Vince Tharpe poses with the congregation at Wangara Baptist Church. The building was completed at the site of a Voodoo stronghold during Tharpe’s most recent trip to Ghana, West Africa, with Art Alive ministries.Even though this was Vince Tharpe’s seventh trip to Africa, he felt it was a whole new continent.
“I think one of the most amazing things for Vince to see is how much the region over there has changed due to his actions and the Lord working through his ministry,” said Rick Douglas, pastor of First Baptist Church, Blacksburg, and a partner of Tharpe on his trip. “For years, he and the Art Alive team have been going over there to this same area of Ghana. Af first, there was no church – no believers, even – to speak of there. On this trip, we had a pastor’s conference for 200 Christian ministers.”
The group left America on Jan. 27 and returned Feb. 12. In addition to the pastor’s conference every morning, Tharpe’s own mission group, Art Alive, held crusades every night during the two-week stay in the Volta region of the West African nation of Ghana.
“Volta is the world’s largest man-made lake,” Tharpe said. “At the pastor’s conference we had ministers from all kinds of different denominations. Now, the downside is I’m afraid every minister in that part of Africa will now preach with a Southern dialect.”
Tharpe’s crusades include traditional messages of salvation through Jesus Christ, but they’re delivered in very nontraditional ways.
First, there’s the language barrier: “Speaking while having an interpreter at your side is an interesting experience,” Douglas said. “I’ve done this once before with Vince when we went to South America, but the Ghana region has its own dialect. It was strange, because sometimes I would say a few sentences and the interpreter would sum it up with one or two words. But, at other times, I would say a few things and the interpreter would go on and on for a while. I had to change the way I spoke. I had to make sure I used mostly common words in English and kept my sentences short. That way, they could easily translate the thought into their language. If you went on too long, they’d forget what you had said. But once I got the hang of it, it was pretty easy to do.”
Tharpe’s other method of overcoming the language barrier was through his trademark chalk drawings. The inspiration for the name Art Alive, the drawings are done with regular chalk on large canvases, but special chalk is used to draw an “invisible” hidden image. After a presentation, the lights are dimmed and black light is used to make the image come to life. A frequently used drawing depicts a small bird caught in a thunderstorm. As the rain comes down, the bird is removed from a tree and then shown the hands of God via the black light.
“One of the most inspiring things about this trip was the growth we saw at Wangara Baptist Church,” Tharpe said. “Last time we were in Africa, that whole village was a Voodoo stronghold, but when we left this time, their church had a whole new building. Anyone who made a profession of faith there – and we had 87 – really took a strong stand. God is certainly moving in Africa.”
The team was made up of Vince and Brenda Tharpe, Annie Lawson, Jonathan Bridwell, Marie Cribbs, Robert and Cindie Hedrick, Barkley Spencer, Rick Douglas, and Jimmy and Christy Earp.
Not one to rest on his laurels, Tharpe is already planning another trip. “Next time we’ll be working with a missionary there who is trying to get and orphanage built,” he said. “I really don’t know anything about it, but if I’ve learned anything in Africa, it’s that with God, all things are possible.”
Editor’s note: Scott Baughman generously credits The Baptist Courier with helping him get his start in journalism. He was an intern at the Courier seven years ago while a student at North Greenville College. We appreciate Scott’s work and thank the Gaffney Ledger for allowing us to reprint his story.