Spreading the Word on bread!

It started with a loaf of bread and a view of the ocean....

Peter had a dream in Frankfurt, Germany 18 years ago. That dream would lead him thousands of miles away -- to Cape Town, South Africa.

 “At the end of 2008, I dreamed I was in a truck on a long journey,” he said. “I saw a beach, so I stopped the truck to relax. I saw the beautiful ocean, and heard a little boy say, ‘That is South Africa, sir. That is South Africa!’”

For 18 years, Peter struggled to make ends meet, but always kept this vision in mind -- God wanted him to travel to South Africa on outreach. He decided to get creative. He took one loaf of bread and turned it into a venue for spreading God’s word.

Peter, with the help of volunteers from Stellenberg Dutch Reformed Church in Durbanville, uses a unique printing press with cartridges full of thin chocolate to print Bible verses onto 14,000 slices of white bread, four at a time. The bread is then wrapped by the church volunteers and distributed in local townships. The project, called The Ultimate Goal, unites YWAM and other outreach volunteers with the goal of spreading God’s word, as well as a bite to eat.

The group has not forgotten the millions of visitors descending on South Africa for the World Cup, and has catered a special outreach just for them. YWAM and other outreach teams will distribute 42,000 small soccer ball-shaped containers, each enclosing 10 wafers with Bible verses inscribed in chocolate. A sticker on the container’s side reads, “Read & Eat.”

Peter said he hopes the bread can be shared between families over breakfast, and then the word of God can be sent out by sharing the wafers.

The verses are printed in several languages, including Xhosa, Afrikaans and English. The bread will be distributed in several townships, namely near Hout Bay, the Cape Town International Airport and one of the larger townships, Philippi.

Teams have seen a strong response, mostly due to the creativity of the outreach, Marina said.

 “The Word is alive in this,” The Ultimate Goal coordinator Marina du Toit says, picking up the small wafer container.

“God’s Word is in this food,” Peter adds. “We eat and eat; it is something simple that you must have, so we put God’s word in it.”

 In the Stellenberg Dutch Reformed Church gym in Durbanville, the site for preparation of the giveaways, several volunteers have been gathering for three weeks to pack bread and organize loaves for outreach volunteers. One volunteer, Frede Buys, says this is her own way of outreach that lies behind the scenes.

 “I prayed, and told God, ‘I don’t know where you want me, but I’m prepared to use my hands for you,’” she said. “If you just do something small, it changes the world.”

 The volunteers have been working approximately six hours at a time, three days per week for three weeks.

 “If just one piece of bread changes a child, that is a blessing,” Buys said.

 Read, and eat.

  Jillian Vasquez from YWAM Africom.