One of the great pleasures of Seminary has been the people that I come into contact with. Today I would like to tell you about Mr. Sammy Wanyonyi. Sammy is a dynamic evangelist with a passion to bring the message of Jesus Christ to the 21st Centuray generation. He is president of Sammy Wanyonyi International Ministries (SWIM). I am proud to call Sammy my brother in Christ, and he is a blessing to my life. If you ever meet Sammy, ask him to pray. His prayer are amazingly deep, a rich communing with God. When he prays, I know I am hearing a man in love with Jesus. Below is his story, taken from his website.
Sammy's Story:
My wonderful parents dedicated me to God's service in imitation of Hannah, the mother of the Old Testament Prophet Samuel, just a few months after I was born in the spring of 1973, hence my name Samuel or Sammy as I have been mostly called. I, however, met and committed my life to Jesus Christ at the age of four. As I grew, I realized seperately that God had his hand on my life and that I was to carry the Goodnews of the Kingdom of God through Jesus Christ to many people. At the age of eight, I started my ministry alongside my parents, lay Salvation Army evangelists, in the remote Kenyan countryside after experiencing the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Articulate, bold,and eloquent I formatively gave witness to many Kenyan rural folk who would commit their lives to the Lord Jesus Christ.
At the age eighteen, however, I came across biographies of two missionaries; William Carrey and Jim Elliot. While reading Carrey's Biography, I sensed that God was personally calling me to world evangelism through a statement that Carrey had written, "God is calling you to a glorious future; He is calling you to take His gospel throughout the whole world. My friend, you need this wider vision."
Five years later while employed as a liason manager with Air France I ran into Evangelist Reinhard Bonnke, one of my two most admired world evangelist (the other being Billy Graham) who prayed with me on two subsequent occasions. On both the 29th of September 1996 and 29th September 1997 in unplanned dramatic encounters, Reinhard laid his hands upon me while I knelt aboard identical Air France flights flying from Nairobi to Paris. During the second meeting, Reinhard prayed declaring, "As from today henceforth, you will no longer work for Air France; you will be on the pulpit. Next time I see you, you will be on the pulpit!" Sensing the inevitability of the call, I resigned my airline job.
In the last eight years, my evangelistic work has taken me around the United States, Africa, Europe, and Asia. I have held city-wide festivals, conferences and crusades in partnership with the local churches, ministered to single congregations, and been keynote speaker at University and college mission and evangelism Conferences, businessmen's forums, and prayed with political leaders.
I have served in a pastoral capacity with two large Suburban congregations here in the United States: Cedar Valley Church, Bloomington, MN and Cape First Assembly, Cape Girardeau, MO, and currently with Westwood Community Church, in Chanhassen, MN. I have published articles on evangelism, missions, and issues of Discipleship with Bethel Seminary and in my first book, Scenes from Under the Sky Cathedral: In Passionate Pursuit of God. I hold a B.A in cross cutlrual studies and I am currently completing a Master in Divinity from Bethel University Seminary, St. Paul, MN.
I strongly believe the testimony of the Holy Spirit that through our ministry of SWIM, entire cities and nations will be transformed by the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Healing, refreshing and deliverance will come to the Church of our Lord Jesus Christ and that many believers will be raised up as servant leaders to this generation.
You can reach Sammy at:
Sammy Wanyonyi Int'l Ministries
10410 Normandale Blvd
Bloomington, Minnesota, 55437
Tel: 612-220-7999
He has also receintly published a book called "Scenses From Under the Sky Cathedral". The book was self published through Bethany Press of Bloomington, MN.
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