Bushiri brings out his artistic face
Prophet Shepherd Bushiri is better known as an evangelist and entrepreneur, but the launch of his six books has revealed another artistic face, which many did not know until now.
On Tuesday night, Bushiri formally launched his books Prophetic Codes, Names of God, Crafts For Effective Public Speaking, Mysteries Surrounding Your Money,Sleeping Near The Art and Prophetic Gates under his Shepherd Bushiri Publishers (SBP) at Victoria Gardens in Blantyre.
The launch in Malawi follows a similar event which took place in South Africa where he is based. It is also where his Enlightened Christian Gathering (ECG) church is headquartered. It is reported that over 150 000 copies of the books have been sold already.
The preacher, who is popularly known as Major 1, said the launch of the six books has been a fulfilment of a long held dream and passion, which he attributed to have been natured by his father, Bushiri Senior who was also present during the event.
“I grew up with a father who had a special passion for the English language. That deep English. He instilled the same spirit in us his children that saw me and my elder brother spend long hours trying to perfect our art of the language. Those lessons brought out the author in me,” he said.
Bushiri recalled entering letter writing competitions back in the days, experiences he believes helped to cement his passion in writing.
He said: “I love writing as it is the only way that expression is met. The secret of defeating mortality lies in the hands of the author. The secret of longevity lies in the author.”
He has called upon people to take his writings seriously and draw lessons since most of his writings have been inspired by real life experiences. He cited his book Crafts For Effective Public Speaking as one of such books.
“You know I preach before the same South Africans who are so hateful towards people from other countries. The same people who subjected others to xenophobia attacks. How do you think I manage to keep those same people listening to me for hours?” he asked.
He also asked Malawians to love each other and desist from petty hate which is mostly directed at those deemed successful in societies.
Bushiri said: “We have almost come to a point where being successful is a crime. Where every misfortune that happens is blamed on those who are successful. Malawians saw me rising from nowhere. Instead of hating me they should come to ask me what I did to get here.”
Commissioning director for SBP Melody Dzingai said Bushiri has made full use of his experiences on his frequent travels to come up with the six books in just a year: “Every time he goes to America or China we are almost sure that he is going to bring back a book project.”
Bushiri has made a donation of 100 books to the National Library Services of Malawi and others will be given to a selected number of secondary schools in the country.
