Johannesburg SA Youth Banquet
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Early Saturday morning following the Cape Town youth banquet, found the brothers at the airport and on their way to Johannesburg. Here they would host a second banquet for the youth of the surrounding area. After the overwhelming turnout in Cape Town, news had quickly traveled overnight and told those attending of the great blessing in store. Although the trip was tiring, their fatigue would soon fade away once they saw the expressions on the young believers faces.
With no time to spare once they arrived, the brothers proceeded directly to the Hyatt Hotel where the banquet was to be held. Every detail was checked and made sure to be ready for the evening. The same program was followed as in Cape Town, and the same God was soon to meet with them as He did in Cape Town.
Brother Keith Herne:
The young people arrived well ahead of time as they were under great expectation. They were all dressed for the occasion. Many came from as far as Durban and Kimberley.
Once again they were handed a quiz sheet as they entered the hall. I welcomed them, and as in Cape Town, I told them this was not a church service but the evening was for them. I know these banquets have been a tremendous breakthrough in gathering the young believers in SA around the carcass of the Message. They didn't know what to expect at first and were a bit reserved, but as soon as Bro Gordon got up there and broke the ice with some lovely singing, they all started dancing and started to feel right at home.
Thereafter he gave some of them an opportunity to render song items. We had some lovely Afrikaans singing from the Kimberley group. This was followed by a lovely item in Zulu by the Soweto Believers. The singing by the Kwonglee Brothers from Pretoria was simply inspired. Bro Nehemiah Kwonglee wrote two songs which he and his Brothers sang to the glory of the Lord. It was truly something special.
Brother Gerald was next with his testimony of the influence of the Message in his life. The young people listened intently to every word as his testimony reached their ears and their hearts.
I went up to call upon the prize winners of the quiz. After handing the winners their pens, I told the young people that all of them are winners and all of them are loved and are special. I then called upon the ushers to give them the gifts that were sent from Voice Of God Recordings by Brother Joseph.
After handing it over to Brother Gordon to close in prayer, a young brother came to me and asked for an opportunity to speak. I could see he was very emotional and asked him why. He said that he could never be the same after being treated as a king and wanted to thank the Voice of God and Brother Joseph for thinking so much of the young people.
All young people expressed their appreciation. Even now there are continuous emails and text messages streaming in from the young people wanting to know when is the next one or what is Voice of God going to do next as they want to be a part.
In conclusion, even though I am not in the bracket of the Young Foundation, I am happy and proud to serve them during this past weekend. If called upon to do it again even with a walking stick I'd be glad to because I am proud of them.
We realized through these events that a lot of the youth didn't know there where so many other young people believing the Message. We saw how this can unite these believers together because they all have something in common, and that is the Message of the Hour. Though there were people from all kinds of churches and backgrounds present, there were no walls that kept them back from fellowship. We give God the thanks and glory for the wonderful turn-out of these two banquets, and we're trusting that the blessings the youth received will carry on long after.
