What if? a success in Mombasa

The five-day what if? mission in Mombasa concluded last night. Christian from the Milele gospel group and Martin Luther King, Jr. Were right - music can be used to bring people together and to prepare their hearts to hear the message. And, Rick Warren was right. The HIV/AIDS pandemic will not go away until the church preaches it from the pulpit and until the pastors test and call their congregation to test. And, he was right when he said it wasn't being preached from the pulpit! The what if? campaign is changing that. In the five day mission in villages near Mombasa 8,200 people were reached with the message of salvation and HIV/AIDs prevention, 597 signed commitment cards to test, wait and be faithful and 108 received Christ.
Hear from the team themselves and feel the passion they have to reach their generation to be HIV-free and to save their children from AIDS.
From the team:
Yesterday was just a success. We first attended church at Pastor Peter's church, which was fantastic. Everyone loved the service, and when the Temples of Worship were presenting You Are My Foutain everyone stood to their feet and couldn't stop jumping and shouting... they really love those guys.

The Temples of Worship singing You Are My Fountain

I was shocked to hear the Pastor call me to the front to "speak to his people about AIDS, doing what I do best", and I went. I told the church about living pure in Christ, and I was surprised that half of the members test frequently. They hung on to every word I spoke, and agreed with me that it's the church that can be most effective in eradicating AIDS, first by living by example.
In the afternoon the concert started, and this day I really was surprised at how many people turned up. We had a crowd of over 3,000 people, and particularly today they were very responsive and participating, especially during the presentations by the Temples of Worship. I spoke and referred people to the nearest VCT, which coincidentally was a few meters from where we were. 295 commitment cards were signed yesterday, and 16 people gave their lives to Christ after Pastor Omondi preached.

People giving their lives to Christ in Watamu

It was hard leaving, with everyone begging us to extend the concert till 11pm. When we were leaving all the people wanted to know was "when are you coming back?" Songs by the Temples of Worship were on everyone's lips.

The Temples of Worship

I walked by two drunkards arguing, and I laughed when I heard one ask the other one "because you are feeling so on top of the world, have you been tested?" and the other one replied "go to Watamu Maternity Nursing and VCT Center (the VCT center in the area), and you'll find my name in almost all the sheets". The team did an excellent job of distributing the commitment cards.
In this five day Mombasa mission, 597 commitment cards were distributed, 8,200 people were reached with the message of salvation and HIV/AIDS prevention and 108 people gave their lives to Christ.

Sam.

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