Happy New Year!
We are often sharing stories about the needs in the people groups who we are reaching. Those stories and needs are real, and they are important stories to tell. But the reason we share those stories is so we can share the kind of stories that we bring today: Stories of lives changed!
Rendille Evangelism & Discipleship
The OneMessage.tv videos are a tool we give to pastors, missionaries, and church planters around the world. Pastor Henry Wachira works with the Rendille people in northeast Kenya. This week he sent us an update on how he is using the videos.
“Hello everyone. Wishing you all a happy and prosperous new year. On the first day of 2024 we started a three-day evangelism & discipleship program using the Rendille videos in Lolukushu.”
“We used the first two videos and experienced a great breakthrough. After the videos and preaching, more than 50 people responded and accepted Jesus. This evening, we will show two more stories. Please keep praying for us as we plan to reach more people and villages.”
Pastor Henry’s mission field is very challenging. The Rendille people in the villages are steeped in a traditional African religion. It involves a fear and worship of spirits. The villagers often keep small shrines in their homes and make sacrifices to idols. That’s what is so encouraging about this next section.
“When we returned the second day, we found villagers were already arriving, and even the elders had come to see the videos before going to their own shrines.”
Even after the Rendille accept Jesus, there is a long discipleship process involved in leading them away from their traditions. Pastor Henry is using the video Bible stories as part of this discipleship. On the final day of their three-day program, Pastor Henry wrote this:
"It's almost midnight here and I have just finished showing videos. Another huge number of villagers came to Christ… almost everyone who attended. We plan to go to the neighboring villages. I thank God for this tool. God bless you."
Please continue to pray for Pastor Henry and his difficult ministry.
Turkana Baptisms
Meanwhile, another one of our Kenyan people groups was celebrating baptisms on Christmas Day. In the Turkana village of Lolupe 57 people were baptized. This is the village where we recorded the majority of our 20 video Bible stories for the Turkana people.
SERV International’s Kenya Director, Moses Lorukudi wrote, “What a blessed Christmas gift to them.”
At another village near the Ethiopia border, Moses reported a group of 300 people “accepting Jesus as their personal Savior after watching the Bible stories in their own language.” And they are already making plans to take the videos across the border to the Dongiro tribe in Ethiopia.
Year-end Giving Results
And finally...you did it again! Between our Giving Tuesday and End-of-the-Year giving campaigns, we received nearly $6,000 which has enabled us to order a new video editing computer AND purchase two round-trip tickets to Thailand for our upcoming trip in February.
Your gifts have made all of this possible! When you partner with OneMessage.tv, your regular commitment makes it possible to help ministers like Pastor Henry and Moses who God is using to change lives and reach the hearts of oral learners in a way they can understand. And you are helping us expand to reach new countries and new people groups this year...and for years to come.
Thank you for partnering with us!
P.S. We are finalizing plans for our trip to Thailand next month. Please begin praying and looking for updates soon.