Peter Morris Prayer Letter: Fruit for Our Labor

Having recently returned from Kenya, we are more excited than ever about the ministry there and the fruit we are seeing. We are seeing more and more Kenyan national pastors realize their need for additional training, pastors who have previously received training of some sort but have not been taught many of the practical areas that will enable them to build their churches effectively.

We taught on topics such as How to Be Effective at Personal Soul Winning, Discipleship, Music, What an Independent Baptist Church Stands For, Qualifications of Deacons, The Role of Women in the Church, The King James Bible, etc. The great blessing is that they are showing themselves to be teachable. We had three Pastors’ Schools across the country, with 105 in attendance—50 pastors in the Northwest Region (Bungoma), 43 pastors in the Southwest Region (Kilgoris), and 12 in Nairobi (capital). Each pastor was also given the book Answers, written by Pastor Keith Piper, to help with their studies, which they were very thankful to receive.

I was also greatly encouraged this trip by seeing a young man, whom I have known since he was a child, pastoring his new church, which now has approximately 70 in attendance. Usually the congregation is squeezed into a small room with most of the people flowing into the outer courtyard. This time we hired a tent, which was filled, and they are now looking for a property and maybe a temporary building or a tent to accommodate their growth in attendance. He is doing a great job with regular soul winning and sound teaching and preaching. It is greatly encouraging to see new churches being planted in areas like Kilifi on the coast and Kibera in the slums of Nairobi. In Kibera, one of the largest slums in Africa, there are already 40 in attendance after only a few months. If all the attending pastors at the Pastors’ Schools are taken into account, the total attendance at their Sunday services would be over 6,000 people. In the relatively short time we were there and apart from the conferences, we saw more than 150 call on Christ to be saved. Praise the Lord!

However, not all was smooth sailing. One night when returning from Pastors’ School in Bungoma, we were driving along, and a motorcyclist on the other side of the road was hit by a vehicle and was thrown off directly into the path of our van. I was sitting in the passenger seat and yelled out, as I thought we were going to hit him. To my relief, our driver managed to swerve dramatically and miraculously miss the man lying on the road. My relief was not for long, as we were surrounded by other motorcycle riders accusing us of hitting the man. I thought we were in big trouble until the Lord sent another motorcycle driver (or maybe an angel?) who declared that it was not us but another vehicle that had hit him from the other side of the road.

We praise the Lord for many things, including . . .

• Those who helped financially support the Pastors’ Schools and our additional expenses while in Kenya.
• Pastor Keith Piper, who generously gave us 200 copies of the book Answers to give to the pastors, which will be an ongoing blessing to them.
• The safety that the Lord affords us as we travel.
• All those who faithfully support our ministry, both financially and in prayer.
• The increasing number of national pastors who want to be under our training and guidance.

Special Requests

• Please pray for the donation of songbooks that will be used to teach hymns and spiritual songs to our new churches.
• Please pray for US$1,500 for a large tent to accommodate 150 people. They have a piece of land available, and their church has already given the equivalent of US$300. The total cost, excluding chairs, is US$1800. Chairs are about US$8 each.
• Please pray for laborers. Team East Africa is looking for two more team families that have been called to spread the Gospel in Kenya, East Africa.
• Please pray for more meetings, as the Morris family also requires financial support for ever-increasing ministry and personal needs.

We give a special thank you for all those who have so faithfully given both their money and their prayers to our family and our ministry. I cannot help but feel that God is now starting to multiply our labor and increase the fruit. He is allowing us greater influence with the national pastors of Kenya, men who are so willing to take the Gospel of Jesus Christ to their people under ever-increasing difficulty.

On a more personal note, we would like to thank all those who sent cards and gifts for our recent anniversary and birthdays. Thank you and God bless you.

In the service of our Lord and Saviour,

Peter, Melody, and Lindsay Morris
Missionaries to Kenya, East Africa