We’ve had an incredible 4 day prayer and fasting conference in Hoisanna, Ethiopia. This is the third such conference here that I’ve preached at during the last nine years of partnership we (College of Prayer) have had with the Ethiopian Kale Heywet Church. During these last nine years the Kale Heywet Church has grown by thousands of new churches and millions of new members, and they attribute the foundation of that growth to prayer. Testimony after testimony was given of how these annual prayer and fasting conferences that they have hosted for 15 years now have brought about societal, spiritual, and political transformation in Ethiopia. While the situation in Ethiopia is far from perfect, the overall advancement of the kingdom of God here is evident, and it is incredibly humbling to know that God has allowed us to partner in this advancement. College of Prayer is being taught throughout this nation in virtually every Kale Heywet Church. Even the compound where the conference was held had College of Prayer signs all around it.
During the conference I would watch as hundreds and hundreds of people would begin praying as early as six in the morning and there would be well over 1,500 by the afternoon. On the last day we had over 5,000 people. It was truly an honor to bring the word of God, but more importantly it was an honor to continue learning from them how to be persistent, bold, and fervent in prayer and touch the heart of God. I have been in many places around the world and developed relationships with denominations and church movements and I have to say I have never seen anything like this. Personally, I do not know of anywhere else on earth that a denomination is annually calling for four straight days of prayer and fasting around the country with millions participating in person in their local churches. In fact, on the last day, hundreds of thousands of people were participating on top of mountains. Pastor Lee Denton, who traveled with me, went to one of those mountains to preach a final message while I stayed at the main conference to preach. You can see in the picture the many thousands of people that climbed this mountain (which equal 77 stories of a building) to spend three hours praying, worshiping, and receiving the Word. Praise God for what He's doing across such a strategic African nation.