Every Tuesday morning at 7 am for the past seven years, David Graf,
Mary Springer and I have been on a prayer call together for thirty
minutes. Other people have come and gone during the seven years,
joining in here and there but the three of us have been committed to
this every Tuesday morning. On Mondays, I always email out a list of
prayer requests related to the work in Kenya (or Ghana or Liberia prior
to Kenya). We get on at 7 am, Tuesday morning; we have no conversation
with each other but enter immediately into prayer and usually, once we
say amen, right at 7:30 am, we go on our way. We have grown very close
to each other in the process of doing this and I am so thankful for my
brother and sister in Christ and how they have bathed this work in
prayer.
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| Map of where the Discipling Marketplace Leaders Trainers are living in Kenya. |
Recently
I sent out the list of current classes that are going on in Western
Kenya and they asked me to pray through that list, especially as I knew
more of the details (and how to pronounce the names) a bit better. I
realized as I prayed through this that it is pretty exciting to have
this many classes going on simultaneously and that the prayers that have
been uttered regularly have been answered as we have been seeking to
join God on the work He is doing.
So I wanted to ask you to join in prayer as well for these groups as you have the time and/or inclination:
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| Alexie - please pray for her healing! |
- Vihiga
Class - This class was started by Alexie who traveled two hours each
way by public transport to Kitale when she learned about this class.
She is a member of the Friends Church and knew that her town of Vihiga
needed this ministry. She became a trainer and started a class with
twelve participants from several churches in Vihiga. They are going to
session ten (out of twelve) this week Tuesday. Unfortunately, Alexie
broke her leg recently which caused a bit of delay in her class but they
are moving again. Alexie has sent one member to the current Training
of Trainers in Kitale so that she can have someone teaching the classes
with her
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| Pastor Moffat and family |
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| ARK Real Estate Training |
- Pastor
Moffat Weru (I wrote about him before - he had the fire at his business
and recently received a check from the insurance company - praise God!)
has started a class at his church, Faith Tabernacle in Kitale. This is
a big class of 53 participants, involving seventeen other area
churches. They are moving to session five (out of twelve) this Friday.
- Ndalu
Friends Church is taking on session 7 come Friday
14. This has 12 participants and was started by Alfayo Lundu who has
been passionate about this work spreading throughout the Friends
Denomination. This class has struggled with coordination and needs
ongoing support and prayers.
- Friends Church Kitale (the
church where this work was originally started) is training twelve
members of an up and coming real estate company called ARK Real Estate,
who is building affordable housing. Several of their key members have
already gone through the class, but they decided they wanted to go
through together as a company to enrich the experience. We gave them a
loan for $6000 which they paid back easily in six months and they
continue to grow. We are thankful to the pastor of the Friends Church
for being willing to serve as a chaplain to this company! They started
session 1 on February 1, 2015
- A new class started at
the Christian Reformed Church in Chebarus (outside Kitale) on February
7, 2015. There were 26
participants in attendance and the trainer is David Masai, who has his
Masters in Divinity, went through our ToT, and is a pastor in that
church.
- Grace Way Chapel with Pastor Apollo is planning to begin
a
class soon. The church is in Kitale. Alfred Kibairu recently spoke to
the businesspeople in the church where they were having a seminar.
- Caroline Sudi is planning a second class at AGC in Kitale. She is
yet to come up with the dates.
- The second class in Kakamega is
still waiting on the commissioning due to the motor vehicle accident of
the senior pastor, Dr. Jackson Wambua. We join with them in prayer for
his healing.
- There are other classes being planned in Kisumu, Webuye and Luanda Vihiga.
- Alfred Kibairu is currently training seven new Trainers from three new churches to begin this work as well.
It
is so exciting to see this multiplication taking place! I leave for
Kenya this Friday where I look forward to looking in personally on a few
of these classes. I will be there in Kenya for three weeks and will be
teaching an Accounting for Pastors Class while I'm there, as well as
working to fill two positions for the Discipling Marketplace Leaders
office: the Western Kenya Regional Director and the Program
Coordinator. Please pray for us to find the right people!
Additionally, I will be joined by JoAnn Swart, from Madison Square Church and Marketplace Chaplains USA,
who will be teaching a class on Marketplace Chaplaincy at the Africa
Theological Seminary in Kitale, Kenya. The pastors have been asking for
this class and I am thrilled that JoAnn was willing and able to come to
teach it! Please pray for JoAnn to have safe travel, and healthy and enjoyable time, and fruitful discussions in her class!
