Egypt: Massive rally in desert brings 25,000 to Christ

By Jerry Dykstra, Open Doors

Revival is spreading throughout Egypt…a revival of faith in Jesus Christ. During the first weekend in October, 10,000 young people gathered in the desert 60 miles north of Cairo to sing, pray and worship the Lord.

The youth gathering was followed up with an even larger event at the same location — an October 25-28 “Count It Right” Christian rally which drew 45,000 people. Hundreds of buses brought in people of all ages to the conference grounds, which also hosted artistic and sports activities.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEbgN1XDfVI

But the focus of the event was to present the message of salvation and call people to give their lives to Jesus at a time in Egypt when Christians are being persecuted even more since the June election of Muslim Brotherhood President Mohammed Morsi.

Included in the numbers reported by a Christian leader are:

• 45,000 – the number of attendees
• 25,000 – estimated number of people who gave their lives to Jesus
• 8,000 – cards filled out by people who requested follow-up visits by churches
• 2-3 million – estimated number of people who followed the rally on two Christian satellite channels for six and a half hours of airing time broadcasted live each day to North America, Australia and the Middle East
• 1,000 – children participating in a special program prepared for them
• 5,000 – people attending a one-day parallel festival on Oct. 25 in the Coptic Orthodox Cave Church, located in Cairo’s garbage dump
• 6,000 – people attending another similar gathering from different churches on Oct. 28 in Assiut, a city located six hours south of Cairo

The Christian leader blogs:
“Big numbers, but most important of all, great harvest! The view of thousands of people, standing up each of the four nights, proclaiming their desire to accept Jesus as Lord and Savior is hard to describe in words. This is when I could not hold my tears.

“Most of the attendees were from the Coptic Orthodox Church, and one of the nights a Coptic Orthodox priest was the main speaker for the meeting. Have I seen an Orthodox priest preaching from an evangelical pulpit to such a big crowd of people before? Never.

“In the evening services, attendees were challenged to put their cigarettes, drugs, magic charms and any other material objects that represented sin in their lives, or write on pieces of paper specific sins they were repenting of, and put everything into large baskets that were passed around throughout the entire stadium.

“On the first night alone, 12 large wicker baskets were filled with these items. I think Jesus was present in a similar multitude scene before. This was a powerful symbol of a sincere decision they have all made to follow Christ.”

The Christian leader explains: “We do not have an accurate count or a clear indication of how many people accepted Christ. Most of the days, more than half of the people in the stadium stood up to pray and repent in response to the altar call. It was impossible for the ushers and evangelism team to pray with all the people and fill out cards with each one. With this in mind, the estimated number was 25,000 people who prayed to receive Christ during the festival. The Holy Spirit is the only One Who has the exact count, though.”

The Christian blogger adds that Egyptian Christians “want to thank all our Christian brothers and sisters worldwide who have faithfully been praying with us and for us as we stood back and watched what mighty things God has done in the lives of many people. We are grateful to Him for His great work among us and for you as our partners in the Kingdom of God.

“We are so thankful to God for His protection over this large event and the large number of people who attended. Grateful for the smooth administration of so many logistics and for the spirit and attitude between all the believers who worked together to make it possible. We are overwhelmed by His goodness and His heart of mercy towards Egypt, and are expecting more and more signs of revival in the coming days.”

An estimated 100 million Christians worldwide suffer interrogation, arrest and even death for their faith in Christ, with millions more facing discrimination and alienation. Open Doors supports and strengthens believers in the world’s most difficult areas through Bible and Christian literature distribution, leadership training and assistance, Christian community development, prayer and presence ministry and advocacy on behalf of suffering believers. To partner with Open Doors USA, call toll free at 888-5-BIBLE-5 (888-524-2535) or go to www.OpenDoorsUSA.org.