Uganda Report

By Rev. Evan Pyle

Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA

Rev. Sullivan and I made our third Africa trip in July, returning to Mbale, Uganda, for a special presentation of The Weapons of our Warfare. This seminar was prepared especially for pastors, ministers, elders and other leaders and workers in the Church. Our schedule gave us time to add messages not normally in the seminar with a view to teaching others “who shall be able to teach others also”. I was gratified by the mature and faithfilled response by these great saints. The simplicity, order and faith with which they received the utterance gifts bore witness to the great things happening in the hearts of God’s servants. It occurs to me that God is using this message in Africa to prepare leaders who will spread it throughout the African Church. And not in Africa only, but on to the rest of the world. Lord knows the Western church is in desperate need of renewal. I believe the ministers I have met in Africa are being raised by God to bring renewal to God’s people everywhere.

I’ll share just one incident to help illustrate the power of the gospel when preached under the anointing of the Holy Spirit. At one of the breaks between lessons, a man introduced himself to me. I did not recognize him as being in the seminar and I must have showed it in my puzzled expression. He explained that he was the general manager of our rented facility and that he had been in his office elsewhere in the building, and that is why I hadn’t seen him. He then told me he was Muslim, that he had been born and raised Muslim and had always been Muslim. “As I have been in my office,” he said, “I have been listening to what you people are saying. Though I have always been Muslim, now I want to serve Jesus. What do I do?” Don’t let anybody tell you that Muslims cannot turn to Christ. I have seen too many to believe such a lie. The gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation and God has chosen that people would be saved by “the foolishness of preaching”. Without a doubt, this message on the Weapons of our Warfare is able to cut through the darkness of religious error, old animosities, fears and doubts. I am thrilled to be a part of what God is doing in this arena.

Though we have already set dates for seminars in Kenya for February of 2005, there are other significant invitations. We have an invitation to minister among the Maasai in northern Tanzania in December. Such an invitation is rare. Keep that one in your prayers, as a trip in December falls outside our budget at this time. As always, God will provide for the work He wants done. We also have an invitation to minister in southern Sudan. Yes, I said Sudan, where so many Christians have been cruelly persecuted and killed over the past decade. Each of these trips is expensive and demanding, but I imagine Sudan would present unique challenges.

These are exciting times, when God is calling on us for our all. How could we give less, when the Father has already given His all? He has called us to a great work and we are but flawed people. I pray we will always labor honorably and in His strength, for in our own strength we shall surely fail. As always, your prayers are more than appreciated.

 

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From the October 2024 edition of the Vine & Branches