Nelson Mandela Bay pastors, prayer warriors and Christian volunteers who have been pulling together to prepare for an evangelism crusade in the metro’s gang-violence-plagued Northern Areas next week were excited today to see the 5 000 seat crusade tent going up.
What began as a vision about two months ago, when Evangelist Nicky Coetzee from Cape Town asked if he would gather pastors to help host a huge crusade in the metro, now was reality, said Pastor Terence Faltein of AFM, Korsten and coordinator of the Tell Them Evangelism Crusade. The free-entry event will be on the Park United Sports Field, Arcadia, Gqeberha from Sunday October 26 to Wednesday October 29 — from 6pm on Sunday and from 7pm on the other nights.
Faltein said the arrival of the huge tent which Coetzee had brought with him from Cape Town was a miracle in itself “for which we give all praise to the Lord”. He said Coetzee who took over his late father’s tent evangelism ministry about 30 years ago, had told him he felt he needed to hold a campaign in Gqeberha because he had never ministered there before. Afterwards he planned to hold more tent campaigns in Kariega (Uitenhage), East London, King William’s Town and Queenstown, before possibly heading for KwaZulu-Natal next year.
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Faltein said he had invited NMB church leaders to a meeting about the proposed crusade and had received a very positive response from more than 20 churches. Various coordinators were appointed to head up different areas of the campaign and many volunteers came on board.
Over the past month local pastors have shared promotional videos on the Tell Them Evangelism Campaign Facebook page
He said he was also grateful to the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality for supporting the crusade and making it possible for the event to take place. In a Facebook video, the speaker for the NMB Council, Eugene Johnson, urged residents in Arcadia and surrounding Northern Areas suburbs to attend the crusade nights “because we know that this event will change the lives of our people”.
Faltein said the organising team had felt that in addition to making a spiritual impact through the Gospel crusade they should have a socioeconomic impact. Accordingly, they will offer empowerment sessions for women at 10am daily and run a children’s church from 2pm to 3pm each day.
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He said that the team had studied some notable past crusades such as those led by Billy Graham in order to understand the prerequisites for success. “One of them was unity, and we sense a great sense of unity among church leaders to make this one work. We foresee it being the first of many. I don’t want to talk big but I believe if we can pull this one off, we can pull off a stadium crusade one day.
“And so, we’re trusting the Lord that we can have that faith to do it for the sake of our city. I believe that Port Elizabeth (Gqeberha, NMB) will become a place where God rules and reigns.”
Faltein said the team had noted that another prerequisite for a successful crusade was prayer. They appointed Pastor Joan Keeling as the campaign prayer coordinator and she had assembled a team of 166 prayer warriors and had a 24-7 prayer chain going over the past month. “So we’re trusting that a mighty revival will come to Port Elizabeth.”
Keeling told Gateway News: “The people have been faithful in prayer. Over the years many have received the same Word from the Lord: Isaiah 60 and 62. First given in 1978, people at different stages have received those Scriptures from the Lord about the move of God coming to the Bay.
“There has been a tremendous unity among the pastors and the prayer warriors/Intercessors during this campaign and those Scriptures have been foundational to this event – more so than at any other event that I have been involved in previously.”
She said there is great excitement and an expectancy among people about the Tell Them Crusade. “Some of the intercessors were saved in 1975 in a tent campaign held just opposite the field where this tent is standing.They feel that this is very significant!”
Keeling said the 24/7 prayer chain list on their WhatsApp Group is growing daily. They are trusting to grow that number from the current 94 to 120 “like there were in the Upper Room. We are looking to the Lord for similar results to the happenings in Acts Chapters 1 and 2”.
“Besides the prayer warriors on the Tell Them WhatsApp group, intercessors from right around NMB and even some praying contacts from the wider Eastern Cape, are praying with us for this very special event!
She said that over recent weeks crusade prayer pointers had gone out to 6 200 PE Churchnet subscribers and by email to 540 pastors/churches. They had also been prayed over and broadcast by Kingfisher FM during the past couple of weeks at 7.15am on Sundays.
Referring to a 3-weeks Christ for All Nations evangelism campaign in NMB in August, she said:”We have just seen 131 171 people saved in our area through the CFAN Motherwell Invasion and through the CFAN Motherwell Crusade another 1 9 00 + with 19 people being baptised.
“God seems to be targeting NMB, which is in itself an answer to prayer!”In video messages on the Tell Them Evangelistic Facebook page NMB pastors urge people to attend the crusade and invite others for a time of praise, miracles and revival” and “four nights of life-changing encounters”.
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