Papua New Guinea Report
by Stephen McKay SOC Director
On October 28th 2010 I made my departure to the country of Papua New Guinea for the second last time. It was a very bittersweet moment for me, as I looked back at almost 6 years of labor in the country with the School of Christ, but also a very joyous occasion knowing the impact and seeing the effects that the School of Christ has had on the country through our students in the past 6 years.
My purpose of traveling to Papua New Guinea was to Graduate the second last school held there in a facility outside of the city of Lae on the north coast of the country. 40 students were to be graduated, another 40 men and women of God that would go into the far corners of the country preaching the Gospel, and bringing back testimonies of lives radically changed by the power of God.
After Graduating 40 students that Saturday, a few former students came up to me and began to tell me their life story before coming to the School of Christ, and then what God began to do through them after coming out of the school. It was staggering just listening to these men tell of what wondrous things God had done, and it makes me wonder how many more testimonies of students are out there that we have never yet heard of!
Pastor Keithson Tomboru came through the school of Christ in the city of Lae in 2008, not really knowing what the School was, but knowing in his heart that that was where God wanted him to be. As the school began, God began to strip him of everything he was, and everything he thought the Gospel was to be, and began showing him the truth for what it was. He told me that he began to Beg God in the prayer meetings to show him His power; that miracles, signs and wonders would be an everyday occurance as he walked with God. That he Might show his people the power of God once again.
Immediately after he Graduated, he went back to his home in Lae, and a mother and father of a woman met him at his house and begged him to come pray for their daughter, she was about to die. He went with them, and the woman told him what happened to her, how that she had hemmoraged for 20 years, and the doctors finally told her to go home and prepare her house, and that she was to die.
Pastor Kiethson told me that he immediately began to pray, and within moments the woman began to scream, IM HEALED!! She told Pastor Kiethson that she felt inside the flow of blood completely stop. Hallelujah!
Then he traveled to the Eastern Highlands Province for a meeting, and while he was there, a principle over a primary school heard that Keithson was in town, and asked him to come to his house. He told Pastor Keithson how that the entire left side of his body was paralyzed, and over the past few years he had spent Ten thousand Kina, a powerful amount of money in Papua New Guinea, on Doctors trying to fix his paralysis. The doctors continually told him that they could not help him, and that he would be Paralyzed for the rest of his life.
At that moment, Pastor Keithson Began to Pray. As Keith prayed, the principal said that he felt the sensation as if hot water was running inside of him, on the side where he was Paralyzed! Pastor Keithson told him that Christ's Blood is for your healing, and at that very moment, the Paralytic was completely HEALED!!!
Testimonies like these coming from men who have been totally changed by the truth of the Gospel is always the highlight of every trip to Papua New Guinea.
I headed back to PNG at the end of November to graduate the last school to be held in the country. When I arrived, my director Andrew picked me up and told me that we have a total of 86 students to graduate!! The largest school we have ever ran in the country!
The Graduation was a very emotional time, both for the students, and for myself as I said farewell to many friends that I had made over the last 6 years. The presence of God was so thick that some were on their knees, on their faces worshiping God like they never have before.
After the Graduation I had another former student come to me with incredible testimonies that I must share.
Pastor Mandy told me that he was saved and baptized in 1992, and began to preach the Gospel in a local church in his community. In 1999 he prayed that God would give him five hundred Kina (about $175USD) to go to a bible school in another province for 1 year. He said that God woke him up about 2:45am and told him that he would not go to that school, but that He was going to send a school that was free, and there in that school his hearts desire would be fulfilled (that he might see God move in power and might).
From 1999 to 2008, he prayed earnestly for this school to come, and nearly gave up but continued believing God. Then in 2008, he heard of the School of Christ, how that it was a free school, and that he was invited to come. When he first arrived, he said that he thought that he had reached a level with god that he could go no higher. He had preached for 17 years, and he didn't think he could get any closer than what he already was. He told me that it wasn't long before God began to tear him apart and rebuild him again. He left the school a totally different person.
After he Graduated, he headed up the Ramu Valley, about 5 hours away from the city of Lae inland. There he met up with a few pastor friends of his, and they told him of a paralyzed girl that they had tried to pray for, but to no avail.
He went to her house, and seen that she was Paralyzed from the waist down, and she had been so for 6 months due to an accident. Pastor Mandy first asked if she was born again, and she said no. He said before God will do anything for you, you must be born again!! She began to weep and said that she would accept Christ, and he lead her through the sinners prayer.
He looked at her and told her not to place her faith in him, because he was nothing, but to place her faith in Christ, the healer of all! He began to pray and prayed for a while, and nothing happened. He looked at the young girl and told her that he knew that God had sent him for her healing, and that she was to call him in the morning to tell him what had happened in the middle of the night, and with that he left.
The very next morning his phone began to ring, and on the other end was a young girl screaming so loud he had to calm her down. What is it he asked? What happened?? The young girl told him that in the middle of the night, she woke up and SHE HAD COMPLETE FEELING IN THE LOWER HALF OF HER BODY!!!! Glory Be to GOD!
I just wonder how many more testimonies are out there in the country of PNG like these, as our 2000 students continue to preach the Gospel throughout with a boldness like never before.
After the Graduation, we called all the students to come back for a 3 day fast and prayer on the school grounds. We rented a tent and for three days, 120 people came back and we called upon the name of the Lord. Students that had become discouraged and down hearted received strength again, those that had lost direction regained their sense and purpose in God. It was a 3 days that I will never forget as we closed the School of Christ in the country of Papua New Guinea!
We were also privelaged to Give 100 copies of the school of Christ on DVD to the Pastors of Papua New Guinea, to take back to their churches and denominations. They told me that as long as they were alive, the School of Christ would never die in Papua New Guinea!
I am just humbled to have been apart of the School in PNG over the Past 6 years. May in the years to come, we have an even greater impact on the rest of the isand nations that we reach with the School of Christ!
Yours in Christ
Stephen R McKay
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