The Report of the Mission to Burundi, Central Africa November 2011

I want to post this report to give thanks to the Lord and to encourage you as you read about what the Lord is doing in the nation of Burundi.This is a very brief report to say that I have arrived home safely and now am trying to catch up on TOM matters. I got back home at midnight last Tuesday at midnight having been travelling over 30 hours. The plane was cancelled in Nairobi and so I had to spend an extra night in a hotel (provided by Kenya Airways fortunately) and then gewt a later coach back to Cornwall which was itself a six hour journey.

 It was a very successful mission and once again I heard the Lord's voice...."Mission complete!"

The itinerarey was full and included pastor's seminars and church visits, to teach and encourage on prayer and intercession, Inter-Church unity and bridal loie for Jesus. I met with several intercessors and prayer groups and was encouraged to see what God was doing in the nation. We experienced many miracles of salvation and once again, as in the Philippines,  God gave many Words of Knowledge regarding sicknesses which is such an economic method that Holy Spirit uses to save a great deal of time and to encourage faith. He also used this in meetings to discern the unsaved and after I had pointed them out they responded to the invitation for salvation and got saved and filled with the Spirit.

I was able to meet and minister in prayer to the Mayor or Commissioner of the capital city of Bujumbura, Commissioner Melchiade Nzopfabarushe and later in the week to travel 300 miles north into trhe real interior hill country to join the President of Burundi, Pierre Nkurunziza, in working practically on various building projects. The news item of us both working in old clothes mixing cement and building walls together of a local hospital was filmed and shown on national television. Yes ....thats right....the President himself humbles himself and every Saturday goes somewhere in his country to join the people on a self help development project...whether it be a school or a hospital or a new road. He leads by example. His Christian faith expresses itself powerfully this way.

Then....this last Sunday evening I was invited to attend the service of worship, prayer and praise that he and the first lady hold in his palace each Sunday evening. Incidentally the first lady is also a mighty woman of God and is a pastor of a large city Church in Bujumbura. She has a wonderful ministry as does the President himself. He is a great preacher and worship leader, sings beautifully and every Christmas holds a huge Gospel Crusade and preaches,  along with his Dep-Chief of State Protocol, Dr Albert Nasasagare with whom I became close friends.

It was an amazing evening. The music was led by several in-palace worship bands and choirs that had been formed including one made up of the President's own children and the adopted children that he has brought into his family. It was wonderful to see these Spirit-filled Men of God....the State President and staff and various diplomats....jumping up and down and dancing in the Spirit.  I don't think that there can be another President so pentecostal or charismatic as him and one quite so humble and loving of the Lord and His people.  It reminded me of King David, dancing before the Lord, full of wisdom and humility and having the grace to minister to the people at the gate of the city. He, like President Nkurunziza, made himself available to those he served.

It was a privilege to be asked to briefly address this worship service and I took the opportunity to share the prophetic word that the Lord had given me whilst still in England prior to coming to Burundi and that was that the Lord wanted them to do two things. 1) to establish a prayer canopy over the nation by raisuing the level of intercession in the land and to network these intercessors and intercessors groups together into a National Prayer Movement. and 2) to raise an spiritual 'altar' to the Lord by establishing a 24/7 National House and/or Houses of Prayer inthe land. This was His desire.

When I had finished speaking the President got up and said that this was a prophetric evening and that this Word had confirmed what the Lord had been saying for some time.  I was so encouraged and gave the Lord much thanks.

We are now pursuing the development of those two things and Time Out Mission Burundi will be actively involved in working this through with the President's support.

My last assignment was to represent the World Prayer Assembly and to personally invite the President to attend the World Prayer Assembly taking place in Jakarta, Indonesia, next May 14 - 18 th 2011. This event will be one of the largest staged in Church history and has the aim of bringing together Christian World leaders (Presidents and Prime Ministers), Church leaders, Market Place leaders, Prayer leaders. Youth and Children leaders, the saints from around the world and youth and childeen (over 20,000 child intercessors alone have been invited) to strategically connect and empower th global and mission movements from up to 220 nations....so that we can see the transformation of the nations. 2 Chron 7 v 14 and Hab 2 v 14.

The President warmly accepted this invitation and I believe he and his delegation will attend. This invitation is for all whom the Lord will call. Please seewww.worldprayerassembly.com

God bless you so much 

Howard Barnes

Co founder and Co director TOM International

www.timeoutmission.org