Huge All Race Mens' Gathering in South Africa
An estimated 300,000 men gathered on a farm belonging to South African farmer/evangelist, Angus Buchan over the past weekend. It was probably one of the largest gatherings of men for a Christian event ever. Some came from as far afield at Australia, New Zealand, and the UK.
Angus Buchan is a farmer turned evangelist who exhorts people to trust God for the impossible, drawing on his personal experience of the miraculous. The author of the book, "Faith Like Potatoes", now also a movie, says he has seen God intervene in his life many times. Buchan says his farm was once saved from a raging bushfire by his family's fervent prayers for rain; that he has seen a farm worker raised from the dead, after she was struck by lightning, and that God has come through for him with a miracle crop of potatoes in the face of the severest drought
Crowd Estimates
Buchan refused to comment on the numbers attending the conference. He referred to the Biblical story of David who commissioned a census out of pride and was later punished. He determined not to fall into the same trap. However he was prepared to say it was the largest gathering of Christian men in the world as far as he knew. He added, "There is no stadium in the world that could hold this number of men." Pastor Bruce Winship, official spokesman for the conference earlier declined to give any official estimates of the crowd other that to say that this years number far exceeded that of last year when 150,000 men were present.
There was no sign of racism in the previously racially segregated apartheid dominated South Africa. Blacks, Whites, asians and mixed race men were united in their religious fervour. This event comes as a timely precursor to the international scrutiny that South Africa will receive for the upcoming FIFA 2010 World Cup.
About 60 planes crowded out the small airport a few miles from the Conference gathering. Whilst lines of cars stretched for miles as they approached the farm. The tent village erected for the conference stretched over 3 million square meters on three farms. Following the dramatic Nicholas Clainos last year when he collapsed with a suspected heart attack and had to be airlifted to a local hospital, Buchan demonstrated his fitness by jumping up and down and doing several press-ups and declaring, "Do I look sick?"
Message Of Hope
The weekend's messages largely followed the theme of preparing men to go out and carry the message of hope. Buchan also spoke on the need to listen to God. He recognized the business of their lives but he urged the men to be still and listen to God. He then let the men sit in complete silence for five minutes so they could come to a stop and listen to God. He spoke of the fear for the nation's future, "Don't run away from South Africa," he thundered, "Your problems will follow you wherever you go." On several occasions Buchan called on the men to be true men and not wimps. He said Christian men must take lead in their homes and families. They must place Christ at the head of their homes and places of work. Like Joshua of old they must declare, "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." He further stated that men would never be able to be spiritual leaders in their homes if they themselves have not put their own lives in order.