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Westminster Presbyterian Church To Host Evangelism Conference

Faith As A Lifestyle: A well-known evangelist and missionary will speak at an evangelism conference.

Photo courtesy of Covenant College

Dr. Henry Krabbendam will be the guest speaker at the Westminster Presbyterian Church’s evangelism conference March 1-4 with featured topics including mission work and practicing evangelism in daily life.

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By SCOTT E. RUPP

Published: February 27, 2007

From his office in on Look Out Mountain, Ga., emeritus professor, missionary and evangelist Henry Krabbendam prepared for his trip to Brandon this week to meet an old friend and fellow colleague.

His true intent while here, however, is to speak to members of the community about his experiences and bring his work to the street where he hopes to evangelize with area residents.

Krabbendam has spent 46 years spreading the word of the Bible and is a native of the Netherlands; his words are still marked by a heavy accent.

He'll start by speaking at a former student's, Wes Holland, church, Westminster Presbyterian Church, 402 E. Lumsden Road, March 1-4.

The former professor taught at Covenant College in Georgia and, for the last 23 years, has lived part time in the African nation of Uganda, preaching and teaching the people there about Jesus Christ.

Since he started, the mission has been able to develop two schools with about 550 kids attending, has employed about 50 people, established a small farm, and Krabbendam has developed a personal relationship with the Arch Bishop of Uganda leading to a governmental consideration for the Christian church there and growth in conversions.

The small property where Krabbendam and his fellow missionaries work and live serves as the hub of their operations, where they can preach from and work with residents of nearby Kampala, a growing but poverty-ridden city.

Krabbendam, an ordained minister, calls the country a place ready to hear the word of God, a nation much closer to a Christian revival than the United States, a place where more than one million people have converted to Christianity in the last 10 years.

Speaking of his mission work, evangelizing and bringing others into God's fold are the fire that seems to keep the 70-something man in great motion. Mission work in Uganda is the glove to his hand, he said.

"I was hooked," he described passionately of first laying eyes on his second adopted country. "Working in Uganda is awesome. Since, I've taken hundreds of students and church members to evangelize."

We can preach hour after hour and people will stay to worship to day away craving more, he explained, an attitude he longs to see here.

Holland, who studied under Krabbendam for about 2 ½ years in the late '80s can attest to his professor's experiences.

He's traveled to Uganda twice, a month at a time, in 1990 and '91 to help with missionary work there and is hoping the evangelism conference and the talks by Krabbendam that his church is hosting will inspire others to want to go as well. Holland is attempting to assemble a crew to go to Africa in May 2008.

"I felt like the experience spoiled me to how God uses his gospel to change lives," Holland said of the experience.

Simply, Krabbendam wants others to experience what he and Holland have, and get a chance to see how ministering to people living in a culture that's polar opposites to the United States can have a profound and lasting affect of the missionary. Krabbendam takes between 40 and 100 with him each year.

"Christianity is growing there, there's a feeling of a revival but there still needs to be mighty prayer, mighty leadership to saturate the society with the gospel," Krabbendam said.

As for his life serving God, he continues to devote himself to it, attempting to spread the passion he says consumed him decades ago.

"The secret to receiving it is to surrender, surrender, surrender and serve, serve, serve. Submission. God broke me. I really felt like a new creature," he said. "Our lives are awful, like we're living in a jail cell. I see young people in Uganda receiving the word and it's like a laser beam on their hearts. I'm trying to bring that back here."

Later this year, he'll be part of a religious panel to be addressed by President Bush.

Bush is searching the help of religious leaders to develop programs to find ways to spread money and resources to areas of the world constantly afflicted by poverty and hunger.

This week, however, his trip to Westminster will lead to a thorough teaching about living with and practicing evangelism in daily life. Also, he'll speak about missionary work and revivals in the world, he said.

Holland is hoping conference goers will become more aware of God's calling in their lives.

"It should help us be better equipped to share our faith and more committed to the Lord Jesus Christ as a lifestyle," he said. "And whether they are committed to Christ in their lives."

The free conference begins March 1 with a meal at 6:15 followed by a presentation by Krabbendam at 7 p.m. March 2 he'll speak from 7 to 8 p.m.; March 3 a continental breakfast with be served at 8:30 with Krabbendam speaking from 9 a.m. to noon; and March 4 he'll take part in the church's Sunday worship service at 11 a.m.

Call: 689-6541 for more information.

SCOTT E. RUPP can be reached at 657-4510 or by e-mail atsrupp@mediageneral.com.

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