Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labour in the Lord is not in vain. (1 Corinthians 15:58)
The end of last year was a busy time for the leaders of the church in Bujumbura, the capital city of the eastern African nation of Burundi. Anticipating a great following year, it was a time of planning and this kicked off with the launch of our strategic plan. This exercise was overseen by Nairobi-based Evangelist George Irungu and his wife Ann, who oversee our church.
The strategic plan gave us a lot of direction on how to advance God’s kingdom. One of the most important decisions we made was to be committed to all-night prayers and frequent fasting, specifically about baptisms and church attendance.
We have had consistent prayer meetings since January, mostly on Mondays and Saturdays, and with the year coming to an end we have already started seeing God glorifying himself. It has been amazing how God has answered our prayers.
The whole of last year our attendance ranged in the 60’s and 70’s and only three times did we reach 80 in attendance. This year, we have had over 90 people in attendance several times, and 100 people many times. On October 11 God blessed us with an attendance of 
128, our highest attendance for two years! (Editor’s note: a few weeks after this was written, the Bujumbura church had 144 in attendance one Sunday.)
In one particular month, we baptized four people.
In July, a challenge of fasting for 40 days so as to grow in our relationship with God and also bear fruit for the glory of God was put across to the Bible Talk leaders. Only two decided to take the challenge, myself and a brother called Jean Claude Ndezako.
The impact was instant. God led Ndezako to two men who eventually became disciples within the 40 days fasting period.
One day, while out evangelizing together with Jean I (Tom) saw a smartly dressed man who seemed to be in a hurry. I felt the spirit urging me to stop the man and at the same time I was hoping that he spoke Swahili or English (most people in Burundi speak the native Kirundi and French).
It was a pleasant surprise when I realized after stopping him that he was actually studying English at the University of Bujumbura! After Pascal Ndayisaba and I exchanged contacts we parted ways and I continued to reach out to other friends.
Pascal didn’t show up for the first appointment. I followed up on him only to find that the room number he gave me was non-existent. I called him up and we managed to set another appointment, but again he was a no-show. Finally we were able to meet. Pascal came to church and studied the bible with other brothers as well.
After about two weeks Pascal came to the conviction of making Jesus the Lord of his life and he was baptized on the 25th of July 2009 to the glory of God! He had this to say: “When I was stopped by these two smartly dressed men, I thought that they were because people don’t go about stopping strangers.”
Thank God, Pascal now stops strangers as he goes about seeking and saving the lost.
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Tom Akello and his wife, Diddy (picture above right), lead the church in Bujumbura. Tom led the team that initially planted the church there in 2000, and Diddy was one of the early converts. They have two children, Paul, 2, and Sarai, 7 months.
