You must preach the word with umpf!

‘At NETS I met Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God. This is what I received and this is what I’m ready to give’.

Kwatouta is a recent graduate from NETS (Namibia Evangelical Theological Seminary). At last month’s graduation ceremony (April 2017) he gave a testimony and he emphasised three points that he learnt at NETS:

• to love the word of God and take it seriously
• to love the Lord Jesus more
• to love and take care of one another

Kwatouta went on to say, ‘Dr Prill always tells us that “you must preach the word with umpf!”‘ That is, to preach so as to address not only the brain, but people’s hearts as well.

Kwatouta is now serving as a full-time pastor at a young church plant in Windhoek. One danger for theological students like Kwatouta is that, when they leave college, they begin to lecture at their church rather than preach. At college, when deadlines are around the corner and pressure to deliver good assignments increases, it becomes a challenge to engage with the Bible not only with the brain, but also with the heart. At NETS it has always been very important to us that academic studies will not take priority over personal devotion. Please pray for students that, when they graduate, they will be able to preach with ‘umpf’ – addressing not only the brain, but also people’s hearts. Pray too for current students, their studies will never only be purely an academic exercise.

Thorsten and Kerstin Prill (Mission partners with Crosslinks)