Six years ago, Nzubamunu Mitete, a charismatic evangelical minister, followed a dream to Pittsburgh.

Tuesday night, the dream ended when the 51-year-old Pentecostal pastor was shot to death in Lincoln-Lemington.

	John Beale,Post-Gazette
	Nzubamunu Mitete at Palm Sunday services earlier this year.

Police say he was found shot in the upper torso, slumped over the steering wheel of his Chevrolet Cavalier. He was working as a jitney driver.

Mr. Mitete's car was found in front of 1244 Montezuma St. and he was pronounced dead at the scene at 9:57 p.m. The Allegheny County coroner determined the death was a homicide.

Police do not know if robbery was involved.

Mr. Mitete, a Pentecostal minister in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, had said that in 1999 he had a dream in which he saw the face of the Rev. Loran Mann, pastor of the Pentecostal Temple Church of God in Christ in East Liberty.

His vision told him to go in search of the face, according to Rev. Mann. The calling was so strong, Mr. Mitete left his wife and eight children and traveled halfway around the world. He came to Pittsburgh and found a welcoming congregation in the Pentecostal church, one of the largest African-American evangelical ministries in Pittsburgh.

He did not speak English, but that did not stop him.

"Simply by being in the community, he learned to command the language very well," said Rev. Mann.

When he arrived, he told the pastor, "This is where I want to be," before attending night and morning services.

It was not long before Mr. Mitete had become one of 10 associate ministers in the church. He served communion, visited the sick and evangelized, drawing many of his immigrant Congolese brethren to services at the church.

When Mr. Mitete first began to preach, he needed an interpreter. He spoke in French, and the translator waited for a few sentences and repeated what he'd said in English.

"When he preached," said Rev. Mann, "it was always about salvation."

In Kinshasa, Mr. Mitete sang in the choir as a child and composed songs that are still part of the canon of spirituals in his home country.

After arriving in Pittsburgh in 1999, Mr. Mitete, who had recently moved to Euclid Avenue in East Liberty, worked for a while selling African arts and crafts from a shop in Wilkinsburg.

He left that job, and to supplement his salary as an associate minister, turned to jitney driving. Friends say he worked out of a station at Lincoln and Paulson avenues and had been there for a year.

At the time of his death, the Pentecostal Temple was helping to sponsor Mr. Mitete through the immigration process so he could become a naturalized citizen.

His role in the church was growing and every Sunday, he and Rev. Mann would preach a sermon via telephone to his home congregation. In the last six months, he was approved as a bishop in the Church of God in Christ.

He was a bridge to the Congolese community in Pittsburgh. His fellow immigrants would hold their own services in Oakland, but Mr. Mitete convinced many to worship at Pentecostal Temple, too.

In the community, he acted as a cultural ambassador. There were occasions when he'd go to the University of Pittsburgh and, gifted in guitar, shaker and drum-playing, perform Congolese songs and dances.

"Every time we had a prayer, he helped introduce how Congolese pray," said his friend, Elie Kihonia, who grew up in Kinshasa with Mr. Mitete and now worships at the Pentecostal Temple.

Mr. Mitete loved the movies and had a good sense of humor.

"He went to the 'Rugrats' movie and he laughed about that," said Rev. Mann.

Pentecostal Temple is planning services for Mr. Mitete and will raise funds to have his body returned and buried in his native Congo.