Dear Friends and Family,
Two years ago God sent Kathy and me to Rwanda to help Ignace start a new church in Butare, the second largest city in the country. Ignace was a graduate from UBBI in Buhimba. In August, Berea Baptist Church is getting ready to move into their new two-story church building. Pastor Ignace tells me they have a membership of 145 with 195 children attending. He says they have baptized 78.
Recently I pulled up a map of Rwanda on my computer. I looked at the map and thought about the lack of missionaries in the country. Rwanda is one of the smaller African countries geographically but the most densely populated of them all. They have only one independent Baptist missionary in the whole country. Several years back they changed their national language from French to English. As I studied the map, I identified ten more population centers to go along with Butare. The more I looked and the more I thought, the more I got burdened to reach the people of Rwanda with the truth of God. I asked my son, Andrew, to put red dots on the ten population centers and a blue dot on Butare. Meditating on the map and the cities marked by the dots I got an idea. From that idea came a burden and with that burden a vision and with that vision a strategy and with that strategy a plan for reaching a country with God’s truth of salvation and godliness. I asked the Lord for scriptures to verify He was leading me. He immediately gave me Nehemiah 1 and 2. In that passage He spoke to me and gave me a message to share with others. It all hinged upon Nehemiah’s response to what he had heard about the people and the walls in Jerusalem. I asked the Lord questions, and He gave me answers with other scriptures. I knew God wanted me to respond to this country and its cities and people and their need of the truth.
God wants me to help Rwandese who have been Biblically taught and trained in Uganda:
Establish an English Bible Institute in Rwanda to teach and train Africans.
Establish Bible studies that will become churches in each of the marked ten cities.
Buy land and build church buildings in each of those cities – $15,000 for each one.
The Lord has given me two Rwandese men to begin with. One man graduated from an Independent Baptist Bible College in Uganda and has three disciples he is preparing for the ministry. They have Bible studies in three of the ten cities we have targeted. The second man, Ignace, was trained in our BI in Buhimba and pastors in Butare. He has ten men ready for the proposed BI to begin. They have targeted one of the ten cities to begin a Bible study.
In obedience to Mark 16:15 and fulfilling Acts 1:8 these churches can reach their country with the truth of God’s word.
I will leave on Tuesday the 31st for Uganda and Rwanda and be gone for three weeks. Larry Nelson will travel with me. I am 70 years old and have a broken down body. Please pray for wisdom, strength and power for both Larry and me. If you want to know more, feel free to email with questions. Please see the attached/enclosed map.
Your missionaries to East Africa – Tony and Kathy