Mary and I got back
to New Mexico Friday night, the 27th of February, after a two-week trip
to Nairobi, Kenya, where we taught two Bible conferences in two separate
churches. The first part of our trip was
in Kasarani, a section of Nairobi, in which “The Victorious Christian
Life Conference” was held from February 15-20. Our host pastors were Nelson and Peris Ngunyi
of Joy Grace Celebration Church. Joy
Celebration Churches is a denomination of thirty-nine churches through out
Kenya. We had the honor of meeting and fellowshipping with Bishop Joseph Njogu,
the presiding overseer of this denomination during the course of our time in
Kasarani.
Our second conference was held in
Kitengela, a suburb of Nairobi. The topic of the conference was “Apostolic,
Prophetic & New Testament Church Principles” from February
21-25. The host pastors were Pastors Wycliff and Irene Mudaki of Higher Ground
Assemblies. Their church is only three
weeks old. We were moved by the faith of the Mudakis, who launched a church
plant and a major conference all at the same time.
Numerous pastors and church leaders as far
as Kisumu, which is nearly two hundred miles west of Nairobi, attended both of
the conferences, which is in the western part of the country. This is quite a sacrifice in Kenya, where
owning an automobile is the luxury of the few. People in Kenya are poor and
cannot afford a car. The order of the day is to walk. We think that this is what makes Kenyans into
such physically strong people. Most pastors, tremendous men of faith and
obedience, walk for miles to hold services in their own churches. In Kasarani, five or six pastors from Kisumu
lodged in the home of Maurice and Benter Odhiambo during the time of their
conference. In Kitengela, Pastor John,
also from Kisumu, slept in the one bedroom apartment of Pastors Wycilff and
Irene Mudaki and their two-month baby girl Victoria.
Mary and I were deeply honored while in Kenya. We had cars to travel in nearly every occasion of every day that we were there. While in Pastor Nelson’s conference, Enfantes, a friend of the Ngunyi’s , and a car owner, was driven to his job every day so that Mary and I could have his car at our disposal. We were offered on a number of occasions the front seat of the cars that we traveled in, and the best seats of every home that we visited. At the Mudaki’s, Pastors Richard Mathu and Mohammed Kamworo, the only pastors with cars, drove us back and forth. When a car was unavailable, a taxi was hired for us out of the Mudaki’s small finances. Without our knowing, on two occasions, Peris Ngunyi, now in the fourth month of her pregnancy and not feeling well, walked home, between two and three miles, on dirt roads, so that Mary and I would have a car.
Patrick was our chauffer during our time at Kasarani. He dropped Enfantes off at his job and then came to the Ngunyi’s making two trips to and back from the conference hall that was miles away to take all of the people that were lodging or eating at the Ngunyis. The meetings in Kasarani were filled with excitement, revival, and continual praise and worship in an audience, which was mostly made up of pastors.
Pastor Nelson and Peris Ngunyi gave us their
bed and their room to sleep in. Their
bed had been a wedding present to them.
Pauline, a single Christian girl who lives with the Ngunyi’s took Jose’s
shoes every day and polish and shone them for the conference. Faith, a Christian wife and mother, was our
superb and personal chef while at the Ngunyi’s for breakfast at 7:00 AM and
dinner at 8:30 PM. There were nights
that she did not go home to her family but rather slept at the Ngunyi’s so that she would be at our disposal and cook
for us. She had been the one that had made the Ngunyis’ wedding cake and
likewise made Jose a $ 15.00 birthday cake for his 50th birthday
that was celebrated in Kenya. This was the best birthday gift that Jose could
have ever dreamt of.
Breakfasts were sumptuous at the Ngunyi’s
home. Breakfasts included such items as coffee, porridge, bread and butter and
jelly, hard boiled eggs, special African sandwiches, yams, fried eggs, pastries
filled with meats, just to name a few. The Ngunyi’s kitchen is in a space of
about six feet by four feet. The Mudaki’s have no kitchen. They cook their food
in their living room. Both of them have
an array of one-burner stoves, furnished with kerosene, charcoal, and gas.
Washing machines and dryers were non-existent in the homes of the pastors that
we visited. All is done by hand.
We were at all times and in every place treated to bottled water, and juices, the luxury of the few. By faith the Ngunyi’s supplied lunch daily to the 70 to more than 100 people at the their conference, and did their best to pay the $3.00 daily charge to a number of Swahili interpreters which were pastors from other churches, so that our teachings could be understood by all.
The Kasarani conference was over on
Friday the 20th. The hall on
Saturday the 21st was packed with people that came thinking that the
conference was still going. Pastor
Ngunyi had to inform them that Mary and I were gone. At the Kasarani conference
we had daily crusades after the end of every conference. At one crusade Jose
prayed for a lady who could hardly walk. The disease in her legs was rebuked
and she immediately began to run around, healed. Sixteen people were added to Joy Grace Celebration
Church as a result of the crusade.
The Kitengela meeting with the Mudaki’s at Higher Grounds had a prayer meeting from 5:00- 7:00 AM in the morning for those that would come and pray for day’s conference. We did not attend those early morning meetings. Jose taught the first meeting scheduled from 10:00-12:00 PM. Then there was the lunch hour meeting from 12:30 PM to 2:00 PM. The purpose of that meeting was to accommodate those that would be on their lunch hour breaks. We then had an evening meeting from 7:00 PM to 9:00PM. Because of the hunger of the believers to learn the Word of God, another meeting was added from 3:30PM to 5:00 PM. Between the end of the lunch meeting at 2:00PM and the next session at 3:30 PM Jose stayed at the conference hall with men that waited to pray and counsel with him.
During our second day at Higher Ground a spirit of revival broke that lasted for the remainder of the conference. Extravagant praise and worship marked by handkerchiefs waving as banners to the Lord Jesus, people dancing and marching, others jumping up and down as they held chairs over their heads, and yet others with their heads to the wall in prayer, or prostrate on the floor, was the order for praise and worship during those four days. On the last meeting of the last day, Jose did not teach, but prophesied and prayed individually to the more than the 100 people that were present. After the meeting was over there must have been about twenty flash pictures that different families in attendance took with us.
We did not stay with the Mudaki’s because
their place is small. Charles and Lorna,
a recently married couple and members of Higher Ground Assemblies reside in a
nearly vacant apartment compound in Kitengela. The Mudaki’s arranged with them
for us to lodge in one of the vacant apartments. Charles and Lorna furnished
our apartment with their own living room set and stereo and an extra bed while
we were in Kitengela. Lorna, who is
pregnant, from her second floor apartment, heated and brought to us hot water daily
for our baths. When we lost all water for three days, she carried a heavy drum
of water that she got from another vacant apartment that still had some water
remaining for us. She also made us a
daily breakfast of porridge, coffee, tea and milk, fried eggs, sliced
avocadoes, and chopped tomatoes and garlic that she brought down stairs on her
fine china to us.
The Mudaki’s had a beautiful African
dress made for Mary. Mary and Irene went
to the market and bought a live chicken that was to be used for the evening’s
meal. The chicken was tied to a chair at the Mudaki’s while Irene decapitated
it as Mary took photographs. It was then
placed in boiling water where Mary and Irene plucked its feathers. Jose is glad
that he was not there, but Mary thoroughly enjoyed it! The meal was delicious.
Mary and I were humbled, and deeply moved by the love and joy, the spirit of sacrifice and faith, and the hunger zeal for the Lord Jesus that Kenyan Christians posses. Their absolute openness for the Lord is catching. Most pastors are in their twenty’s and thirty’s and are tremendous people of God with visions that extend far beyond the walls of their church.
Pastor Sammie Mwangi traveled about fifty
miles away from his family and church for a week to be a part of the Kasarani
Conference. With only a few dollars in his pocket he lodged by night in
different homes of Christian brothers and ate breakfast with us at the
Ngunyi’s. Pastor Sammie is an apostle
and has been called to mentor forty-two tribes and thirty five countries.
Maurice and Benter Odhiambo, both in their twenties, are directors of Manna Ministries Kenya. The Odhiambo’s publish and print Bible studies of excellent quality through out Kenya and in a number of other African countries. Benter, who is a little woman of no more than five feet tall, is getting her driver’s license so that she can drive a big van supplied to feed and clothe orphans of AIDS parents in Kisumu, nearly two hundred miles away in Western Kenya. The Odhiambo’s are supported by the operation of a cyber café that is popular in Kenya. Because most people do not have computers, cyber café’s meet the need of those that through a small fee have Internet and e-mail services.
A few years back, an American ministry
bought the cyber café for the Odhiambo’ so that Benter could develop her
ministry with the young victims of AIDS. During our conference in Kitengela,
Wednesday, Maurice Odhiambo drove forty miles from Nairobi to hear my teaching
on faith. I was teaching on how the
rhema word of faith must be received in the present, and how faith brings to us
the promises of God at the moment that we receive His promise, even though we
do not see it physically. During the
teaching, Maurice received two phone calls from landlord of the café advising
him that due to two months of late payments on the café, the Odhiambo’s would
be kicked out of the café and their computers confiscated and sold. They were
also behind in their fees to the Internet service providers. Maurice stood in
faith, receiving the promises of faith that had been taught. The landlord did not come on Thursday. On Saturday, a minister friend of theirs from
North America, who knew nothing about their financial situation, wired $1800.00
to them. God had spoken to the minister
on the same Wednesday as the teaching was being given. The Odhiambos had needed over $1600.00 to
cover their bills!
On Thursday they were going to bid us farewell at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport but did not have the taxi cab fare. They spent that time instead on their knees praying for our safe return to America. We have been invited by them to publish our Bible studies through out Kenya and other countries in Africa. We will begin work with them in March.
Pastor Richard Mathu of Glory Outreach Assembly is a man of faith. His church, which seats 500, is, a structure of wood frames covered by yellow tarpaulin for its walls. There is no roof, just a wood frame. The seats are a few wood benches, which have been donated. His church has a vision statement of growth, cell group expansion and multiplication for the next two years posted on a simple wooden board. They have been meeting in this church for almost a year and God has been gradually constructing it as the congregation meets and grows. Pastor Mathu who is in his early thirties went to visit Pastor Cho’s church in South Korea last year. This church is the largest in the world with an attendance of over 200,000. Pastor Mathu’s vision is at this level. In his church he has a poster of Reinhard Bonkee’s multi million people crusades in Africa. He also has a calling to China.
Before going to the airport we were hosted at a pastor’s dinner in the Mathu’s home. We had the privilege to prophesy to Pastor John from Ghana who has raised a hospital patient from the dead. Pastor John was a pupil of a great man of God from Nigeria who had died in the 1990’s. This man had raised a number of people from the dead. One of the accounts of his life was that he had wanted to marry a woman who had no interest in him. God led him to a mortuary to raise people from the dead. One of those that through the power of Jesus Christ was raised from the dead was a family member of this woman. The woman ended up marrying him. Pastor John had a video of this man of God that we watched while at the Mathu’s. In this video, a dead woman is carried to stage where the man of God is preaching. He rebuked the spirit of death from her. The woman started to move her hands. The man of God then took a bottle of water and poured it on her face. The woman sat up and was ministered to.
Pastor Edward Ngaira of Hope Community
Chapel, also in his thirties, is a learned apostle and teacher called to plant
churches. He has been to America and the United States and has a radio program
on Trans World Radio. He will be
separated for his family for one year as he goes to Bible school in New York.
When God called him to start his church he had no building. People met in the light of the beating
equatorial sun. Today they have a beautiful church with walls of aluminum and
wood benches. Their bathrooms, which are
out houses, are still under construction.
His church, ministers in part, to the Masai tribe of Kenya. Some go to his church and sing in his choir. The Masais are traditional Africans dressed in their African regalia. Their homes are made out of cow dung and mud and are no more than four and a half feet tall. They have no windows thus it takes a while to get adapted to the darkness within their homes. Mary and I had the tremendous blessing to go into the homes of Jennifer and Purity both Masai women, and now Christians through the ministry of Pastor Ngaira. Jose’s big body could not make it through the door of Purity’s home so Mary went in alone with Pastor Edward who translated for her. Pastor Ngaira interpreted for Jose in his first day of teaching in Kitengela.
Almost all of the
Kenyans that we met do not own a refrigerator.
They go to the market every day and purchase the food that they
need. This makes the African food that
was bountifully prepared for us fresh and superb.
We discovered that one of our main missions in Kenya was to commission apostles. We were amazed to discover that there is a rich harvest of apostles in Kenya. Many were commissioned to the USA, countries in Africa, Britain, the West Indies, Italy, Saudi Arabia, and China.
Mary and I were very impressed by the
attitudes and the behavior of the young people.
Wherever we went, children between 5-10 rushed to shake our hands. Mary taught at an all girl’s Christian
boarding school of 200. They were all teen-agers. This was a vast army of young people who
loved the Lord. Their attitudes and behavior were impeccable. Their prayers
were that their relationship with the Lord would deepen. We ended prophesying and praying for
many. There were many wonderful tears
that morning as the Lord touched these wonderful young people.
In New Mexico, our four children, Alexandria, Hannah, Sarah, and Timmy stayed with two wonderful baby sitters, Jennifer Gonzales and Michelle Garcia. The children were extremely obedient, did all of the house chores and had the home in impeccable order when we got back. They had much fun with Jennifer and Michelle, going out to the movies, church, to restaurants, and to see the Power Team. Mary and I are extremely proud of them. We also want to extend our deepest thanks to Michelle and Jennifer.
In closing, we have been invited to open
a Bible school in Kenya. This is still
in much prayer. Our next step appears to
be for Jose to go alone and give a Bible conference in Nairobi for a week. One suggestion was made that it could be
given at City Hall where up to 1,500 can attend. The second week would be used
to give another conference in the Western part of Kenya where many invitations
have already come. We will be talking to Pastors Ngunyi, Mudaki and Odhiambo
this week about this. Jose will likewise be furnishing Manna Ministries with
Bible studies.
It is our prayer that your lives have been enriched by the testimony of the wonderful Kenyan church as it enriched and transformed our lives. We glorify the Lord Jesus Christ for the body of Christ in Kenya. We are eternally grateful to the Christians of Kenya. Please feel free to write back to us.
God bless you,