Sudan, The Middle East, Mpumalanga, Kwazulu and Zambia

Independence for South Sudan

98.83% of South Sudanese voters chose secession from the Arab North. The historic Referendum concludes the longest war, in the largest country in Africa. The Southern third of the country will celebrate its independence on 9 July this year. By God’s grace we have stood with the beleaguered believers through some of the worst days of vicious persecution and we have helped them – not only to survive the relentless Jihad - but to thrive. By God’s grace the culminative effect of many years of intensive prayer, worldwide publicity, international pressure and missionary partnership with courageous persecuted Christians in South Sudan has been blessed with victory.

​Faith Under Fire in Sudan

The incredible story of how our beleaguered brethren in Southern Sudan, and the Nuba Mountains, succeeded in surviving some of the worst persecution and steadfastly resisting the Islamic Jihad is presented in Faith Under Fire in Sudan. This new, thoroughly revised third edition, at 320 pages and including over 200 pictures and maps, is three times larger than the first edition. We worked around the clock in order to produce the most up-to-date and comprehensive book on Sudan, both as a memorial to the many courageous Christians who suffered for their Faith and as an encouragement and inspiration for those who love Faith and freedom worldwide. This book includes many previously unpublished pictures and compelling new stories of the oldest community of Christians in the largest country in Africa enduring some of the worst persecution, in the longest war of the 20 th century, and yet with the fastest church growth and with more Muslims coming to Christ than anywhere else that we know of.

Revolution in the Middle East

The Islamic Revolution sweeping the Middle East is being fuelled and encouraged by the Shi’ite Islamicist leaders in Iran. Along with the tidal wave of popular protests on the streets of the Middle East has come a sharp increase of violent persecution against Christian communities. Many hundreds of Christians have been killed in violent attacks on churches and neighbourhoods as far afield as Northern Nigeria, Egypt, Iraq, Pakistan and Ethiopia. The total number of Christians in the Middle East has dropped from 15 million in 2000 to 13.5 million in 2010. The number of Christians in Iraq has plummeted from 1.3 million in 2003 to barely 500,000 today. Tens-of-thousands of Christians are packing up and fleeing the region. Considering that these Christians come from communities which have survived many centuries of Islamic persecution, only to be uprooted today, shows just how severe this new wave of ruthless persecution by radical Muslims has become.

Slavery, Terrorism and Islam

By God’s grace, our new, completely revised and greatly expanded fourth edition of Slavery, Terrorism and Islam – The Historical Roots and Contemporary Threat has been published -just in time to help Christians make sense of the complexities of what is happening in the Middle East. This book provides the essential background to alert Christians to the real threats, the urgent needs and unprecedented opportunities before us to reach Muslims with the life-

Changing Gospel of our Lord, Jesus Christ. May God be pleased to inspire, energise and equip us to fulfill the Great Commission in Muslim communities, in our neighbourhoods, and throughout the Middle East and the 10-40 Window.

Making Sense of the Middle East

As riots and revolutions rock the Middle East, I have received numerous invitations to present lectures on the crisis in the Middle East. There have also been numerous radio interviews, from around the world to help listeners make sense of the upheavals in the Middle East.

Mission to Mpumalanga

Whenever possible I try to include one of my children in mission trips. When invitations came through for ministry in Mpumalanga and KwaZulu I wanted to include our youngest son, 11 year old Calvin. However funds did not allow this. When my father-in-law, Rev. Bill Bathman, heard about the complication, he immediately sponsored Calvin’s air tickets so that he could take part in this mission. This was Calvin’s eleventh mission trip with me and, as before, he proved an invaluable member of the team assisting in Way of the Master and Evangelism Explosion training and Scripture memorisation presentations.

Calvin and I flew up to Mpumalanga. There we were met by Frontline missionary, David. He had travelled through from Limpopo with his landrover and trailer packed with two tonnes of Study Bibles, Christian books and Gospel booklets for strategic distribution throughout this mission.

Back to the Bible Training College

Our first meetings were at Back to the Bible Training College. This dynamic ministry is run by General Shai Mulder and they have over 160 students from 14 countries throughout Africa studying for a three year degree which takes them through every book in the Bible. It was sad to see the destruction caused by the devastating fire last year. The students were busy taking the Evangelism Explosion course. I presented a lecture on Islamic Revolution in the Middle East and taught on Recognising God’s Voice. David delivered many boxes of great Christian books for their library and distributed Dr. Robert Morey’s books: Fearing God, The Islamic Invasion and Winning the War Against Radical Islam to students. Mark Cahill’s books: One Thing You Can’t Do In Heaven and One Heartbeat Away and Robert McNeil’s books were also delivered to the college to distribute to students. First year students were also given copies of my books: The Ten Commandments – God’s Perfect Law of Libertyand Apostle’s Creed – Firm Foundations for your Faith, which the other students had received last year. Reformation Study Bibles were made available for faculty members and as prizes for third year students. There was great excitement and enthusiasm over these valuable resources.

Wonderful Wildlife

En route to our next appointment at the Africa School of Missions we took a delightful 5 hour detour through the Kruger National Park and we were able to see elephant, rhino, eagles, a wide variety of antelope, vervet monkeys, owls and bats and a leopard very close by in a tree.

Africa School of Missions

Situated at the base of a huge rock from which the Shangaan people used to throw to their death human sacrifices, we found a vital ministry under siege. The entire three kilometre perimeter of the mission base is surrounded by high electric fences which are frequently being cut. In a two month period the mission college suffered 21 burglaries. Witchdoctors and Communists in the local communities have been working steadfastly to harass and loot the college. The government has also attempted to intimidate and undermine the college by threatening to close it and demanding that it adapt to government standards for accreditation!

We distributed large quantities of great Christian books which have been donated by authors, Dr. Robert Morey, Robert McNeil, Mark Cahill, numerous of my own books and Reformation Study Bibles to the missionary students and faculty members. There was an enthusiastic response to my presentations with one student shouting out “Where do we sign up?”.

Petra College

The nearby Petra College for Children’s Ministries seemed similarly besieged behind razor wire and electric fencing. They had also suffered numerous burglaries. It was evident many ministries around the country are under attack and involved in serious spiritual warfare.

Mission to Kwazulu

After completing our ministry tour in Mpumalanga, we travelled through to Jivannadi Mission, a vibrant mission to Hindus, in Natal. I conducted three evening services, dealing with: Guilt Manipulation; The Islamic Revolution in the Middle East and Recognising God’s Voice. David and I recorded numerous programmes for Good News Community Radio, including on the Cape Town 2010 Lausanne Congress, the Independence of South Sudan, The Revolutions in the Middle East, Relationships and Courtship, Christopher’s Kidney Transplant, and Coping with Cancer. On Sunday morning I presented a sermon on Pride and Foolishness at a Reformed Church in Africa in Durban.

KwaSizabantu

After completing the Sunday evening service at Jivannadi Mission we drove through to KwaSizabantu Mission. We hadn’t gone very far down the road when one of the rear tyres of the landrover began to unravel. We were shocked to see the large strip of tyre that had peeled off what was a fairly new and very expensive off-road tyre. We praised God for His protection, changed the wheel and determined to speak to the supplier concerning this dangerously defective tyre. We arrived at KwaSizabantu Mission before midnight.

Cedar College of Education

Early the next morning I presented a lecture on Egalitarianism at the Assembly of the teacher training college and delivered new audio-visual resources for their library.

Radio Kwezi

This was followed by recording a series of Devotionals and sermons at Radio Kwezi. We then had a guided tour of the incredible new developments at this dynamic mission station.

Ministers Conference

Almost half of the two tonnes of books, Study Bibles and Gospel booklets which David had driven through from our mission base in Limpopo were delivered to KwaSizabantu Mission for strategic distribution to their co-workers. Almost a thousand pastors, missionaries, evangelists and church leaders participated in this year’s Ministers’ Conference at KwaSizabantu Mission. I have had the privilege of attending conferences and seminars at KwaSizabantu Mission for over 24 years. It is always a highlight of any year to be at this extraordinary mission station and to see so many evidences of God’s gracious hand. There were many friends from all over Southern Africa and Europe to meet, to catch up on news and fellowship and to discuss challenges in the ministry, opportunities for service and new book projects.

Practical Discipleship

By God’s grace, an advance shipment of our latest book Practical Discipleship was delivered just in time for the Ministers’ Conference. The Introduction to Practical Discipleship is written by Rev. Erlo Stegen, the Founder and Director of KwaSizabantu Mission. The Foreword is by my father-in-law, Rev. Bill Bathman, the Chairman of the Board of Frontline Fellowship. Practical Discipleship is dedicated to my son, Christopher, who is living proof of God’s prayer-answering power. Born with kidney failure, he was given no chance of survival by the medical specialists. By God’s grace, Christopher recovered function of one kidney and has confounded the dire-predictions. He has led an active, athletic life, climbing mountains and winning awards in sports. Now that he has received a kidney transplant from Lenora, he has new energy and health. May God continually be Christopher’s joy and strength as he grows in grace and knowledge and in the service of God and His people.

Lenora in America

By the time Calvin and I arrived back in Cape Town, Lenora had already flown off to the United States. As she was making use of frequent flyer miles accumulated by Bill Bathman, and as these expired in April, it was essential that she left when she did. After all that Lenora has gone through, and as she had finished her chemotherapy, we thought this was the ideal time for her to take a break and go and be a blessing and minister to her parents and to our daughter, Andrea, who is studying in Arizona. On the 24 th of March, Harriett Bathman celebrates her 80 th birthday. Bill Bathman will be celebrating 60 years in ministry. Andrea is singing in a choir at the 50 th anniversary celebrations of Arizona Christian University. Former President George Bush will be the special guest speaker for this event. Lenora will be able to be part of all these special events.

Zambia Crisis

A crisis in Zambia that threatened to close down a Christian school with almost 200 students and staff required our Field Director, John, to fly up to Zambia to intervene, mediate and stabilize the situation. By God’s grace, after a week of intensive activity, this valuable ministry, with 14 years track record of providing quality Christian education to Zambian children, was salvaged and much valuable ministry was accomplished during this explosive situation. This included legal cases, and a serious, imminent threat of closing down the entire school. John addressed church services, a parents meeting, staff, lawyers and all involved in the complex situation. We praise the Lord that intensive prayer and prompt action prevented a disaster and salvaged a valuable ministry.

Upcoming Events

Since the beginning of this year, Frontline Fellowship headquarters in Cape Town has been a hive of activity, receiving shipments of tonnes of Bibles, books and Gospel booklets, co-ordinating the Biblical Worldview Summit,, shipping out tonnes of books and Study Bibles to pre-position for field teams for strategic distribution at conferences, colleges and mission stations. We have major mission outreaches planned. These require acquiring a mission boat. Team members are receiving the necessary training to launch our marine division. This year’s Great Commission Course near Cape Town will be held from 24 June to 14 July. If you know anyone who is serious about missions and who wants to change their world, encourage them to participate in this intensive, practical, hands-on cross-cultural missions training course.

Thank You

We are very grateful for your ongoing prayers and partnership.

May God continue to be your joy and strength.

Yours for the fulfillment of the Great Commission

Dr. Peter Hammond 
Director 
Frontline Fellowship 
P.O. Box 74 
Newlands 7725 
Cape Town South Africa 
Tel: (021) 689-4480 
Fax: (021) 685-5884 
Email: [email protected]