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by Abia K.

"Now Choose Life"

The Pretoria UBF spring conference took place on the weekend of 22-24, September 2023 with the conference title, "Now Choose Life." 55 adults and 13 second generations attended this year's Spring Conference. Doyoung C. from Korea, M. John K., and his wife Maria K. were among the attendees. The preparation of the conference started immediately after the International Summer Bible Conference in the USA. We prepared the conference prayerfully. We had two conference prayer meetings each week, and short messages were served at each prayer meeting.

Since the conference will also serve as a ministry succession ceremony, Abia K. and his coworker Mpho had to prepare their life testimonies to share at the conference. The predecessors, M. James L., Josephine L., and Jackie S also prepared life testimonies to share at the conference.

On the evening of the 1st day (Friday) of the conference, after supper, we had a group bible study on 1 Samuel 15:1-35 and thereafter heard the message by Midah. The message's title was "To obey is better than sacrifice." On the second day (Saturday), we gathered once again in our bible study groups and had a bible study on Deuteronomy 30:1-20. Thereafter, we listened to the message by Billy M. The title of the message was "Now choose life".

On Saturday afternoon, CBF went to a swimming pool. One 15-year-old teenager, Siyabonga, drowned in the swimming pool after he jumped into the deep side. By God's grace, he was quickly noticed as saved. This event made me look back at the previous conferences where we had accidents at the conference. Last year, during the Easter Conference, Thandeka had a car accident. Though her car was severely damaged, she was not injured at all. The same year (August 2022), at the Southern Africa Regional Conference, Dervilla fell and broke her arm during the blackout/ or electricity load shedding. These events made us realize that we can never do the work of God without intensive prayers because the devil knows very well the spiritual impact that the conference has on us. We pray that we may have a sense of history and never forget to pray sincerely for the work of God in our ministry. In the evening, M. John K. from LA UBF shared the history of LA UBF. He was followed by the presentation of life testimonies from M. Jackie S., Mpho K., and sister Lunga.

Sunday morning, we heard life testimonies from M. James L., the founder of UBF Pretoria, and his coworker, M. Josephine L. For Sunday worship, M. Joshua S. delivered a message from Numbers 27:12-23. The passage is about the passing of leadership from Moses to Joshua as the Israelites prepare to enter the Promised Land. The passage was relevant since, on that day, Pretoria leadership was transferred from M. Joshua S. to Abia K. After we heard the message, we had a ministry succession ceremony where leadership was transferred from M. Joshua S. to Abia K. Abia shared his life testimony, and the key verse was taken from Jeremiah 1:4-5 which says, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations."

After that, sister Lunga was appointed as Shepherdess for campus students. One of the prayer topics for Pretoria ministry this year was to raise two campus shepherds. When sister Lunga accepted to become a shepherd, we couldn't but praise God, who is responding to our prayer request. By faith, we believe that by the end of this year, we will have raised two shepherds per our prayer requests.

Prayer topics:
-Abia-
1. To be a man after God's own heart, like King David
2. To depend on God in all spheres of my life
3. To grow in the image and likeness of Jesus daily

UBF Pretoria:
1. Books of 1,2,3 John and Proverbs
2. Two house churches by the end of this year
3. 1 or more Shepherd by the end of this year
4. To raise 40 shepherds by 2030
5. To raise faithful servants to be sent to neighboring countries
6. CBF to grow in His Word and Grace