Report of Revival
Fellowship, October 5, 2013
We
gathered from Bowie, Maryland, and Baltimore, from Ephrata, Elizabethtown,
Lititz and Lancaster in the Fellowship Hall of the Forest Hills Mennonite Church, Leola,
Pennsylvania singing “I will enter His gates with thanksgiving in my heart. I
will enter His courts with praise . . . .”
H. Glenn Stauffer opened the meeting
with prayer (on his 81st
birthday) ! Each person gave their name and where they were from and some
included testimonies.
Wayne Lawton read from Daniel 3:16-18 about the 3 Hebrew
children. They believed God could and
would save them from the fiery furnace but they added - but if He doesn’t - we
will not bow down to this golden image. They were submitting to the
sovereignty of God. They confessed the word of faith in humility and
submission.
Wayne then introduced Pearl
Kumi, Ruby Sackar and
Queenstar – and with Mary Lou & Wayne they sang a
praise song in IKAN – a language in Ghana, West Africa, “Lift Him up, JESUS is the KING”. Johnson and Mary Kamau sang a Psalm
in KIKUYU – a language in Kenya, East Africa.
Johnson is an ordained Presbyterian
minister and his wife, Mary Njenga, a school teacher – but when they came to
America they could not get
positions because they had not been
trained here. They have 4 children,
ages 22,
19, 15 and 9. It is a challenge to get used to a new
culture. After coming in 2006 they lived in Detroit, Michigan – but
a year later moved to Pennsylvania.
Johnson has been studying in the mental health field at Lancaster Bible
College. Mary works as a Certified Nursing Assistant [at Landis Homes, in
Lititz]. Johnson shared that as a 19 year old student, 200 miles away from his
home in Kenya, he heard the gospel preached at his school – but he resisted. He
thought old people needed salvation before they leave this life but he was
still young. He heard two powerful sermons: one about Zachaeus and the other
about the Prodigal Son. When an altar
call was given he would not go forward
– but spent a sleepless night.
He came to breakfast but could not eat. Conviction of sin found him a
self-righteous, proud young man. He came
from a Christian home
and had not been outwardly rebellious
– so he didn’t think he needed to be saved. But the Holy Spirit
was faithful and drew him with cords of love to the cross of Jesus where he
repented and was saved. He said “I thought I was winning – but
I was losing. Only when you surrender to Christ do you win.
Johnson shared at length
about the sermons that had so convicted him. He was like
Zachaeus – up a tree and too proud to come down! He was like the prodigal son –
even though outwardly Johnson was a good young man, he was wasting his
inheritance, by refusing to follow Christ.
He said when the prodigal
son came home the father should have
said, “You have wasted your
inheritance – get out of my sight ” but instead he ran to this boy and threw his
arms around him and kissed him.
Johnson could see
the unconditional love
of the father
and knew that is how God felt
toward him. As Johnson spoke of God’s
love in saving him tears ran down his
cheeks – tears of joy. He mentioned that we sin in
selfishness. We are blest when we think
about others. Death is a comma, to everlasting life. Johnson hopes to write
several books.
As he concluded his remarks he told how he met his wife. He had left his copy of a Gideon Bible on a
chair. Mary found it and returned it to
him. Some friends accused him of leaving
the Bible there on purpose, to catch this young girl (smile) – but this was not
the case. He sees Mary as Number Two in
his life. Jesus is Number One, then Mary, whom he loves dearly.
An offering was taken – brethren in
Kenya have requested more copies of “A Gentle Wind of God”.
Also a team of six
from our fellowship [ Samuel Muikia, Anthony Wachira, Gad Kimani, John Maust
Tom Hess and Wayne Lawton ] will travel to Portland, Maine in February 2014
to share with a revival fellowship just beginning there.
Samuel Muikia mentioned his Mother’s passing
in 2011. He told the group that he plans to fly to Kenya in November. His
father, Eliud Muikia, will remarry a sister in the Lord on November 16th.
Don Jacobs spoke of Eliud – and his financial position in a large agricultural
business in Kenya, and his leader-ship in the East Africa revival movement in
Kenya. Don offered a prayer for this trip. And Sister Eva Kingori, who has
lived in the United States for 14 years will take her first trip back to her
home town of Nyeri, Kenya also. Don also offered a prayer for the meal.
A book table had been set up and Pearl
Kumi placed copies of two books she had written “Get On Board – Stay On Board”
and “The Last Train at Sunset” and Don
Jacobs books “Consider Jesus” and “A Gentle Wind of God”. These books are
available on AMAZON.com
