JOURNEYS
Crusading for Christ:
Team Goes to Kenya to Share His Salvation with Muslim Community There
- Gene Strickland // August 6, 2009
The crowd gathered in Mumias, Kenya to hear the gospel. The Word was preached here for 6 days in special event type gatherings. © Chester Gabel 2009
Gene Strickland, author of this journey piece, presents the message of Jesus Christ to those gathered in Mumias. © Chester Gabel 2009
As our team, comprised mostly of Americans, entered Mumias, a small town in the Western Province of Kenya, set to launch six days of evangelism there, we were filled with a God-inspired expectation that many of the residents there—the majority of which are Muslim—would be turned Christ. A year’s worth of planning, raising funds, and countless hours of prayer, were combined to put on what would be a Gospel Crusade in Mumias, a multi-day revival [July 6-12] full of preaching the saving truth of Jesus Christ.
Despite our hope and confidence that God would pave a path and keep us protected, we realized early on that we were in for an uphill battle. The town of Mumias was founded on witchcraft and many of its town members had already set out to curse us and the event. We didn’t know the magnitude of Satan’s handiwork, but we could sense that there was to be a great battle for the souls of men and women taking place in the air above this city before and during the crusade; those that practiced the witchcraft and the devout Muslims that made up the area had set out to hinder our efforts in a multitude of ways.
One of the first major road blocks was the fact that groups of Muslims tried to stop the crusade claiming rights to ancestral grounds. Later it was learned that attempts were made with local police to have the team jailed. But God would not have it so, and we escaped incarceration and allowed to preach at the designated area.
That crisis averted, it also became apparent that large soccer matches were organized and held every single day of the Crusade, in order to draw young people away from the gospel. These matches, held on the other side of town, drew crowds of 6-8 thousand.
But praise be to God the Word was preached and God moved in many lives. More than 12,000 heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ preached and more than 1,064 salvation decisions for Christ were registered. And God demonstrated His power through many healings. What an awesome work of God took place in Mumias, Kenya as eternity was changed for many!
In conjunction with the speaking events, we equipped local pastors through 3 days of teaching as part of a Pastor’s Conference that we hosted. The intention was to strengthen the community’s church leadership so that when the new converts enter into their midst, they will disciple and train them to be full grown in Christ.
I strongly believe that the success was due to the fact that we did not seek to bring glory to ourselves but to Christ.
My messages were simple throughout the six days. The constant themes that ran through each message were: the cross, God’s love, the reality of hell, the brevity of life, and what Jesus did for us. I preached on the narrow way and the only gate which is Jesus Christ; on the crucifixion of Christ; about our soul and its worth; how we can have victory over death; how we must have God’s forgiveness. But it always came back to John 3.16 and the offer of eternal life through Jesus Christ. It’s about the free gift that God offers to all who will receive. It was our prayer all along that when we left Mumias they would forget our names in 60 seconds but would remember the name of Jesus Christ. He is their redeemer. I’m just a sheep dog barking at goats encouraging them to run to the Shepherd.
Many of those that I spoke with after the meetings would tell me how they were from a Muslim family but were now giving their life over to Jesus. I rejoiced with them but also knew that they would face a great trial in walking in their newfound faith as they would undoubtedly face persecution from their Muslim community, a persecution that might even result in death.
Though my heart sinks to know that death may be forthcoming once converted, I am assured by this: we cannot lose sight of the fact that we are souls inhabiting temporary bodies. We are not a body that has a soul; we are a soul that has a body. Our soul will live forever either in heaven or hell, depending on the decision we make about Jesus Christ. It is more important that a person receive Christ, even if that decision means physical death, than it is for them to live a comfortable temporary life and spend eternity in hell. I think the Church of the first century would most certainly agree. They endured that and did so to the glory and honor of God. Prayer was a key component throughout the week, especially as we were facing hardships brought on by the witchcraft there.
We learned that there were witches who would go onto the Crusade grounds during the day and bury items there declaring curses on what we were doing in the late afternoons and evenings. Many of our team members received headaches, body aches, and sores, symptons we linked to the witchcraft. Instead of medicine, we turned to God and asked the Holy Spirit to intervene. Those bodily calamities faded as we felt Him enter in us.
One lady on our team, Rigiri, who is originally from Kenya, made sure that we met and prayed as a team each morning and evening. Other faithful prayer warriors certainly should be mentioned though I don’t know many of their names. During the Crusade there were hundreds back in the U.S. who were praying for the work in Kenya. Also, each night as I preached, there were several people who were on the ground beneath the stage praying for me. Without those prayers our work would have been greatly hindered. I am sure that Heaven has kept an account of those faithful prayers and they share in the victories won.
I remember that last night vividly, standing on the stage overlooking a field of listeners and over 350 who had come to the altar to receive Jesus as Savior and Lord. It was the best feeling I had ever experienced; knowing that at that moment we were in the center of God’s will and that we had caused Him to smile. His purposes had become our purposes; His plan had become our desire. The only thing that could have made it better would have been for the trumpet to sound and the rapture take place.
Even though this all took place in one week, it took nearly a year to plan, raise the funds, and implement. Adam, every second and every dollar, every moment away from our families, every hardship that was endured, and every prayer that was prayed was worth even one soul—and we saw more than 1,000 come to our Savior. Praise God – He is so faithful.
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Evangelism International, based in Chesapeake, Va., was begun in 2008 as a trans-denominational ministry with the purpose of igniting a fire in the Church to focus its efforts on the Great Commission and to carry out that Commission through worldwide crusades. The organization has now established an office in Nairobi, Kenya that will coordinate all future Crusades on the African continent. In the next 7 months the organization plans to put on 2 Crusades to be held in Africa. For more information, write to P.O. Box 3001, Chesapeake, VA 23327, or visit www.EvangelismInternational.us or call 757-905-2195.
To see the video presentation of this journey, visit http://www.evangelisminternational.us/HTML/Evangelism_International_News.html