What is God doing in Zimbabwe? Today we talk to Obey Chinosengwa, an evangelistt from Gweru, Zimbabwe who leads Gospel to All Nations. Obey shares his vision to spread the gospel to every town and village in the country of Zimbabwe.
Connect with Obey Chinosengwa: https://www.facebook.com/obey.chinosengwa
Transcript:
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:00):
Welcome to the Evangelism Podcast. I’m Daniel King. I’m excited about telling people about Jesus today. I have a very special guest with me. Obey Chinosengwa. And how do you say your last name?
Evangelist Obey Chinosengwa (00:13):
Obey Chinosengwa
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (00:14):
And we are in the nation of Zimbabwe. It is early in the morning here. We woke up very early and went and did a morning radio program and got to share the gospel on the radio program. And Obey is an evangelist from here in Zimbabwe and he has been helping us with the Love Zimbabwe Festival, with the global network of Evangelists. And I’m so excited to meet you because you have a ministry. It’s called Gospel to all Nations. So tell me a little bit about yourself and about the calling that God has on your life.
Evangelist Obey Chinosengwa (00:54):
Okay, thank you. Thank you. Evangelist Daniel is such an honor and a privilege to be sitting next to you and welcome to our beautiful Zimbabwe. It’s something that I really love to be cross-pollinating with other evangelist like you, and especially knowing that you have been evangelism for a long time
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (01:19):
Now. It was really cool. You just pulled out your phone and you showed me that you had downloaded some coaching resources from the Global Evangelist Alliance and I had done a coaching call a few months ago for them and you downloaded it and you’re listening to it right here in Zimbabwe. You say on the radio program, you say, ah, I recognize your voice. I heard it before and it’s the evangelist you were listening
Evangelist Obey Chinosengwa (01:45):
To. Yeah. God works in amazing ways. I downloaded this I think two weeks back. You did the podcast I think three months ago. So I was listening to it. He was talking about the calling of an evangelist and that was amazing stuff. Little did I know in just three weeks time I’ll be sitting next to this great man of God, evangelist Daniel. I’m so much thrilled to be seated next to you. So I’m occupational saying, well, like you said, and I am an evangelist. So I started off in 2017. It’s something that I knew when I was growing up that God has set me apart for some work, but I didn’t really know what it was. So around 2014, I started praying and praying, asking God, what is it? Oh Lord. So in 2014, the Lord did three things in my life. 2014. The first one was he sent another man of God to our city, a person who I never knew.
(02:48):
He came to our university. So in an honored prayer, he singled me out and spoke of this evangelistic calling on my life. Then I said, wow, I didn’t know much about evangelism. Then it steered something in me like Paul speaking to Timothy said, stir up the gift that is in you, which came on you by the lane on of hands by the elders. We have gone ahead of you. So I felt something dropped in me from that day, which resonated with what God has put in my heart. The second thing was after that, I went on a vacation. I started praying, praying, praying, praying. I was in a fasting. I prayed four days, I think I prayed in fasted. Then I went to a different city. When I got there, the first Sunday service I entered after the service, a certain lady walked to me, it’ll be amazing, Daniel.
(03:41):
Then he said, the Lord has spoken to me for you to pray for my son. He’s in China. I knew Zimbabwe. The son is in China, and he’s saying, yes, had a terrible skin disease, and he’s telling me he’s about to be brought back to our country. He’s going to abor his studies. Then I just said, can we pray about it in this week? And we see what God does. Friday, the skin condition was gone and I said to myself, God is doing something. It was just in the same season. So for me, 2014 stands out, Mr. Daniel.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (04:19):
Wow. And so you started to study the lives of great evangelists. You told me that you looked at Reinhard Bonnke’s books. You showed me last night you were reading a book by Oral Roberts, the great evangelist from Oklahoma.
Evangelist Obey Chinosengwa (04:35):
Yeah, sure.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (04:36):
And so you started feeding yourself on evangelism and then God started opening up doors for you to do evangelism, and in the last couple of years you’ve been doing crusades here in Zimbabwe. Tell me about those crusades. How do you organize them and what results have you seen God do?
Evangelist Obey Chinosengwa (04:54):
Alright, so like you highlighted, I started studying. I didn’t know how I’m going to do it. The first book I bumped into that is the same year, 2014 was a biography by Bill Graham, written by John Pollock. That’s
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (05:13):
A great
Evangelist Obey Chinosengwa (05:13):
Book. I started reading that book by John Pollock. Then I finished it in around the same year. Then the Lord started tearing something in me. I went on to study Renard Bon. I said this autobiography, and this year actually, I was studying orals from your state, from your city, and I could work in amazing ways. So I started now organizing. The first thing I started doing, I started going in the salons in restaurant preaching on lunch hours. I didn’t wait for people to come to me. I actually went to where the people are. So it was unconventional. People in here in Zimbabwe know evangelistic ministry just working on as a parachurch organization, sometimes it has a lot of challenges. So I had to go to the people like that’s evangelism. I think that’s what evangel, yeah,
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (06:11):
That’s really the heart of evangelism. If you just stay in the church, people don’t have any reason to come to church. They don’t know Jesus. So you have to go outside the walls of the church to where they are, and that is one of the primary callings of the evangelist is to get the church to go outside of the church walls into the community. You got to get the salt out of the salt shaker.
Evangelist Obey Chinosengwa (06:35):
Sure, sure. That’s what makes the food test. So I always say men of God, this is what I always say. If the people don’t come to church, take the church to the people. That’s what we should do. So after that, COVID came, I took a step back. During the COVID season, I stopped this marketplace outreach network program that I was doing going in the marketplace. So when I was post COVID era, I then started organizing crusades. I called them yielding gospel crusades here in Zimbabwe.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (07:14):
And so you pray for the sick. Yeah,
Evangelist Obey Chinosengwa (07:16):
Sure,
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (07:16):
Sure. And you’ve seen God do miracles.
Evangelist Obey Chinosengwa (07:18):
Yeah, yeah, definitely. Like the one that
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (07:20):
Was studied. Tell me about the miracle. Yeah, the woman in China.
Evangelist Obey Chinosengwa (07:23):
Yeah, the woman had a son in China.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (07:26):
Wow.
Evangelist Obey Chinosengwa (07:27):
He was having a terrible skin condition,
(07:30):
And the skin was said to have thin, and it was now very thin, and they wanted to bring the child back before he finished these studies. So this lady walks to me, we are here in Zimbabwe. Then this lady walks to me, then she say, the Lord has told me you should pray for me. Then I said, oh God, what have I done now? So you see, I’ve always three ways that really resonated with me in looking on Jesus’ ministry. And I believe Jesus was full-time evangelist because he was always on the marketplace. He was always in the villages in the cities and the Bible that is always recurring. He went to the cities and villages and preached in their synagogue, not in his synagogue. So I think he was doing evangelism more. But what? Yeah,
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (08:26):
I’m thinking of Matthew chapter four, verse 23. It says that Jesus went teaching in the synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every sickness and every disease.
Evangelist Obey Chinosengwa (08:38):
And
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (08:38):
So you have those three parts of the ministry of Jesus, the preaching, the teaching, and the healing.
Evangelist Obey Chinosengwa (08:43):
Sure, sure. If actually you look on our profile, Daniel, this is our profile, the three terms that really stand out for me. It’s reach, teach, and preach. This is what Jesus was doing, and now we go the 41, we do a yielding crusade. He was going teaching, preaching, yielding,
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (09:03):
And he went to every town and village.
Evangelist Obey Chinosengwa (09:05):
Every town and village. So it’s like that is what Jesus, I
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (09:09):
Think God wants you to go to every town and village in Zimbabwe.
Evangelist Obey Chinosengwa (09:13):
Sure, sure,
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (09:14):
Definitely. What are some of the places that you’ve gone to here in Zimbabwe?
Evangelist Obey Chinosengwa (09:18):
Okay, so I’ve gone to ge. Gezi is around zit area, mano, that’s mano. I’ve done guru as well. And we are going to VMA just two weeks from now. We are going to Buma from the 10th of September to the 13th of September. We are having a healing gospel crusade there, and I’m believing God for amazing miracles. Marriages will be restored, people will be heal. Jesus is going to do it again because we believe we evangelist Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (09:56):
It’s so wonderful to meet you because I believe that God wants us to go to everyone on earth. Every single person needs to have a chance to hear the message of Jesus Christ. And if we’re going to go to everyone, we need to have evangelists that are raised up in every single country. And so it’s so neat to see that God is raising you up here in Zimbabwe,
Evangelist Obey Chinosengwa (10:23):
Thank God.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (10:24):
And Zimbabwe is a big country. There’s a lot of people here. And so I think it’d be so cool for your ministry to develop a plan. How are we going to reach every town, every village, every city in Zimbabwe. And I believe that as you begin to go, God’s going to give you the finances. God’s going to give you the team
Evangelist Obey Chinosengwa (10:49):
Members.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (10:50):
God is going to give you the creative ideas, the ways to reach people here in Zimbabwe. And God is even going to take you beyond Zimbabwe. God’s going to take you to other countries as well. But I think it begins here in Zimbabwe and you say, we can reach everyone in Zimbabwe with the
Evangelist Obey Chinosengwa (11:08):
Gospel. Sure. You actually mentioned something that is very important. When Jesus was talking to his disciples, he was about to leave. Ye said this, it’ll begin in Jerusalem where they were.
(11:20):
It’ll go to Judea to summary Maria and to the rest, to the Atmos parts of the world. So it always begins at home. That is what my grandmother always told me. She always told me that charity begins at home. So actually we have a vision like the term itself of the vision says gospel to all nations. I took it from Mark chapter 13, verse 10. It says, end the gospel must first the preach. And when it says first, it points out on priority. It’s a priority to God. Before Jesus comes back and establishes his ministry, he established his kingdom here on earth for us to preach the gospel or nation. So I took it upon myself to fulfill scriptures. One of the things that I noticed when I was reading through all the gospels, this always comes out this and this so happened that it may be fulfilled. So Jesus fulfilled a lot of prophecies. It was intentional. It was deliberate. Even when he was young, they were moving from place, place, fulfilling scriptures. So I challenge fellowmen of God’s fellow evangelist. Let’s fulfill the word which was spoken of Mark chapter 13, investor in says, end the gospel must first preach to all the nations. So we are going to work in Zimbabwe. One of the ways that I’ve been thinking recently, evangelist is like there must be young evangelists coming up. We form teams around because sometimes I believe in networks.
(13:03):
Maybe we are coming to this province. We are Midlands province right now in guru in Zimbabwe. So we come in Midlands, then we have a set of evangelists. Another one is going to that village. Another one is going to that town, another one is going to, then we eat that province. Maybe in the only four days we eat that province. We move to another province. We do the same thing. Villages. So I believe in networks because at one time Jesus said to them, go into all the cities and villages in which he himself was about to go. So we move. Then Jesus comes there, he said in the cities in which he was about to do something. So when you see an evangelist like Daniel is now in Zimbabwe, I believe God is about to do something in Zimbabwe. And I pray God touches your heart to do things in Zimbabwe.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (13:58):
Amen. Well, this is my first time in Zimbabwe, but it won’t be my last.
Evangelist Obey Chinosengwa (14:02):
Wow.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (14:03):
And I like what you’re saying about networks. Jesus told us to be fishers of men and fishers. In the days of Jesus, they use nets to go catch the fish.
Evangelist Obey Chinosengwa (14:14):
Definitely.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (14:14):
So you need a net that works to be a fisher of men.
Evangelist Obey Chinosengwa (14:17):
Wow. I never thought it that way. So it’s a net that works. Wow.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (14:23):
You have a network so that you can be a fisher for men. Wow. Now one of the things I really like here in your, you have such a beautiful vision, like a brochure that you’ve put together here for your ministry gospel to all nations. And one of the things that you have here is that with the healing gospel crusade, you want to do students to Christ, youth to Christ leaders to Christ ladies to Christ, men to Christ. And so not only are you trying to target many different towns and villages, but you’re targeting different levels of society. So you have some outreaches to students, some to the young people, some to the women, some to the men. And so you’re targeting these different layers of society to bring the gospel to everyone.
Evangelist Obey Chinosengwa (15:17):
Okay. So you see the gospel is actually, we approach it holistically. We don’t want to target the other area, and the other area is lagging. So we have students in colleges, we have to think future. We have to look into the future. What seed are we planting? It’ll amaze you that God, when he was creating everything, he put seeds in them because you are thinking of the future. That’s why I was talking of other young evangelists, catching the mantle, catching them, getting the seed in them of this evangelistic movement that is about to cover the whole globe. So we target the students. They are in colleges. There’s a lot happening in colleges. Say drugs, you see them, you see pornography. People are doing things in the young people are doing a lot of things. So as you look at it, students, they are special group we have to really focus on. Then youth as well. They are those we have gone out of school who are just experimenting with whole lot of things. Whereas maybe they get their life destroyed In that process. We have people whom we have lost to drugs. You know that
(16:41):
Even Oklahoma, you know that.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (16:43):
Yeah.
Evangelist Obey Chinosengwa (16:43):
Then we also go to women, ladies, sometimes we want to take off this Delilah spirit from you can be men of God anointed doing well, but Delilah comes. But we think no one was created. A Delilah. God never makes people bad. He makes them good. They start making choices. So we move and we try to guide in a godly way by being spirit led. Then one important group that is very important, Paul speaking to Timothy. He says, pray for leaders that you may live a peaceable life. So if we do everything, John C. Maxwell, he said, everything rises and falls on leadership. So if we leave out the leaders, I tell you it’ll not go well. Even if you want to reach the world, they may close their borders, they may close their things. But thank God, God has given us grace to raise leaders who are God fearing leaders who change the face of the world, making decisions that are so inclined to the kingdom of God.
(17:56):
So this is how we approach the healing gospel. Cru said, because I believe, like you’re saying on radio this morning, 98.4 fm, you spoke of the spirit, you spoke of the soul, you spoke of the body, and you said, God is interested in all. So when we go on a healing gospel crusade, it’s not me healing. It’s not me as a man of God. It’s the gospel. If you look in Luke chapter number six and 7, 5, 4, 6, and seven, it says you went, people came all around to hear him and to be healed. So what begins first is the healing and the healing follows. So it is something that you first approaches your soul. Then the healing manifest is in the natural. Then you are forgiven of your sins, like you were saying. But have you ever noticed these four letters, H-E-A-L-U? We just remove the L and put an error. It’s year in saw in year in hearing. God is ying our healing. But it depends with what you are going to hear. So our crusades used to be holistic. They have to approach the soul, the spirit, and the body.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (19:17):
Amen. That’s so good. Let’s talk about the Love Zimbabwe Festival.
Evangelist Obey Chinosengwa (19:22):
Wow.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (19:23):
You have been helping to organize this from the very beginning. Tell me a little bit about what has already been happening here and then what the expectation is for this week during the Love Zimbabwe Festival in Guro, or how do you say the name of this
Evangelist Obey Chinosengwa (19:41):
Guru?
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (19:42):
Yeah.
Evangelist Obey Chinosengwa (19:43):
You see, I think God is doing amazing things in this world and he’s bringing people together in love. God is love. Anyway. I think if anyone says who is God? God is love. So God has brought love Zimbabwe Festival to Guru. This is my city. This is where I stay. So God has brought Love Zimbabwe Festival to Guru. We are so much excited. It’s coming for free. Everyone is going to hear the gospel for free. So there’s been a lot of activities targeting the students. We had the schools ministry with co babababa from Kenya. Kenya is here. We have him from the United States. Then we have people from Latin America.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (20:27):
We have people from Brazil, from Puerto Rico, from the United States, from South Africa, from Kenya. There’s people from all over the world that have come here for this
Evangelist Obey Chinosengwa (20:39):
Love. So Daniel, there is this spirit of unity that we are seeing that is being brought about by this festival. The churches in Guru are united from all France, mainline churches, Pentecostals, they are all together. The churches you think they are, they don’t blend so well. You have brought us all together. So that’s one thing. I’m thanking the GNE for coming to Zimbabwe for coming to Guru. It’s such a wonderful moment and guru will be transformed. Amen, amen. Amen. Amen.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (21:19):
Well, we’re excited about what God is going to do this week and it’s so wonderful to get to meet you. If someone wants to know more about your ministry, what’s a good way for them to connect with you? Is it through Facebook?
Evangelist Obey Chinosengwa (21:34):
Okay. Yeah. I am on Facebook or bes, that’s my,
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (21:39):
Maybe you better spell your last name so they can know how to find
Evangelist Obey Chinosengwa (21:42):
You. Alright, that’s fine. So it’s Obe, OBEY. Then my surname is C-H-I-N-O-S-E-N-G-W-N-G-W-A. So Obe, let me spell the second name again. CHIN or S-E-N-G-W-A.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (22:12):
Well, it’s so wonderful to meet you. I love your vision. Thank you, sir. And I believe that God is going to do amazing things through your ministry. Thank you so, so much. Thank you. Obey for being on the Evangelism podcast.
Evangelist Obey Chinosengwa (22:25):
Thank you. Thank you so much. Evangelist. I’m going to, you have this mini request from you. You have been in the field, you have been speaking to nations. It’s over 70 nations. We have traveled only, I think I haven’t traveled as much as you have done, and we are young and you are old. And the Bible says we don’t despise the elderly. So maybe I want you to speak to ask young evangelists before we leave. I was watching you on YouTube, but today we are seated next to each other. So I believe when God brings people together, Paul was praying there, Anas was there. Then the Lord instructed them to be together so that he Anas can release the grace that God had sent him with Cornelius there, Peter there they were connected. So when you have come to Zimbabwe, I believe you have really brought something for young evangelists, not only me, but even for the upcoming evangelists in Zimbabwe. So I’m going to ask you to speak to us and pray for us.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (23:35):
Yeah. I was called to be an evangelist at a very young age, and that has been a primary focus of my life ever since. And there are many distractions in life. Satan tries to get you to go away from your calling and sometimes he gives a distraction. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, but it’s a distraction. But you have to stay focused on the purpose that God has called you to. And if you feel that you’re called to be an evangelist, then make a commitment to God that you are going to be the best evangelist that you can possibly be and tell God, it doesn’t matter what distraction comes or what life brings, I’m going to stay faithful to the calling that you have on my life. In my life, there’s been many opportunities to go in different directions, but that commitment to fulfilling God’s calling in my life has what has helped me to continue in my calling and to continue to reach people for Jesus. And I think that if you will continue in what God has called you to do, to obey, to be obedient to the calling on your life. If
Evangelist Obey Chinosengwa (24:57):
The Bible says
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (24:57):
Obey, must obey. If
Evangelist Obey Chinosengwa (24:59):
You, you’re willing and obedient, if you’re willing and obedient
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (25:02):
And just tell God that sink or swim, no matter what happens, I’m going to fulfill this calling of God upon my life. And if you don’t give up, you’ll make it. There’s so many opportunities to get discouraged or to give up or to wonder why it’s not happening faster. But if you just continue to do what God has called you to do in big ways and in small ways, then the time will come where God will give you great success. I think one of the greatest secrets of the kingdom of God is faithfulness, just being faithful to the calling that God has on your life. So let me pray for you and pray for all the young evangelists of Zimbabwe dearly. Father, I pray for evangelist obey. Thank you for the calling that is on his life, Lord. Together we lift up Zimbabwe to you, Lord. I pray that Zimbabwe would come to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior, that Jesus would be lifted up in this nation. And Lord, I pray that you would raise up a generation of young evangelists that would evangelize all of Zimbabwe, every town, every village, and then be sent from here to other nations around the world. In Jesus’ name, amen. Amen. Thank you so much for giving
Evangelist Obey Chinosengwa (26:17):
Me such an honor. Such an honor.
Evangelism Coach Daniel King (26:20):
Amen. God bless
Evangelist Obey Chinosengwa (26:22):
You. Thank you for being on the Evangelism podcast. Thank you. Thank you so much, sir. Okay.
