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    85% of Pastors in Kenya are Untrained   The Reality If you walk into a random church in Kenya on any given Sunday the chances are extremely high you will hear a message from an untrained pastor. 85% of pastors have not been trained. The message will be short on both meat and milk, consisting mainly of conjecture and opinions mixed with prosperity teaching. Untrained does not mean they are uneducated. Or that they have not been taught what the Bible says. Many have lots of verses memorized. Many have grown up in a church setting. All will tell you they love Jesus. What does it mean to be untrained? Being an untrained pastor means he has not had someone teach him the basics of how to read and interpret the bible. He has not been trained in how the Old Testament fits with the New Testament, therefore missing much of the meaning and richness of the Bible. Knowing what the bible says and knowing...

Don't Run Dry Just like the well in the picture below, we all need some maintenance from time to time. Lew had an opportunity to meet with the pastor of the church where this well is located. It has been broken for some time. Unfortunately, the church and community have not wanted to invest in the maintenance of the well, and now it does not work. We all run dry eventually when we don't maintain our spiritual walk, our marriages, our friendships, relationships and any area of life. Fortunately, Jesus tells us he is the living water. He will never run dry. If you need refreshed, go to the source. Take time to maintain your well of spiritual vitality. spend time reading or listening to God's word Pray daily, Pray constantly ...

Reality Anyone who has tried to learn a new language, whether for a high school or college credit or because they found themselves in a new environment will most likely agree that learning a new language is not easy. A new language means new sounds and new words, even new phrases and a new way of looking at the world. It isn't easy, but it also creates opportunities to speak with new people, listen to new music, and participate in new events. Language learning sounds fun and exciting. And it is for a few weeks. Then reality hits. “I can’t understand what they are saying!” “That’s now how I learned it!” “I just want to be able to communicate and not sound like a babbling 2-year-old.” I’ve had all these thoughts and many more. However, I also know language learning is vital to evangelism and discipleship. For that reason, I continue to, shall I say torture myself with learning Kiswahili and sound like...

Saturday Brandi and I attended the wedding of James and Jane. I have been discipling James for several months. It was a great time to celebrate this couple who we have gotten to know. This as the first Kenyan wedding we have attended. The Decorations were up and ready early. What caught our attention was the similarities to an American wedding. Of course, there were difference too. Two of the most obvious differences were the groom danced his way down the isle and much of the service was in Swahili. Other than that, the service was similar. The singing of songs, giving of the bride, exchange of vows and rings were all familiar. However, there were some differences surounding the "event" of the wedding. Keeping Time? Attending a wedding is quite an event to be sure. I was told by the groom to be certain to be at the church at or before the start time of 10:30 am. He was adamant they would...

An Abundance of Opportunity Aggrey is a security guard who works the night shift at the compound where we live. I have gotten to know him over the last several months. After one of my trips teaching in the village for a week, Aggrey asked me why I would spend a week there. This began a series of conversations. Through these conversations, I discovered Aggrey is a pastor himself. Over time I have realized he is solid in his beliefs. He eventually shared he has never been trained. But he would like to be. Could I help him? Of course! But how would this work? After some time talking and working on a solution, we found a partner organization working in his area of the city. Aggrey is going to attend their training and I have been invited to help them teach some of the classes too. I am excited about this opportunity. It will allow me to engage with and get to...

This week I have met with a few people who I disciple. We have been meeting for 6-8 months. However, now are we getting into some real issues they struggle with. Yes, there has been a lot of bible teaching and progress made during these few months we have been meeting. Now, however, we are getting deeper, and this is only scratching the surface. Making disciples is time consuming. There are no quick fixes when being transformed into the image of Jesus. Three important factors in disciple making are trust, presence, and time. Trust Without trust discipleship cannot take place. Information can be transferred without trust, but to really make a disciple, there needs to be trust. I have searched and to my knowledge, there is not short-cut to building deep trust other than spending time together. Over the last 2-3 weeks this has been expressed to me by the men I am discipling. They have not said it the exact same way,...

On Sunday I had the privilege of preaching two services at Daranjani Baptist Church in Nairobi. It was quite the experience and possibly has the loudest music I have ever experienced in a church. This is saying quite a lot as many churches blast their speakers at full throttle every week. Mixed with everyone singing and shouting the songs as loud as possible, concrete walls and tile floors and the sound will make your liver dance even if your feet are not. My ears were still ringing Sunday evening. Connecting through Teaching The story of how I came to know Pastor Kariuki of Daranjani is one that I pray is repeated. In February I taught a class at the Kenya Baptist Theological College. Kirimi was a student and we got to know each other. He lives only a few miles from us and wanted me to meet his pastor. Pastor Kariuki of Daranjani Baptist Church. The first time I met pastor Kariuki was...

Many new churches are planted every year. Some survive, some do not. Sunday I had the opportunity to celebrate the one year anniversary of a church plant. Moses speaking during the celebration service. Kyumbi Chapel Moses is the pastor of the Kyumbi Christian Chapel. I first met Moses in 2017 during a three-week orientation with Africa Inland Mission. This year I have met with him and heard his desire to see the church he pastors become a missionary sending church. After traveling about an hour East of Nairobi there is a junction. You can keep going all the way to Mombasa and the coast. Or, you can turn north toward Machakos. At this junction is the small town of Kyumbi. As I waited at this junction for Moses to meet me Sunday morning and show me the way to the meeting place, I observed this little town. Many transport trucks slowly making their way down the road. People selling everything from food to shoes...

Training men and women for ministry is a privilege. At times it can be exhausting and feel like you are going nowhere. Then there are days like this week. When the Covid-19 pandemic hit Kenya and many things were getting shut down, a new opportunity presented itself. A few young men are preparing for cross-cultural ministry, hoping to leave in 2021. They found themselves with ample time to study and be trained as everything else stopped. I found most of the meetings and trainings I had planned or was planning were cancelled. As a result of both of these happenings I began meeting weekly with these 2 young men and a friend they invited (I will not use their names as they are going to an area which is not open to Christian workers). “What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, commit to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.”2 Timothy 2:2 T4T I began taking them...

This week there have been three very impactful events in my life. Meeting with a local pastor  Leading the weekly training I do with three future overseas workers  A conversation with a local man in our community. None of these events were unusual in the fact that they took place. It is the content and the context surrounding these events which impacted me. Pastor Meeting Meeting with pastors is supposed to be a major part of my work in Kenya. Since Covid has hit these meetings have slowed down to a trickle. This week however, I was able to meet with Moses. Moses wanted encouragement. Nothing else. He is pastoring a church of about 50 people, and he is feeling the strain. His heart is for both leading and caring for his church while also keeping his heart on fire for missions. Moses wanted encouragement. He needed to know others care and to connect. So, we had lunch and talked for about an hour. Before Moses left,...