In his attempt to garner votes, David finds himself faced with a momentous decision.

A young man welcomed me into his house and listened attentively as I pitched him my political plans. It was election season, and I had dreams of gaining a chairperson position in the local government. Normally, I would have held political rallies, but COVID-19 prevented that. I did not have money to run radio advertisements, so I had taken my last alternative: going door to door to meet people and ask for their votes.

When I finished my spiel, the young man grabbed my hand. “Let us commit your plans unto God.” Kneeling, he prayed for me right then. Afterwards, he handed me a book entitled The Great Hope. “I know you are very busy, but read this in your free time,” he grinned. 

That title had me intrigued! I read the book every night to find out more about this hope, and in the process, I started to see the reality of the great controversy. My heart grew weary and I thirsted to know more.

Thankfully, I knew whom to ask. Going back to his house, I found out that Emmanuel, the young man I had met, was a Seventh-day Adventist evangelist who would gladly study the Bible with anyone. I asked him to come regularly to my house and teach me. As an Anglican believer, I already read the Bible, but I had not understood the scope of the great controversy.

After four months of intensive Bible study, I marveled at the cohesive beliefs of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. I had regarded this little-known group as a cult, but I could see how all the doctrines had been built on the Bible and the Bible alone. The truth about the Sabbath amazed me, and I could not keep it to myself. I invited relatives, friends and neighbors to join our Bible study class. The group swelled, and the Bible lessons became more interesting every day!

By now I knew the truth, but I hesitated to get baptized for fear that I would lose my credibility and with it the election. In God’s mercy, I lost the election anyway. I felt sad to have lost, but happy to realize that God’s calling on me was stronger than my political calling. I resolved that it must be either Christ or politics, and I found myself locked inside the great controversy I had been studying about. I could see that sitting on the fence would not work; I needed to be all for Christ or not at all. The battle raged in my mind as Satan tempted me with thoughts of popularity and prestige. I felt as if I were going through my own fierce election!

I praise the God of Heaven that His love won the vote. I realized that my true calling is not politics, and I gave up on that entirely. With my decision to be baptized came a new dream: I wanted to go house to house, calling people to Christ. 

Along with nine other people from my community, I buried my old life of sin to be raised to live a new life in Jesus. Currently we worship in my sitting room, but our numbers are outgrowing the space. We are thinking of securing a tent where we can worship in my compound as we look for land where we can establish our church. Please pray for the gospel to continue spreading in our community, and for us to find a worship place large enough for church growth!

---

Location
Uganda

Author
Told by David Kamukama to John Kaganzi, a district pastor in the Ruhandagazi area in Uganda.

How You Can Help
Pray for David as he witnesses to his friends still in politics and leads out in this newly formed house church.

Pray for his church to find land and soon have their own place of worship.

Give to build a church for the congregation meeting in David’s house, or to support church planters. Send your gifts marked “Uganda Churches” or “Uganda Evangelism” to: 

Mission Projects International 
PO Box 151
Inchelium, WA 99138

To give securely online, visit:
www.missionspro.org/donate