Willie Erasmus and his three New Zealander friends, on a quest to translate the JESUS film into the Lozi language, were nearly out of petrol in far western Zambia. Search though they might, they could find nowhere to refuel. Then they heard that fuel was available just over the border in Zaire. At the border, everybody was all smiles. An immigration official who knew one of the New Zealanders started to wave them through. Then he noticed Willie's South Africa passport. "The man's face went ash-white," says Willie. "He told me to not open my mouth but to sit in the van and not let anybody see me. Then he told the New Zealander to grab a jerry-can, run and get the fuel, then come back and get out. That man was really jittery."

Willie, a white South African of Afrikaner descent, had been through this before. In 1988, few African countries allowed South Africans to enter--most despised the South African government for its policies of discrimination against nonwhites. In those years Willie, who has recorded the JESUS film in 21 languages, found that police at every roadblock would search his vehicle. Perhaps they thought he was a terrorist; perhaps they just didn't like South Africans. Whatever, even with a legitimate visa, his South African passport was a ticket to harassment.

Then the walls of apartheid came down and in 1994 Nelson Mandela was elected president. South Africa, long an industrial powerhouse but an international pariah, joined the fraternity of nations. Her people could travel freely, and nearby countries looked to South Africa as their economic savior.

As doors--and borders--opened to free travel, more than money began to flow. An army of young Christians, energized by an annual conference called Love Southern Africa, is taking advantage of those open doors to tell neighboring nations of the Savior.

"Love Southern Africa is the springboard, the key to South Africa becoming a sending nation," says Willie. "It is where people catch the vision and are trained to have a ministry."

LSA began in 1991, when South African representatives of various missions agencies began meeting for prayer. The first conference, sponsored by Operation Mobilization in 1993, set forth principles that would guide the fledgling missionary movement: LSA would endeavor to take the gospel to every unreached people group in Africa south of the equator by the year 2000 and would seek to fan a missionary fervor among the South African church. Each year LSA would be sponsored by a different group. Furthermore, the conference would promote racial reconciliation.

Last July it was Campus Crusade's turn. Willie Erasmus, who directed the conference, invited American staff members from several different Campus Crusade ministries to help with the four days of training, as well as the evangelism afterward. Campus Crusade music groups--including ones playing country music and rap music--drew large crowds to their concerts, while high school kids with Student Venture showed the JESUS film and spoke in churches. Athletes in Action sent a women's soccer team.

More than 4,300 LSA delegates came from 21 nations, including contingents from countries as diverse as Korea and Brazil. Immediately after LSA, hundreds fanned out to nearby nations. Forty-eight teams showed the JESUS film (see story on page 12), while other groups did such things as build churches and pass out Scripture. Wherever possible, the LSA teams worked with local churches to ensure that new believers were built in their faith.

Missions in South Africa has traditionally been a white thing, according to Estienne de Beer, a South African staff member. Blacks were perceived to be the mission field.

Furthermore, restrictive racial laws quashed any potential missionary interest. "The Group Areas Act," says Hlahlama Molefe, director of Campus Crusade in South Africa, "restricted movements of nonwhites. We could not visit another area for more than 72 hours. This meant that blacks were not moving beyond their spheres of influence in terms of geography.

"One of the great needs in the body of Christ today is discipleship," he goes on, "and for black South African Christians to get involved in missions in larger numbers." Hlahlama encouraged the Evangelical Fellowship of South Africa, the largest predominantly black evangelical organization, to endorse LSA.

"That was one of the most positive things this year," says Willie. "We succeeded in having 20 or 25 percent black participation. We hope that will continue to grow."

This year, too, LSA organized a national day of prayer and reconciliation. Some 35,000 people, both black and white, gathered in front of the Union buildings in Pretoria despite record-setting cold. Several had fasted for 40 days leading up to the day of prayer.

This growing unity spells good things for Africa. "There is no other country like South Africa," points out Dela Adadevoh, director of Campus Crusade in Southern and Eastern Africa. "The struggles they have gone through, I am sure, have enriched their own understanding of the gospel. And their experience in moving from hatred and avoidance to love and cooperation will be a blessing to the rest of the continent."

The rest of the continent, for its part, has a whole different attitude--openness. "Today, when we approach border guards in countries that once prohibited South Africans," says Willie, "everybody is happy. We pass out South African flags and pictures of Nelson Mandela; we talk about rugby, and guards are excited to meet us."

To meet them, and to talk about Jesus. Doors are open indeed.