Southern Africa Bible College - SABCLetter Fall 2004

Book of Knowledge

Spreading the Flame - Southern Africa Bible College

SABC Sept-Nov 04

SABSletter

September / November 2004

[Conditionally registered by the Department of Education for the qualification/s as shown on certificate 00HT04]

Lectureship Follow-up From the Postbox:

From Ira Hill, American missionary to Manzini Bible School: "June and I want to thank all of you for the wonderful experience of being a part of the Southern Africa Bible College Lectureship. As I said publically, it was 'dynamite'. Well planned, well executed and a joy to attend".

From Salome and Malan Gerber (' 73) of Cape Town: "We keep on saying; 'This Lectureship was the best ever', but 2004 was really tops. We had an excellent variety of lessons from a variety of speakers and the speakers excelled in their presentations a real spiritual feast. And the singing was as great as ever with a welcome return by Robert Bothma. One of the brethren I brought along phoned his wife while we were singing and kept quiet to let her listen for a while. When we came back she said: "Next year it is my turn!". Keep up the good work".

From Sue and Dereck Beukes ('97) Bellville, Cape: "It was great to be at Lectureship this time around. Over the years we have noticed that one Lectureship surpasses another in its intensity and practical value. We enjoyed all the lessons and especially those done by Bill Watkins. They were inspiring and helped us get back to what is important. The lessons on evangelism by Milton Wilson were especially helpful as it offered a practical solution to an evangelism program. I have never seen such a program so this is a prayer answered. I am excited about this as it helps me empower others to systematically win souls for Christ.

Tony Hall enthralled our children and that is all they talk about. I am so happy that a very thorough program was presented for our younger children. It helps them relate to Christ on their level. The other speakers did a fine job and it almost seem unfair to raise up one or two when all round they dealt with their assigned topic with great thoroughness and skill. Our South African speakers did SABC proud. Thanks for a great Lectureship. Please thank your team as their well-planned program was much appreciated. May the Lord bless each one who made it such a great Lectureship. God bless you all at SABC for a great work."

From Thelma and Roy Lothian ('74), East London: "I feel this year's lectureship was the best yet. The speakers were outstanding, and gave us an insight into the Scriptures which was really needed. There was a great spirit among all who attended which in itself put a person on a spiritual high. We must not forget those who opened their homes to us. The hospitality was tremendous, and each one was made to feel so at home that we knew we are part of a great family".

Welcome Home

To Val and Vic Tickner (' 84) who arrived back in South Africa on September 3. They've spent the last four years doing mission work with a congregation in Sidney, Australia.

In Loving Sympathy

To Lande and Rod Cullingworth ('97), and their four children: Megan, Ethane, Aidan, and Nathan. They arrived back in South Africa on Sept. 10 to begin mission work in Cape Town and on Sunday, September 19, their two-year-old son, Cohen, drowned. Along with them, SABC is heartbroken over their loss. Their email is rodlande@juno.com and their mailing address: P O Box 3614, Durbanville 7551, RSA.

Where Are They Now?

Dawn Chambers ('00) is in her 2nd year at the University of PE. One day a week, she does practical teaching at her old primary school. Her lecturers have given her excellent grades and all say she is a born teacher. She is also a member of the UPE Choir and has just returned from Namibia on a week's tour all paid for by UPE. They hope to do a tour overseas next year.

Edith and Bheki Mamba ('98) continue their good work in Swaziland. Bheki reported 15 baptisms in August! Five at the Matsapha congregation, and another ten as the result of a Gospel Meeting he preached at a new work at Maguga (Ka Ncesi).

Colette Hogg, ('98) wife of Kevin (2000), and baby daughter, Abigail, arrived in September from their home in New Zealand to visit her parents, Esme and Theo Rappard ('88), in Benoni. They are planning to return to Auckland in January.

Al and Donna Horne left for America on October 6 where Al will be SABC fund-raising while Donna looks after her 95-yerar-old mother in Kerrville, Texas. Their email address.

Ann Hogg returned to Tennessee, USA, the same day. Jerry will join her on November 22. Glen and Gloria Morgan also returned to the States that day. Jill and Andrew Mawdsley ('89) moved to Tupelo, Mississippi in September of 2003. Andy serves as the pulpit minister for the Lee Acres Church of Christ which has an average Sunday morning attendance of about 125+ members. The church address is as follows: Lee Acres Church of Christ, 1400 S. Lawndale, Tueplo, MS 38801, USA. The church's phone number is (662) 844-3111. Andy also continues to offer therapy services to their church members as well as those in the community. He also maintains a Marriage and Family Therapist license in Michigan and has been accepted for licensure in Mississippi.

Daryl Roberts ('91) teaches science and math at Pinetown Boys High School. Next year in July, he hopes to start his own business a maths centre. His wife, Kim, manages an Envirocare recycling branch in Pinetown. They can be reached on email: dkroberts@yahoo.com.

The Holcombes: Shen's ('94) address is: shen@shall.co.za; Allan's ('94) is: allan@shall.co.za.

Noel Frost provided this information: Youth Minister; Queen Mary Avenue Church of Christ; e-mail: nfrost@mweb.co.za. Residential Address: 294 Nicolson Road; Glenwood; Durban 4001; Postal Address: P O Box 51079; Musgrave Road 4062. "Dear Al and Donna, I hope all is well in Texas. We have moved to California. I have taken a preaching job in Bakersfield, CA. We moved last month and have been adjusting to CA life these last few weeks. The girls started school last week and Debbie and I have been getting things going here in Bakersfield.

The Highland Church of Christ here in Bakersfield has been so good to us and have welcomed us so warmly. God has blessed us so much. Address: 11515 Bay Meadows Ln. Bakersfield, CA 93312, and our phone number is 661-829-1711. By His Grace, Regan, Debbie, Robin, Rebecca, Roma, and Reece."

Stork Corner

Debbie & Ray Henderson ('94) in the Cape welcomed their first-born, a girl, on September 2. Munashe and Aletheia (nee Eeson) Mashiri (' 92) announce their first-born. They named their daughter Tinashe Eeson Mashiri. The baby weighed in at 2.93kg. The Mashiris live in the UK and mom, dad and new baby are doing very well.

Getting Acquainted with First-year Students:

Oliver Steve "Cruz" Simuliye, 22, came to SABC from his birthplace, Livingstone in Zambia. He was brought up by Christian parents. His father, Amos, is a teacher at the Livingstone Bible School and his mother, Rhoda, is a housewife. Oliver has four sisters: Linda, 25; Emalda, 17; Charity, 11; and Judy, 9. He also has two brothers: Oscar, 20; and Joshua, 6. Oliver started school at Maria Assumpta Primary where he was a prefect. At St. Raphael's High School, he was class captain. Studying at Eden Institute for a year, he earned a certificate in Electric and Electronics Engineering. He also has a 2-year diploma from Manzini Bible School. He likes volleyball, soccer, and athletics (especially running). Other interests are reading, chess and drafts. Oliver was baptized in 1996 by Godfrey Pitika, Martindale minister, and has done some preaching and song-leading . His main goal is to work with church youth though he is also interested in becoming a preacher. With his rich Christian background, he certainly has the potential!

Zwiakonda De Villiers Malambe, 20, is a Venda. He comes from the village of Matangari where he was born and raised by his parents, Rose and Phinneas. His first name means "Difficult" and he was given his middle name, de Villiers, after a friend of his father's who then worked with him in the police. Zwiakonda is the first-born and has three sisters: Azwimpheleli Ivy, 17; Mpho, 15; and Tendani, 10. His mother is a member of the church of Christ and so Zwiakonda, having been brought up in the church, was baptized in 2000 at a Youth Camp in Pietersburg. Because there is no full-time preacher in his home village, Zwiakonda has done some preaching and is also one of their song leaders. The congregation there has approximately 50 in the Sunday School and 110 at Sunday morning worship. Zwiakonda began school at Matangari Primary and went on from there to Silemale Secondary School in Makonde. At the Venda branch of the College of Commerce, he completed a year's course in computers, for which he received a diploma. He enjoys his friends, computer games, and some sport as he played basketball and volleyball in high school. When he completes his three years at SABC, he wants to return to his home village of Matangari to work with the church.

Ally Hassan Mkamba, whom we know as Desmond, 32, was born in Moshi, Tanzania, at the Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre. His family, who live in Morogoro and are members of the Pogoro tribe, are devout Moslems His own middle name, Hassan, is Arabic and means "nice". His mother, has a beautiful name, Zahara, which means "Fragrant Evening Flowers". His father, Hassan Said, is retired from the Police Training Centre where he was a brass band teacher. Desmond has six sisters of whom only one is a Christian. They are Fatima (Fatma) who was named after the first daughter of Muhammed; Saad (Sada); Ama named after the mother of Muhammed; Moshi (meaning "smoke"); Asha ("life"); and Mwajab, named after one of four holy months on the Islamic Calendar. He also has 8 half-sisters and brothers as his father has a second wife in another city. Desmond speaks four languages: Pogoro, Swahili, Arabic and English.

The story of how he became a Christian is fascinating. He was in the capital city of Dar-es-Salaam where he was studying salesmanship and Market Research. One day he happened to hear some outdoor preaching with loud speakers. The message was, "If you are not baptized, you cannot be saved". Desmond was then a devout Moslem, so this worried him. He went to the mosque to question his leaders but they discounted Christian doctrine. Next he asked a Christian friend, Michael, to take him to his church. At that time, Desmond had in mind to be baptized and then go back to his religion of Islam. That minister prescribed a 6-month study period after which an Archbishop would come and baptize him in the 7th month! By then, Desmond, impressed with the urgency of baptism and deeply troubled that they wouldn't baptise him mmediately, couldn't even sleep well! He and Michael began looking at other churches and they came across the Temeke Church of Christ.

As he put it himself, "That church gave him answers" and he was baptised that same day. Desmond didn't tell his Moslem leaders or his family about his baptism for two months. Then what an upset! Moslems were out looking for him, Islamic scholars were called in to reason with him, and his mother in particular thought he'd been bewitched. She approached Islamic leaders who practice healing through the Koran, to prepare a particular "medicine" for Desmond to drink in the hopes that it would cause him to return to the religion of his birth. Instead, her son dropped his former Moslem name of "Ally" by which he had been called and chose the name of "Desmond" to signify that he had left Islam behind.

From then on, in his new-found faith, Desmond never looked back. The one who baptised him, evangelist Nickson Mongi, in March of 1968, along with two of his teachers, Makanyaga and Osmond Kipengele, persuaded him to study the Word full-time. He become a student at Temeke Bible School where an American missionary, Dale Dennis, whom Al Horne helped to train back in the 1960's, still is. Not only was Desmond schooled in the New Testament for the first time, but he helped with evangelistic work in the secondary schools and with street preaching. He also began writing a weekly column in a magazine called "Msema Kweli" ("The One Who Speaks the Truth"). In it, he was able to compare Islamic and Christian issues. When he came from there to SABC, he had to turn in his computer with the Arabic keyboard. His dream for the Lord is to complete SABC and travel to Zanzibar, an island not far off the coastline of his own country of Tanzania, to establish the first congregation of the Church of Christ. With his unusually pleasant disposition and broad smiles, Desmond appears to be single-minded enough to accomplish just that!

Ntevheleni Mudau, 28, was born in Brits in the North West Province. A Venda by birth, he moved with his family to Thohoyandou in the Limpopo Province when he was five years old. Two of his sib lings have died which leaves Ntevheleni with four sisters and a brother. They are Mashudu (meaning "lucky"), Rejoice, Mariah, and Ndhnduleni (meaning "refusing or denying"). His mother, Masindi Elisah, is a pensioner who was widowed thirteen years ago. Ntevheleni was schooled in Venda, attending Makwarela Primary School and matriculating from Phaswana Secondary School. He speaks three languages: Venda, English, and Shaangaan. He interest is soccer and he loves watching sport on TV.

He started attending church in 1998 and was baptised in 2001 by Brother Maitakhole, the father of one of his fellow-students at SABC. Brother Malindi has also been a big influence in his spiritual life. Ntevheleni attended the Makwarela congregation at first and of late, the Miluwani congregation which was established in October of 2003. He has been very involved in church work preaching some, teaching Sunday School, organizing youth transport, and also serving as the Youth Secretary. He plans to complete his SABC studies in December 2005 and then become a full-time preacher. To be in religious work, he has an appropriate name as Ntevheleni means "Follow me". So as he follows Christ, he can encourage others to follow him. Paul said in I Corinthians 11:1, "Be ye imitators of me even as I also am of Christ"