RickSugden Author / Speaker

1 d

THE START OF THE CHURCH IN WATOYA, KENYA

We and the entire choir got onto a bus and drove to a new village called Watoya, where there was no church of any kind. As we got off the bus, we followed a dirt path that quickly turned into mud as the rain came pouring down. We walked 1-1/2 km before we came to the village. We gathered into thatched huts and waited out the rainstorm. When the rain stopped, we walked to the meeting place. Some of the men went ahead of us and hooked up the PA system. They began singing and gathering people. As the service continued, more and more people came.

When I was asked to preach, I turned to Proverbs chapter 4 and preached on the heart of man. As the invitation was given, 48 adults and 52 children responded, trusting Christ as their Savior. After the invitation, the choir led the people in singing, but Pastor Maungo and I had to leave quickly to catch a long ride back to the city of Mumias, where our motel room was.

Pastor Robert stayed in the village that night. The next day, he told us what happened after we left the village: The people who received the Lord as their Savior went home and told their family and friends about what had happened to them. One by one, people found their way to Pastor Robert, asking about salvation. By the time the last one had come and gone, 27 more gladly received Christ as their Savior, and Pastor Robert did not get to bed until 30 am. Some of the people who got saved that night also came back to Pastor Robert's house. They came to bring their items of witchcraft to be burned in the fire. They said, "Now that we have received the Lord, we shouldn't have these things in our homes anymore. In the coming days, they organized the Gospel Baptist Church of Watoya.

5 w

REMOTE VILLAGES

Our ministry is on the cutting edge of pioneer missions. We go into places where no missionary has gone before. We do this to hold open-air evangelistic meetings, win the lost, and organize them into new independent Baptist churches. Sometimes the villages are so remote that we have difficulty reaching them. The roads turn into cow paths. Here is an example of one of our attempts to get our team into a village that has very little access. We were able to arrive at the meeting place, win the lost, and organize them into a new local church. As you can see, however, it is not always an easy task to get into these remote areas, but the joy of sharing the gospel, seeing the villagers gladly receive Christ, and seeing a church planted in their midst is indescribable!

14 w

THE MAN WHO COULDN'T DIE

In this village in India, I met a man who told the story of how he lost his big toe. He is a farmer and was irrigating his crops in his field. In such places, power lines are not securely fastened to poles. They are carelessly draped across anything standing upright. It was turning dark, and he accidentally stepped on a section of a power line that had fallen. The electricity was so strong that he could not free himself. He laid there half the night being electrocuted until there was a power outage. The villagers began to call him "the man who couldn't die". His testimony gave me a hearing from these villagers. Most were saved, and a new church was started there.

21 w

ROADSIDE MARKET

In Ghana, everyone must have some kind of business in order to survive. This family only has a few chickens and a small garden, but it is enough to be able to keep a constant supply of something for them to sell to those who pass by. When does their business close? It doesn't: they will lie down next to their stand and spend the night right there when it gets late. They cannot risk losing a sale. Where we plant churches are among the poorest places in the world. In this case, we saw 789 trusting Christ as their Saviour, and Adom Baptist Church was planted.

27 w

WELCOME TO INDIA

In India, guests are greeted with great honor. Garland, made of freshly cut flowers, is placed around visitors' necks to honor them and give them a great welcome. We had just arrived at a new village when they put these beautifully smelling garlands around our necks, and then they had us walk behind a marching band of sorts to announce our arrival. What an amazing experience. Immediately after, we held evangelistic meetings that filled the entire main street with people. Those who trusted Christ as their Saviour were then organized into a new Independent Baptist Church!