22 - 24 October: The main weekend of the special
outreach in Orange Farm has been a great blessing to everyone. It was such a joy to see
the enthusiastic response of the crowds accepting the invitation made by Rev Erlo Stegen
to make a public decision for the Lord by coming to the front. Many hundreds came at each
altar call and prayed out aloud to receive Jesus Christ as Saviour and turn away from
their old life of sin. From little children to old grannies, there was an overwhelmingly
positive response.
One of the highlights of the 3 day outreach at the Chris Hani stadium was the arrival of
the Eurochoir. The 160 member choir of
young people from different European countries gave an outstanding performance during the
Saturday afternoon meeting. The Euro Choir gave beautiful renderings of some well-known
hymns and songs and, to the delight of the thousands gathered on the field, sang a Zulu
song too.
Rev Erlo Stegen preached in Zulu which the locals thoroughly appreciated. Each sermon
was on the theme of "Seek first the Kingdom...", Matthew 6:33. True blessing,
success and progress is through finding Jesus Christ and living for him alone. His
rightousness, through His giving Himself on the Cross, saves everyone who comes to Him and
they are then enabled to walk the path of righteousness instead of the old way of sin,
death and destruction.
Various pastors and bishops from the local areas also participated. Rev Chauke, famous
for his youth work, delighted the crowds by teaching to sing "I've been a sinner for
too long, but now I'm turning to the Lord."
The Lord provided food to feed thousands. We praise God for the hardworking team that
cooked vast amounts of food.
22 Oct: The week leading into the main weekend of services has been a
time of enormous response and goodwill from the local people and churches. Teams have been
invited to a host of different denominations during the past few Sundays. Also,
opportunities have been made available at schools, sometimes up to 13 schools a day.
Please pray that the Lord Jesus Christ will be glorified!
26 Sep to 1 Oct: The last week of pre-Orange Farm Outreach meetings has seen up to 3000
people attending the evening meetings during the week from 26 September until 1 October.
There was an overwhelming response from the audience and many surrendered to the Lord.
Christian films were also shown in open-air venues (which are mostly rubbish dumps).
A special preparation meeting for organisers, ushers, counsellors and other helpers,
was held on Saturday 2 October in a local hall (Meyerton). About 480 attended the training
which was from 9am till 5pm. About 40 ministers (including military chaplains) were part
of the group.
Since mid-September Kwasizabantu teams have preached in many Sunday services of various
church denominations.
Orange Farm used to be a "squatter" area and is now home to over a million
people.
The Orange Farm Outreach was arranged for the weekend of 22 to 24 October 2004 in
the `Chris Hani Stadium'. The Euro Choir presented their first performance on
Saturday afternoon 23 October.
(Orange Farm local Evaton cemetry buries 130 people every weekend.)
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