It was a blessing to be back in Kenya once again. We had an eight-hour flight to London and, after a long stopover, another eight hours to Nairobi. It was an uneventful flight until we were packing our bags into the van in the Kenyatta Airport car park, where I was surprised by Patricia Muriithi, our flight attendant, who wanted to know for sure she was going to Heaven. I had only had a brief opportunity to speak with her but long enough to give her a tract and tell her she could know. She had followed us out to the car park. Right there we bowed our heads, and she called on Christ and was saved. What a great start to our trip!
Traveling with me was another Team East Africa member, Andy Richey, and his son Stephen. We started preparing for the Pastors’ School we would be having early the following week about six hours away. We had tracts, discipleship materials, and copies of the Teaching All Nations curriculum printed. We also picked up Bibles and books of John to give away to the pastors.
We were blessed to be able to visit Pastor Richard Omariba’s new church in the slums of Nairobi. He had about 26 in attendance, mainly men who had come to the city to find work. Six called on Christ to be saved. While in Nairobi we also had the opportunity to visit another new work. A young man named Fred, who had been discipled by Pastor Jeremiah Nyagaka and had attended Bible college in Nakuru for a couple of years, had started a Bible study in another low-income area and asked us to preach to his small group of about 11 people. We were pleasantly surprised that they appeared to be well grounded in the Scriptures. We were blessed with leading one to Christ.
Mshama Kinyonga, a graduate from Hyles-Anderson College and a missionary in neighboring Tanzania, joined us, and we headed for Kilgoris about six hours away on the Kisii/ Masai border. We managed to arrive there safely, and Tuesday morning we started our three-day Pastors’ School. In short, we had 75 pastors and church leaders traveling from all over the country to attend. The altars were full every day as we taught on topics such as “How to Add to Your Church,” “How to Get a Blessing,” “Discipleship of Your People,” “False Doctrine,” and “Grounding in the Faith.”
The pastors went out soul winning on the first afternoon for 1½ hours and saw 94 saved. I personally saw 5 young men, who were casually sitting on the side of the road, listen to the Good News, ask questions, and then call on Christ for salvation. Praise the Lord that there are so many who are willing to listen. A few days later, we met with a small church in Nyacheki, where we preached and then went open-air preaching for a short time afterward. Three of us saw 26 call on Christ to be saved. Praise the Lord! The fields are white already to harvest.
In conjunction with the Pastors’ School, we trialed new projection equipment put together for us by CORE Missions. The kit is called “Stratum” and was very effective in gathering a crowd. We showed a Christian video, stopped it halfway through, preached the Gospel, and then finished the last part of the video after giving an invitation. We had 3 viewings with approximately 1100 in attendance and over 250 praying to receive Jesus Christ as their Saviour.
During the conference we took the opportunity to teach lessons from the Teaching All Nations course. We concentrated on teaching the pastors to use their Bibles to find the answers. By teaching them how to lead a new convert through the lessons themselves, teaching the new converts to use their Bibles to find the answers when they do not have a teacher to lead them, we pray this will develop self-sufficient Bible students, who can teach others also. We also handed out over 450 Bibles in both English and Swahili, supplied by the BEAMS ministry, along with 1500 books of John including the Gospel message.
The pastors really appreciated the fellowship and the training. They have many needs. Pastor Solomon Ondora from Mombasa came to me at the conference and told me of the unrest and danger that his church faces. He explained that his location is close to the unrest brought by the reprisals from the Al-Shabaab terrorists. He told me of his need to move and his need to get some source of income to assist with growing needs of his church that now has approximately 300 members, 8 outreach ministries, and 1 new church plant. He believes he can plant 30 churches over time. He told me that he wants to start a dress-making business, and I responded by asking him to prepare a business plan (he was previously a businessman). He came back to me with a plan showing the cost of the machines, material expenses, etc. and the likely revenue. He is requesting Ksh140,000 to purchase 8 machines, install electricity, purchase raw materials etc., which amounts to US$1,650.
He then said if I can finance this project, he would never ask me for support again. If you are interested in supporting this project, please contact me, or send your love offering to FBMI, Missionary Peter Morris #36–Mombasa Project.
Thank you for your ongoing, faithful support.
Your co-laborer in Christ
Peter Morris
Missionary to Kenya
