‘Biggest prayer gathering in SA history’ this Saturday
Thousands of South Africans from across the country have already indicated that they are travelling to the Free State to attend this National Day of Prayer (22 April).
Organisers of the It’s Time event, said to be the biggest prayer event ever to be held in South Africa, has announced a traffic plan to effectively manage the hundreds of thousands of cars and buses expected to travel to Bloemfontein on Saturday, 22 April.
Thousands of South Africans from across the country have already indicated that they will be travelling to the Free State to attend this National Day of Prayer, to be held on the farm Wilde Als, four kilometres outside Bloemfontein.
On social media, the initiative attracted massive reaction. During the past week or so, posts on social media platforms had a reach of 24 million people. In the first seven days of the campaign, the reach was 18 million.
Shortly after the evangelist Angus Buchan had made the announcement about the event, 17 farmers came forward and made their land available to be used for the Prayer Day. People are asked to bring their own food and water. They can also camp on various farms close to the venue.
Two thousand hectares of land have already been prepared for the influx of people. Tractors have cut grass on 450 hectares of land to prepare 2 000 bales for people to sit on, although people were asked to bring their own chairs.
To help with traffic flow, attendees are requested to book a parking ticket, at no cost, on www.itickets.co.za. Different parking areas are allocated to travellers on the various routes leading into Bloemfontein. There are 10 access routes to the farms – two for travellers from Gauteng, one each for the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Bloemfontein, three for the Western Cape, and two routes for motorists travelling from the Northern Cape. Motorists from the different provinces are asked to travel only on the routes as indicated for their province. This will help for traffic to be better managed.
Many miracles have happened since operations were started to prepare the land at the It’s Time venue. At one stage a group of farmers donated 800 litres of diesel for the tractors used to cut the grass. Only when the last of the 20 tractors, taking sixty litres each, was filled, the diesel was finished.
After a meeting during which the need for toilet paper was discussed and prayed for, as they stepped out, one of the team members received a phone call from somebody wanting to donate 30 000 toilet rolls, the exact number that was needed.
Five thousand volunteers, mostly young people and students, have offered to help with the sick and the infirm, as well as the elderly, who would need assistance.
The medical services needed at the event, including doctors, paramedics, nurses and ambulances, were budgeted for at R3 million, but local doctors from Bloemfontein are offering their services for free.
The vision for the event came after Angus received a video from a concerned citizen calling on him as a Christian leader to get Christians together in one place and pray to God to save the nation. God gave Angus two phrases – “It’s Time” and “One Million”.
Angus said it is imperative that people come to the It’s Time event to pray for justice, peace and hope in South Africa. “It is not good enough to just go to your house and pray with your family. We need to come together as a nation and we need to seek the Lord together. God is calling us to draw a line in the sand and say ‘devil, no further than this’. He answers prayer.”
It’s Time is for all South-Africans of all races, irrespective of political affiliation, who stand for justice, peace and hope in South Africa.
Visit www.angusbuchan.co.za or www.itickets.co.za for more information.
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