Life-changing heart attacks leave Angus Buchan with 'no time to waste' Plain-spoken evangelist-farmer Angus Buchan gained international attention through his book Faith Like Potatoes and the subsequent film adaptation, which told of his conversion to Christ and the miracles that followed. After two heart attacks during one of his Mighty Men Conferences (MMC), he was reminded to live in light of eternity, a perspective he brings as a father in the church to readers of Come of Age: The Road to Spiritual Maturity. After speaking before thousands at an event in 2009, Buchan collapsed with a heart attack. He recovered, and the medics thought the collapse was due to the heat. But after being taken to his house, he collapsed again and was airlifted to the hospital. "As the helicopter took off I looked down on the multitude of men with their hands raised up in prayer, he said. "I will never forget that as long as I live. When we arrived at the hospital, about 60 kilometres away in Pietermaritzburg (South Africa), I was healed. The heart specialist said there was nothing wrong with me and I was discharged. I preached the next morning. Obviously I felt like I had been run over by a Mac truck, but God did indeed heal me." Considering why it happened, he said: "Possibly God was humbling us as a body of men. After my two heart attacks, the whole spirit of the event changed significantly. There was a tremendous brokenness and an attitude of humility that overtook the men in general." In 2003, Buchan had sensed God directing him to cancel all of his preaching appointments and focus on mentoring men. "I thought this meant a few men, but this is when the MMC phenomenon was birthed," he said. "After MMC 2010, the Lord instructed me that this was to be the last MMC on the farm and that I must pass the baton on to the younger men, and MMCs are now taking place all over the world." In his 60s now, Buchan disciples and encourages men toward spiritual maturity. Buchan's simple faith was highlighted in Faith Like Potatoes and is presented again in Coming of Age. "Having put our trust in the Lord, we have physically seen Him answer our prayers many times," he said. "The Bible tells us that without faith, we cannot please God." With a gift for communicating the truth in love to ordinary men who wouldn't normally darken the door of a church, Buchan does not "Bible punch" them. "Many of these men that we are mentoring are more theologically correct and qualified than what we are. " Although Buchan speaks of keeping short accounts, not second-guessing God and other lessons he's learned, his main message now relates to how short this life is. Out of his heart attacks, "I learnt about the brevity of life," he said. "We do not have time to waste in arguing and being self-centred and selfish because time is of the essence. The Lord has been telling me for many years that life is but a vapor and I understood this after this experience." Understanding that life is fleeting, he also knows how critical it is for people to submit their lives to Christ. "It doesn't matter how good a person you are," he said. "Unless you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, there will be no eternal life for you. To see the mighty harvest that is coming in through so many different aspects of life is really striking me." A 384-page softcover book, Come of Age  is available from Kregel Publications. To order, call 800-733-2607.
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