Four representatives from the Pacific Northwest — Cami Oteman, Mendy Corwin, David Belcher and Mark Trethewey — were part of a historic evangelistic experience in Rwanda.
An amazing 100,135 people were baptized throughout Rwanda as a result of 2,227 evangelistic meetings held concurrently in May. Most of the sites featured local pastors as evangelists, and some sites hosted lay evangelists who were participating in a Total Member Involvement (TMI) mission trip. TMI is an initiative started by Ted Wilson, world church president, to encourage every member of the Adventist Church to be active in sharing Jesus with the world.
Rwanda is a tiny African country about 1/10 the size of the state of Washington. Before the evangelistic meetings, it had 720,000 Adventist members. After the meetings, the membership of this tiny country swelled to well over 800,000. The Adventist Church is partnering with Adventist-laymen's Services and Industries (ASI) to build 1,000 One-Day Churches for new members.
In preparation for the meetings, Rwandans were encouraged to each invite at least one person to learn more about Jesus. Many ministered door to door, gave Bible studies, participated in DVD training sessions, offered health lectures and conducted health clinics. Both a 10 Days of Prayer season and prayer revival meetings across the country helped churches to prepare. Rwandans also gave donations of new homes, livestock, medicine and even health insurance.
Most of these meetings were held outdoors because of the oversized crowds attending. They were scheduled for late May, a time that is typically rainy in Rwanda. God held back the rains during the entire time. The first rain came the morning after the last meeting!
Adventist Rwandan members, leaders and lay missionaries alike saw how God answered these prayers and poured out His Spirit abundantly in this country.
Approximately 400 people are worshipping God in this lean-to. This is a new church company, just 5 months old, trying to raise money to build a church. They are growing so fast that by the time they finish the church, they will have outgrown it.
Mark Trethewey presents his series of meetings in Gatama, Rwanda. At this location, 321 new members joined the Adventist Church by baptism.
