Almost everywhere Mark Braaten went in Ethiopia, he had followers. Maybe it was his light-colored skin that stood out in the African country or the fact that he came from the United States to this country.

Whatever the reason, the children seemed enthralled with the Tyler pastor, and the adults expressed much appreciation for his time there. For Braaten, though, the appreciation went both ways.

“It’s really a nice reciprocal relationship,” he said. “In our country we have some finances and we have teaching opportunities we can share with the Ethiopians. Their church is exploding with growth. They cannot keep up with the growth. … They can’t keep up with buildings. They have something like one pastor for every 30,000 members, and so when I was there I was clear, ‘I am here to teach you. I’m also a student. Tell me how to do evangelism and outreach because you folks obviously know how to do something we don’t.'”

Braaten, senior pastor at Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church in Tyler, spent two weeks in Ethiopia last month.

During his time there, he conducted seminars about the Biblical book of Revelation for pastors and church leaders in two cities, Gimbichu and Dessie.

In addition to the full-day seminars, he preached about Revelation on two Sundays at a church in each city. The response, he said, was incredible.

“No one is teaching Revelation over there,” said Braaten, who studied the book extensively while earning a doctorate. “They said they haven’t had a Revelation scholar for 20 years.”

He said Revelation is God’s word of grace and deliverance found in the cross. Revelation shows that God will deliver his creation and destroy the destroyers of the Earth.

“Primarily it’s a book of hope and promise,” he said. “And to help people see that is great fun.”

Beyond teaching and preaching though, Braaten got to see two buildings, a church and a Bible school, where funds from his congregation are helping pay for renovation work. The funds are providing for three other churches, but washed out roads prevented him from visiting those.

The partnership between Our Savior’s and the West Gibe Synod in Ethiopia came about after some challenging times for the Tyler church.

In 2009, Our Savior’s congregation decided to move locations. The church bought property on Old Jacksonville Road and put the Kinsey Drive property on the market.

The plan was to have a capital campaign to pay for the land purchase and use proceeds from the existing property’s sale to fund construction of the new building.

However, the Kinsey Drive property didn’t sell, and after three years on the market and a couple of lower-than-needed bids, the congregation voted to stay put.

The sale of the Old Jacksonville Road property proved beneficial for the church because the value had increased.

Church members decided to use some of the proceeds to remodel the existing Kinsey Drive campus and give a portion of the proceeds to another church. That’s when they were connected to the West Gibe Synod in Ethiopia.

The Rev. Dr. Gemechis Buba of the North American Lutheran Church said that synod is the newest Ethiopian synod in the Lutheran church and it was in need of partners.

It is experiencing rapid growth in terms of people joining the faith and it can’t keep up in terms of facilities, according to information provided by Braaten.

The funding from Our Savior’s will help with the renovation of the one Bible school and four churches. According to Braaten, the synod begins building when they have money and stops when they run out, which leaves unfinished projects.

The money from Our Savior’s will enable them to finish the projects by doing such things as adding a floor to the school and walls to a church.

“God did call us to build a new church,” Braaten said. “We just got the location wrong. We thought it was gonna be here in Texas. It ends up it’s in Ethiopia.”

Church member Carol Lattier said she is thrilled about the partnership.

“To me, that’s what we should be doing as Christians — we should be reaching out to people in need, both in our country and overseas,” she said.

The partnership between Our Savior’s and the West Gibe Synod is part of a larger movement in the North American Lutheran Church.

Buba, who is assistant to the bishop for missions, said the organization has a mission approach of pairing one North American church with one international partner.

The purpose of the partnerships is to allow churches in different parts of the world to learn from each other.

Buba, who traveled to Ethiopia after Braaten returned, said he heard positive reports about the Tyler pastor’s visit. At least three regions invited him to come teach and preach in their areas.

That shows how spiritually hungry people are and how effective Braaten’s message was, Buba said. “They really loved him,” he said.

Braaten said he wants to see how his church can continue the relationship into the future.

“They are just excited and joyful, and for us to share in that is wonderful,” he said.