FREETOWN, Sierra Leone (BP)–More than 11,500 people — thousands of Muslims among them — made public decisions for Christ in April when an evangelistic campaign was conducted in war-ravaged Sierra Leone.
A team of 27 evangelists from International Crusades and the International Mission Board joined churches of the Baptist Convention of Sierra Leone to witness to unsaved victims of war in Freetown.
Since 1991, rebels of the Revolutionary United Front have been attacking civilians in order to gain control of the country’s diamond mining regions.
They cut off hands, arms, legs and other body parts and carve the letters RUF in the chests of their victims. Women and young girls are taken captive as sex slaves and domestic laborers.
As villages are destroyed by vandalism, thousands of refugees are left to cope with the loss of homes and families.
With the need for deliverance come offers of hope from God’s people.
“A simultaneous outpouring of God’s Spirit was reported by evangelism teams in every location where visitation and crusade meetings were being held,” said Southern Baptist missionary Ron Hill.
One Baptist church doubled in size in one day, Hill said. The next day, a single visitation team led 64 people to Jesus. Volunteer Steve Cook, a truck driver from Borger, Texas, reported that almost everyone his team witnessed to accepted the Lord.
Tina Cummings, a nurse from Dallas, said she had never experienced such easy evangelism. People were ready to accept God’s gift of salvation.
While the groups were sharing the gospel, Muslims hung a banner in the neighborhood saying, “Hold tight to the rope of Islam.” Radio announcements warned Muslims to beware of the teachings of the strange people visiting their homes.
“Despite the resistance, thousands of Muslims were among the 11,532 who came to the Lord during the crusade,” Hill said.
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For information about volunteering to help take the gospel to unreached people groups in West Africa, e-mail [email protected] or call 1-800-888-8657.
