Faith like Potatoes will be screened at the Grand Forks Gospel Chapel on April 15, ahead of the event “The Gathering”, a Family Renewal Conference, that will be held on June 29 in Nelson, B.C.
The movie is based on the life of Angus Buchan, and how he continued to farm despite extreme drought after moving to South Africa from war-torn Zimbabwe.
Jeff Zak, a pastor in Nelson and the organizer of the event, pointed out that he first went to South Africa in 2010 to attend one of Buchan’s conferences.
“I had watched the film Faith Like Potatoes and I was on a sabbatical at the time and my wife thought it was a good idea to go,” Zak stated.
After speaking to one of his friends who had been a missionary in South Africa for 15 years, Zak ended up on a farm with 300,000 men.
“That’s when I was first introduced to Angus,” he said. “His message is to take responsibility for your life, your home life and your family,” Zak explained. “(The conferences) focuses on encouragement, morals which are important for a family, and a nation, and vision to not just talk about things but to step out and take a risk and do something important for your family and community.”
Prior to heading to the conference in 2010, Zak was looking for encouragement as a pastor.
“Anybody in pastoral work, social work or anything where you’re working with people who have disabilities or in a place where you’re trying to encourage other people, it can be really difficult,” he stated. “I was feeling really burnt out and needed some encouragement from somebody who had been through more than myself.”
From watching the film, the message Zak hopes the viewer receives is to never give up.
“Never give up, there’s always hope and a second chance, and that God is there for inspiration,” he said. “He’s a very simple speaker and he is a man of the soil. He has a real gift for inspiring people.”
Buchan will be speaking about his life at The Gathering.
Faith Like Potatoes looks at Buchan’s life and his persistence in farming, how it paid off, and finding faith in God.
All proceeds will be given to the Shalom Children’s home, Beth Hatlaim on Buchan’s Shalom farm.
The home has 24 children, whose relatives are victims of AIDS, and are all adopted by Buchan and his wife.
Buchan will be in Nelson, B.C. on June 29 to July 1.
For more information, visit gathering2012.ca.