In this sermon, the speaker addresses four questions related to facilitating a mission's movement among students, training them, taking them on short-term outreaches, and applying them in community compassion outreaches. The speaker emphasizes the need for a new generation and highlights the diverse backgrounds of the attendees from all over the world. The sermon emphasizes the importance of spreading the gospel to every person and planting churches among every people. The speaker concludes with a call to target the 579 people groups that have not yet been reached with the gospel before the year 2000.

The morning of Monday the 30th of June 1997, the sun rises over Africa, marking the beginning of a special day, the first day of Jokowi 97. For the first time ever a global consultation on world evangelization is being held on the continent of Africa. This marks the fact that Africa has come to maturity and is ready to join with others to complete the task of world evangelization. More than 4,000 representatives from 135 nations have heard the clarion call. They are meeting in Pretoria, capital city of the Republic of South Africa, to hear God's voice. God's servants have come from all corners of the globe, by plane, by car, by train. As hosts and organizers of Jokowi 97, the World Mission Center, a South African organization, began preparations many months before. Telephone conferences around the globe brought coordinators and consultation leaders into direct contact with one another. Modern technology helped as emails were sent backwards and forwards. Provision was made for every conceivable eventuality. Transport, accommodation, and other bodily needs were high on the list. But efficient communication during Jokowi 97, translation services, and many other needs were also catered for. On this morning, the registration volunteers had their work cut out for them. Other volunteers helped to sort the many diverse queries as they arose. The main activities of Jokowi 97 were centered around seven churches in Pretoria and a university campus in Mamalodi. At last, it is time for the opening ceremony to begin. It's my great honor and privilege to welcome you all to the wonderful city of Pretoria. What a wonderful occasion to praise the Lord for His goodness and His glory. Co-directors of the World Mission Center, thank you and to all of your staff for so many hours of work, tears, accidents. To be here tonight is because of that effort, and we recognize it, and thank you for it. When you think that in 1900, there were some eight plus million Christians in the whole continent of Africa. From less than 2% of the population of the Christian community worldwide, in 1900, at the present rate, at the year 2000, it will be almost 17% of the Christian community globally worldwide. Praise God for the growth of the church in Africa. As we stand on South African soil, we are rejoicing for the rapidly expanding, literally exploding mission's vision out of this country. That between 1991 to 1993, doubled the number of missionaries. And then between 1993 and 1996, doubled them again. Praise God. We repent that too often we have set man-made goals instead of God-given goals. Our trust too often has been in our plan instead of our God. Shekoah 97 is not designed as a pep rally or a parade of speeches, but rather that we trust it'll be a time for each one of us to seek our God for the penetrating of His purpose in our hearts that we might live out His will in the next few years as we prepare for new millennia. Our purpose in Shekoah 97 is to see the gospel willingly embraced in every ethno-linguistic people in such a way that it meets their diverse needs, heals their deepest wounds, redeems their distinct cultures, and restores God-given dignity, destiny, and joy. Shekoah 97 is strategically positioned three and one half years before the end of the century. This is a critical time to assess what needs to be done to complete the task our Lord entrusted almost 2,000 years ago. Many people from all over the world have been involved in mission work since the Lord gave His great commission. The Lord has blessed them and provided for all their needs. And we're going to have a little talk to our Father of heaven who is here with us tonight. In the Bible, God promises that the harvest will be great in the end times. But He also warns that the workers will be few. Thank you that you brought the gospel to Africa. Thank you for the missionaries who took the risk and brought the word of God to us. And today we sit here 42 months away from the end of this century and Father we take time to say thank you, blessed be your name, that we are people who lived in Africa that used to be called the continent full of darkness. For nine months, thousands of people around the world have supported the preparations for Shekoah 97 with prayer. For these five days, men and women from all walks of life, including several political and church leaders, will get together to hear the Lord speak directly to them or through intercessionary prayers. Intercession is so important. They give it first priority. And we discovered, for example, as we're praying, God will speak to us about the condition of the consultation. For an estimated 300,000 Christians in Hong Kong, June the 30th, 1997 is an historical occasion. As the British hand Hong Kong back to China, many fear the future. For this reason, Thomas Wang, international chairman of AD2000, chose to remain with his flock at this crucial time. We spoke to him by direct telephone link during the Shekoah opening ceremony. Hello, Brother Thomas. John Richard here. Hello, John. Hello, Louise. Hello, everybody at Shekoah 97. How are you, folks? Brother Thomas, we have about 4,000 people congregated in Hatfield Christian Church. They are drawn from about 135 countries. There is a great spirit of expectation, and the theme seems to be, let God arise and let his enemies be scattered. Praise the Lord. Pray for the Hong Kong churches that they'll stand firm on biblical principle and will continue to evangelize the people in Hong Kong and also to facilitate the evangelization of the entire China. At Shekoah 97, the role of women in ministry was fully recognized. The women participated in all the tracks as fully integrated delegates. A special opportunity for sharing was created at the women's banquet. A friend of mine said this, it is not easy for an egg to fly. Still, it has all the potential for flying. I am speaking prophetically about the business executives consultation. We are going to soar like eagles in the name of Jesus. What are we going to do? We are going to consider what it is when the love of the Lord wants to caress a whole nation, and we're going to look at that as a case study of touching a nation. We are going to provide partnership opportunities in the unreached parts of the world. We are going to give hands-on opportunities to get into strategic partnerships to reach the unreached peoples. And we're going to study models for effectiveness in those sensitive areas in the world. Sitting among you are over 550 mission executives who've been to the top of the mountain, who've gotten a vision from God. And we're going to come together to lay those visions out to see how well they cover the world, and the places where they overlap to see how we can work together and network and together do what the whole body of Christ needs to be doing. Then we're going to look and say, God, what is your vision of this world? How do you see it? And then see the gaps that are left. And obviously the 579 people groups are those gaps. And then to say, how can we now together make sure before we leave here on Friday that every one of those 579 people groups is targeted, and we will get to them before the year 2000. The first thing I want to say is the delegates for the poor and needy track have got their name on their tag, and then it says poor and needy. Please don't allow them to take advantage of that for fundraising. And this we'll do through storytelling. The best way of learning is to listen to one another's stories. So we'll be breaking up into specialist groups and listening to one another's stories. And then we're going to look at implementation. Strategically planning how we can multiply, especially those successful works amongst the poor, how we can multiply those so that we can reach those 82 to 84% of the poorest of the poor who reside in the 1040 window. And then we're going to look at impartation. Many of the workers amongst the poor pour themselves out as Isaiah 58 tells us. Pour yourself out on behalf of the needy. They pour themselves out and so we're going to spend time in just being soaked in the presence of God. And we are going to share these initiatives, identify what God is already doing, find out the resources that have been developed and the various models that have been put in practice through which the church is evangelizing and planting churches in the different parts of Africa. We'll also be assessing the tools that we have been using, especially in the area of Bible translation, in the area of Jesus film, in the area of the radio and television ministries, and all the various tools that are being used in Africa to reach the rich. Yes, my beloved brothers and sisters in the Lord, the next assignment for me is to introduce the lovely brother, Christo. Christo, the vet of the training for church planting movement. Come brother, God bless you. Praise God, what a warm welcome. I'm ready for church planting now. Now seriously, we truly want to equip these men and women for the incredible tasks that they are busy with, but we also realize that unless God, the Holy Spirit, touch their heart and put their hearts on flame for the gospel of Jesus Christ, they can never effectively do what needs to be done. We are striving and trusting God to touch them and to encourage them and to equip them and that they might be empowered to return to their nations to truly make a difference and to impact their nations like never before. In the pastor's track, we are totally convinced that the local church is the missing ingredient in completing world evangelization. And so during this week, during this week, we will be focusing on mobilizing local churches into missions, number one. Number two, we will be focusing on engaging the churches of South and Southern Africa to really get and to adopt the hundred least reached people groups of Southern Africa. And lastly, to be able to focus the Southern African churches, especially of South Africa themselves, on the gateway regions so that we can engage them in reaching the Joshua Project unreached people groups. If we catch vision for the world evangelization, devil is in trouble. They catch the vision and they go home. They can change the school, change the faculty, and change the thousands of students whom we already have under our wing. Dangerous people. Now, all of you say with me these words as we are PAD, okay? President Academic Team, P-A-D. Now you say, as PAD goes, so goes the world. To enable us to work out a usable model for us, tailor-made for each one's specific situation, we will grapple with the four questions. Firstly, how to facilitate a missions movement amongst the students. Secondly, how to train them. Thirdly, how to take them on short-term outreaches, and then also how to apply them in community compassion outreaches. Today, we believe that we need a new generation. We've come from all over the world, some from India, from Australia, Brazil, Africa, to learn from each other and to hear from God what he has for us. There are issues that we're going to be looking at, cultural reformation, God's original intention, worship which is relevant in all cultures, arts and media and entertainment, what is our role in that, and the role of the arts in rebuilding a nation. For many of us involved in South Africa and what we've gone through, we've seen that the arts has played a major role in expressing the heart of God for this nation, and I believe that we will also carry the message of his redemption from this nation to other nations. Do you realize that in a continent like Africa, more than 250 million children are under the age of 15 years, and from these 250 million, literally millions of them are traumatized by war, famine, AIDS, violence, materialism, neglect. Our consultation group are going to consult on how to voice the needs of these young hannas around the world, and we would need your prayers. We must find a way to voice the needs to the church, the body of Christ, and to the politicians and world leaders. We would also like to consult with one another to form different networks on how to reach out with the love of our Lord God to the millions of children around the world and especially the unreached groups. Let God arise and his enemies be scattered. Oh God, arise in our hearts. Arise in our nations. We need to see your glory. We need to feel your presence. Arise, oh God! Let his enemies be scattered. Let them be deported. Let their families be taken away. So drive them away, they're far from right Oh yes, they're far from right Oh yes, they're far from right Glory to the Lord Glory, glory, hallelujah Glory to the Lord Under the African sky God is marching on to victory Glory, glory, hallelujah Under the African sky God is storming through the land Glory, glory, hallelujah No one can stand against it No one can take it on God's victory is forever The battle has been won Hallelujah, glory to the Lord Glory, glory, hallelujah Glory to the Lord The time has come, the time has come Let us get ready, Jesus is near The final trumpet soon will blow God give us wisdom as one we go The last word, the heaven's word This flesh is you, this is God Above our pain, Jesus is Christ The King will reign, Jesus Christ The King will reign The time has come, the time has come Let us get ready, Jesus is near The final trumpet soon will blow God give us wisdom as one we go The last word, the heaven's word This flesh is you, this is God Above our pain, Jesus Christ The King will reign, Jesus Christ The King will reign The time has come, the time has come Let us get ready, Jesus is near The final trumpet soon will blow God give us wisdom as one we go The last word, the heaven's word This flesh is you, this is God Above our pain, Jesus Christ The King will reign, Jesus Christ The King will reign The time has come, the time has come Let us get ready, Jesus is near The final trumpet soon will blow Heavenly Father, thank you that you are the mission leader above all mission leaders. Lord, I thank you for the highway to heaven. Lord, I thank you for the ladder where angels come up and down. And Lord, I ask for you now to open up our hearts and minds. Lord, I ask for you to open up our hearts to receive your strategies, your thoughts. Lord, your plans and your ideas for how to reach the unreached peoples of the world. And Lord, I ask for you especially to open the doors to this 1739 unreached people groups. Thank you Lord that you will hear us and you will do according to our prayer. In the name of Jesus, Amen. What a challenge to be here at this just historic meeting. I have dreamed, I have dreamed for over 30 years that there could be a gathering of missionary executives and leaders as we have just completed these last three days. I thank God that he's heard our prayer. Ralph had that same dream many years before. What was said about unity and diversity is so true. And I think the mission executive consultation had some of the greatest human fireworks of all the consultation. If you had been a fly on the wall, you would have been jumping up and down as you saw these spiritual leaders getting a little bit upset about certain things. We have discovered that no matter how filled we are with the spirit, we are incredibly human and we do sometimes lose our cool. If you never lose your cool, I'd love to get your autograph in my Bible. At the end of the meeting, I have a little section in the back of the Bible. It says hypocrite sign below. God bless you. Hallelujah. Delegates to the mission executives consultation met in the Central Baptist Church to discover what God is doing in the mission fields throughout the world. Spirits and feelings ran high as delegates made the most of this unique opportunity to talk to one another. The Holy Spirit moved men and women in miraculous ways, bringing repentance and forgiveness. Let us pray for the Spirit of God who can convict the world of sin. Yes, we can do it. The Holy Spirit, the Counselor to you, whom he can convict the world of sin. Namaste. Let us pray that God should be able to relieve finances, their resources. Thank God the church can get us out of it. There's been a lot of fighting between families and a lot of hurt. Pakistani people, many Filipino people in Hong Kong. I just pray for all the Chinese people to come and forgive us in Jesus' name. For we also have failed the local church, and I wanted to run up here a little while ago and again apologize for the times that we have not been sensitive about the situation in the local church. And that's one of the reasons we have taken ownership of Acts 13, Breakthrough 2000 to see 200,000 new missionaries of all different kinds in all different nations. Because that passage makes it clear that the local church must be the sending agency to flood the workers out into the harmless world. And that we will understand that unless we are daily filled with your spirit, willing to really deny self, take up that cross and follow you as you have taught us, Lord Jesus. These developments allow delegates to learn from one another and to move in a unity of hearts. We have discovered the task ahead of us is enormous. In a world of six billion, and our final words in our little report really are a plea for prayer. We need your prayer. We have seen that we're not great, mountain-moving missionary executives. We are weak strugglers saved by the grace of God who are continually having to repent and ask God to take us into greater reality and integrity and victory. We personally ask your prayers that in the future also we may acknowledge more the chief executive officership of the Holy Spirit of God. For according to the book of Acts, he is the leader of all missionary work. We also would ask your prayers as we know that sometimes talk is cheap and walk costs much on a daily basis. And some of us, especially me, are very, very scared of the weeks ahead. But praise God somehow, if he's kept me going every day for 42 years by his grace, somehow I can walk one more day and you can too. Hallelujah. Oh God, oh Lord Jesus, we love you. You have forgiven us. You have cleansed us by your precious blood. And in the basis of your holy word, we go forward together to give the gospel to every person and to plant the church among every people. So be it in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. The closing ceremony was a feast of thanksgiving and praise. The Lord's blessing on the proceedings was felt in a multitude of ways. Louis Bush began his summarizing address by quoting Isaiah 41, verse 14. Where the Lord says, I will do a new thing. The Lord did indeed do many new things at Jokowi 97. There are new beginnings of a spirit of evangelization in Africa and the world. All right, for those of you. All right. One, two, three. A church for every people and a gospel for every person. By the year 2000. Jesus was sent to earth by the father. For the scripture says, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, so that none may perish, but all have eternal life. And Jesus came with a focused vision. He had the opportunities to be sidetracked. When he came out the desert, as I said this morning, he could very easily have become the great personality. But he chose to serve the poor at the cross. I guess if he wanted to, he could have walked away from it. But stayed focused. Even to death, stayed focused. And then in Acts chapter 1, he's taken up to be with father in heaven. And he leaves the commission with his disciples. And he says to his disciples, you will be my witnesses when the Holy Spirit, or rather you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses both in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth. And so these disciples became the apostles. And I'm convinced that they many a time wanted to run away. And it's interesting as we look at that that we see that Matthew died in Ethiopia by the sword. And Mark was dragged, cruelly dragged through the streets of Alexandria and expired because of his wounds. And Luke was hanged by the neck in Greece. And Peter was crucified upside down in Rome. James the greater was decapitated in Jerusalem. And James the lesser perished after being thrown from the pinnacle of the temple and beaten on the head. And Bartholomew was skinned alive. And Andrew was crucified. And Thomas was impaled with a lance in the East Indies. And Jude was shot to death with arrows. And Matthias was first stoned and then beheaded. And Barnabas was stoned. And Paul the apostle met his death by being beheaded in Rome. I don't know about you tonight, but that speaks to me of focus. And as their master was focused on the cross. So we find that these disciples were focused on reaching the ends of the earth. And it's extremely interesting to see that most of them died beyond Jerusalem. And then we see that John was the only one that escaped. Although he had been put into boiling oil and was miraculously protected. And later banished to Patmos. And then you read in the book of Revelation. As John begins to write the book of Revelation. As he receives the vision from the Lord. It's interesting that it's this very same disciple that comes and says. That before the great white throne of God there will be people from every tribe, tongue, language, and nation. And as I thought through that I realized and recognized that these disciples had only one thing in mind. Just as Jesus had been commissioned by Father to come and open a way for humanity to have a relationship with God. So these disciples were focused on making sure that the ends of the earth would hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. My challenge to all of us tonight is. As we look at these three and a half years to the year 2000. Will we be focused? A new day has dawned for the church in Africa. For so many years Africa has been at the receiving end of missionary efforts from all over the world. Now the African church has found a new energy which has led to unprecedented growth. The new life is spilling over into other unreached nations. Africa is becoming a sender of missions. And a new commitment has occurred. As Willie's talked to us about focus. And we have looked at the focus on the remaining peoples. Still without a church planting effort. Commitment was made in the missions executives consultation. And out of that has come a commitment to 390 of the remaining 597 peoples. Without a church planting effort commitment. Can we say hallelujah to the Lord? And then most of those that did not have commitment within the mission executives consultation focus. Were from Africa. Like Cameroon and Chad. Those peoples. And then the report came out of the African national initiatives consultation. That commitment had been made by the 1,100 African national delegates. For 222 of the remaining peoples of the 597. Which means they are just about all targeted tonight as we leave from this consultation. To be in church planting efforts by the year 2000. Hallelujah. To comfort and encourage all who do his work. The Lord also gave great healing at Jokowi 97. Many of the delegates not only learned a lot from one another. But also about themselves. Repentance and forgiveness were freely recognized. And generously given. Who can remain untouched? Lord Jesus. We talk so easily. We just want to touch these people today. With your touch Lord. Lord Jesus. Just grant them your compassion again. Your perseverance. Your love. Let them be like a well that never dries up. As they pour out and pour out and pour out. Thousands of Christians from all over South Africa. Converged on Pretoria. To take part in the March of the Nations. People from all walks of life. Races and denominations. Joined together on this cold winter morning. To celebrate the great love of Jesus Christ. For Jokowi 97 delegates. It was a glorious culmination. To a week-long visit with God our Father. Now as Joshua did on the banks of the Jordan. Let us lift up our right shoes as a symbol of our commitment. Our acceptance of the commission to cross the river. And inherit the promised land. And as we leave Jokowi 97. We take with us the strength. The commitment and the fellowship. Let us hold on to the promise of continued friendship. As we look forward to meeting again. As the old millennium draws to a close. And a new one dawns. Delegates from all over the world. Will meet in Jerusalem and Bethlehem. For the Celebrate Messiah 2000 conference. Thousands of South African Christians. Will also get together. To see the old millennium out. And the new one in. In Celebration 2000. For we have praised. God our Lord. Alleluia. In the words of George Verver. The Jokowi conference that was held in Africa. In July 1997. Was an atomic explosion. That is having ramifications around the world. At the present time. You can be a part of this dynamic process. By first of all praying for the fallout. Of this atomic explosion. To really get to strategic places in the world. We have produced 10 videos. Each one containing the goals and objectives. Of the 10 various consultations that were held. At the Jokowi conference. You could take anyone or maybe all of these 10 videos. And actually distribute them to friends and fellow leaders. In different parts of the world. So that we can in that way. Spread the message of Jokowi. And thereby mobilize the body of Christ. So that Jokowi 97 is not only an event that happened in July 1997. But could be used as a tool of mobilization. All the way from here into the 21st century. In prayerful preparation for Jokowi 97. Pastor Willie Crew was given the scripture. From Joshua 1 verses 2. For behold my servant Moses is dead. God took his good and faithful servant. Ed Rehbert home during the March for the Nations. He also took home his loyal servant. Duomony Johann Dupreer. Very soon after Jokowi 97. While we as humans mourn their parting. We praise God for his goodness and wisdom. His servants have run a good race. We know that he has work for us in store. Unless a seed fall to the ground and dies. How will it bear fruit?