Carrie Jones, a 13-year-old eighth grade student at the Adobe Christian School, recently preached an evangelistic series in Ghana, Africa.

Her father, Greg, worked as a ShareHim coordinator during the trip, busily caring for the needs of 30 other lay evangelists who were each holding meetings in different cities around the country.

One night, Greg’s cell phone rang. He immediately recognized the excited voice of his 13-year-old daughter. "Daddy! The devil was five minutes late!"

Greg, stationed in a city far from Carrie, was curious about her evaluation of the devil’s time schedule and asked what she meant. "I made a call for the people to accept Jesus and many people came forward," she explained. "We moved them all into the church to get their names and pray with them. And suddenly, it started to rain!" She was sure the devil was trying to disrupt the meetings — but he was five minutes late.

Six Adobe youth developed their preaching skills by presenting a series at the Apache Junction church in February 2005. Because of this experience, Carrie felt confident that she could preach a series in Africa. In fact, of the six, three have held international meetings: Rebecca Keyes held a series with her brother, Andrew, in the Philippines, and Tony Anobile preached a series in Guatemala.

Greg says he had no reservations about letting his 13-year-old daughter preach a series in Africa. She was surrounded by a caring support staff who could help her as she presented her sermons each night. "I was not nervous in the least,” he says. “Carrie was with our adopted African daughter, Lillian, whom I baptized nearly two years ago. And the Ghanaian people are the most friendly and protective people I’ve ever met." Lillian is a student at the Adventist school, Valley View University, near Accra, Ghana.

Carrie says she’s ready to preach again, and the Arizona Conference is eager for her to do another series at home. ShareHim, formerly known as Global Evangelism, is a ministry of the Carolina Conference that organizes opportunities for ordinary church members to preach evangelistic campaigns in other countries. To learn more, visit www.sharehim.org.