Angus Buchan to visit Windhoek

Church leaders in Namibia were able to secure the time of Angus Buchan to visit the country on 24 and 25 May 2008. Angus, well known for his book and movie Faith Like Potatoes, travels in Africa and the rest of the world to bring the gospel of Jesus Christ to audiences. What makes his life remarkable is his faith in the Lord and the countless miracles that were performed by the Lord because he made himself available as a channel.

Faith Like Potatoes is described as one of the best faith-building books ever written. Its message speaks to people from all ages, social groups, backgrounds and cultures. It has already been responsible for countless people committing their lives to the Lord, and those who have been Christians for many years are challenged to increase their faith. It is the story of the humble farmer, Angus Buchan.

What makes Angus’ story such an inspiration? Quite simply, it makes you consider your own life. It inspires you to be a better person, to believe more, to have unwavering faith in the power of God. Many readers have travelled from all over the world to Angus’ farm to meet him. The title ‘Faith Like Potatoes’ came from a famous American lecturer who used to tell his students that they needed faith like potatoes.

He meant that their faith needed to have flesh and needed substance. As Hebrews 11:1 says, “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not yet seen.” Angus Buchan not only had faith like potatoes, he had faith for potatoes as well. Angus, not a university graduate, public speaker or celebrity, but a farmer, recently managed to gather more than 60 000 men in kwaZulu Natal to hear him speak.
Angus is from Scottish descent and is by nature a very fiery character. Before he came to know Jesus, he was very aggressive and tried to do everything himself. This caused him to clash often with his farm workers, especially Simeon Benghu, his foreman. What made matters worse was the fact that he had been forced to sell his farm in Zambia at a ridiculously low price and when he got to South Africa he had very little money to buy a farm.

He eventually purchased a farm without a house and had to live in a caravan for several months. Jill, his wive, was six months pregnant at the time and they already had three young children. In addition to the cramped living quarters, there was no running water on the farm. The farm workers at Shalom soon named Angus, ‘Nkosaan Italiaan’, because they said he looked and behaved like a mad Italian.

They used to laugh and mock Angus, saying that they were convinced he would leave the farm in a couple of months. That was in 1978. Now, 30 years later, the Buchans still farm at Shalom. The change in Angus came when he gave his life, his heart, his family and his farm to Jesus during a church service at the Greytown Methodist Church. He decided to take God at His Word and to trust Him in everything.

Soon, with the same fiery passion with which he farmed, Angus began to tell people just how God had changed his life. This new faith in Jesus did not make life any easier, but it did give him peace beyond understanding and it assisted him to make sense of life. What is very striking in the story is the contrast between the miracles and the hardships that seemed to happen. The first miracle came soon after his conversion when he, Simeon and the workers were burning some brush wood on the farm.

A gust of wind suddenly blew the flames into the Lion Match plantation and Angus knew that he could be taken to court if he caused a fire that burnt down someone else’s plantation. He called Simeon over and told him that they needed to pray for rain. Simeon said that it was the dry season and there are no clouds around. Angus went ahead and simply asked for rain.

Within an hour it started to rain and it killed the fire! When the Lord called Angus to start preaching and to share the Gospel, Angus acted in obedience and soon he started getting calls from all over South Africa inviting him to preach to farmers. His faith grew with every campaign and with every miracle that he experienced. Then, just as you read about the miracles and think that nothing could go wrong in the Buchans’ lives, a tragic accident on the farm shook their family.

This was an incredibly tough time for everyone at Shalom, but God is always faithful in bringing His peace in times of need. Even at the lowest point in his life, Angus remained faithful to the Lord. Angus and Jill soon decided that their faith needed to have feet, and when they discovered the needs in their community, they opened their farm to Zulu orphans.

These children had no parents or homes so Angus and Jill decided to raise them as their own. Today two of Angus’ daughters, Robyn and Jilly, help to run the children’s home. His children are just as dedicated as he is, and his two sons, Andrew and Fergus run the farm while Angus preaches away from home almost every weekend. An Open Day takes place at the Hage Geingob Stadium in Windhoek on Saturday 24 May, while a service takes place on Sunday the 25th at the Safari Hotel’s conference centre.