Two Conferences with the Theme: The High Calling of God in Christ. Also: ministry in three additional local conferences; and support for the orphanage, middle school, and high school around Homa Bay.
Greetings to all! We continue to visit the southwest area in Kenya (near Lake Victoria) around Homa Bay and Migori. As you know from previous updates, this area is mostly poor, but the people are warm and receptive. Above all, the Lord has opened a door for the gospel of the Kingdom to people to that area, and we want to be faithful in our response.
Previous activity: Dan and I, together with Joshua Rozario, originally visited the area in 2019, and Dan and I returned in 2020. Our host minister, and fellow laborer, was Julius Midodo, who is a leader in the PEFA (Pentecostal Evangelical Fellowship of Africa) denomination, and also an international elder with Unto Full Stature Ministries. Then COVID hit, and I was the only one of us available for travel when restrictions lifted. Visits are generally limited to February/March and July/August because these are the dry seasons. We usually schedule two conferences during a visit to maximize our efforts. We do conferences rather than meetings at local churches because that allows us the opportunity for a more comprehensive message. Going alone is not ideal, both for support and confirmation of the message (by two or more), but it was clear that God was opening this door.
On this trip, as well as the previous trip in February/March, I was not alone. This time the ministry was provided by Joseph Rozario (Bangalore, India, and another UFSM international elder), Mike Kelly (a medical doctor from Washington state, a very faithful man and a close friend of mine for over fifty years), and me (South Carolina). Julius Midodo acted as host minister and translator, as well as opening up his home for over two weeks.
The situation there has changed dramatically. Julius used to be an area bishop with fourteen local churches receiving their direction from him. His excellent leadership provided us with many opportunities to minister, but the regional leadership has always been slow in embracing the message. However, Julius has now been assigned as the regional bishop (and I’m sorry, I can’t remember the name of the region), leading several area bishops, sixty-one churches (at last count), and over 5000 church members. He has a vision to completely transform the region with the gospel of the kingdom. Because the area is so poor, there is rarely internet access except through very spotty cellular coverage. This means that we will have to continue to provide “boots on the ground” support for the foreseeable future. My desire is to train their leaders to bring up a new generation of preachers and leaders that will be able to spread the kingdom gospel to other areas in Kenya and in East Africa.
This trip was intense. (It always seems so!) There were two major conferences, each lasting four days (plus a closing meeting at the local hosting church), followed by three additional local conferences with an opportunity to give one to three messages). We also had the opportunity to help solve practical problems.
- First conference: Ariri PEFA district (Nicolas Odema was the host bishop), Aug 7 through Aug 11.
- Second conference: Lower Nyokal district (brother Richard was the host bishop), Aug 14 through Aug 18.
- Local conference ministry, Aug 19 through Aug 21.
- Helping with practical problems with the Joy Haugesund school and orphanage. Mike Kelly really took the lead here. He is an excellent problem solver and identified issues and drove them to solutions, including: setting up surgery for an infant with hydrocephalus (water on the brain), helping to identify costs for upgrading the school and orphanage with dormitories and a new kitchen, and helping set up high school graduates with computer access so they can search for affordable college options.
Each of the two major conferences provided ten to twelve ministry opportunities. As usual,
Joseph, Mike, and I have different speaking styles and backgrounds, but we deliver the same message and we flowed well together. And Julius offered much more than simple, faithful translation: he was able to expand/clarify in areas where the message was not easily understandable in the culture of that part of Africa.
The two major conferences consisted of some leaders that had heard our messages from earlier trips, together with a larger number of brothers and sisters who were hearing the kingdom message for the first time. The number of messages means that we were able to build upon a theme, but there is a real challenge because not everyone can attend the meetings for the full conference. For that reason, there is a lot of review during the meetings, and you never get as far as you would like to. Generally, the people have an understand of the gospel of salvation, but had no idea about how to help a church grow in any way but bringing in more people. So, we preach the gospel of the kingdom, where the character and person of Jesus Christ is revealed to his people so that the Body of Christ grows “unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ” (Eph 4.13). As a group, the people were bound up in religious rules and didn’t know why they were saved. As I said above, the people are mostly poor, and life is hard: they needed to know God would provide for them and that heaven waited for them, but they didn’t see any real purpose to their lives beyond that.
All of that changed for many of them during the conferences. They began to understand better the life of Christ within us; what God’s original purpose for man was (and still is); what God wants to accomplish in this age and how He intends to use the church to do so; how and why we can seek and understand the mysteries of the kingdom of God; and how giving our lives to Him in fulness (through seeking first the kingdom) brings them heaven on earth now. This was received with gladness by many. Especially in the second conference, there was an atmosphere of expectancy that went beyond what we had seen before. We are always looking for a small group of people that really get it, and we were not disappointed. One instance bears repeating: one man, a young pastor that I estimated to be about thirty, came to me and said that he knew this was the message that would transform his church, and he needed to be equipped to lead his people. There were other, similar, responses. Most importantly, Julius said that the younger people really received the messages, and he believes that this will bear much fruit.
Next up: Julius proposes a regional leadership conference in February. We tried this before (in February of this year), and while we believe there was much accomplished, the leadership was divided, and Julius’ voice, although respected, was only one of several. This has changed with Julius’ new position. He is an excellent leader of leaders, and the new region is much more of one mind.
Personally, I believe I need to approach these meetings a little differently. First, this was the longest and hardest trip I have been on, and there were three additional days of delay in my return trip. I continue to learn what airlines to use and avoid, and how much rest I need (particularly before the first conference starts). Perhaps more importantly, I need to put much of what I speak in writing, so that I can leave the outlines and scripture references with them. I’ve tried recording the meetings, but I usually fail (miserably) to record some of the messages. Joseph, Dan, and I, and others such as Mike, may not always be around. But as Jesus said, the field is white with harvest, but the laborers are few.
To those that have prayed for these (and other) ministry trips: Thank You! Now that we have a scattering of churches and current (and future) leaders, I believe there will be more trips to support them in their growth. A great door (and effectual, I hope) has been opened in this area. Please continue to support this effort in prayer.
I’ll leave you with a few pictures and videos below so you can see these precious folks for yourself.
Julius, Gary, Joseph, and Dr. Mike:
Joseph, Gary, and etc.
Please let me know if you have any questions. May God richly bless you in His purposes,
Gary Simmons
