REVIVAL CONFERENCE 2008

"But you shall be filled with power after the Holy Spirit has come upon you and the you shall be my witnesses" Acts 1:8

Last week was a week of great revival and renewal to many believers in Christ and pastors mostly from rural places, at Revival Tabernacle.

This is an annual meeting that is arranged for both believers and Leaders to learn the word and pray together for one week, expecting the touch of God on their lives for renewal and discipleship. Different gifted preachers and teachers are invited to preach and teach on a specific theme for a particular goal each year. We accommodate and feed these people who normally turn up in hundreds.

This vision was birthed with the great responsibility God has given us to disciple and train Leaders who will transform communities. We felt it is our responsibility to equip men and women with the word of God as prepare them to transform their communities for Jesus.

Most of our villages are under the bondage and control of witchcraft and idol worship and Sorcery and as a result many people live in the bondage and fear of the devil and as a result many people are ever sickly and some die. Adults and children alike are bound and possessed by demons, some becoming insane from the soul ties from their ancestral spirits worship. In every community, they have a priest and witch doctor to help them consult evil spirits and every clan and home stead has a shrine normally in the home of an elder who inherits the family spirits. Sacrifices are normally offered to by the family weekly to appease the ancestors for a blessing or good health or good harvest. And after every harvest another sacrifice is made to thank the spirits.

Most of such communities are hardened with unbelief and resistance to the gospel. And it is hard to preach Christ in such places. Sometimes the evil spirits end up torturing members of the families; members are ever sickly and tormented. In one family, a lady was taken by the spirits for 10 years into the forests children found her and reported and she was taken back home, the church prayed for her and she was healed.

But as we plant churches in such communities, there is always a sigh of relief as people come to Christ and are prayed for, many people are set free and healed.

However we realized if we have to be effective in our vision to transform communities, we have to train leaders and equip saints for the work of the ministry. And this is the reason why we hold the Revival Conferences every year.

This year’s conference well attended with an attendance of almost 1000 people. It was power packed. It marked a turning for many believers and ministers. Many leaders were revived and empowered for the work of the ministry.

Out theme was derived the Book of Acts 1:8. As preacher after preacher expounded the truth of the word of God, you could tell from the face of the people that they were getting the truth of the word and God was ministering to them. Many were baptized in the Holy Spirit with evidence of speaking in tongues. Many saints were delivered from the oppression of demon powers and others healed of different diseases. Many were renewed in the Lord. By the time they went back on Monday, they were full of excitement and joy, ready to be effective witnesses of Jesus.

Our staff worked tirelessly to see that everything is in order. They made sure food was enough for every one and was on time. They took good care of accommodating the saints and providing what they needed in time.

We are praying that next year’s conference will be much more powerful and more attended than this year’s. We shall have it around the same time from 4^th to 10^th May 2009.

Please pray that God will touch more people with the power of his Spirit and that many will be changed and become affective ministers in to transform the communities.

Also pray for provisions for our own strong sound system. We depend on hiring which takes a lot of money. Pray for, us for provision to feed and accommodate the saints and possibly help them with transportation, most of these people walk on foot over 50 km to come into these meetings.

jbakashaba@gmail.com

SPONSORSHIP KIDS HERE FOR HOLIDAYS

"Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them..." Matthew 19:14

The 33 children supported by Kabale sponsorship program have come home for holidays. The interesting thing is that our children are doing very well both academically and spiritually. There is a great change in the lives of these children since they joined the sponsorship program. They all brought home very good school reports with good grades. The kids testify of the joy they feel, belonging to such a good school in Kabale. Not only are children proud of this school but also the mothers of these children. One mother recently told us that her neighbors asked her how she ended her son in Kabale Primary school, popularly known here as Demonstration school. She just told them that it is God's grace.
Kabale Primary school is one of the best schools in Kabale;it used to be for only the well to do people. Thank God that with help from friends we can afford to take our children to such a good school.
The children are overwhelmed by the love shown to them by their sponsors. Thank you friends for helping these children. We appreciate your sacrifice to give these children a future. Nothing gives great joy like seeing these children take shape towards their destinies. May God abundantly reward you.
We also appreciate those of you that sent their children gifts. Your gifts helped to buy your children shoes and stockings.
Most of these children are gifted and will become great people in future. Despite most of them having lost their parents and others coming from very poor families with parents who cannot afford to give their children education, God has a purpose for these children. Supporting them will help groom them to their dreams! These are future leaders! Most of them can now speak good English and almost all of them can write English. We don't take this for granted.
We are so grateful to all of you dear partners. Thank you for helping us to help these children.
The children now know how to write letters to their sponsors. Our staff have been helping them to write these letters. The last letter they wrote was a general letter that basically give the child an opportunity to relate with her/ his sponsor as she/he talks about what is going on with his life; academically, spiritually and socially, at home,at school and at church. We do hope sponsors you enjoyed the letters. They will write more when they start their second term.
Child sponsorship has transformed the entire community.
There is a great change in the entire community. Many people testify of the love of God portrayed to these vulnerable children by the church.
Many mothers now take time to clean the shoes for their children which never used to be the case. Children would go to school on bare foot. They also try to maintain the cleanliness of their children's uniform. The children speak English on the community and besides they are well behaved.
The parents have testified that their children help them at home a lot, during this holiday unlike other holidays. They help with cooking, fetching water and cleaning utensils. They will be going back to school within a few weeks. They report on the 26th May 2008.
We established an office to help us run this program efficiently. We rent out a building which we have furnished with chairs and tables, file cabins and shelves. Sam, our program Director works tirelessly to keep records well and good accounting.He generally handles administration to keep the program running efficiently. Doreen, a volunteer staff, also helps to fill out the children files and keep files in order. She also helps children write the letters, especially the young ones. We have good qualified teachers that volunteer to teach these children on Saturdays. We call the Saturday meetings Center days.Children learn Scriptures and prayer, behavior, cleanliness and hygiene, skills and other lessons that will develop them into future good citizens and leaders. We do appreciate all of you our friends and partners for making a difference and helping us transform our community.
There are still hundreds of children in this community and thousands in other communities that don't have an opportunity to go to school. We are praying for them that God will help them too.
Thirty five US Dollars ($35) a month pays tuition for a child to go to school, buy him a uniform and feeds him every Saturday.
Together we can make a difference in the lives of these little ones as we do acts of compassion to them. Please pray for the many suffering children in our community.
In case you are interested to sponsor a child or support more children, please get more information from Whitney Smith at: whitney-123@hotmail.com

BUILDING THE LORD'S HOUSE

When the Lord sent us into this community in 1997, we did not know where exactly we would begin from. We were simply moving in obedience to the Lord. All we knew was that the Lord had sent us into a wicked community to transform it into true disciples of Jesus. One day as Pastor Johnson was walking through the community, he had a voice say,"Look to your right." "At first i did not understand because all i could see was a bush, but later on when i went home, the Lord spoke to me that that was the place where we shall begin from." narrates Pastor Johnson. The following day having inquired and knew that the land belonged to a certain brother in Christ, he went to ask this brother if the church could use his land temporarily and he had no objection. In one week a temporary shelter that would accommodate around 100 people was constructed and the church started in this humble way with only 5 people. Then the church launched out in prayer and intercession with a lot fasting and supplication for a land that was bound by a lot of prostitution and drunkards, witch craft and idolatry. With time we broke the strongholds of the devil and people begun to repent of their evil ways and run to church for salvation and hope in Christ. Bars too,started to close down one by one,with drunkards repenting and coming to church. Within five years the church shelter was too small for the growing numbers. We started to pray that that God would provide land that would house the church. In 2002 God provided a piece of land that we miraculously bought at Ush5,000,000. We put up a shed covered with tarpaulins for shelter against rain and sunshine. But with time we realized that this shelter would only protect us against the hot sun but not the rains especially during the rainy seasons. It was rather a nasty experience especially whenever it would rain during the Sunday service. Almost every Sunday we would go back with wet Bibles plus wet and muddy shoes and clothes. Several days it would rain and saints would scamper for shelter and the service would end unceremoniously. This became too much and we stated to cry to God to intervene, several members had started to miss even Sunday services especially the weak and mothers with babies. But God is so good and he has a special plan. He always puts away where there was no way. In November, 2005 Pastor Doug Paradise, an American missionary to Vietnam came to Kabale the second time for a leaders conference,having come the previous year with a tam from California in conjunction with Africa Renewal Ministries. As usual it rained during the conference days,several times the Pastors would run away for shelter for whenever it started to rain, it would not stop. Rain would interrupt the whole service, splashing water in the equipment and people. The Pastors had to put their Bibles out to dry after every rain. On this particular day, it rained when Pastor Doug was on the pulpit, but rain increased and it became windy and water logged tarps would pour water on people. This never spared the visiting preacher with a bold head, water just splashed on his head and he was all wet from head to his shoes. But this turned out to be a blessing in disguise! Pastor Doug vowed this would never happen again. When he went back, he prayed about it he mobilized some funds and helped us to construct a much stronger and roofed church structure. The next Sunday, the house was full of praise and jubilation! The miracle was so notable so that it became a testimony in the community of the greatness of the God we serve! This time every member of the church turned up, even the weak. Members gave testimonies of praise, one after another, of the goodness of God. The service that would normally end at 1:00 p.m., this time ended at 3:00. Praise God! Whitney Smith another friend from Oklahoma, supported us to put a concrete floor in the church, saving us from dust. Now, more people have been added to us. Today we have a membership of around 200 believers, and the numbers are still growing. People are happy, they now have a place they call home, though it is still temporary. Revival Tabernacle is home for several ministries, that target helping needy children and orphans to raise them into godly leaders.Departments such women team, crafts and fellowships, discipleship and Missions and the youth all meet in this place for training and teaching. With several ministries like House of Hope, Child sponsorship program, Food distribution-Mercy ministry, Awana children discipleship and Sunday school, Rock University scholarship Kabale chapter, and Evangelism and village medical care are all being housed in small shelter. All these ministry programs and much more need a stronger and bigger building for offices and meetings and an auditorium for worship services and conferences, in order to grow into God honoring leaders. We are praying that God will put away for us to be able to build a dissent church building.
Last year, the Engineering Ministries International team came to Kabale and helped us to draw plans for a bigger and stronger church building that will cost us around US $177,200. We pray that God would provide this money so that work starts by next year. This building will accommodate the office for the Revival Tabernacle Ministries, Stores for the equipment and the Mercy food ministry, the children classes and the church auditorium which will double as a house of worship and a conference hall for our annual leaders and believers' conference. If you feel you want to be part of this,in prayer or donations, please write to Pastor Johnson at: jbakashaba@gmail.com or margaret_noblin@msn.com

SPONSORSHIP CHILDREN GO TO SCHOOL

Yesterday was all joy for our children most of who have been going to very poor schools for lack of school fees. Many were putting on torn clothes for uniform. But it all began as good news when we announced that Monday 4^th February, we will be taking all the sponsored children to a very good school.

To some it sounded like a joke but as things turned out Monday early in the morning we lined them up and led by our program director they were led to Kabale Primary School, one of the best schools in Kabale.

The Head teacher gladly received them after we had explained that these were orphans we were aiming at giving a good future as godly exemplary leaders. Normally the standards of this school are very high and he wouldn’t have accepted our children knowing that they are coming from very poor backgrounds.

After a brief interview, they were all admitted into the school!

Thereafter we went to buy for each one of them school uniform. They looked very smart in their uniform so much so that the school teachers were amazed at the sudden change and thanked God for our church.

The Parents could not believe when they saw their children. “I almost forgot my son” said one mother, as she rubbed tears from her eyes because of too much joy.

“God has taken away my shame and my sorrow” cried another widow, whose child was chased away from school two years ago.

The entire community was ecstatic with praise and great joy, when they saw the children very smartly dressed in their uniforms.

“We thank God for this church!” said an old woman.

We launched the children Sponsorship program in Revival Tabernacle last week on Friday, 1^st of February 2008.

During the launch we shared with the mothers their responsibility to make sure that the children go to school every day and to be good examples to them. We asked them to help the children utilize this opportunity and be good leaders in future.

They were so happy and promised to cooperate with the church to rise up the children in a godly way. They promised they will support the children to go to school daily and try as much as they can to provide the children with food.

We then had lunch together with all the mothers and their children.

That day we opened up the sponsorship account and organized our office. We had a team from Gaba main office led by Pastor Fred who helped us to train the committee and team in Kabale.

We are so grateful for all of you dear friends that have been a great blessing to these children; you are part of this progress. You have made the difference in these lives and made a great impact in the lives of these children.

100 children were registered and only 33 children so far have got sponsors. One girl cried bitterly when she saw her friends in Uniform and she was in rugs. She blamed her mother that she did not take her to get uniform.

It is our prayer that soon all the registered children will get sponsors and be given an opportunity to go to school.

Most of the children don’t have school shoes which are black shoes and they are not allowed to go to school on foot as they were used to for lack of shoes.

We shall use the gifts for those who sent gifts to their children to buy for them shoes and socks.

May the good Lord bless you abundantly.

To know more about our children sponsorship program or how you can help sponsor a child, please contact Whitney at:

whitney-123@hotmail.com

UNIVERSITY SCHOLARSHIPS FOR OUR YOUTH

Praise God our youth; Sam, Emma and Christine were take up by the Rock sponsorship. We thank God for Margaret Noblin and Yvonne that worked so had with the Rock board members to take up our young people for scholarship.
University tuition is normally high and as the church we could not afford to rise it to help our children.
Sam was originally supported by a certain friend who dropped his support after the first year at the Barham University and Sam had to spend another year at home for lack of tuition.
Thank God when we introduced him to Margaret and the Rock scholarship board, he was asked to apply and he was considered for scholarship until he will finish his degree program. Sam helps a lot in the church especially with church accounts. He is currently the Program Director for the children sponsorship program, and he is doing a very good job. He also helps with accounts with the church finances. He is a blessing too to the House of Hope children.
The Rock was already supporting Christine who is an active youth leader in the church and is involved in other leadership areas like teaching children and ministering in the choir.
She had no help after her S.6. Thank God for the Rock scholarship that raised her tuition for the Nursing training at Kabale Nursing school.
This year the Rock has accepted to support Emma, a former Moslem and now a committed Christian, but an orphan with no help at all but with a desire to become a medical Doctor one day. Emmanuel is currently taking a course in Nursing at Kabale Nurses Training school.
Emma was so excited to learn of his scholarship from the Rock organization. He is a very committed brother who helps with program leading in the church. He is also very helpful with the youth in the church. He has a very good testimony at school, both academically and spiritually.
For more information for prayer and support, please write to Margaret Noblin at: margaret_noblin@msn.com

REVIVAL TABERNACLE PASTORAL TEAM

The Lord has continued to establish Revival Tabernacle ministries. And as the Lord saves more and more people from the community, he has put in his church men and women with different calling to shepherd his people and to nurture and disciple the young believers that come to church.
Last year over 50 new believers were added to the church and these constantly need the word of God to build them on a firm foundation.
God has built a strong Pastoral team that cooperate to lead this great ministry and all apart from Dr. Michael are full time ministers with no salary depending on the Lord's provision.
These Pastors have been a great blessing to many people. They have laid down their lives to touch many lives with the love of Christ. They have indeed transformed the entire community.
Many lives have been healed and many souls changed.

PASTOR JOHNSON BAKASHABA
With a diploma in theology, he was called of God into full time Pastoral ministry. He is the Senior Pastor and the President of the ministry. With a special grace to shepherd believers into the knowledge of our Lord Jesus. He has a burden for the Lord and love for children. He has been a blessing to so many children and orphans and has helped many families especially the needy and widows.
God has given him wisdom to lead this ministry to progress.

MARGARET BAKASHABA
Married to the Pastor, she welcomed many homeless and destitute children into her home. She has a burden to strengthen the weak. She has a great call to intercession and prayer.
She leads the women fellowship and the crafts group.
She has trained many youth into godly fear and lives honoring to God.

PASTOR BEATRICE SHYAKA
She is the Missions Director. She has a burden for the rural people, Pastors and churches. She has sacrificed a lot to see churches planted in many villages. She has a great passion for the lost.

DR. MICHEAL OSINDE
A medical Doctor, came to Kabale on Ministry of health assignment but God brought him into Revival Tabernacle. He has a passion to support the work of God. Out his earnings he has helped build so many churches especially in the rural places where they have no much income. He has been so supportive to the entire ministry and helping financially in many aspects.
He has special grace upon his life to teach the word of God. Through his teaching ministry many have been grounded in the word.Revival Tabernacle has been a great blessing to so many people from the community. It is a healing place and so many lives have been transformed. No one comes in and remains the same.
Please pray for these men and women as they God brings more people into their hands so that God will give them the grace to help his people.
You can also support these men and women who have laid down their lives to be a blessing to our community and the many people that God will bring into their lives.
A gift of $100 would help meet their family needs as they dedicate themselves to do the will of God.
To know more, you can write to Pastor Johnson at: jbakashaba@gmail.com

GOD'S PROTECTION ON A MISSION TRIP

"The Lord is my Rock and my Fortress and my Deliverer..." Psalms 18:2
Yesterday, Sunday 6th January, we were going for a Mission to one of our branch churches in the hills as we had planned. The Pastor of this church had organized a conference which he wanted us to conclude with an open air evangelistic meeting Sunday evening.
We therefore mobilized all the ministers, leaders and singers and got our equipment and hired a truck ready for the mission.
But as we were climbing one of the hills, the truck got problems and failed to climb the hill and before we could realize, the truck lost control and begun to reverse, the driver tried all he could to stop it but it was too late! We begun to call on the name of Jesus, for we knew we were in the mercies of the Lord. As we called on the name of Jesus, instead of the truck strolling down the hill, it suddenly hit the road side and overturned. Thank God it did not roll over the steep hill, we would have all perished!
We all crawled out unhurt! thanking God and praising Jesus for his deliverance!
A few people had minor injuries and were rushed to hospital for treatment, and they are now very well.
After the accident, we abandoned the truck and carried our equipment with help from well wishers and walked to our destination which was now in a distance of around 5 km. We reached very tired but happy that God was with us and we were doing the will of God.
We taught the word of God in the church and the brethren were encouraged in the Lord and after that,went to the crusade ground, where hundreds of people were waiting to hear the gospel.
We preached Christ and more than 30 people gave their lives to Jesus ad several were healed of different diseases and bondages from the devil. Most people in these areas are bound by witchcraft and ancestral spirits, but when we prayed many were set free. There was revival in the village.
Well wishers organized for us another truck afterwards which picked us up late in the evening and we reached home safely and gave the glory to God.
We thank God for the prayers of the saints, that cover us with protection.
Please pray for us, we need our own truck and a missions bus that will help us on such mission trips, because with our own truck, we ensure that it is in good condition before we go for any trip for the safety of our lives.
May the good Lord bless you.
Please write to us at: jbakashaba@gmail.com