Engage the Nations

 In 2005, I visited several villages in Tamil Nadu devastated by the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami to comfort the residents This January, in answer to a long time prayer, our SWIM ministry team has been invited by several churches in South India to conduct a Festival of Hope and pastoral/evangelism leadership conference touching several cities near Chennai, Tamil Nadu.  We have been working on preparations for the festival since early this fall.  With just one month to go before the outreach events, join me to pray that this effort will be fruitful beyond my expectations.  In 2005, my friend and fellow evangelist Nick Hall and I knelt on the expansive Marina beach in Chennai, India, in earnest prayer. “Lord, please make it possible for us to come back here and share your gospel with the people of India,” we prayed. We dreamed of the beach being filled by thousands of Indian people listening to the Good News of Jesus Christ.  Six years lat...

Sammy Wanyonyi speaks to several hundred students at Mankato State on November 4th Sachi- Student from Japan "When you first visited our campus I wasn't a believer. But I came out to hear you speak. It was really powerful and touching!  Soon after, I repented and gave my heart to Christ.  And yes, life is so much better!   Now, I am serving God and people to lift His name high here in Mankato! I am happy seeing more people getting saved and becoming bold here at MSU! God is moving!! I thank God so much for everything He is doing here. Thank you for coming to MSU." That was Sachi (right), a student at Minnesota State University, Mankato as she prepared to help with the follow-up process for other students who came to Christ this past week at our Flame Night sponsored by SWIM and co-hosted with various campus ministries.  Hip Hop Artist Flame gets the crowd excited Artist VRose gets the crowd excited Like several other students who c...

 Sammy Wanyonyi leads a crowd in repentence prayer They came from all walks of life, strutting across the gentle hills of Rubavu, to attend the SWIM Ministry Festival of Hope events that lasted for a week. These same hills, that not long ago hosted thousands fleeing for their lives from the genocide and ethnic gangs bent on revenge, became places of gatherings of hope, forgiveness and reconciliation.   Often, they withstood the elements, rain, wind, slippery hillsides, in order to listen to the Good News of Jesus Christ.  250 Women leaders attend the conference facilitated by SWIM team members Kimberly Wolf and Judy Chase.  Each night, our ministry team proclaimed the love of God to several thousands. Each time, hundreds of people responded to the invitation to receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. By the closing of the festival on the 7th day, 11,980 people out of the 78,000 that attended the meetings, had prayed with us to receive Christ. I...

We thank God for a great start to the outreach here in Rubavu, Rwanda. 489 people prayed with us to receive Jesus Christ into their lives at the openning Festival events this evening. The audience of about 4000 was very patient and enthusiastic, responding well to my message at the openning rally.  See some pictures on our Facebook Page There is incredible unity among the churches of the city. They were all united in their morning services with each church preaching on the Festival theme. We give God the glory. Continue to pray for the remaining seven days of activities that thousands more will come to Christ as we take the festival to various neighborhoods around the city.  Pray that the hundreds of leaders attending the leadership conferences will be equipped transformationally to impact their communities for Christ.  You can support this effort financially by following the donate button on the right panel on this page.  We need your ...

More than 300 intercessors are spending the whole night in prayer together here in Rubavu ahead of tomorrow's festival kick-off.  They have been fasting and praying on site since Thursday.  I can't wait to see how God answers our prayer throughout this whole week of mission.  2 Chronicles 7:14 "And My people who are called by name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin, and will heal their land."  That is a sure promise! One may preach and be unreal, but one cannot pray and remain unreal.  For the prayer that reaches heaven is one born from a heart's communion with the Holy Spirit.  True prayer arouses in the heart love, peace, joy, patience, wisdom, trust, sincerity, courage, and compassion- all that is divine.  To be forgiven is divine.  For humanity to be saved therefore it must be by prayer born out of communion with the Holy Spir...

Our team arrived here in Rubavu, Rwanda safely. We are all healthy and renewed. The work has started. ‎300 local intercessors are fasting and praying on the site of the Festival Thursday through Sunday, which is when the weeklong festival events kick off. That is powerful! Churches of all stripes are united in purpose and in prayer (Anglicans, Baptists, Pentecostals, Presbyterians, Charismatic congregations, etc). That is nothing short of a miracle in this day and age of theological polarization. God working!  Continue to pray with us that God's mighty anointing will work through us to draw thousands to Christ. Pray for utterance to be given to us to make manifest the work and the glory of Christ. Rubavu is a city with a 40% Muslim population, the most concentration of Muslims in all of Rwanda. The Mayor is Muslim and so are a number of public officials.   Thankfully, many of them will be attending our events including a special dinner we have p...

On the Galilean mountain near Jerusalem, Jesus commissioned His 11 disciples to go and make disciples of all the nations of the earth (Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 1:1-14). Their commissioning was both specific and representative.  Specific in the sense that it applied to them in their time and generation.  Following Jesus' ascention and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit of promise, they were to go forth in power, proclaiming the advent of the Kingdom of God to all nations.  They were to speak of the things that they had seen with their eyes, heard with their ears, and handled with their hands as they walked with Jesus (1 John 1:1-4).  They would provide a firsthand account of the life, death, resurrection, ascention and soon return of the King of Kings and LORD of Lords. Pray for our team of seven as we travel to Rwanda. In this picture team members Kimberly Wolf, Judy Chase, Sammy Wanyonyi, Richard Munala, and Blair Carlson...

We rejoice in Christ for what He is doing in the world to bring about reconciliation, hope and salvation. Each day here at SWIM Ministries, we continue to contend for the faith, desiring that through His Gospel of peace, men and women everywhere and from every walk of life may be brought into a personal and vital relationship with Him and as consequence, with each other.  Thousands attend one of SWIM's past festivals in Rwanda.  In just seven days our team will be heading to the nation of Rwanda to conduct a week-long Festival of Hope. Our efforts this time will be focused on the communities around the cities of Rubavu, Rwanda and Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo on the opposite sides of the common border between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda. These are uniquely needy communities, having withstood the attrocities of war for over fifteen years engalfing, first, Rwanda in the 1994 genocide, and then Eastern DRC from 1996-2006. With over 5 million people, most...

You Can Sin—But You Won’t Be Happy. Sin no longer “fits” your life. Sure, you can “wear” sin for a while, but it’s like wearing old clothes that are three sizes too small. You can do it but you won’t be comfortable, you won’t feel right, and frankly, you won’t look right either. Sin no longer “fits.” Coming to Christ is like getting a whole new wardrobe. What fits now? Love, joy, peace fit. Compassion and mercy fit. Justice and concern for others, holiness and righteousness fit. Those spiritual clothes are tailor-made for you. And those sins you used to wear so comfortably? They just don’t fit any more. But what if you go back to the closet and put those old sins back on anyway? What happens to a Christian who chooses to sin? Let me give you four things to think about in response: 1. You won’t feel right. You’ll sin, but you won’t receive any personal satisfaction. You may have temporary happiness in the flesh – people wouldn’t sin if it didn’t satisfy “something.” But you won’t kn...

The reality and vicious nature of human conflict can be extremely heart-breaking. It highlights our nature as depraved beings. It is easy for us to point fingers at others in their hour of such manifestation of violence and to marvel, privately priding in how we are not like them. Yet the fact is that we are all under the violent domain of sin. As long as we remain unchanged, we are its' captives. On Good Friday Jesus the Son of God took upon Himself the violence of humanity. He endured the cross and despised its' shame. In the cross event, He reconciled humanity to God and has since been reconciling humanity to fellow humanity. Yet it is not the violence of Good Friday that defines the Christian faith. Just because Jesus experienced human violence and suffering does not make Him our Savior nor does it offer hope for a world reeling under the weight of sin. It is the fact that after He had taken upon Himself all that violence and sin could bestow upon Him, He defeated their...

Hopefully you are enjoying this beautiful spring weather...if you live in the U.S. upper Midwest you know what I mean. Here at SWIM we are sprinting with Kingdom undertakings as always. Early Spring I travelled with Franklin Graham and the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association to Liberia for the All Liberia Life Festival. It was a beautiful experience; especially seeing thousands upon thousands of Liberian Children give their lives to Jesus Christ at the Children Festival. It was definitely my highlight moment of the trip.  Several hundred members of Kenyan Community in MN gather for prayer in Minneapolis over Easter Weekend. SWIM ministries was a co-sponsor of the outreach event.  Upon return, I managed to take a short time away with my family to rest and recuperate. Then two Saturdays ago during Easter Weekend, we worked with other local ministries to host a prayer gathering for the Twin Cities African Community, specifically from Kenya. Around 500 people were in att...

Witness the amazing work of God in the country of Liberia by joining me tonight, March 29th 2011 for this special webcast of the Franklin Graham All Liberia Life Festival at 7:30 p.m. ET/ 8:30 Central.  To watch the webcast, go to  http://www.billygraham.org/  or  http://www.samaritanspurse.org/ .  It will also be available all week. We give God the glory for the thousands of lives that have been touched by the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ this past week in Liberia.   

It is official; I am a Liberian Chief...in a spiritual sense! That is what a group of Liberian pastors said as they adorned me with an official Liberian Chief outfit this morning at an impromptu church ceremony attended by about fifty Liberian pastors here in Monrovia. About 10,000 people including Liberian President and Vice President attended the First night of Liberia for Jesus Festival on Friday night. The international Committee for the End-Time Revival in Liberia are a group of evangelical and Pentecostal Churches both in Liberia and in the United States that have extended an invitation to SWIM ministries to partner with them in a nationwide evangelism, reconciliation and healing Festival in 2012 touching several cities across Liberia. During the civil war, the group was able to mobilize a nation-wide campaign called Liberia for Jesus that saw prayer rallies held across several cities as well as the gospel proclaimed simultaneously across all the provinces of Liberia in ...

"Hallo team, We are only a few hours away before the start of the All Liberia Life Festival with Franklin Graham here in Monrovia. In about six hours I need to be with the Camera crew reharsing for the broadcast. It is a full day ahead. But at this time I am feeling sick with a cold/flu, losing my voice, and abit miserable cause I can't sleep. The weather here feels suffocating in the day. I need your prayer right now. Could you take a few minutes and stand with me? There is no question that there is spiritual warfare going on. The gospel must however, go forth unhindered! Thank you! Sammy Wanyonyi

I am currently on my way to Monrovia, Liberia accompanying Franklin Graham and the team from the Billy Graham Association and Samaritan's Purse conducting the All Liberia Life Festival this weekend. I will be serving as your broadcast host for the Festival. Pray with us for a great harvest of souls for the Kingdom. In recent months, Shine in the World International Ministries (SWIM) received and is seriously considering conducting Festivals of Hope in this West African nation in 2012. Travelling with the Billy Graham and Franklin Graham teams to the nation gives us a head start in understanding the need and preparational details. Liberia has recently gone through two civil wars that resulted in thousands of people dying, millions emotionally traumatized due to the brutal violence, whole populations displaced, thousands emigrating as refugees (more than 30,000 Liberians now live in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis/St. Paul alone), a devastation of Liberian economy with d...

A hundred and eighty of our ministry partners joined us over dinner to celebrate what God has done through SWIM ministries over the last five years. Individual lives have been transformed by the power of the Gospel of Christ as we have stepped out in faith and obedience to the Great Commission. By God’s help, 308,000 have so far participated in our Festivals in six different countries over these five years. A total of 38,937 individuals have prayed with us to receive Christ into their lives as Lord and Savior. 1801 pastors and leaders have participated in our Leadership Conferences. To God be the glory! There are three basic motivations that continue to inform our engagement with the gospel of Christ. First is our human reality of being lost from God. Through Christ, His death on the Cross and His resurrection from the dead, we can all be reconciled to God if we repent and come to God in His Name. We are thus obliged to preach the gospel because we love our fellow human beings an...