Africa Mission Trip - July 4th- through 17th

2624 Received Christ

in Abuja, Abeokuta and Lagos, Nigeria

July 5th - 17th

CLICK THE VIDEOS ON THE LEFT OF THE PAGE

to see the video of the trip to Nigeria. It is in two parts.

. On my first day in Nigeria I was privileged to preach both morning and evening for Pastor Simon Peter Nyam at the Bible Baptist Church in Abuja.

Meeting in this temporary tent - 28 people walked the aisle trusting Christ that day.

NATIONAL PASTORS WITH OUR TEAM AT THE SOUL WINNING
LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE

The conference began on Monday with Dr. Mike Wells and the I.W.W.E. team of Dr. Dave Baker, Dr. Ken Shinn and myself at the first annual Pastors' School and Soul Winning Leadership Conference held at the Truth Baptist Church in Abuja.

40 national pastors attended, learning practical instructions for building soul winning churches in their own cities. During the conference I had the opportunity to preach in 2 private schools. There is a nationwide teachers strike and all the public schools were closed. I was privileged to preach twice in the conference to these precious national pastors.

On Thursday evening at the close of the conference 22 young men surrendered to preach the gospel. Missionaries Mark Holmes and Ron Gensaw have begun a Bible College to train these and other young men for the ministry. The pastors went soul winning on the streets with our team and there were 801 people saved in Abuja.

Missionary Ron Gensaw and Family

Missionary Mark Holmes and Family

On Friday morning I left with Pastor Waley Orekan and his family on a 10 hour drive to Abeokuta,where we would meet up with Dr. Tim Pledger, my pastor's son.

Dr. Pledger had already preached a few days in village areas and numbers of precious souls had already been saved that week near Abeokuta.

IN PERILS OF ROBBERS !

Robbers tried to hold us up, stopping our vehicle, but we foiled their plan and got away. That is a very common occurance in that area of Africa. About 45 minutes farther down the road 3 armed men pulled us over and blocked the road. When they saw that I was the only white person in the car, one of the men walked around the car and opened my door telling me to get out. I was a little apprehensive for a few minutes as he asked me if I really was a missionary. He then took off his hat, told me his name was Matthew, and asked me to pray for him. We gave those men gospels of John and Romans and went on our way praising the Lord !

We spent Saturday preaching in market places, standing on top of the church van while huge crowds gathered around.

On Sunday morning dressed in Nigerian garb, I preached in an all deaf church. With Grace interpreting. I called her "Amazing" Grace. They have had a high of 250 deaf adults in their services and are building a 1000 seat auditorium. 4 Deaf adults trusted Christ in the invitation.

We left immediately for the Solid Rock Baptist Church in Abeokuta. Dr. Tim Pledger began that church when he was a missionary in Nigeria. The people expected me to be there at 11:00 but I did not get there till 12:15. They were so gracious and patient singing until I arrived. We had a great service with 13 people saved. I baptized 6 people that morning in a baptistry filled with buckets of water that the ladies carried a great distance. The sacrifices of the people amazed me! Sunday evening we showed the Jesus Film from the roof of the church building and then Dr. Pledger preached. Many people from the neighborhood came and trusted Christ in the invitation.

DR. TIM PLEDGER PREACHING IN AN OPEN AIR MARKET

Monday through Wednesday we preached in the saw mill, under a bridge and in the Destitute Camp where hundreds of lepers, blind and cripple people live. I preached from the roof of the church van again with a church member interpreting in Yoruba and another person then interpreting in Housa.

Then Dr. Pledger preached again with an interpreter directly to a large group of blind ladies and many of them received Jesus Christ as their saviour. Over 150 people trusted Christ in the Destitute Camp

PART OF OUR TEAM THAT WENT TO THE FISHING VILLAGE TO PREACH

Our most exciting meetings were in the Mokoko fishing village to the Egun People. 17,000 people live in stilt houses with 4,000 children. Life expectancy is under age 40 and we saw no elderly people in the entire village. Mosquitoes were thick and Malaria and Typhoid are serious problems. There is no electricity and the water is nasty. We preached to the people using large visual aids and showed them the Jesus Film in their dialect.

The chief of the village was one of many that trusted Christ.

Bro. Tim Pledger in the Mokoto Fishing Village with the Egun People

GOING HUT TO HUT INVITING PEOPLE TO THE MEETINGS

In the film, Jesus worked the miracles with the loaves and fishes feeding 5,000 and he told Peter and John to cast their nets on the other side of the boat and the nets were filled with a multitude of fishes. At those two moments the fishermen in the village erupted with excitement and cheers.

When the soldiers drove nails into the hands of Jesus, the people in one great voice groaned a terrible groan. The story of Jesus was new to them and with no electricity, they had not ever seen a film.

Bro. Tim and I with Pastor Waley and his family
on the Rock overlooking Abeokuta

It was sad saying good bye to those precious people and to the many friends we made in Nigeria. On Thursday I flew back to Abuja and spent a wonderful day with the Holmes Family and Bro. Gensaw. I flew out of Nigeria Thursday evening at 9:00 p.m. and arrived in Jacksonville, Florida Friday evening at 5:30.

God bless each of you who made my trip possible with your gifts, prayers and love. In heaven one day you will meet many who will thank you also.

Dr. Dave Douglass, Dr. Tim Pledger and our I.W.W.E. Team!