Mozambique (MNN/Ruth Kramer) — I have a black
thumb. I can't make anything green grow
in the yard, in a pot, or anywhere else.
Imagine my surprise one day when I
used a synthetic fertilizer on a zucchini plant I was trying to keep
alive. The product is called "Miracle
Gro." All of a sudden, I had a zucchini
explosion.
What's happening in Mozambique can be described similarly. It's
like Miracle Gro for souls. After years
of tepid response, all of a sudden Audio Scripture Ministries is experiencing
a high yield in Mozambique, and it has left them scrambling.
Their team has been working for a
couple of years getting a new studio built in Xai Xai. The facilities are nearly complete, and parts
of the building are already in use recording and editing Scripture portions in
new languages.
ASM's Tom Dudenhofer explains,
"We recently completed a distribution of one of the languages that had
been recorded in the country, and God provided some wonderful opportunities for
the recorded Scriptures to go into some very isolated areas. It triggered a
response among the people."
The ground was already fertile because once the digital players
were introduced, like Miracle Gro does for plants, the yield surpassed
expectations. "The response is so
intense that we realize we're facing an opportunity of deep ministry impact in
the country. The requests for recorded Scriptures are just so
overwhelming."
Another order for the MegaVoice
players went to South Africa. Teams are trying to assemble 1,200 additional Scripture
players for Mozambique. But the
requests didn't stop coming in.
"It's coming from pastors, it's coming from individuals, and it's
even coming from non-Christians who, for reasons known only to the Lord, have a
deep desire to listen."
ASM usually distributes a few hundred
players at each stop. The stop
Dudenhofer referenced saw 800 players distributed. One woman, after hearing God's Word in her own
language for the first time, said, "I have never heard these things before.
My heart is pounding inside of me. I am so thankful to know this."
Hers is not the only response like that. As a result, says Dudenhofer, "We need
to try to figure out ways to get thousands of players into the country, not
just a few hundred." The cost to
meet the need is forcing ASM to re-think some outreach
priorities. "If we could start by
supplying about 500 players a month, that may not sound like a lot, but that
would be about $20,000 worth of players a month. We're working really hard to
lower the cost of the players."
Just like the timing for fertilizer in a garden or yard, there's a
time to act in sharing the Gospel. "People
are really concerned about the opportunity to hear what God's Word has to say,
and they're just pleading for an opportunity to listen," says Dudenhofer. "So much of what people would cling to in the past has just been
stripped. Into this void, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is making a tremendous
impact."
If each player is used by a family and shared with extended
family, friends, and whole villages, you can see how a high yield could
follow. But you may be thinking: "$20,000?"
Dudenhofer says it breaks down to roughly $40 a player. "That's
a starting point. We could do with much more, but if we could get 500 players a
month into Mozambique, I think we could really make an impact on this tremendous
desire that's being expressed by the people in that country."
What it boils down to is this: you don't have to spread the whole
bag of plant food at once. Just a little at a time. God does the rest. Can you help?
