Segou, Mali Crusade Report
I just returned from the crusades in Mali, West Africa. When we arrived we found the spiritual climate tense, in the city of over one million people there were only five protestant churches and one Catholic work. We were told that the combined number of Christians in the city was less than 500. That is less than half a percent! We found the pastors there were very timid and held back by fear of Muslim reprisals. They were afraid to put up the posters and to hang the banners and even afraid to hire sound cars to announce the crusade. If we looked at the situation through the natural eye we would have been very discouraged but we decided to look at the situation through the eyes of faith.
Our first night of the crusade had a much smaller attendance than what we expected. The field being in the shadow of the Muslim Mosque might have had something to do with the size of the crowd. We had made arrangements to have the crusade broadcast on two of the five radio stations of the city so countless others were also listening to the service. I preached the powerful message of God's love being demonstrated to us through the gift of creation and the gift of Jesus. As the message was drawing to a close a wonderful presence of the Lord came over the entire field. Where there was commotion and distractions, everything became calm and a Holy hush came over everyone there. Without a single miracle the salvation call was given and every Muslim on the grounds responded to receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior. I told the people to put their hands down and then I spent a great deal of time explaining what it meant to repent and turn to Jesus. I explained that there is no other name under heaven by which men must be saved and that Jesus must be seated on the throne of their hearts whereby becoming their Lord and master. Again, under these conditions, I asked if they would receive Jesus in their hearts and every hand went up. I asked them to extend one hand toward heaven and to place their other hand on their heart. We then prayed a beautiful prayer asking Jesus to come into their hearts and to wash them clean with His blood and to make them a Son of God through His Spirit.
Then we began to pray for the sick in mass. Many wonderful healings and miracles took place and those who were healed began to testify. After two or three tremendous testimonies I reminded the crowd of a word of knowledge that I had spoken of a deaf person that God desired to heal. I asked who that person was. A young man brought his teenage sister to the platform. I thought that she had already been healed and was ready to give a shout of praise to the Lord when the interpreter explained to me that she was deaf and mute. Without a pause I turned to the crowd and said, "Watch this! Watch your living Jesus open these deaf ears and cause her tongue to be loosed." I blew in both of her ears and commanded them to be opened. Then I tested them. She smiled a big smile and gestured that her left ear was hearing but not her right. I spoke directly into her right ear and commanded it to open and it did! The crowd went wild! I turned to them and explained that Jesus wasn't finished. I reached for her throat and commanded the mute spirit to leave and for her tongue to be loosed. I stepped to the side and turned her toward me. I said, "ahhh." She said, "ahhh." I said, "ohhh." She said, "ohhh." I said, "Jesus." She said, "Jesus." I said, "Hallelujah." She said, "Hallelujah." Spontaneous praise broke out over the field of people. It was on this high note that closed the first night of the crusade. God had broken through and showed Himself strong!
Each night after that the grounds would fill with more and more people. Each night the Holy presence of the Lord would fall on the crusade grounds and a Holy hush would follow. Each night it seemed as if every person on the field would respond to the salvation call. With one hand stretched toward heaven and one hand on their heart, they would make Jesus the Lord of their lives and seat Him on the throne of their heart. One night a very well dressed lady came bounding up the stairs to the platform. She told us that the night before she and her family had been listening to the crusade live on the radio. She explained that she had been bed-ridden for three years, only able to move from side to side with help. Her husband had heard about the miracles on the street and brought a radio into her room the previous night. As the whole family gathered around her bed this Muslim family heard the message of God's love. That night the whole family received Jesus into their hearts. This wonderful Muslim lady went on to explain that when she woke up the next morning she was completely healed. She surprised her family when she walked out of her room that morning. Her husband demanded that the entire family come to the crusade and give God glory for what He had done!
In the course of the week we witnessed nearly 5,000 Muslims publicly confess Jesus. As we walked down the street during the day or as we visited the local markets people would come up to us and point to their hearts and point toward heaven and then smile. This convinced us that countless others made Jesus the Lord of their lives through the radio broadcast. One Pastor said, "We have been here for years and never have shared Jesus openly. Now, the streets are talking about Him. A great and effectual door has been opened in this city for the Gospel!"
Our crusade and Pastors conference in Mali, West Africa was a groundbreaking event for the Kingdom of God. It was a great success! Thank you for your prayers and support.
Your missionary evangelists,
Kenney & Neja Linhart
Testimonial
Pastor Daniel FaunaEvangelistic Church of Mali
President of Churches and Missions in Segou
What has God done here in Segou this week?
I see that the Lord has done something great in this town. I was very happy to see all the Muslim people come to the crusade. We've been here for many years with very little results. This week has been a time of encouragement to the body of Christ and a time of comfort to receive the team to help evangelize the city. We were able to bring together many people here in Segou. I really want to be direct; it helped to encourage us to do more. I am really happy to see there are other harvesters on the field.
What have you received from God during the Pastors conference?
It was a great blessing and benefit to me. And I learned a lot of things. I just want to summarize a particular area that helped me. The most important thing was in telling us not to just look at the difficult side of things. Especially not to meditate and continually speak about the bad things but to always be in faith saying that the Lord is able to bring all things to pass. It also reminded me about the twelve spies that went into the land of Canaan. The ten said, "We are discouraged and we are not able. We are so small," but Joshua and Caleb said, "No, we are able because God is with us." I realize now that we are able to evangelize our region because God is with us. This was what I learned from the Pastor's seminar.
What can you take from this to bring change in you and your church?
We talked about the five fold gifts and how the minister and believer are to work together to fulfill the plan of God. Now I am confident in how to prepare our church. As soon as each person begins to do their part in the body much work is done. So, I don't have to do it all. Thank God! What I do is prepare others to help in the ministry.
What did seeing all the miracles at the crusade do for you and the believers here in Segou?
We have never been able to share Jesus openly. Many doors have been opened for the body of Christ here. This crusade gives us free entrance to express Christ to the Muslim people. For months and years people in Segou will be talking about this miracle crusade. It will give us the opportunity to continue to share Christ for years. A great door has been opened for us now! I'm so happy and I want to give thanks to our brothers in Christ who helped the team come to Segou. What they have given, the money they gave, the materials they gave, and the prayers they prayed caused the grace of God to reach us here in Segou. We want to give praise because of them and whatsoever they gave let God give them more in return. And let God continue to bless them. I send greetings to all of you that gave. Thank you, our city is forever changed!
