POLOKWANE – Thousands of Christians united in praise and worship during the tenth Mighty Men Conference (MMC) in the Bushveld that was hosted on the farm Snymansdrift outside the city over the weekend.

This year’s event was the last to take place at Snymansdrift and during a ceremony following Sunday’s sermon, convenor Francois Brits handed over a baton to the organisers of next year’s event that will be hosted in Mookgophong.

“God has guided me to organise the Mighty Men Bushveld Conference on my farm for ten years and it is now time for someone else to take over,” an emotional Brits said.

In a short interview with Angus Buchan, who was the main speaker on Saturday evening and Sunday morning, Buchan paid special tribute to Brits and his wife Isabel for the sterling and devoted way in which they hosted the last ten events. “May God bless them,” Buchan said.

Buchan explained that it is now more than 20 years since a group of 240 men gathered on his farm, Shalom in Kwazulu-Natal, marking the start of the Mighty Men Conference phenomenon and that 2023 is shaping up as a phenomenal year for the iconic, life-changing men’s conference.

At the Mighty Men at Shalom in 2010, there were more than 300 000 men. Thereafter, Buchan asked his spiritual sons to host events around the country and Mighty Men events began to spread across South Africa and to Namibia and further afield to other nations including the United States, Australia, the United Kingdom and Brazil. There were also successful online conferences in Nigeria and Zambia.

“It gives me great pleasure to say that this year, no less than 13 at the moment, maybe more, Mighty Men Conferences are scheduled to take place in South Africa alone, not mentioning overseas,” Buchan said and added that he will be heading for the Eastern Cape MMC at Jeffrey’s Bay over the next weekend, followed by the conference in Namibia on 25 March.

MMC conferences are also scheduled for Newcastle, Estcourt, Mbombela, Ballito, East London, Carletonville and Welkom, among others. In August, conferences will be hosted in Canada and Israel.

“MMC is a platform where men are loved and challenged — and disciplined to put God first in their lives, then after God comes the wife, after the wife comes the children, after the children comes the vision, the ministry, the occupation and the work,” Buchan believes.

The gist of Buchan’s sermon was that we should not lose faith during the trying times that Christians are facing due to the bad economy, load shedding and other challenges.

“Keep your eyes on the Lord, He is the real provider,” Buchan said.

Presentations were made by Burre Burger and Henk Kleinschmidt and Rick van Wyk, Joe Niemand and Franna Benadé conducted the song and worship sessions.

Women and children were invited to join the worshippers for the sermon on Sunday morning and a wide variety of meals and refreshments were available for day visitors and for campers in need of a snack between the traditional braais that characterised the event.

The MMC clothing shop was a very popular attraction offering memorabilia.