Written by: CFAN
Article source: JOY! Magazine
After 3 months of intensive training in evangelism at our CfaN headquarters in Florida, over 90 Evangelism Bootcamp students recently packed their bags and headed to Tanzania in East Africa. This was the Bootcamp Initiation trip, the real-world test of all the training they’d received.
During Bootcamp, the students learnt how to preach a Gospel sermon and pray for the sick, how to pack your suitcase, how to deal with cultural differences, how to ground themselves in prayer and worship – and so much more. After class and on the weekends, they put their growing skills into action, conducting daily outreaches in malls and on the streets. When it was time to leave for Tanzania, the atmosphere was electric with excitement and anticipation.
Once they landed, teams were sent to different towns to immediately start doing outreaches, saturating each town in the Gospel. At the same time, they were preparing for a final Gospel Campaign in each city, working together with the local churches. They began the preparations whilst still in Florida, but there was still much to do on the ground – preaching in local congregations, training up local counsellors and ushers, finalising permits, and more. These town campaigns are just like the larger events that CfaN puts on.
Here are just a few of the wonderful stories that the Bootcamp students have shared of their life-changing Bootcamp Initiation Trip…
‘Not today, devil!’
The day started a little rocky. Wet weather made the roads a slippery mess. Our minivan struggled to gain traction as it lurched down the road to the location for the Kids’ Outreach. The driver struggled to understand our team captain. The GPS struggled to find our position. The enemy was making an all-out assault to prevent children from hearing the Gospel. We prayed and let the devil know: “Not today!”
The first outreach went well. We saw many children reach their hands in the air for salvation and to receive the Holy Spirit. After the prayer of salvation, the song “One Way Jesus” rang through the hills of Tanzania! We had the opportunity to pray for several deaf children. We were also able to share with several of the adults and asked them to continue to disciple the children. The Holy Spirit protected and empowered us to preach the Gospel in the middle of bad weather, muddy roads, and the Muslim holiday of Ramadan. We packed our gear and lurched out on the muddy roads once again to go and preach the Gospel. – Phillip Anderson
Set free and saved from suicidal thoughts!
There was a man who gave his life to Jesus and stayed around for the healing prayer. After the meeting, we were able to talk to him, and he told the team that the previous night he was going to commit suicide. He battled with depression and heard the Gospel being preached and gave his life to Jesus! He was immediately delivered and no longer wanted to kill himself. Hallelujah! – Hannah VanSteenvoort
The Fatherhood of God touched her heart and healed her
I had the opportunity to minister to a woman who was tormented for over eight years from unclean spirits. She first repented of her sins and received the gift of salvation. Afterwards, the Lord revealed that the open door to the demons was the spirit of rejection. We broke the curses and delivered her from the spirit of rejection. The Fatherhood of God touched her heart and healed her from the wounds of rejection and abandonment. She had a beautiful smile come upon her face. She was delivered and set free. Praise God! She then wanted her mom to be set free. We got into the car and drove to her house. While there, her mom, along with four others, called upon the Lord. Her daughter was healed from mental illness, she was healed of ulcers, and we prayed for all of them to be baptised in the Holy Spirit. A man who had come up to join them was also saved and filled with the Holy Spirit. He was visibly touched by the power of God. I praise the Lord for all He has done! – Abraham Lankford
Only by the grace of God
It has been an absolute joy to labour side by side with incredible evangelists, leaders, local pastors, interpreters, ushers, and dancers. My heart leaps to be in Tanzania! My love for this country and people grows daily and every day that goes by I realise how as we surrender our lives more to Jesus, it becomes more and more impossible to do anything without the grace and strength of God. If I were to stop seeking the Lord and stop trusting Him, everything would crumble away. It is only by the utter grace, mercy, and love of God that any of this is possible. I speak the following from a personal point of view, but I know my fellow Bootcamp evangelists have witnessed Jesus do the same incredible things across Tanzania through their lives. Each day I have preached to hundreds and sometimes thousands of people at a time. Each day I have seen hands go up to receive salvation, each day I have seen miraculous healings – the lame walk, the blind see, and pain that lasted years completely healed. – Claire Smart
The whole village prayed
One day when I preached on healing in a village, a man came forward to testify that he was healed! However, something must have been missed in translation as he spoke a tribal language, not Swahili. I had to get another translator to translate from Swahili. Then he said he was not yet healed and needed prayer. He was already on stage, so I had the entire village stretch out their hands towards him as I prayed and broke that infirmity from his body in Jesus’ Name. His knees were healed instantly, and he was bending down doing squats on stage! It was wild! – Jacqui Ford
The vision is becoming reality
We are overjoyed at the wonderful success of this Bootcamp Initiation trip. It’s inspiring and motivating to see the passion and dedication of these freshly minted evangelists as they pour themselves out for the Gospel. We’ve seen the investment into their lives pay out the greatest possible dividend – hundreds of thousands of people giving their lives to Jesus.
But of course, this is not an ending. It’s just the beginning! The next CfaN Evangelism Bootcamp with over 140 new students is happening in a few months’ time. The Decade of Double Harvest vision that God placed in our hearts is becoming reality before our very eyes.
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Date published: 22/06/2021
Feature image: CfaN
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