Seventeen Baptisms for Port Hedland
On Sabbath the 6th of August, seventeen precious people were baptised by the local elder Albert and Pr Darren Peakall at Pretty Pool on the coast. It was a great day as Pr Terry Johnson the Australian Union Conference (AUC) President, had joined the group to spend time with them and to witness the event with the whole church in attendance. Darren Peakall said “It has been a privilege to work with the Port Hedland church in their recent evangelistic program.”
Since last year the elder and leader of the group, Albert has been working with the team to conduct Bible Studies in the home of Amber and Aiden every Tuesday night. Lance is the local bus driver who does the rounds to pick up families. He transports them to the home where a simple meal is provided and then they study “The Bible Says…” the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Ministries (ATSIM) bible study series. On many occasions there has been 15-20 adults and 10-15 children. Joan keeps the children busy with a simple program while the adults do their study.
In the week leading up to the bapsism, Darren Peakall travelled to Port Hedland to present a six part evangelistic series to confirm their decision. The whole church worked together to make the program a success. The music set the scene as local Martu ladies sang every night in their native language, with a group of children. Pr Saia Vea and his wife travelled from Karratha and were active in ensuring the event is a success. Darren Peakall and Pr Sai visited the people together to confirm their decision following their stand the night before and their commitment in the weeks leading up.
Two sisters Sharon and Barbara were planning to be baptised with the group of 15 on Sabbath however their close family member passed away leaving them with a dilemma. How can they respect family, attend a funeral in Nullagine about three hours away, and also be baptised? During our visit with them Pr Saia made a commitment to them that if they made it back on Sabbath they would be baptised. The ladies arrived back around 4:30pm and so a group of people went back to Pretty Pool and they were baptised at sunset by Albert. Pr Saia mentioned that it was ”wonderful to see the commitment to travel back after the funeral instead of staying with family to grieve with them.”
This success is a wonderful witness to other churches, showing what a small group can do when they all work together in witnessing for Jesus.
