TRAINING LEADERS
Monday, February 26, 2024—Tasha (Nairobi), Kenya Question: If there is a woman in the church who is pretending to have a demon. Disrupting the services and stealing the pastor’s time, how should we handle that? Just one of the simple, straight-forward questions from the Q & A time of the pastors training conference today.
Of course, my conservative baptist crew was right on top of the demonic pretending question! No joking, that was a real question today. But, it was imbedded in about a dozen others that allowed us to draw on the vast experience of our U.S. team and our well trained Kenyan pastors.
Three points and a poem will not get it done with this group.
Our team taught so clearly and compassionately. I watched as God meshed the hearts of the Kenyan leaders and the American team. Our “no segregation rule” at dinner and van rides may have paid the biggest dividends of anything we did.
Every day, our U.S. team had 90 minutes of driving through Nairobi traffic to visit with our Kenyan staff. It is the off the platform time when you really get to know a leader.
This team is rich in both content and compassion. There was a depth to the teaching that is not normal in any leadership conference, U.S. or Africa.
Our Kenyan pastors saw first hand the value of study and discipline by mature teachers and preachers. The centrality of Jesus and the Gospel was echoed in every teaching unit.
No one sitting in the Tasia church could leave the same as they came. What more can we ask for?
Even though exhausted tonight at dinner, the table conversation was lively and real. True ministry is birthed in and through relationships. First, with Christ. And then, with His people. I have witnessed, first hand, some of the truest ministry moments I have experienced in these 21 years of work in East Africa.
At the very least, there is a new team of advocates for our Kenyan pastors and their wives. Now they are not faces in a prayer letter or journal. Now, there are hugs and smiles, memories of squeezed hands, and stories of families, home, and ministry. I asked the Lord for encouragement for my co-laborers in Kenya. He answered that prayer in spades!
It is a much too short night tonight. The alarm is set for 4 A.M. A short flight up the Great Rift Valley to Kitale and the vast Seeds Ministry (Richard & Hellen Makani) and the Mt. Elgon Training Center.The team is tired. So am I.
The beautiful late brunch that awaits us at the Rehema Guest House will be a pleasant reprieve for weary travelers. The pace will shift from the push and pull of the Nairobi urban press to the gentle, lush tree lined roads of the Kitale countryside. I’m not a city boy. I love the country and country folks. I’m headed to a region that feels like home to me and this ministry.
Teresa is holding up well. She is dragging a bit tonight, but so are we all.
Her slight slip getting out of the van yesterday yielded only a bruise on her shin. No swelling or excessive pain. She never mentioned it today with all of the walking through the Tasia school and the hours of sitting in the conference.
Teresa is tough, but that is not the answer to how she has made it so well. God is honoring your prayers and her obedience. The favor of God!
But, Teresa doesn’t “do mornings”. Not ever! She is not going to be happy getting up in the middle of the night and getting on board a small turbo-prop airplane. We need that supernatural sleep thing again tonight. And, Teresa needs a calm spirit to override her dislike of early morning and small airplanes.
There is a whole new crew needing exactly what the crew we left at dinner tonight has enjoyed. Love. Prayer. Hugs. Understanding. The Word of God preached in power and taught with clarity. The anointing God gave for Nairobi will not suffice for Kitale. New day, new ministry…same wonderful God!
Thanks for the prayers, emails, and texts. God has surely gifted me with some of the most encouraging friends and partners a missionary could ever ask for. You are loved.
Your prayers = our fuel.
By, grace, your brother, Mike Curry
Eph. 6:19-20