Spotlight: A Lay Evangelist from Kenya Preaches the Word

Around two years ago I was contacted out of the blue by someone I had never heard of before who was sharing a report of his work for Christ in various areas of the Republic of Kenya. At first I chalked it up to yet another attempt to get money from the unsuspecting westerner, along with all of the other U.K. Lotto and Nigerian Internet scams that abound.

For months I never responded, and yet the emails kept coming. Now, I get emails from all over the place, as the website gets some decent traffic and there are many other sites out there linking to this site. So that in itself is not too unusual. However, this lay evangelist was very persistent, despite my non-communication with him. It began to occur to me that he never begged for money, and only mentioned “support” in passing. In fact, what usually struck me was his other requests - prayer and literature for the people he was meeting with.

After seeing some photos from his various meetings, the work that was taking place in this foreign field began to really work on me. I saw someone who was stepping out in faith doing God’s work, and God was truly blessing this young man! Seeing the Lord work in such a way, I felt compelled to do something, anything, to help. So, I recently contacted this lay evangelist and requested his permission to use his email reports and pictures to present a special report to you, here on the world wide web.

So now, I would like to take some time to share with you some of this young lay evangelist’s efforts in his homeland of Kenya. His name is Martin Kiogora Rutere, and it is my hope and prayer that these testimonies and pictures from a variety of locations in Kenya will spark an interest in your heart to hear more, pray more, and consider supporting God’s work in this country.

Let’s begin with some meetings that Brother Martin and his friends held in Kimachia in April of 2007. Here is a brief testimony from Martin on the results of these meetings, and a couple of pictures (mouse over the pictures for a description):

“Our meetings were daily attended by an average of 300 to 500 adults each night. … on the day of closing our meetings we had some 17 adults come forward to answer the call. All these are in baptismal class.”

Next we’ll go to Mujujune, a predominantly Catholic area near the Mt. Kenya forest. Meetings were held there from June 24th through July 7th 2007. Here is a great testimony from these meetings (and photos):

“We in vain for thirteen days tried to make altar call without success in all our presentation and we tried to figure out what could possibly be the problem but could not find one. And then on the closing Sabbath as I preached the last sermon something unexpected happened. I noticed as I preached on one side of the road, just across the road were these seven or so guys who were seated on a bench outside one of the shops who were listening attentively, I immediately recognized them for I had seen them each night at our meetings in a group just as they were this time. The theme of the sermon that day was “The Seal of God” I felt the power of the Holy Spirit encompass me and I preached as never before and no longer could follow the notes layout I had on paper, and so, I let the Spirit lead and at the end of the service when I made the altar call the seven men crossed the road and came forward to the surprise of everyone! We discovered it was the Spirit’s moving and it surprised us the more because seven is a complete number in the Spiritual realm. I later on gave to each one of them a Bible, and they were very happy.”

A few months later Martin and crew are off again, this time to Kahawa West Estate, located on the outskirts of Nairobi, the capital and largest city in Kenya. These meetings were held September 2nd through the 15th. If you are having any doubts that Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever, then you need to read this great testimony from Brother Martin about what happened during these meetings:

“In one of our visits we visited a small city slum in the area and there was this set of house like structures called in local language Mtaa(Swahili) where a group of ladies lived(it was surprising for us to find that no men lived there at least in the day time). Our investigations proved to us they were a group of prostitutes about 8 in number. This reminded us of Mary Magdalene and Jesus, and so we decided to spread hold bible studies there at the brothels and were amazed by the reception we got. This people came out of their houses and we gathered at one place and studied the word of God. After study they asked us plenty of questions about the subject matter we presented and by the grace of God we answered all encouraging them to make decision for Christ. After the Bible study during the concluding prayer we were requested to pray for the family of one member of their group who had died recently and to encourage them. We prayed and they invited us to visit them the next day but before we could leave one expectant lady asked us if could find her a Bible and I was very much moved by this request and I promised to give each one of them a Bible. And visit them we did until the last Friday when I invited to make a decision to follow Jesus and keep his commandments including resting on Sabbath day. I didn’t get any decision at that moment even after reading decision texts but the lady who requested the Bible promised that the next day on Sabbath she would come. The next day on Sabbath I requested one of the Church Elders who owns a Van to assist me carry these ladies to the meeting and he consented but when we arrived they could not muster enough courage to come with us. The lady who had promised to come was very sick as a result of her pregnancy and so could not make it to the meeting. We prayed for them and left promising that later in the day that I will bring them their Bibles. Later in the day I visited them and gave them Bibles but they would not let me take them photos and so I respected their privacy. I’m still praying for these souls and ask you too to pray for them.”

Finally, our last report to date comes from a remote place called Archer’s post, in the Samburu district. Meetings were held here from October 8 - 20th. This area appears so desolate to me from a western perspective that I am surprised to find people living here. However, the devil knows that these people need Jesus as much as anyone else, and he is at work to distract them from the truth at any cost. Consider this wonderful testimony about a family who decided to come to the meetings, no matter what:

“On Friday - just a day before the closure of the meetings, we visited one Samburu Manyatta ( a manyatta is a samburu homestead) and there found how people were living in abject poverty and were really touched by the way this people were living. We didn’t find any men in the whole manyatta since most of them had taken their flocks out for grazing. And so we conducted our Bible studies with the ladies its then that we learned that they had been coming to our meetings almost daily and had made the decision to join the remnant church through baptism. And so the next day on Sabbath on the day we were closing our meetings they begun their long journey to the meetings only to be intercepted by a herd of elephants midway, so they had to run for their lives. After running for a while they hid themselves in a thicket until the herd and gone, they later emerged from their hideout and continued with their journey to the meeting. All the sixteen of them arrived late but safe and secure to share with us their experience. We saw it as the devils attempt to discourage from coming but God intervened through His angels. Later on they made the decision for Christ and were even more happier to learn that they were going to take home some foodstuffs for their families.”

Well, I hope you’ve stayed with me through this post. It is probably one of the longest that I’ve done recently, especially with the pictures. However, I truly hope that you will pray for Brother Martin and the work he is doing for the Lord. It is my sincere prayer that this will light a fire in your heart and that you will begin, right where you are at, to do the Lord’s work in your area.

If you are interested in contacting Brother Martin, you can reach him through the following methods:

E-mail - laymartin06@gmail.com

Postal address:
Martin Kiogora Rutere,
P.O Box 2825,
Meru - 60200, Kenya

Phone number : (+254) 724 465 109