It All Began in the First Rwanda Prophecy

The way in which the Lord called and then orchestrated our ministry in Rwanda was miraculous. Maybe it was so dynamic because He was in process of teaching us about prophecy and about yielding our ministry to Him. He was calling us to literally allow Him to lead in every aspect of our lives not just in the initial call as we were apt and taught to do. The vision about going to Rwanda had a detail in it that struck me as odd from the onset. The Lord explained that He would be stitching people from Wisconsin into Rwanda and people from Rwanda into Wisconsin. We were each bringing some strength given to us by the Lord to the other local Body of Christ. He said that we would bring trust, especially to impact corruption in business and that Rwandans would bring to us the anointing to worship freely.

On our first trip there in December of 2005,

I was asked to share my testimony at Restoration Church Kimisagara.  As that service began I was keenly watching the worship to see what was different from ours back home.  They had a few instruments, two or three leaders with mics and a large choir singing behind them.  It seemed relatively the same.  But as the worship began I noticed that individuals would respond freely.  Some dancing, some copying dance steps of others in excitement and joy, some rushing up on stage with the others as they were moved, even during one song a young man danced about with his plastic chair above his head.  Nothing seemed contrived or done for show or hyper spiritualized.  It just seemed…free.

As I was seeking the Spirit to point things out to me I kept going back to a young woman in the second or third row of the choir.  She wasn’t doing anything out of the ordinary but there was something about the sincerity of her expression, her glow, for lack of a better way to explain it.   I didn’t want to pass up anything and I knew that worship was winding down so I bowed my head and asked the Lord about her and immediately He began to speak about how this woman’s anointing to worship freely was going to be used and developed by the Lord.  He showed me that she would mature there at Restoration Church in her gift and then she would be used locally, then nationally, then internationally until she would come to us in Wisconsin. Moments later I was up on stage shaking in nervous energy sharing the story about what God had done to get us there to share the prophecies against corruption and for the stitching of our homes together.

Gaby Kamanzi

Later that week before we left to come back home I asked Eric Iravuzumugabe who she was and he told me her name was Gaby Kamanzi.  Douglas and I discussed the word from the Lord and prayed about her and when I got back I told the people at the House of Prayer and many times we prayed about her coming.  The following year when we returned to Restoration Church just as the service ended Gaby approached us and asked if she could come to see us where we were staying.  I thought at the time that maybe Eric had said something to her so when she approached I took her hands and used her name in the greeting and she jerked a bit in shock that we knew it.  We found out later when she came to talk that Eric had not said a thing to her but that the Lord had told her to speak to us and share the prophecies that she and others had heard about her gift to worship. The crazy amazing thing for me was that it was exactly what I had been told. As some of you know when the Lord speaks and begins to unfold what He said He would do I make what I call a marker.  I buy some object or take a picture to commemorate the moment that we can look back on and say here is what the Lord promised and here it is today.  On that day I asked Gaby to sit beside Douglas so that I could take the photo to be that marker.

The Obstacle of the Impossible Visa

Through the years we have gone to Rwanda many times and have kept in contact with Gaby, even trying a few times to get her a Visa to come.  Because Gaby is single with no real government proof ties to Rwanda she was denied every time. As the years passed we watched her become a worship leader at the church, begin to make worship videos for TV, begin to be asked to lead worship all over Rwanda and then neighboring countries.  She even began winning awards, the Female artist of the year 2013 and 2014, Worship Song Of The Year 2013, 2014, video of the year 2013 and so on. As her ministry expanded as the prophecy it would  I couldn’t help but wonder when and how God would ever bring her here.  I had been discussing it as recently as last week.

A few days ago I got a message late at night on Facebook.  Gaby was asking me to keep private a request that she received from the Rwandan Embassy here in D.C. to come to lead worship for the Rwandan Christian Conference in Chicago the following weekend.  Because the Embassy was making the request the Visa approved.  It is the only way that I can say those coveted Visas could be had without all of the qualifications to be even considered.  As we worked through the process I couldn’t help notice that in the original prophecy the Lord had explained exactly how it would go.  That her ministry would grow to become international to the point where she was able to come.  This just blows my mind.

Gaby Comes to the Valley This Week!

So on this Monday, September 7th we go to Chicago to pick her up and as we do we not only see yet another Rwandan come to share their gifts and anointings with the Body here in the Valley but we have the opportunity to receive, learn and grow in a freedom of worship that the Lord has so beautifully orchestrated to offer us.

We are still not certain of what exact days she will be here or how we will fashion meetings to hear her testimonies, her thoughts about worship and to worship as she leads.  But be watching because these are moments I would not want to miss.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDNaMXFNXNs