you can see the preaching taking place in the evening We have a DVD player that shows movies explaining the Gospel. We also entertain the little ones. God really works through the Chariots. It gets the crowds to come in. At night if you are showing a DVD, they will want to watch it until midnight or later. There are no movies in these areas. We have the Gospel. We have the Ordinance. All we need, is to get even more organized. The potential of reaching millions is in our hands. I get so excited when I travel from one office to the other and from one Chariot to the other. At times I am the only white person around. Moving from one township and village to the other. Then onto the offices in the Big Cities. Often I stop and think: what am I doing? Then I realise, living my dream out for the Lord. Discovering my God-given purpose in life. I George Funk am truly a happy man. I need to thank you all for helping me live a dream.
VENDA BIBLE SCHOOL
Above shows the Venda Bible School being built at the Tshidimbini Church of Christ. This congregation will oversee the Bible School. There are about 800 in attendance on Sundays. That is including all the youth. You can see the leaders, Brother O.T Malindi on the right with Wilson Malotsha and Joseph Razwiedani. There are 60 congregations in Venda. Our plan is to use these brethren and this school for mission work. On one side pushing down south to Nelspruit and the borders of Swaziland and Mozambique. On the north side crossing into Zimbabwe. This is our dream. Taking Africans to evangelize Africa. We are humbled and blessed to work with such people as the Vendans. Remember we are working in Durban, Pretoria, Nelspruit, Bloemfontein, Windhoek and the Cape. Then we have the Chariots crossing borders as far north as Kenya. To tell you the truth, it makes me tired just flying and visiting all the works. Imagine trying to do all the work. It never was God's plan to do it all, but rather to entrust it to reliable men, who will be qualified to teach others. As I like to say. TEAM WORK IS DREAM WORK. ITS NOT HOW HARD YOU WORK, BUT HOW SMART YOU WORK. Something else I really believe in, is, if you want to help yourself, help others. By doing this you will accomplish much. Surround yourself with good people. That is truly what I am trying to do. The GCM team need to be commended. In months to come, I will be introducing you to the team. Dynamite surely does come in small packets. We are only a team of about 12 people.PLEASE CONTINUE TO PRAY FOR OUR EFFORTS AND REMEMBER WE CANNOT DO WHAT WE ARE DOING WITHOUT YOU: OUR SUPPORTERS.
WE GIVE GOD THE GLORY.
In Him.
George Funk
