Faith like potatoes

We travelled to Wagin to listen to Angus Buchan speak. Angus is a Scottish-born South African farmer who wrote the book Faith Like Potatoes, which has been turned into a movie. He is an interesting person to listen to with his down-to-earth, no-nonsense attitude.

Angus challenged us to live a life hungry for the things of God, to purpose to follow God, no matter what the cost. He said that our faith should cost something, because if it didn't cost something it wasn't worth anything. Going to church wasn't enough, because if going to church made us a Christian, then going to Macdonalds made us a hamburger. We needed to have a relationship with Jesus. We needed to talk to Jesus about people before we told the people about Jesus. If we only took one thing away with us from the night, then remember this: Jesus loves each one of us very much. There is hope, there is an answer, there is a way out of despair in Jesus.

A music team from a baptist church in Joondalup lead the congregation in worship. One of the local Wagin pastors welcomed us all and introduced Angus. They said that every available chair that the Wagin shire owned was put out, and there were still people standing. After the event, there was a BBQ dinner. I spoke with one of the organisers who said that there were 400 chairs and at least 150 people standing at the back of the pavillion, which makes this one of the largest Christian gatherings I've seen in Wagin.

Wagin's name means "emu watering hole", but is also known as the meeting place. Aboriginals used to come to Wagin as a central meeting place for the different tribes. Angus asked for people to give a show of hands to indicate where they came from. There were people from the North, South, East and West of Wagin, once again making Wagin the meeting place for the Great Southern.