A little more than two years after officially launching a strategic initiative to expand True Love Waits throughout Africa, more than 15,500 True Love Waits presentations promoting sexual abstinence until marriage have been made to nearly 500,000 African youth. True Love Waits is a ministry of LifeWay Christian Resources.
More than 200,500 have taken the True Love Waits pledge, and nearly 41,500 adults have committed to faithfulness in marriage through True Love Stays.
For a continent ravaged by AIDS, these commitments to biblical purity can literally have life-and-death consequences.
"In sub-Sahara Africa, AIDS has made people hungry for True Love Waits," said Sharon Pumpelly, lead consultant for True Love Waits International. She said she believes there are many other True Love Waits presentations being made and commitments being secured beyond those that have been documented.
"When I travel to Africa, often someone will pull out a True Love Waits card from his or her pocket and tell me the impact the commitment has made," she said.
Stories of hope
One of the most powerful individual stories Pumpelly has heard about the impact of True Love Waits came from a young man who lost four siblings to AIDS. Pumpelly explained that the young man had lived a promiscuous lifestyle and did not remember all his sexual partners.
When he came to know the Lord and committed to purity, the he commented that he would be like his deceased brothers and sisters if the True Love Waits presenter had not come when he did.
Another story comes from Malawi, where Pumpelly met with a man who had been recommended to her to translate the True Love Waits materials into Chichewa. As they began talking, she discovered that when he heard the True Love Waits message, he became so passionate about it that he found the funding himself, translated and printed the materials, and trained youth leaders in each province of Malawi.
"This is the passion we are seeing," Pumpelly noted.
She also recounted the encouraging developments in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, where True Love Waits has attracted the attention of the provincial government. Several years ago the Eastern Cape began a Moral Regeneration Movement through government agencies. The movement focuses on identifying and partnering with programs that are working with youth to develop high moral standards.
As the True Love Waits message has spread throughout the Eastern Cape, the Department of Education and the Department of Social Development formulated a partnership with True Love Waits to ensure that every youth and young adult in the province has the opportunity to hear about God’s message of purity.
"I am really excited with this partnership as it seeks to give meaning to our endeavors," said Nosipho Skenjana, chief director for institutional development, support and governance for the East Cape Department of Education.
Spreading influence
The impact of True Love Waits isn’t restricted to Africa. In the Philippines, Jorex, a Filipino man, became so passionate about getting the True Love Waits message out to young people in his rural area that he quit his job and began praying for the Lord to use him. Jorex now has a thriving ministry, and he was able to help the True Love Waits team in Manila host a large conference in Cebu City. The conference led to nearly 60 schools including True Love Waits in their curriculum.
People from a number of places in Asia have also expressed interest in bringing the True Love Waits message to their parts of the world. For example, a youth leader in Malang, Indonesia, which is two hours from Jakarta, worked with Derek Ross, director of True Love Waits in the Philippines, to develop a plan for bringing True Love Waits to Indonesia.
"It is truly amazing what the True Love Waits International team has done in two years," said Jimmy Hester, co-founder of True Love Waits. Hester recently met with Pumpelly and several of her team members to get an update on progress and to discuss strategy for moving forward.
"God has been very gracious in the caliber of people he has brought to our team," he continued. "They have built important relationships and partnerships and now have a growing network in place to expand True Love Waits’ life-changing message. You just see God’s hand all over this, yet there still is so much that needs to be done."
Pumpelly added that she knows God is "touching and changing lives" around the world through True Love Waits.
"We are seeing a new groundswell for True Love Waits in all of the countries where we are working," Pumpelly said. "We continue to get requests from other countries for training and material. My prayer is that we will be able to keep meeting these requests."
For more information about True Love Waits, visit LifeWay.com/tlw.
