API USA Blog

Thursday, May 5, 2022
Well, it's been a while since we've updated you on what has gone on so this might be a rather long post. The above picture is of the church in Mairowa, Tanzania where we have been for the last four days.  But let me catch you up.

Last Sunday, after the conference in Megwara, we joined the church in Nalepo which was funded through the Brad Pederson Building Fund last year. 

The pastor of the church, Musa, was incredibly happy to receive the API team for a joyous Sunday celebration of the construction of this church.  After lunch, our team left to travel to Mairowa in Tanzania to hold a three-day conference.  We are so thankful to you all that have been praying for our travels because when we arrived in Megwara, it had been raining heavily and the rivers were up. However as the week progressed, we had less rain and more sunshine so our trip to Tanzania was for the most part unhindered.  Below is a picture of one of the several rivers we had to cross to make it into Tanzania and by God's mercy and your prayers, the rivers we had to cross were passable!

We arrived safely in Tanzania Sunday evening in time to begin our conference Monday morning.

We continued the theme of Salt and Light in the World: The Role of the Church in the World, as Jay McBee continued his theme in Biblical Counseling. 



During the conference, we handed out suckers to the children who came with their parents.  My friend Bill Nyms began the tradition of handing out candy to the kids a few years ago, and ever since we've continued it.

However, news like this gets around quickly, and soon we found ourselves with nearly 400 children who heard that the muzungus were handing out sweets. Capitalizing on the opportunity, we decided to hold a kind of Sunday School for these kids and Pastor Reuben took the lead to teach them.

Besides the teaching we offer at the conference, and the book resources we give out, we also have developed another teaching resource on a mini-SD card that can be inserted in the phones almost everyone has. This SD card has the Bible in the local language, in this case, Maasai, along with stories of the Bible from Genesis to Acts, discipleship programs, the Jesus movie in their language, and teaching programs that take the listener from Genesis to Revelation. Below I am showing some of the pastors how these programs work.

There is a lot more I need to share with you about our trip, but for now I'll have to sign off as we leave early tomorrow morning for Lodwar and five days of ministry there and in the refugee camps at Kakuma.  Thank you for your continued prayers for our mission and travels! God's word is making an impact in Africa.

Saturday, April 30, 2022

We finished the Megwara conference today, Salt and Light in the World: the Role of the Church in the World, and we are back at Manyatta Camp for the evening. We had about 130 attendees for this conference and all of them I spoke to expressed their deep appreciation for the teaching they were receiving. We were blessed to have an extraordinary team this year as we were joined by Jay McBee, Pastors, Shadrack, Reuben, Benson, Edward, and Moses, and our logistics team of John Kamau and Frank Maina. 

Shadrack, Moses, and Reuben all shared the teaching load along with Jay and I and I have been so blessed to see how these guys have grown into the teaching role in API.

I've heard it said that a conference is only as good as its food, and based on that, this one was fantastic.  These ladies really outdid themselve as they provided meals for all the people who came. 

We want to thank Summit Christian Fellowship, along with Ekklesia Afrika for providing great teaching resources for the pastors as they lead their churches.



We were also blessed by our hosts after the final session with gifts of Maasai finery.

It has been a blessing to minister alongside these men as we work to equip the pastors and church leaders in this area.  Our host pastor, Daniel Sayiaton told all of us at the conclusion of our time that we would never know just how much tranformation has happened in the churches of this area because of the ministry of API for the past five years. We just thank God that He has allowed us to play this small part in the lives of the believers in Megwara and Olulaimutia.

Tomorrow some of our team will leave for home, and the rest, Jay, Frank, John, Shadrack, Reuben and myself will attend the services at Nalepo African Gospel Church, a few kilometers from where we are staying. Following that, we will head down to Tanzania to hold a 3-day conference with the Maasai churches there. Please pray for our journey and time with the churches there.

Thursday, April 28, 2022

It is Thursday afternoon and turning out to be a rather nice day in Megwara after a night of very heavy rain.  We traveled to Olulaimutia, a village about 8 km from Megwara where we are staying.  We left Nairobi on Monday after meeting with the Life Challenge staff.  I found this organization online as I was searching for local partners to help equip our pastors and leaders to reach their Muslim neighbors. When I first started coming to Kenya in 2007, you would rarely hear the Muslim call to prayer.  Now it seems you hear it in every village and town, and for the most part, Christian churches do not have any strategy to reach their Muslim neighbors. We hope that in partnering with a group that has been teaching and equipping Christians for years to engage Muslims, we can help our pastors and church leader to do the same.  After a full and productive meeting, Life Challenge agreed to send a team to our conference this August in Lodwar to begin.

Tuesday we took a half-day to go into the Maasai Mara park to see the wonders of God's creation.









Of course we took our lunch at Sarova Mara in the park, and then traveled back to Olulaimutia in time to greet the arrival of the rest of our team.



Wednesday morning we began our conference in Megwara, and as it usually happens, we had a lot of late arrivals.  Time is relative in Kenya.  

John and Reuben handle all the media.

Pastor Moses oversees the registration.

We have a great cooking crew this year and everyone says it's the best ever.



And the best thing about our meals is the meat is always fresh!

Thank you for your support and prayers. I'll post more later.

Friday, April 22, 2022

It's Saturday evening in Nairobi and Jay and I are relaxing, enjoying the view.  We arrived late Thursday evening after meeting each other in Paris since I was coming from Seattle and Jay from Los Angeles.  Friday and Saturday were spent buying all the necessary things for our two conferences coming up and arranging meetings and renewing contacts. 

One of our meetings was with the leadership of Karura Community Chapel here in Nairobi who has expressed great interest in connecting with us for training in Biblical Counseling.  Jay and I met with Senior Pastor Ngari Kariithi and Tendayi Kuvyeha the Director of Outreach and Multiplication, to share about our ministry.  Jay has been in ongoing dialog with Tendayi for the past few months and this was our first opportunity to get together.  Karura Community Chapel is a very large church actively engaged in their community to proclaim the gospel and make disciples and we are looking forward to partnering with them in Biblical Counseling training. 

Our associate, John Kamau (second from left) is a member at this church and was the catalyst for this connnection. John has been taking the training himself and saw the value and importance of this kind of training for his church. 

Sunday, Jay and will be attending the church and then Monday we are heading to Megwara to begin the first conference. Thank you for your continuing prayers for our time here. We'll have more for you later!

Friday, December 10, 2021

Saturday morning, the 4th of December, as Moses and Reuben were heading to Uganda, I was heading to Turkana, flying from Eldoret to Lodwar. 

That evening, I met with the Lodwar Pastor's Fellowship to plan our 9th annual conference next August.  Unfortunately I neglected to take any photos for you. 

Charcoal for sale along the road.  Most households in Turkana, and in the rest of Kenya, use charcoal for cooking.

Monday morning Pastor Boniface and Pastor George and I traveled to Kakuma to meet with the pastor's fellowship to plan our 2nd pastor's conference in that city.  As you may know, Kakuma is the site of the largest refugee camp in Africa, with refugees from all over Africa.  This past August we held our first pastor's conference in Kakuma and bussed in pastors from the refugee camp to attend. Holding the conference in the camp presented very difficult administrative and logistical problems, so the pastors fellowship in Kakuma, graciously provided a venue to hold the conference.  Over lunch we discussed the next conference to be held in August 2022. 

When I am in Kenya, wherever I go, I am always confronted by extreme poverty and hunger.  And while I am pondering what more I can do about it, these Kenyan pastors already have a game plan to help.  After our lunch, one of the pastors in Kakuma, Pastor John (pictured below), went around the table, gathering up what was left on each plate.  I asked him what he was going to do with it, and he said there were street kids just outside the cafe where we were eating that probably had not eaten that day and so he had all that food packed up for them. It turns out that Pastor John has a ministry to these kids who roam the mean streets of Kakuma, doing whatever it takes to survive.  He has built a home for street boys and girls on his property, and as he is able, he rescues them from the streets, feeding and housing and educating them. And this is a pattern all across Kenya where many pastors and churches are engaged in bringing the gospel to the lost and the least.  The Kenyan government has largely abandoned these kids to the streets, but the church in Kenya, as the church does all over the world, has stepped up to the plate to bring hope and restoration for the overlooked and despised in society.



On our way home, we stopped by the site of a near tragedy last August.  As George and Boniface were traveling home from our conference in Kakuma, their driver was distracted momentarily, trying to answer his phone.  The car careened off the road as they were negotiating a curve in the road and ended up hanging over this dry river bed, offside wheels dangling over about a 15 foot drop.  



Wednesday morning, I flew back to Nairobi where Frank picked me up.  Just want to give a shout out to our logisitics director, Frank Maina, who has been such a help and encouragement on all our trips. Frank arranges all the accommodations and transportation for these trips and we couldn't do what we do without him. 

Wednesday, December 8, 2021

Right after our conference in Matete, I left for Turkana and Pastor Reuben and Pastor Moses left for Uganda to hold conferences in two refugee camps there, Nakivale and Kyaki II.  In those camps are refugees from all over Africa, some who have been there for years having fled political and tribal violence in their own countries. These pastors were so grateful that people would come to encourage and equip them.  Pastor Reuben told me that API was the first organization ever to offer any kind of pastoral training to them.  Below you can read Reuben and Moses' report from the first conference they held this week. 

Greetings Pastor Mike, It has taken long since we submit the first report of our trip in the refugee camp. We safely arrived on Sunday evening after some loss. (Reuben’s computer and phone were stolen on the way) We sure were strengthened by you brothers with your prayers due to the discouragement we were in.

On Monday Morning we met Pastors from Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, Central Africa Republic and Tanzania. Most of these pastors are Refugees who are pastoring refugees. They were from different denominations. On this first day we had a total of 42 pastors who lacked formal theological training. By their stories they had lost a lot and experienced many trials.

We continued with our Theme, The Church as the Light of the World. Pastor Moses taught on the Church as the Salt of the Earth and the Man of God and Money, while I taught on Peace Making, and Grace when things are hard and Anger Mismanagement.

We finished the conference at 5pm but the brothers were asking us to continue till 7:00pm. They were full of hunger and thirst for the word of God. We went back to the hotel to prepare for the next day.

After our morning devotion in the hotel we took our taxi to the Conference Hall. It was a great day and the pastors were all seated at 9:00am. I taught the Roles of husband and wife and Serving the Lord with Humility while Pastor Moses taught on Following Jesus and the Holiness of God.  During midday like previous day we had lunch and later on questions and answer time. The brothers were so blessed with the teachings, books and lunch.

Later on I will attach some clips of their appreciation and prayers. We later distributed the books, took a group photo and left for Mbarara for Wednesday Conference that starts at 9:00am. 

Please keep Reuben and Moses and the pastors they are equipping in your prayers. Pastor Moses sent me a note after they left - "The situation here needs God's grace.  These people are hungry for the Word of God.  When you leave, people shed tears just because you are leaving.  They wanted us to remain with them for some time but we excused ourselves because of the task ahead of us."

 

Saturday, December 4, 2021

I am sorry it took so long to post this blog. The internet would not cooperate and the power was consistently sketchy. The conference in Matete is over and I am presently in Lodwar to meet with the Lodwar Pastors Fellowship and then I travel to Kakuma to meet with the pastors there and in the refugee camp.

Our conference in Matete was the fourth annual conference there and we had over 70 pastors and church leaders attending. Many were returning attenders but we had many pastors who had heard of this but never attended. One of those who had been to previous conferences pulled me aside one day to let me know of his appreciation of the training he and the others were receiving. “I want you to know”, he said, “API is really making a difference in the churches in this county. Previously our preaching was out of ignorance because we really didn’t know the Bible. But now we are teaching the real truth of the word in our churches and our churches are being transformed.” I have to say, it was worth it to travel 10,000 miles to hear that!



During all of our breaks between sessions, you could hear the pastors rehashing and mulling over what they had just heard.

We had four full days of teaching by the API team and I have to say I am very proud of these guys! Four of our API associates joined me in teaching this week. The training they have received over the years is paying great dividends in their own churches and the churches in their counties, and in trainings like this. And more and more pastors and churches are being impacted by the truth of the gospel. 

Conference Director Pastor Shadrack Mogesi

Pastor Fred Akello 

Pastor Moses Biketi

Pastor Reuben Luvanga

We also had lively and very relevant question and answer sessions each day over the material that was presented. One of the goals of these sessions is to of course clarify what was said, but they also gave us great insights into the issues that the churches in Kenya are facing.  I also had a lot of opportunities to have more in depth conversations with several pastors, many of whom I had not met before.

We finished the week with our pastor's forum where we had an opportunity to hear from the pastors what challenges they were facing in the ministry so that we could pray for them and so that we might better serve them where they are.

I want to thank Gary and Lesley Scherer as well for the eyeglasses they left behind to be handed out. Our logistics director, Frank Maina, found those pastors who were having problems reading and provided them with reading glasses. One of the pastors (middle below)  actually cried when he put them on and Frank asked him why he was crying. He said, “It is because now I can actually read the word of God! I was really struggling to read and now I read perfectly.”

I want to give a shout out to the cooks who made the meals for those who attended! Everyone agreed that the food was excellent and there was always plenty to eat. Of course, any conference is graded at least in part on the food provided, so in that case, we were really successful!



I also want to give a shout out to Em Westmark and her sister, Elaine Haroldson, for their labor of love in making baby blankets for the Agape Care Net Center.  There were two new moms in Matete that were blessed by their generosity!

Thank you for your prayers for this ministry and the pastors in Kenya. 

 

 

Saturday, August 28, 2021

The past four days we spent delivering maize flour, salt, and cooking oil to several villages outside of Lodwar. Thanks to the generosity of many of you, we were able to provide food to over 1,700 families in Turkana!  Here are a few pictures from the last four days.







The volleyballs donated by Summit Christian were a bit hit!



Every place we visited, Pastor Boniface would teach the people some English.

Thanks again for helping us help the people of Turkana!

Friday August 27, 2021

Last Sunday, Rob and I traveled 110 km northwest to Kakuma to hold a two day conference with the Kakuma pastors and pastors from the UN refugee camp there. We were joined by Pastors Boniface Lokuruka, George Lokwawi, and Shadrack Mogesi.  78 pastors attended the conference, about 35 from the camp and the rest from Kakuma Town.

We were hosted by Pastor Benjamin of the Solid Rock Church in Kakuma and the Kakuma Pastors Fellowship.

We had two wonderful days together in God's word, and as the Chairman of the Kakuma Pastors Fellowship was wrapping things up on Tuesday, he said, "We have known API has been in Lodwar for many years but we have never tasted the teachings.  Now we have have tasted and they are so good! We want to have more. It would be good if you could stay the whole week here and teach."  While we couldn't do that, we are planning next year to have a more extended conference in Kakuma.

As is our custom, we ended the conference with a book handout, and also a food handout.  The pastors were not only nourished spiritually, but we were able to feed the 78 families represented by these pastors.


UPDATE ON LODWAR CONFERENCE:
I wanted to share with you what our Conference Director shared with me after the Lodwar Conference, of which I was completely unaware. We had capped the conference at 150 attendees due to space and Covid restrictions.  However, somehow more than 170 got registered, and we finally discovered there were more than 200 in attendence.  Early on Tuesday, our boarding facitlities were maxed out by out of town guests.  But on Wednesday several showed up from far places needing a place to sleep. Informed that the boarding facility was full, these pastors begged to sleep on the conference hall floor, (concrete) without mattresses or blankets. Warned that scorpions were about, they dismissed the danger, asking only that they could be in the compound the next morning to hear the Word of God as it was taught. "We heard the word is so good here and we want to hear it", they said.  In fact several had to sit outside the hall for the rest of the week as it couldn't accomodate all the delegates. I thank God for the hunger and desire of these pastors to hear God's word.

Sunday August 22, 2021

We closed out our conference by giving out several great resources to the pastors, and by celebrating the Lord's Table together Friday evening. There were so many testimonies to the valuable truth shared this week.  One pastor commented that if it were not for these conferences, he would have no opportunity to learn the truth of God's word in such depth. We want to thank all of you who made this conference possible, and these pastors want to pass on their thanks to you.

Saturday morning we traveled out to Kapokor, to the newly constructed church there for a dedication service, complete with ribbon cutting, and food distribution. Below is Pastor James Loren who oversees this church.

The ribbon was actually a thick band of rubber that didn't cut very easily, but we got the job done








Our driver, Paul Herbert, handing candy to the kids

One of the leading ladies of the church expressing the church's gratitude for this new building.

Pastors Boniface Lokuruka and George Lokwawi oversee the building of the churches for us in Turkana. I thank the Lord for these men who partner with us in the gospel.





Summit Christian provided a number of soccer balls to hand out at these villages. This is the youth leader of Kapokor who was immensely pleased to receive a soccer ball for his youth.

Headed back home with the food

Many of these people walk several kilometers to attend Kapokor church

Thanks to all of you who make our famine relief initiative so successful.  Next week we will be at several more villages to distribute food.  But first we have a two day conference in Kakuma with the Kakuma pastors and pastors from the refugee camp there.  Please be praying for this.

Thursday August 19, 2021

It is Thursday afternoon and we're over the halfway point in the conference.  We had about 170 pastors and church leaders registered by Tuesday and the place is full.  In fact we have people sitting all around the outside of the hall due to the limited space inside.

We've had a wonderful time of teaching and fellowship, and very lively Q&A sessions with these pastors. I can't thank my API team enough for their dedication and hard work as they oversee all the logistics of this conference.  In addition to being one of our speakers, Pastor Moses Biketi heads up our registration team.

Pastor Shadrack is our Conference Director and keeps everything running smoothly, while John works the media table along with Rob and Pastor Reuben.

Pastor Benson, traveled all the way from Kilgoris to be part of the team this year and works to cover all the gaps we encounter in serving these pastors.

And of course Rob makes the whole thing run. 

We've got a couple local pastors teaching as well.  Pastor Boniface Lokuruka taught on The Man of God and Culture, and Pastor Joshua Lemuya will be teaching tonight on the Man of God and Prayer.

This year we've partnered with Ekklesia Afrika to provide another arena of pastoral training for our pastors and church leaders through their SOMA program. SOMA is a cohort based method of study that has small groups of pastors coming together locally throughout the year to read and learn together.  They walk through a book a month, reading, discussing, asking and answering questions, wrestling with theology and doctrine and hard texts of the Bible.  The complete course covers four years and by the end these pastors will have throrough understanding of the Bible and its story.

Mike Muthema of Ekklesia Afrika, along with Pastor Charles Macharia joined us for two days in Lodwar and just flew out this morning. We are looking forward to a long partnership with Ekklesia Afrika as we share the same passion for equipping local pastors in order to build healthy, gospel-centered churches that reproduce all over Kenya.

Please pray for us and for those who are attending this conference that God will seal the truth of His word in their hearts and they will be faithful to share that truth with their congregations.

Monday, August 17, 2021

Rob and I arrived in Nairobi last Thursday, tired but excited to be back in country.  We waltzed through immigration, only to be stuck in baggage for an hour waiting for our luggage. So we took pictures.

The next two days were full with meetings, buying things for our trip to Lodwar, and taking more pictures.

I had the pleasure of presenting one of our API School of Ministry graduates with his Bachelor of Theology degree while in Nairobi.  Amoss Mahlangah from Lamu Island traveled to Nairobi to receive his diploma and share with us the progress of his ministry among the Muslims in Lamu.  Lamu is nearly 100% Muslim and Amoss has been working there for several years, making slow inroads among the population. We thank God for tireless evangelists like Amoss whose passion is to see his neighbors come to Christ.

Sunday morning Rob, John and I took the early flight to Lodwar. John and Rob slept soundly most of the two hour flight.

We arrived in Lodwar around 9 am to some welcome warmth after a chilly stay in Nairobi.

Sunday, and most of Monday was spent getting everything ready for the conference that began Monday at 4 pm with registration, dinner and then the first session, where we were treated to 140 pastors singing together.

I'll be posting more tomorrow.

API Biblical Counseling Director, Jay McBee and API Teaching Associate Reuben Luvanga, finished the biblical counseling training in Kenya and Tanzania with the two last conferences in Bondo and Matete this last Saturday. The Bondo conference was hosted by API associate pastor Fred Akello and 20 local pastors and leaders attended. Of this group, 15 pastors requested to enroll the the API/IBCD long-term biblical counseling training. 

API School of Ministry, in partnership with TGC and Ekklesia Afrika, gave the pastors copies of Taking God at His Word by Kevin DeYoung and The Gospel. This conference was unique in that no translation was required. All the leaders were fluent in English, so we were able to add an additional lesson. 

The pastors were excited to learn more about how to meet the spiritual needs of those in distress especially during covid. "His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence."  ‭‭2 Peter‬ ‭1:3‬ ‭ESV‬‬.   Pastors everywhere in Kenya have repeatedly told us that the society and even the church is in crisis. Despair is prevalent. They were excited to get so many teachings to help those in their care and show others the hope that lies only in the gospel. 

The last conference was held in Matete, the home of API Teaching Associate Pastor Moses Biketi. Moses has been a participant of API’s weekly zoom training in biblical counseling that started last year and a leader amongst the pastors in Matete. 

 
Because of the central location of Matete and the established work under Moses since last year, API expanded the conference to two days with eight teachings. Almost all of the pastors decided to enroll in the API/IBCD long-term training. 

 

Many pastors plan to attend the live on- line Module 2 training that will resume when Jay McBee returns to the U.S., while simultaneously attending in-person classes from the Module 1 training so that they can graduate with the first class. 

 

This leads to the launch of a new phase in API’s biblical counseling training. API’s local associate training pastors, led by Reuben Luvanga, will now be teaching biblical counseling to the pastors that are newly enrolling. We will be sending these training associates to train pastors in Megwara, Tanzania, Majengo, Bondo and Matete starting in June. There are now approximately 100 pastors awaiting this training, so we need your help to underwrite this effort.  Please consider funding this training by donating securely online and clicking here. Be sure to choose 'Pastoral Development' on the drop-down menu.  Please pray for this ministry as we train and send out more workers into the field.
 

 

Saturday May 22, 2021

Today George, Boniface and I traveled to the refugee camp at Kakuma to meet with Pastor Stephen Lobolia and a diverse group of pastors and church leaders. These people are refugees from Burundi, Congo, and South Sudan. We spent some time with them, singing, sharing, and encouraging them through the Word.  Because there were so many languages present, Toposa, Jie, Congolese, Burundi and Turkana, we had to translate everything at least twice, sometimes three times, but it was clear they were blessed by our time together.




The young man below is Marino, a Toposa refugee from South Sudan.  He was a soldier who became disillusioned by the constant fighting and killing and eventually fled to Kenya, winding up in Kakuma.  But in South Sudan he was also wildly popular as a singer called 'Cruel King'.  Pastor Stephen, who knew of him and his singing, found out he was in Kakuma and arranged a meeting with him.  Over a period of weeks they became friends as Stephen shared the good news of Jesus with him.  Through that friendship, Marino came to Christ and is now on fire for Jesus!  Along with many of the young men in the photos above, Marino is being discipled by Pastor Stephen on a weekly basis in his church. Their goal is to return to their homelands to share Christ with their people.  Please be praying for this work that is bearing fruit in the desert.

Friday May 21, 2021


Wednesday I traveled with Pastor Lokwawi (2nd from the left) and Pastor Lokuruka (4th from the left) to Lokitaung, a village in the far north of Turkana, to meet and encourage some of the pastors in the area. This is a very poor area, even by Turkana standards, and life is hard for these people. They were greatly encouraged by our visit as this area is rarely visited  by muzungus and they have no bible training opportunities.

We were hosted for chai at a local pastor's home (his wife is pictured below) and our driver, Paul, made friends with his daughter.

We also took the opportunity to visit the prison where the first president of Kenya, Jomo Kenyatta was held by the British for seven years. 

We walked over to the cliff where Kenyatta was dangled by the guards and threatened with death if he didn't inform on his people. (He didn't and the guards didn't drop him).

On our way out of town, we stopped at the oldest mission established in Lokitaung in 1957, the Salvation Army church and school compound and met with the current Salvation Army missionary, Lieutenant Eunice Ndukyu.

Of course on the way back we had the inevitable tire puncture.  

Thursday we spent traveling in the bush to two different locations where we met local pastor's fellowship groups to share some encouragement.  The first stop was a place called Nasiger where we shared some time with 20 or so pastors and church leaders. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures:( 

We next traveled to Nakwamunyon where we met with the local pastor's fellowship under a convenient tree.

These men were greatly encouraged to hear about API's pastoral training and assured us they will join us this August for our annual Lodwar conference. 

Thank you so much for your continued prayers for our time here. God is blessing us in marvelous ways and the pastors and church leaders send all of you, our support team, a heartfelt thanks for facilitating this mission!

Thursday May 20, 2021

Our Tanzanian team, Jay McBee, Reuben Luvanga and Stephen Muntet, finished their time with the Tanzanian pastors and church leaders on Tuesday.



The following is a short report from Jay.

Town Mirowua TAG Church in district Loliondo
Pastor Steve Muntet, our driver and Maasai team member, was to be the beginning of the story in Tanzania.  He explained on the way that he had come with a team to this town in 2000 to preach the gospel.  They walked 90 kilometers to get there.  When they spoke to the people of this village, they did not understand the concept of Christ, God in human flesh, who would save them from their sins. The idea of Jesus was so foreign to them that they asked - 'Who is this man Jesus?  What town does he come from? When will he come here?'

Stephen is on the left
Stepen would see first-hand how the work had grown.  There are now 24 churches in the area of this village.  We were teaching discipleship in the village that had not even heard the name of Jesus 20 years ago.  Steven was a late addition to the team and this was God's providence that he joined us. 

On our trip to the church, we were introduced to the father of the church leader Elijah as the father tended his animals.  He has 60 children and five wives.  This is very common in Maasai territory. Reuben spoke of the biblical principles of marriage and the purpose that God has for it - centered around it modeling the relationship of Christ and the church.  Steven, stood up after our teachings and declare how God had blessed him, a Maasai, as he walked in obedience to God's model for marriage. 

Pastor Masago, the leader of the church while the Bishop was away, commented that the teachings had been transformative for his church and invited us back to teach some more.  FYI, Jay was the first Mazungu, or white man, to ever teach from his pulpit.

Stephen also had a chance to spend some time with the young man serving the team in the hotel and he gave his life to Christ the morning the team left. We want to thank Ekklesia Afrika for ther generosity in providing us with excellent resources to give to these pastors and church leaders.

Thank you for your prayers for our team as they continue to share the word of God.  Jay and Reuben took off Wednesday for Bondo and another short one day conference there.  They will be traveling Friday to Matete for a two day conference with pastors and church leaders.

The following is Pastor Stephen Muntet's account of the trip.

Love and greetings to you our Beloved API Director and all beloved ones serving God beyond boundaries, 

though of challenges in safari to Tanzania especially in the border in Isibania where we found one drunk man asking us of facilitation fee and I told him to look at my chest i was wearing API budge on my neck and after that he retreated but all in all i knew its not always easy in saving God faithfully but it's with great joy in my soul  that after 20 year's of visiting our neighboring country Tanzania in the county of Loliondo I once again got the privilege through API Office     (Director Pastor Mike) to visit Mairowua village where I told people about the good news of Jesus Christ in the year 2000 April, 

On my arrival I was shocked to find a construction of the church was done in the same ground where I was doing witnessing and a number of people received Jesus Christ in the same ground and in the meeting I also found one of the church elders Brother Jacob where he received Jesus Christ at that time, and also found many of our Mara Shiners school kids parents are from the same village. 

I also want to say thanks for giving me an opportunity to translate the teachings to Maasai language and thanks to God that the last day of our departure one young Man who was giving us hotel service received Salvation through repentance we prayed together and he is now a Christian. Thanks to Jay and Luvanga who helped to bring transformation to Land of Oloolaimutia and Tanzania God bless you God bless API. 

in His Service for Christ

Pastor Steve Muntet. 

 

Wednesday May 19, 2021

I arrived in Lodwar yesterday in the morning and am heading to Lokitaung this morning to meet with the pastors in that city.  But I thought I'd catch you up on the doings of the Tanzanian Team.

Last Saturday after the conference in Megwara, Jay, Reuben and Pastor Stephen Muntet left for Olosakwan village in Tanzania for a two day biblical counseling conference.  Unfortunately, the closest border crossing did not have a visa office so the team had to travel 5 hours in the opposite direction to obtain a visa for Jay. They overnighted there, intending to cross into Tanzania but the fees for vehicle registration, travel permits and other charges amounted to about $300 so they decided to drive back to where they started and cross at the place they originally planned to cross where there were no fees to pay. They eventually arrived late Sunday in Olosakwan in time to begin the conference on Monday morning.  They look remarkable refreshed here Monday morning at breakfast!

This is Olosakwan where several years earlier Pastor Stephen was the first to bring the gospel. A church was established here then, and since that time several more churches have been raised up in the surrounding area. It is the pastors and church leaders from those churches that have come here for the conference.

Jay had the opportunity to try the traditional Masaai drink of sour milk out of the traditional gourd.  He was not impressed! The first day was well-attended by about 80 or so pastors and church leaders.



Jay and Reuben will be updating us on their trip later today and I'll let you know about the conclusion of the conference. Meanwhile, today the team is traveling to Bondo to hold a one day conference there.  Please keep us in your prayers as we travel!

Monday May 17, 2021


Back in Nairobi and I'm finally getting caught up on the blog!  A lot has happened in the last week but I wanted to catch you up on our Pastors and Church Leaders Conference in Megwara that ended Saturday.  We began the conference, The Man of God Fully Equipped on Wednesday of last week.  We had about 60 pastors in attendence initially but by Friday we had registered 187 pastors and church leaders.  We held the event in Pastor Daniel Sayiaton's Deliverance Church in Megwara.

Our theme was taken from 2 Timothy 3:16-17 - "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work."  


Pastor Daniel interpreting

We also had Pastor Reuben, one of our API Associate teachers, and Jay McBee, our Director of Biblical Counseling, teaching on the subject, and by the end of the conference we had about 15 to 20 pastors who wanted to go on to complete the biblical counseling training.  A big part of equipping the pastors is teaching them to counsel their people through the word of God.  The majority of Kenyan pastors have not understood that the word of God is sufficient for every need and as a result, there is almost no counseling from the word of God in their churches.  Many rely on 'deliverance' ministries or secular psychology to help their members. 

Pastor Reuben


Jay McBee

Moses Biketi, another API Associate, joined us in teaching during the conference.  He and Pastor Reuben have been instrumental in taking the API training to pastors in Uganda.

We have been teaching and training in the churches in this area since 2017, and more and more churches are coming each year to our conferences. At least five pastors we have known since we began coming to Megwara, took me aside to tell me that since API has been coming, the churches here have really changed, and clearly preaching the word of God has become so important.  We have been so encouraged to see the way many these pastors are coming early and staying late and asking great questions during our Q & A sessions.

At the end of our conference we gave out the book resources and as always these pastors and church leaders were so grateful.  Thank you to all who gave to make this happen!



Our conference director, Pastor Shadrack, did a marvelous job all throughout the conference and especially in arranging our midday meal. Here the ladies are preparing our lunch.

Our API Associate John Kamau helped in so many ways. Along with Reuben Luvanga, he was in charge of media production but he did so much more, including helping with the meals.

On Thursday last week, Kim and Laurel and Frank came to Megwara and met up with us at the conference.



While we were in Megwara we all stayed at Manyatta tent camp.

Where Jay found time to whittle a new point on his pencil, where everyone shared dinner nightly and where Pastor Benson Ntuntai and I shared some laughs.

Thank you all for your continued prayers for our team and mission.

Sunday May 16, 2021

Our last two days with the saints at Agape Care Net.

Laurel was able to do one of her favorite things, ultrasounds, both Tuesday and Wednesday she worked with Allan, the sonographer from the hospital.  He is a wonderful follower of Christ and excellent at what all he does. She also worked with Priscila Ja, a clinical director. She is a sweet, gentle, godly young lady.

Kim stayed down the trail from the clinic at Maurine’s home. She went over a lot of client care and procedures regarding pregnancy test, healthy relationships, some cool tools for sharing the gospel, ministering to the women who comes in thinking abortion is her only alternative, i.e., options education, ministering to men, parenting, healing after abortion and more.  They had great questions, we talked about how to modify and use the tools I brought to use in their own clinic.  This sounds like a lot but mostly the Holy Spirit led each moment of every session every day. God truly equipped us to do this. Laurel and I were astounded at the ease of fellowship, sharing and learning both ways.  God had this covered from ancient days, Eph 2:10.

I loved Washington’s heart to help men.  He has two young boys and wants to raise them to love and serve God.

Laurel, Washington, Michael, Faith

Sweet, shy, young Faith was there every day with her baby daughter.  She has much to offer the young women that come to Agape Care Net.

Rachel, quiet and taking everything in, because of her close relative’s experience, wants to help post abortive women learn to forgive and be set free in Jesus’ name.

Rachel and Maurine

Valarie got to be there the first day and she is the lab tech.  She is kind, smart and thoughtful. She also has a little baby girl and is still going to school studying microbiology.  She wants to use what she knows to help, too.

Dorine and Valerie

Dear Michael, a young man that does the photography, video and works in the techy shop next to Agape Care Net.  He also wants to minister to young men. He is joyful and contagious in his faith.

Maurine Luvanga directs Agape Care Net, speaks at the schools about sexual integrity and healthy relationships and meets with the pregnant ladies who come into the clinics.

Reuben Luvanga also directs the clinic with his wife. If you have read the Agape Kenya blog, you will know him well.  He has many roles and does them all with quiet fortitude and confident strength that only comes from the One he relies on, Jesus Christ.

The last hour of my and Laurel’s time with these precious saints was a ‘sweet’ celebration with chocolate, of course, and spicey ginger cookies (Frank’s choice ☺). We asked if they would share their stories of how they came to trust Christ as their Savior.  Wow, some were so incredibly hard and here they are loving and serving others because God loved and saved them.

Left to right: Laurel, Priscila, Kim, Washington, Faith, Maurine

Lastly, Maurine and Washington shared how much it meant to all of them that we came from so far to really and truly help and bless them.  OK, so we shed a few tears. We just can’t stop thanking God for such a time as this.  Laurel and I are in awe of our great and mighty, kind and loving, gracious and forgiving God.

Monday, May 10, 2021

Bethel Training - Majengo


Jay McBee and Pastor Reuben Luvanga held the first of a series of one-day Biblical Counseling Trainings at Bethel Holy Spirit Church in Vihiga County on Monday.  The pastor, Bishop Peter Asava heard of Biblical Counseling through another pastor who attended the November 2020 Biblical Counseling conference in Matate taught by API. 


API Associate Reuben Luvanga recently started teaching the leaders at Bethel along with neighboring pastors the API/IBCD curriculum.  To expand this new effort, Jay McBee, came to do teachings on God's purpose in trials and how to fight temptation.  The teachings were enthusiastically received and many of the group now intend to enter into the API/IBCD year-long biblical counseling training. 




API, through the generous gift of P&R Publishing, presented gift copies of the Paul Tripp book Instruments in the Redeemers Hands to the attendees of the conference. Bishop Asava is now looking forward to having many of the people in his church become trained counselors and to start a biblical counseling center at Bethel Holy Spirit Church.

API is also pleased that two of API Associate Pastors John Kibisu and Aniset Monyi are joining the biblical counseling teaching team and along with Jay McBee and Reuben Luvanga will be teaching  the Biblical Counseling Conferences in Bondo and Matete.