Reaching the Teso of Kenya

Not

2009-03-03T12:41:00.003-06:00

I will not be going to Kenya this May.

God knows the Teso. He created them. He will reach them with the Gospel.

Pray with me for His power to known & the life of Christ to be realized among the Teso of Kenya.

Discernment

2009-01-28T12:57:00.003-06:00

Brothers & Sisters,

Please pray for my decision to go to Kenya this May. New reasons of timing and concern have presented themselves to abandon the trip at this time. Ask that I will be discerning & obedient. Ask that God will change my heart & others' as needed.

Thank you.

Three Rules

2008-11-11T15:33:00.003-06:00

I've said for years. Don't remember when I started. Don't know how I even came up with such sage sayings. I've said for years that I have three rules for missionary service:

Be called.
Be flexible. Your calling will be tested.
Bring someone with you.

With airline ticket re-assignment dates stretched to the max but calling still in tact I have a new itinerary to travel to Kenya as prayerfully anticipated in May 2009.

I do not, however, have anyone currently planning to accompany me. My counterparts have reneged for various reasons. Please pray that God, if it is His desire, would raise up another to discover together. And continue to pray for the Teso & the other people groups without Christ of East Africa.

May '09

2008-07-22T13:36:00.006-05:00

Due to our schedules it looks like our Discovery Team from Southview in Lincoln won't be able to make the trip until May 2009.

I wish we'd been there by now.

I wish we had more knowledge of how to pray.

I wish we were developing strategies.

I wish.

God knows.

And more than my wishes I will trust in God's providential knowledge and amazing love.

Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails. Proverbs 19:21

Continue to pray for the Teso. Thank God for the return of peace & day-to-day life in Western Kenya. Pray that God's Spirit would move, God's Word would impact, & God's people would be obedient.

Praying over the Obstacles

2008-05-29T12:33:00.004-05:00

I made a great, new missionary friend & told him about our heart to partner in reaching the Teso. I told him how we were stalled out waiting to get there. Once there we could take lots of pictures & videos & capture compelling stories to tell to illustrate the needs for folks. He agreed that was good, but asked a simple question, "Why don't you pray for the obstacles?"

Exactly. Why don't we? Thanks, Jerry, for speaking from the outside what should have been obvious to me from the inside. Perspective. Is that an aspect of wisdom? Then Jerry's got it.

So, Dear Friends, here are a few things to pray for:

Peace & provision for the peoples of Kenya. Without peace jobs & livelihoods & homes & everything else is turned upside down.
Harry & Deb Holcomb's work schedules to freed as needed to allow them to make the Discovery trip when God intends. We may be able to go August 25-September 4. That's soon!
A Strategy Leader from Southview to be called by God to lead every aspect of this partnership forward. Leader, advocate, administrator, strategist. A person of faith & vision.
A Prayer Leader from Southview to lead in praying for the Teso of Kenya, and be an advocate for them through a variety of other prayer strategies. Another person of faith & vision.
The Christ-followers among the Teso would be open to a relationship with us & we would all be willing to be used as God intends to start a Church Planting Movement among them.

Thank you, Dear Friends.

I'll update you as things change.

Going?!

2008-03-17T12:19:00.004-05:00

Just got word from our missionary, Doug Lee, that we ought to be able to go this fall!

Keep Kenya in prayer. Doug observed a heartbreaking exchange between a parent & child recently. The child wanted to play with another child. The mother response was something like, "No, that child is from (a rival) tribe." Doug thinks the renewed tribal animosity will take a generation to overcome.

Pray that a revival will change hearts before a generation passes.

Agreement Reached

2008-03-03T15:04:00.005-06:00

The good news from Kenya last Thursday is the reaching of a power-sharing agreement between the two rival political parties. Amen.

Lead mediator, Kofi Annan, was quoted yesterday by the East African Standard as saying, "Kenya has a lot to offer. As Kenyans you need to work together, heal and unify the nation," adding that it was a beautiful country which he would like to see remain prosperous.

The Standard reports of life now in Kenya, "Some have great hope that peace will prevail and they will go back home. Some are still too traumatised by what they went through, and believe things will never be the same again, even after reconciliation."

An agreement is reached. The real work of finding a new peace lies ahead. What does the future hold for Kenya?

Wishing for Normal

2008-02-21T12:38:00.003-06:00

Sue Sprenkle of the IMB has published an article about the current situation in Kenya, "Displaced Kenyans wish life could be normal again." Find it here.

In the news: An opposition party leader has threatened further rallies if the constitutional arrangments for power sharing do not begin within the next two weeks. Further rallies means further terror & bloodshed.

Continue to pray for peace in Kenya. Pray that those with power to affect the outcomes to be moved by God's Spirit. Pray for the thousands of internally displaced peoples still unable to return home due to the real presence of ongoing violence. Pray that the strong, humble differences of Christ-followers would be evident to those needing Jesus.

The Forecast

2008-02-18T11:20:00.003-06:00

Calm prevails today. Uneasy as it may be calm has prevailed the last two weeks. Countless Kenyans are still displaced & fearful for their lives. Negotiations between the two sides are moving ahead with Kofi Annan seeking to broker a peaceful settlement of shared power.

Stormy forecast ahead? Further storms of violence are the inevitable concern of Kenyans however. Rightfully so as the two rival parties seek power and its spoils. This may have the effect of colliding cold & warm fronts in the atomosphere. Explosive. Stormy.

Continue to pray for Kenya. May peace prevail. May God draw Kenyans unto Himself.

Safety & Peace

2008-01-31T11:54:00.001-06:00

The following paragraph is taken from a recent US Embassy in Kenya security message:

American citizens should avoid all travel to the cities of Kisumu, Nakuru and Naivasha and defer non-essential travel to the remaining portions of Kenya’s three provinces -- Nyanza, Western, and Rift Valley -- which are most affected by the unrest. Road travel in western Kenya remains unsafe. Sporadic illegal road blocks by gangs or criminal elements make travel risky.

Those locations are exactly where we'd have traveled through & been staying with the Teso.

We'll stay safe at home.

Yet many Kenyans can not go home.

They are not safe.

We can pray as Jesus spoke, "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid."

Whiter than Snow

2008-01-17T15:03:00.002-06:00

Rolling out from under my warm covers this cold morning I found Lincoln covered in beautiful, sparkling white snow. What is it about snow? Clean, pure, floating, blowing, sparkling, enrapturing. I love it.

There is a great, old hymn with lyrics by James Nicholson that shares the name of this post: Whiter than Snow.

Lord Jesus, I long to be perfectly whole;
I want Thee forever to ransom my soul;
Break down every idol, cast out ev'ry foe;
Now wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

May those in Lincoln. May those in Kenya. May those sin-stained, heart-darkened people everywhere turn to Jesus with this plea, "Now wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow."

NEWS FLASH: Trip Postponed

2008-01-09T13:04:00.002-06:00

Just hours ago I received an email from our missionary contact in Nairobi, Doug Lee, saying that they have decided to cancel our trip for now. There is concern of ongoing unrest due to the corrupt election process of 2 weeks ago.

Our trip to meet the Teso will be postponed indefinitely until we are sure of a prevailing peace in Kenya. We will cancel our flights & rearrange our schedule. Our Kenyan friends are not so fortunate.

One person we looked forward to meeting, David Gitau, the director of the Busia Baptist Bible School, is in hiding fearful for his life. David is a member of one tribe, but lives in an area dominated by a rival tribe. The rival political parties are formed from rival tribal groups so what started with an election has become tribal violence. David is just one Kenyan. I wonder how many countless others are living in fear or hiding as he is right now?

Pray for peace in Kenya. Pray for the protection of it's people. Pray that God would turn people toward Himself using what Satan has intended for evil.

Violence Shows the Greatest Need

2008-01-02T11:08:00.001-06:00

You may no doubt have heard about the violence erupting in pockets across Kenya as a result of their recent elections. Terrible, senseless atrocities have been committed by people angry that their party didn't win & distrusting their ruling party. This speaks of hopelessness.

If your life has so little to live for that you will resort to violence over election results, then you must be hopeless. If you place your faith in elected officials to change your way of life (this is not a politician joke), you must be hopeless.

What is the cure for hopelessness?

A transformed life in Jesus Christ. Hope transformed. Thoughts transformed. Actions transformed.

May God restore peace & order in Kenya. May God draw Kenya to saving knowledge of His Son, my Savior, Jesus.

An Unreached People Group

2007-12-26T12:29:00.001-06:00

Do you like statistics? Numbers, yes. Not real folks will real stories, I know.

Yet without the firsthand knowledge that our Discovery Trip will provide we are limited to these statistics. These numbers to help paint a picture of the need for an evangelical witness among the Teso. The latest Annual Statistical Report from our partners in the Kenya Baptist Convention record the following for the Teso Baptist Association churches.

Total churches: 61
New churches in last year : 2
Total outreach groups: 1
New outreach groups last year: 0
Baptistms: 68 (sadly, just a bit more than 1 new believer per church)
Total membership: 1217 (less than 1/2% of the Kenyan Teso population)

Yes, there are other evangelical groups and we will seek to meet them & understand what God is doing among them. But as these statistics show, the work among the KBC Teso is struggling.

This is why the Teso of Kenya are referred to as Unreached People Group. So few Christ-followers. So much need.

Pray for Doug Lee, our regional missionary in Kenya, as he makes a pre-trip January 21-24 among the Teso to prepapre for our trip. He will be seeking to meet our Teso Baptist pastors & other evangelicals among the Teso. We will join him in those relationships in February. May God give us discernment & guidance as we go.

That the Teso May Know

2007-12-20T10:22:00.005-06:00

I am entering the 21st Century and you are here to read it: My first ever blog. The idea herein is to try it out. A test run if you will. But it is a test run with a purpose.

My purpose is to join God & other Christ-followers to catalyze a Church Planting Movement among the Teso of Kenya. The 304,000 Kenyan Teso along the Ugandan border are less than 2% evangelized. An unreached people group (UPG) is what missiologists would call the Teso of Kenya. The Teso of Uganda, however, are highly evangelized or reach with the Gospel.

That all peoples may know the saving power and love of Christ Jesus is my heart & motivation in this matter. The Teso of Kenya is where I believe God has led me & my church to make a difference.

Pray for our Discovery Trip in February '08. Four of us from my church, Southview Baptist Church in Lincoln, Nebraska, will travel to Western Kenya to meet Teso Christ-followers & scout out the opportunities for our involvement.

We will be partnering with missionaries of our Southern Baptist Convention's International Mission Board (IMB) and the Central Eastern Southern Africa (CESA) region.