| Kyahi Independent Baptist Church |
In Uganda, a person is considered guilty until proven innocent. Someone can accuse you of something,
and you will immediately be sent to prison. Unless you give a bribe, you can remain there for one year
until you are given a trial. If there is no evidence given, or if the accuser does not show himself, you will
be set free. Just imagine losing a year of your life for a simple accusation.
This was the case of Eliab Mugarura – a man working for the Church of Uganda (similar to the
Episcopalian Church). When asked to do something a bit “shady”, he refused, was then accused of
embezzlement and was sent to the Kyamugoran Prison. This was where I met this 53-year-old man in the
year 2000. He attended one of our prison services and received Christ as his Savior. He became very
attentive and wanted to know much about God’s Word. I told him about our Bible Institute, and he
expressed interest in attending once he was released. However, he was concerned because he did not
have the funds to attend school. I told him that this institute was a ministry of our local Baptist church
and that there was no tuition cost besides a small book fee. He was very excited!
In February of 2001, Eliab had his court hearing where they were unable to find his court file, and so he
was released. His home was about six miles away from Mbarara town, yet he was faithful to walk just to
attend church. Open Door Baptist Church in Missouri sent money to buy him a bicycle. That was a great
blessing to him!! He was baptized and began attending the institute immediately. He even brought his
family to be baptized after he had led them to the Lord.
In April of 2001, he shared with me his burden to reach his home village of Kyahi. We went out to meet
the local officials and they allowed us to use a small portion of land on Saturdays. As we began preaching,
people started getting saved and we began to disciple them. Soon the people came to us saying they were
“getting lost” in the week and wanted another service. So we started a Wednesday night service. Then the
people came and said that they had no place to go on Sunday, and others thought they were Seventh Day
Adventists. So we changed to Sunday services.
and you will immediately be sent to prison. Unless you give a bribe, you can remain there for one year
until you are given a trial. If there is no evidence given, or if the accuser does not show himself, you will
be set free. Just imagine losing a year of your life for a simple accusation.
This was the case of Eliab Mugarura – a man working for the Church of Uganda (similar to the
Episcopalian Church). When asked to do something a bit “shady”, he refused, was then accused of
embezzlement and was sent to the Kyamugoran Prison. This was where I met this 53-year-old man in the
year 2000. He attended one of our prison services and received Christ as his Savior. He became very
attentive and wanted to know much about God’s Word. I told him about our Bible Institute, and he
expressed interest in attending once he was released. However, he was concerned because he did not
have the funds to attend school. I told him that this institute was a ministry of our local Baptist church
and that there was no tuition cost besides a small book fee. He was very excited!
In February of 2001, Eliab had his court hearing where they were unable to find his court file, and so he
was released. His home was about six miles away from Mbarara town, yet he was faithful to walk just to
attend church. Open Door Baptist Church in Missouri sent money to buy him a bicycle. That was a great
blessing to him!! He was baptized and began attending the institute immediately. He even brought his
family to be baptized after he had led them to the Lord.
In April of 2001, he shared with me his burden to reach his home village of Kyahi. We went out to meet
the local officials and they allowed us to use a small portion of land on Saturdays. As we began preaching,
people started getting saved and we began to disciple them. Soon the people came to us saying they were
“getting lost” in the week and wanted another service. So we started a Wednesday night service. Then the
people came and said that they had no place to go on Sunday, and others thought they were Seventh Day
Adventists. So we changed to Sunday services.
We then began praying about some land where we could build a
permanent building. There were several sites that we looked at, but we
ended up buying some land from one of the men in the church. As the
Lord provided the finances, we began constructing a building that would
seat around two hundred people. The building was completed in 2002.
I began working toward turning things over to Bro. Eliab and other men
in the church. Eventually, Bro. Eliab did more of the preaching,
baptizing, organizing church ministries, and even church discipline.
Finally in June 2004, I turned the church completely over to Bro. Eliab
as pastor. In November 2007, he was officially ordained by the
Independent Baptist Church of Mbarara. The ordination board consisted
of both missionaries and national pastors.
We praise the Lord for the work He is doing through Pastor Eliab. It is a
miracle to see where he was and where he is now. He is now pastoring a
church, recording programs for a Christian radio station, teaching in the
Bible Institute, working on Bible translation projects, and his wife is
administering a Christian day care of over one hundred children.
| UGANDA |
| Second Generation Missionaries since 1999 |
| Matt and Keila, Marcus, Kendra, Kirsten and Kimberly |
tensaas
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