I thought you might like to hear the testimony of one of the young men I have had the privilege of knowing here in Cameroon.
MY SPIRITUAL HERITAGE
My spiritual heritage can be traced back to my great grandfather. He was the first person to confess Christ in his family which of course, led to persecution. Later on, his son - my grandfather who was a plumber and worked with a missionary at the Mbingo Baptist Hospital in the North West Region of Cameroon also accepted Jesus Christ. One of the most significant things my grandfather left behind for his descendants is the part he played in translating the New Testament to our mother tongue. On the other hand, my grand mom was involved in helping young girls and women in their relationship with God. My grandparents never went to school but the missionary with whom they worked, taught both of them how to read and write. Consequently, God used my grand mom to write most praise and worship songs that are sung in my language today. Taking after his father; my father enjoyed a very warm relationship with the missionaries who worked with his father. To this effect he named my late older brother and I, Schneider and Macdonald respectively, in honor of Dr. Schneider and others who had impacted them with the gospel. My father is a mechanic by profession but, God has been using him as an evangelist. Though he has never been to the seminary before, he has been serving God under the Cameroon Baptist Convention. Having the gift of an evangelist, God has already used him to plant six churches in Ndop field, in the North West Region of Cameroon. Presently he is working with a new church which was planted two years ago. The life of my father Gabe Zacharias and my mother Florence is dedicated to the service of the Lord. I am from a family of three boys. I’m the first with two younger brothers, Meshach and Benjamin. Meshach is presently doing his college degree in engineering, while I’m his spiritual mentor. He is serving with the Navigators of Cameroon. I led Benjamin to Christ and he is presently serving as an assistant physiotherapist in Mbingo Baptist hospital. My Dad constantly tells us that there are three things that will make him fulfilled if these are accomplished in the lives of his children. By God’s grace these things which are gradually happening are spiritual, intellectual and matrimonial growth. My parents raised me up with Christian values. One day, I was puzzled by whether it was possible for one to be certain if he would make heaven when he dies? My father told me it is possible to know. He shared with me about my sinful nature and how Christ came and dealt with it (Isaiah 59:2, Rom 3:23 & 1Peter 3:18). I also learn that a good moral life can’t help me out but Christ alone (Eph. 2:8 & 9). Then I understood that I had to acknowledged His death on the cross, confess my sin and received Him as my savior from sin (Rom 10: 9 & 10). It was only at this point that I prayed to invite Christ into my life as my personal Lord and savior from sin. I received Christ in 1996, after which I got involved with the Campus Crusade for Christ; from 1999 to 2001.My encounter with Christ was such an exciting experience that pushed me to share the gospel with everyone I came across. Consequently I spent time helping those who were interested. It was quite fulfilling encouraging these guys. But in 2000, I met the navigators when I was in High school. With the help of the Navigators I understood what real discipleship is. Knowing that Navigators across the globe seek to advance the gospel of Jesus Christ and his kingdom into the nations, through spiritual generations of laborers living and discipline among the lost, I felt so strongly encouraged because it met squarely with my desire. At once, without a second thought, I hopped into the navigation boat. I started receiving help and as this went on it was so amazing to know and see Christ in His majesty, taking over the entire universe through a simple principle – the principle of spiritual multiplication as illustrated in His word (Isa 60:22, 2Tim 2:2). In 2009, when I was almost done with my university studies, I felt a strong urge to serve the ministry and get more training at the national level. The feeling became even stronger as the days went by, and I decided to spend some time in prayer, while claiming God’s promises (Isa 54:2-3). I equally discussed this desire with our country Leader, who prayed along with me. This urge emanated from the desire to be more productive in God’s vine yard and the need to get adequate training before work and marriage. When everything became certain, I moved from Bamenda to Yaoundé in November 2009, when my training began. Since 2009 till date, I am deeply involved with the ministry in Yaoundé. I have also been receiving trainings from the Grace Community International (GCI) ministry for close to seven years now. We come before the Lord always with expectant faith and persevering prayer rooted in the promises of God. Considering God’s promises of nations taking firm hold of me (Zechariah 8:23). I’m presently a resource person on leadership development for the Church Discipleship team in the ministry. I do lead bible study among students and I’m involved in equipping key laborers at the national level. I’m currently training counselors, establishing disciples within the local church. The challenge is how to develop, sustain and establish these efforts such that each emerging generation picks it up passionately I have be trusting God since the beginning of 2014 to have something doing that will be able to support my personal ministry and life. With prayers, I have taken a critical look on how sustaining all what I have been trained within this past three years and have come up with the conclusions of opening a laundry business that will be able to support me in this great desire of building young labourers. I intern to expand in the nearest feature by adding other services like home cleaning. I know for sure these will also support the young disciples that I will be helping (financial and also have time for doing ministry with me) especially during the transitional period of their education and work.
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