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Where Are They Now? – Part 1

“People used to call me a rascal. Now they tell me that I’ve become a serious young man.”

By an Alliance medical worker, serving in West Africa

In 2010, Ibrahima, a young Christian teacher, encouraged a group of Alliance pastors to come and show the JESUS film to about 5,000 people in a small farming village in West Africa.

Ibrahima hosted the evangelism team. And he followed up with the subsequent handful of new believers, discipling them into a mature core group—the first members of the church in the village. In this miniseries, “Where Are They Now?” I’ll share a couple of the believers’ stories.

* * *

Long before seeing the JESUS film for the first time in 2010, Shadrak had heard about Christ from a surprising source. His childhood friends in the village where he grew up often shared with him what they were learning at a local religious school they attended.

One name captured the boy’s imagination—the prophet Issa (the name given to Jesus in the majority religion’s holy book). This man who did so many miracles had to be important, he reasoned.

When he was 14, Shadrak wandered onto the local soccer field late one evening to watch a film some pastors were showing. The event had been organized by Ibrahima, the Christian teacher in town.

To his great surprise, Shadrak knew some of the story already—Mary’s virgin birth and the healing of the blind. But as the JESUS film continued, he realized that there were parts he’d never heard.

Reassurance

He watched, rapt, as the sorrow of the Crucifixion gave way to the joy of the Resurrection. He listened to the pastors explain the significance of Christ’s work on the cross.

Shadrak was immediately convinced that his sins could be forgiven and then reassured when he heard that Jesus was coming back again. He decided right then that he wanted to follow Jesus. But with his classmates looking on, he didn’t have the courage to go forward when an invitation was given.

Instead, the next evening, under the cover of darkness, Shadrak made his way to Ibrahima’s home, where he committed his life to the Lord. And he found a friend in Ibrahima, whom he would desperately need in the days to come.

Challenges

Shadrak continued to visit Ibrahima to learn more about his faith and to ask advice for the challenges that would lie ahead. The first source of trouble was his classmates.

Where Are They Now?
Shadrak (sitting in front) joins a group in prayer to dedicate the new church building. (Photo by Ewien van Bergeijk - Kwant | www.avonturiers.nl)

One of the first Christians in his village, Shadrak was a convenient target for harassment. Even his old friends from the religious school began to tease and taunt him, saying that Jesus didn’t have the power to forgive sins or to come back again—the foundation for Shadrak’s decision to follow Christ.

His family was not happy with his decision either. Relationships were already strained when Shadrak started to identify himself as a Christian, but when he refused to take from his dad the local traditional medication—leaves believed to have spiritual powers—the situation became much more difficult.

A Serious Young Man

Ibrahima patiently encouraged him through these challenges, showing him how to put his trust in a God who listens to prayer. For Shadrak, this free access to God was new.

While he was growing up, his parents had taught him the importance of appeasing the spirits, of making sacrifices to idols to find favor. And he had spent a good amount of his dad’s money to make those sacrifices.

But as Ibrahima discipled him, Shadrak left behind his old system of spirit worship and with it the animosity it had created in his family. Even his father has noticed changes in the family atmosphere, and he’s happily remarked that Shadrak is no longer spending so much of his money on sacrifices.

Now 20 years of age, Shadrak has begun farming. He stands out among the young people in his village as someone who had the courage to follow Christ, despite adversity. And he is no longer mocked for this.

“People used to call me a rascal,” he says with a shy smile. “Now they tell me that I’ve become a serious young man.”

Read More

Go to “Where Are They Now? – Part 2” to read the testimony of Yusuf, another young believer in the village.

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