International evangelist Andrew Palau back with his spiritual Love Malawi Festival in October

Renowned international evangelist Andrew Palau is in Malawi to launch the preparations for his second Love Malawi Festival to be held on October 1-3 after being inspired by the largest crowd in the country’s history of Christian gatherings during his last visit in 2016 held in Lilongwe.

This time around, the Love Malawi Festival will be held in Blantyre and will be spiced up by fun activities that include children’s jumping castle games and BMX and motorcycle extreme sports at the Sports Complex sports pitch of Kamuzu University of Health Sciences (KUHeS), formerly known as College of Medicine.

The event is organised in collaboration with the Love Malawi Festival’s religious partners, Evangelical Association of Malawi and its deputy general secretary Rev. Grey Mwalabu, said as was in 2016, there will also be gospel music concerts by both international and local artists.

At a press conference held at Crossroads Hotel in Blantyre on Wednesday morning, Rev. Mwalabu also announced they are set to distribute free prescription glasses for underprivileged people just as they did in 2016.

Mwalabu, who is the Festival’s coordinator, said the sports activities and free distribution of glasses are to offer extra fun.

He said this festival outreach week — from September 27 to October 1 — is prepared to add icing to the cake which shall include Gospel teachings to believers as well as non-believers.

They are also set to visit schools and prisons and Mwalabu said “this is an event no one can afford to miss as we are set to share the word of God in a different style”.

In his remarks, evangelist Palau said it was an honour that Evangelical Association of Malawi saw it fit to invite him again and looks forward to strengthening the love he has with the people of Malawi.

“We shall remain friends of Malawi and the best is yet to come as this has been the dream of spiritual camaraderie we have nurtured and wanted to achieve.”

He called the Festival as ‘chizimalupsya’ — the term referred to in Malawi as the first rains in October that washes out bushfire fields and goes on to resurrect the beauty of a new season of life.

“We are grateful of the invitation from the group of churches under the Evangelical Association of Malawi which sets out goals to achieve peace and prosperity in achieving one common goal through preaching the Gospel.

“The Festival is set to pray for the City of Blantyre and Malawi as a whole for it to achieve peace and prosperity by re-enforcing religious way of living — a transformation that can come to one’s life if they embrace the word of God.”

Throughout his remarks during the press conference, Palau preached love, saying this is the message his Love Festivals aim at achieving in the African countries he has taken it to that include Côte d’Ivoire, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, South Africa, Ethiopia including Egypt.

Malawi is the only country he is set to visit twice and Evangelical Association of Malawi general secretary, Rev. Francis Mkandawire said they decided to invite Palau again because he is a “sound Bible preacher”.

“In 2016, the venue of our event was close to a football game that was taking place between crowd pullers, Mighty Wanderers and Big Bullets, but we still managed to attract the largest crowd in Malawi’s history of Christian gatherings.

“This is a prayer continuation for the nation and we expect an even larger crowd. This is going to be a wonderful event that no one should miss.”

In his remarks, Evangelical Association of Malawi honorary chairperson, Archbishop Mark Kambalazaza applauded Palau for “his gift of love through accepting to visit Malawi again.

“Jesus said to his disciples to go out and preach the Gospel and make more disciples and this is what you are doing.

“We have to reach out to lost souls and grow the church in numbers,” said Kambalazaza, who is the overseer of Charismatic Redeemed Church.

According to his resume on Luis Palau Association, evangelist Andrew Palau is son to his world evangelist and author Luis Palau and though he grew up in a strong Christian home, he chose his own way and did not make an early commitment to Jesus Christ.

He attended the University of Oregon where the party life was a large part of his studies and after graduating with a degree in English literature, he moved to Boston where he worked in retail for five years at the May Company.

In 1993, Andrew took vacation time to join his parents for Luis Palau’s evangelistic outreach in Kingston, Jamaica where the father preached the same Gospel message he had heard him share hundreds of times, but this time was different.

Having witnessed God’s presence in the lives of some Jamaicans he met, including Wendy Levy whom he later married, Andrew gave his heart to the Lord after 27 years of living apart from Him.

Not long after the Jamaica trip, Andrew returned to Portland, Oregon, to serve as Luis’ personal assistant while he determined which direction to take his career.

He found he didn’t have far to go — he thrived when involved with his father’s outreach events and was instrumental in crafting the content of the first Palau festivals that marked a key shift away from the crusade model for evangelism.

The first two festivals were staged in the Palaus’ home base of Portland, Oregon, in 1999 and 2000. Before moving across the country to direct Washington DC’s event in the National Mall in 2005, Andrew directed festivals in Boise, Idaho, and South Florida.

He now preaches at his own festivals around the world, from the United States to Africa, Mexico, India, Poland and Jamaica and has shared the Gospel with millions of people, and at every opportunity he demonstrates his father’s same passion and love for Christ and for evangelism.

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