I got up early Sunday morning and was met by Pastor Gilbert, the overseer of ten churches in northern Rwanda. We went for an hour and a half drive to the north, much of the way over dirt roads and small wooden bridges. The scenery was gorgeous, with green rice fields and lush hillsides.

Finally we reached Gahororo Church, although we heard the church before we saw it. They were in full force worshiping the Lord in song and dance. About 120 people were packed into a small one-room church about 30×40 feet. Many of those were children, but over half were adults.

After about two hours of worship, dancing, offerings, devotionals, and more singing, I was asked to come and preach the Word. I gave a message from Romans 12:1-2 about how God calls us to offer all of ourselves to Him, leaving the pattern of the world and being transformed in our minds. This is our worship to God. I shared through the book of Romans how none of us are worthy to come before God (ch.1-3), but it is only through faith in Christ that we can be saved (ch.4-5). Once saved, we’ve been set free from the power of sin, and need to live according to the Spirit (ch.6-8). As I was preaching, God’s Spirit urged me that I needed to extend the offer of salvation to those in the church. I spent several minutes making the call of the Gospel very clear – what it means to follow Christ and what are wrong reasons to follow Christ (like because the white man says to).

At the end of our time, I asked if there were any who for the first time were ready to trust in Christ for their salvation instead of in themselves. First one, then another stood to their feet. I clarified the invitation with the pastor (who was my translator) to make sure they understood what was being asked. He said they did, and more continued to stand. I stood there, amazed as God’s Spirit called people to Himself. Within a few minutes, there were about 30 adults and 20 children standing to their feet, nearly half the church!!! Wow, what an amazing miracle!! I prayed for those standing, and for the rest of the church (they shut all the windows and doors during the prayer… not sure why, maybe to block bad spirits??), and then the pastor and I sat down as the group broke into more spontaneous worship.  I asked the pastor if all those who stood were really saved for the first time. He said that either they were first time commitments, or they were people who had been living “conformed to the world,” and were committing to be “transformed by the renewing of their minds” and to “present their bodies as living sacrifices to God.” I encouraged those who had stood to work with the pastor and church leaders to be discipled in their new faith. Then we went outside and took a picture in front of the church.

What an incredible day of spiritual victory for the kingdom of God! I am so grateful that God uses very ordinary people like you and me to do His extraordinary, eternally-significant work in people’s lives. Pressing on with overflowing joy and God’s grace and goodness, Eric