Son of witchdoctor who found Jesus passes to his reward

Son of witchdoctor who found Jesus passes to his reward
By Mark Ellis, Special to ASSIST News Service
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA (ANS -- May 29, 2015) -- After a JESUS Film team came to his village in southern Zimbabwe, Nhamo Chigohi found Jesus and eventually became a prolific church planter and launched at least seven schools and orphanages.
Pastor Chigohi passed into the arms of the Savior he loved on May 16th due to possible complications of hepatitis. He was 43.
“He was a very impactful person, able to do things nobody else was able to do,” says Pastor Tobey Williams, a bi-vocational pastor currently based in Montrose, Colorado. “He was like a brother to me.”
On one trip to Zimbabwe with Pastor Chigohi, Pastor Williams watched 800 people come to Christ in three days as a result of Pastor Chigohi’s influence. “I started 30-40 churches with him and worked with Nhamo to get pastor training started.”
So many were accepting Christ there was a critical shortage of trained leaders, something both men set out to rectify.
Many of the young people who graduated from the schools he started became the top students in Zimbabwe, something noted by government officials. “He was very influential in his area,” Pastor Williams recalls.
The area where Pastor Chigohi ministered lacks adequate medical facilities, which may have been a factor in his early demise. “It’s a tough place to get medical attention and they couldn’t get him attention fast enough,” according to Pastor Williams. He says his friend may have also been suffering from cancer.
At the time he came to Christ, Chigohi was also dealing with a health crisis. A painful infection and boil on his head rendered him unable to move from his bed. He spent many days listlessly, barely able to turn over, yet his witchdoctor father refused modern medical care.
“He would not allow me to go to the hospital because he believed he could heal through witchcraft,” Pastor Chigohi recalled later.
His father called on his spirits, but they could not heal the young man.
One day a team came from a neighboring village to show the JESUS Film. “I was warned by my father not to see any activity sponsored by the local church,” Pastor Chigohi noted. When his father and mother left him alone, they warned him not to watch the JESUS movie on the evening it was presented in their village.
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