Dear Friends & Family, I hope this finds you doing well. It is end of a very fruitful month. Renewing TV contracts, acquiring new stations, developing new languages, recording podcasts and traveling internationally have caused me to rely on the grace of God like never before. The highlight of the month was, of course, my travels to Nigeria. Out of all the countries in Africa, Nigeria is one that I have never been to and I was a bit apprehensive bringing my youngest son Rhett with me. We began distributing our Youthbtye discipleship tools throughout the nation earlier this year and its reception has been amazing. One of the participating church organizations asked if I would come and be a part of a yearly youth event entitled “Embrace”. This event draws teens from all walks of life, providing a venue to not only proclaim the word of God publicly, but also hear from some of the nations biggest names in Christian music. As with many other African events, the festivities always begin late and always finish later than expected and this event was no different. Scheduled for 12 hours, this Good Friday event proved to be a test in patience and grace. I took the stage at 2:30am, 2 hours later than was initially planned, but this snag actually worked out well as it allowed even more hungry souls to enter the venue.
The event began at 6pm and finished at 6am. I got on the stage at 2:30am and shouted the house down for an hour. The altar response was powerful!
I was honored to be able to speak Easter morning at a local church. I must admit I felt a bit underdressed.
As usual, the spirit of God honored the preaching of His word and began to move over the crowd of teens, which had grown to over 15,000. I was amazed that as the Word of God was read, the crowd of usually boisterous souls quieted to almost a whisper. When I was concluding the message you could feel the tangible presence of God descend on the grounds. As I made an appeal for Christ, hundreds stood and began making their way towards the front of the stage. With hands lifted and voices raised, I was again amazed at God’s grace and how it had again provided a fresh start to all who responded in faith. After a prayer I asked, “Who at the altar and in the crowd felt a call to be in full-time ministry?” Hundreds of hands shot towards the sky in response. The host pastor looked back at me with great surprise and smiled knowing that God was preparing an army of young people to proclaim Jesus as Lord throughout the nation of Nigeria. Thanks for helping us add to the Kingdom of God!
We had a layover on our flight home and I had the honor of showing Rhett around Amsterdam. He was amazed!