Hundreds come to know Christ and find the Living Water.

Kenya (MNN) — Reports are saying that the drought in East Africa is the worst in ten years. Along the border of Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia, two years without rain have created a growing humanitarian crisis. Millions of people are at risk for starvation, with women and children being the most vulnerable.

American evangelist Sammy Tippit was recently in Kenya to meet practical humanitarian needs, encourage believers, and hold evangelistic meetings in a remote area that is mostly Muslim. Tippit says people there are suffering greatly because of the drought, and they went to do what they could to share the love of Christ.

The first day Tippit was there, he had a chance to speak to the entire crowd at a local soccer match He said they were Christians who were there to help, and added, “We’ll be praying for rain.”

In compassion for their desperate needs, Tippit says they prayed. That same day, he met with local leaders, and God was at work, “Meeting with these Muslim leaders, I told them, ‘You know, we’re going to be praying that God would send rain.’ And that first night, it rained! And it’d only rained two times in the previous year, and it rained two times that week that we were there. And so that opened people’s hearts and minds.”

After it rained, one local city council member came to Tippit and said, “Our prayers seem to take detours, but your prayers go straight to heaven.”

While there, Tippit held a pastor’s conference to encourage and build up the local church. They also held a large evangelistic meeting where thousands of people filled an open field. Many of them were from unreached people groups, and a great number came to know Christ. Working together with the local pastors, Tippit helped provide a program of follow-up that these pastors would implement in the coming days and months.

They also distributed $1200 (USD) worth of food supplies to those who were the most needy. As they handed out food supplies, Tippit says it was a time of great blessing, “We were able to make a bridge into a community, to say ‘Hey, we’re Christians and we love you. And…the reason we’re doing this is because Christ has changed our hearts and He’s given us a love for all people. And we love you and we’re concerned about you.’ And so we were able to do that, and just show the love of Christ practically. We were able to proclaim the Good News, and we saw great response to that, great openness to that.”

Tippit was encouraged at the ways God worked in people’s lives, “It’s the kind of thing you walk away from just saying, ‘God, thank You. You really worked here, and this has been good. And we’ve been able to make a positive impact into a community and share with them the love of Christ. All through Africa there’s this Muslim-Christian conflict going on, and as Christians we were able to express the love of Christ and by the same time we were able to proclaim the Good News of God’s love for people.”