African Occultist Becomes a Church Planter

Stories of Transformation

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Dakarai* was a young man, the son of a chief. From the time he was a teenager, he had smoked cocaine. He also sold it to others, encouraging them to follow his lifestyle. For years, Dakarai had been deeply involved in the occult. In fact, his witchcraft was so powerful that he was protected from harm. No one could do anything to him. He couldn’t be shot or stabbed. Even when policemen came to put him in prison, he would disappear. People feared him.

Anytime church planters would come to his village to evangelize, Dakarai would get high and barge in to distract them from what they were doing. One day, the team went door to door to invite people to a meeting. That evening a large group gathered. Dakarai decided to go and disrupt the meeting again. But when he arrived, people were singing and dancing to the Gospel music. Dakarai, who was high, saw the people dancing and joined in. When the preaching started, instead of causing a disruption, he was touched by the Gospel. So, when an invitation was given for people to give their lives to God, he was the first to respond. The people were amazed and followed him.

He brought all his witchcraft paraphernalia to the church planting team. They prayed, and then Dakarai burned the fetishes. Dakarai turned out to be a man of peace (Luke 10:6). The team grew close to him through discipleship and training. He became one of the village leaders. The first church he planted met under a tree. Now the congregation has a building.

So, because of the drastic changes in his life, people started saying, “If Dakarai received Christ, that means God is powerful.” Every time Dakarai visits, people are being baptized and the church is growing. He has since planted three churches. The occultist and addict is now a church planter, and the chain reaction of disciples making disciples is spreading because of God’s transformation in his life!

*Names have been changed for security purposes.