January-February 2015 Prayer Letter

MISSIONS GIVING

We arrived in Kenya on the 1st of January 1998, and later that year God allowed us to begin working with a small group of believers in Nakuru. A year later on the 5th of December 1999, the Grace Bible Baptist Church was organized out of the Cleveland Baptist Church.   After the church was organized we scheduled our first missions conference and introduced to the church the Biblical mandate of giving to missions.  We taught and preached about the Faith Promise plan of missions giving, believing that God could use this young church to give to missions.  Through the years as the church’s burden grew other ways of giving to missions were also introduced. We just concluded our 15th year of missions giving and by the grace of God the church gave an all time high of 1,468,098 Kenyan Shillings to missions, which is nearly $17,000.  The average income of people in the church is about $150 per month.  Many in the church have made a real sacrifice to give to missions and God is using that sacrifice to allow the church to reach into the Regions Beyond with the Gospel. It is both a blessing and humbling to be involved with a church who has learned to give sacrificially to missions, even amongst their poverty. 

INDEPENDENT BIBLE BAPTIST CHURCH OF BUJUMBURA, BURUNDI

I have had the opportunity to visit the new church plant in Burundi three times since the first service.  Recently, they added a Sunday Evening service to their schedule and I was blessed with the opportunity to preach that service.  The building that was put up is only half finished, and it was good to see that they have begun giving towards the completion of their building.  Several more layers of stone have been added over the last few months.  We believe as this church continues to mature it will be a strong lighthouse in Burundi.

KENYA

Although God has expanded greatly our outreach into the Regions Beyond us the work in Kenya continues to go forward.  We are training nearly fifty preachers in the Rift Valley Baptist College, the Grace Baptist Academy has over 300 students, and we have two men being trained for missions work in the Regions Beyond Academy of Missions.  Many other ministries also continue to go forward.  Recently, I was able to travel and visit some of the other churches that have been started out of the Grace Bible Baptist Church and also visit with some of the churches whose pastors have been trained in the Bible College.  It is a blessing to see all that God has allowed to be done throughout Kenya.

FURLOUGH

A reminder that we will be on a short furlough from February through May.  We will be updating our family picture, prayer card, and video presentation which we will make available to anyone who desires them.  Thank you for your faithful support.

 VIDEO MADE FOR THE 2014 GRACE BIBLE BAPTIST CHURCH MISSIONS CONFERENCE

THIS VIDEO IS ABOUT THE NEW CHURCH PLANTED IN BUJUMBURA, BURUNDI