Jesus Film & Church Dedication

This is Pastor Jomah Kollie.

Wow! what an amazing man, a man we have all come to know and love here in Liberia. Pastor Jomah has a heart to see people changed by the power of God and has been going out with our Jesus film team 2-3 times week. It has been great to have this man come alongside our teams and for us to know that any seeds that are sown and any lives that have been committed to Christ, that he will be there to follow up. In our time here it has been estimated that 30,000 have seen the Jesus film and 20,000 have made a commitment in some way.

Pastor Jomah has a muslim background and was the first in his family to become a christian and so his family disowned him and left him to fend for himself. In the war he was with some friends when they encountered rebels. He stood and watched as the rebels shot his friends one by one, but decided to let him go. As he ran for his life, they opened fire, amazingly only one bullet got him in his hand. As a result he lost the lower part of this left arm.

How would you feel if, many years down the road, you suddenly came face to face with that killer? This is what happened to Pastor Jomah. He decided to approach the killer and forgave him and continued to witness the love of Christ to him week by week. Now this man is part of Jomah's ministry in church planting and the Jesus film. Amazing what can be done in the name of Jesus. A couple of weeks ago we had the pleasure of attending a new church plant in one of the villages where the Jesus film has been shown.

We started off with baptism's at a small stream about 2 miles away. That was a bit of a shock as we hadn't thought about embarking on a 2 mile hike through the bush and also our shoes hadn't either!....our 1st African Top Tip, next time go prepared, strappy sandals just don't work!.....2nd Top Tip, we need to buy a toddler backpack so we can carry Nathanael on our backs!.......3rd Top Tip, a good foot soak helps nine blisters!

Click play to hear the celebration start with African singing:

After the baptism, we had the church dedication. The village had amazingly built this mud church in 3 weeks, they even borrowed the tin roof as they couldn't afford to pay for it yet.

(A new church)

(Mud walls)

Many came to be a part of this occasion and under the mud exterior it was surprisingly cooler than outside. Many church leaders from the surrounding area attended and even somebody from the Salvation army came, along with his hat which looked fun against his african shirt.