Good Friday Celebration!

It is hard to believe that this time last year at Easter, we opened the doors to our new church and celebrated Easter with a dedication of the new building.

The church is thriving with a regular attendance of more than 1,000 people a week. This Easter we started the celebrations on Good Friday. The entire church started at the IDAT compound and walked through the town to the church, about two miles.

Senior Pastor Mabior led the parade and stopped at six locations to preach the gospel. He shared that Jesus, at His lowest point in his life, crucified and forsaken, trusted in God to deliver him. If you are suffering (that’s almost everyone listening), remember this is not the end of the story, there is victory through that death on the cross and Jesus’ resurrection. Suffering does not win, trusting in Jesus wins. Many followed Jesus and followed the parade to the church and came back on Easter Sunday.

Easter Sunday Celebration!

Following a fantastic Good Friday service, focus was now on Easter Sunday. This is one of our biggest church services every year and we usually have several of our church plants join us and the church was packed out.

Traditionally after the service we go down to the river and have a mass baptism.  This year’s baptism was amazing with 247 people from multiple Calvary Chapel church plants coming to be baptized in the Tonj river.

It took hours to baptize that many people but that didn’t deter the spectating crowds from bearing the 100°F heat, and hundreds of people lined the riverbanks, singing and dancing with great joy, cheering every time someone emerged from the water!

“I will be glad and rejoice in You; I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High.” Psalm 9:2

Celebrating Medicine Arrival!

Every year around April, before the rains start, In Deed and Truth Ministries trucks one year of medicine to our Maternal Child Hospital in Tonj.

It costs on average $6 to treat one patient. A large part of that cost is IDAT purchasing our own medicine rather than relying on government support. This allows us to buy better quality and a variety of medicine that would not otherwise be supplied. It avoids us closing the hospital due to lack of supplies and allows us to focus on which medicines are most needed for pregnant mothers, children, and newborns. It also allows us to provide for the community where no other hospital is helping, including rabies vaccine, snake antivenom and insulin for Type 1 diabetes.

We are so grateful to the many friends around the world that help us purchase our medicine supply for one whole year. It’s a huge cost paid in one lump sum. This year that burden was shared by a grant from Africa Mission Healthcare in Kenya, Spirit Run fundraiser by Horizon Prep School in San Diego, USA and a Fun Run organized by Bright Futures Child Aid and Development in Adelaide, Australia. It truly is a global effort that benefits 60,000+ patients every year.