Dear friends,
Thank you for your prayers in behalf of this year’s conference, which just ended on Saturday. Our theme was “The Power of the Gospel.” God undertook for us, and I am profoundly grateful.
There were 390 participants present for the four-day event. That is our second highest attendance in the 24-year history of the conference.
Our American and Angolan speakers did a fine job. My own messages exceeded my expectations, which is explained by the fact that I sensed the Lord’s special help for three of them. What a privilege to preach on the themes of God’s grace and the features and examples the Scriptures give us of biblical faith!
Besides hearing six messages from the first four chapters of Romans, participants debated six case studies related to gospels that are often preached in churches today with results that fall short of what the Bible leads us to expect from genuine salvation.
I had a two hour workshop on eight declarations in common evangelistic presentations that deviate from and even contradict what the Bible teaches about salvation. These declarations were paired with eight alternate statements that woo and convict lost sinners in the same manner while agreeing completely with what the Bible says about that aspect of salvation doctrine. Besides the fact that these corrections avoid giving people a faulty understanding of God’s work in saving men, I am convinced the alternate statements are more effective in capturing the attention of those who listen to us than the contrived clichés and phrases that are intended to make the gospel palatable, easy, and mechanical but which end up contradicting Scripture!
Our two Mozambican preachers were outstanding, and I am sure many men returned home convinced and delighted that the two most powerful messages of the conference came from their own flesh and blood! One was entitled “Beware of the False Gospels” and dealt with five of the most common ones in Africa. The other message described in penetrating and exhilarating detail the workings of grace in the life of Naaman, the leper.
I have not had time to read the evaluations turned in by the conference participants, but here are four comments already circulating in social media or sent to me personally:
Thank you for this richly productive and powerful conference, whose full effect we cannot know immediately, even though there are indications that most of those present have now begun to understand the true gospel! The messages, the case studies, and the responses to questions and objections from the audience were all excellent.
Through Christ Jesus, the pride of man was cast down before the Sun of grace, the power that destroys us in order to rebuild us on the eternal Rock!
Congratulations to the organisers and speakers!
—Timothy Bila
With gratitude to God, I declare that this conference was not merely a conference, but a spiritual revival! May God bless all the speakers, and may he greatly bless the team that organised and executed the event!
—John Machaze
The conference was a genuine means of deliverance, transforming old men into new! I am grateful to have taken part in this spiritual feast for the saints in Christ Jesus!
—Brother James, 38 years old
We have six men from Cabo Delgado there this week. They shared with me last night how rich the time has been. How everything is centred around the Word. I thank the Lord for this conference and allowing so many to be exposed to teaching that is faithful to the text.
—Jason Smith, missionary to the province north of Nampula
For my part, I want to say a deeply felt thank you to all who heard my plea for prayer and then took this conference to the throne of grace and power! I am convinced that God heard and answered your prayers!
More will come, with photos, in a few weeks, after the two post-conference seminars have concluded.
In the service of our King of grace,
Charles Woodrow