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I subscribe to the Daily Dig hosted by the Daily Plough and get a short tidbit every morning from some amazing saints whose seasoned lives point down the road to a more vibrant, transforming faith.  This morning they posted this quote from a twenty-three year old, written in the 1500s from a dungeon where he had been imprisoned for his faith:

Love is like fire – When it is first kindled in a man, small troubles and temptations smother and hinder it; but when it really burns, having kindled the man’s eagerness for God, the more temptations and tribulations meet it, the more it flares, until it overcomes and consumes all injustice and wickedness.  (Love is Like Fire by Peter Riedemann)

This image could apply to a lot of conversations I had over the weekend in Phoenix.  Living in the Father’s love is a growing reality and as we’re growing to engage that love, it will help if we have an honest sense of how strong that love is in us at any particular time.  In the early days it can feel fragile as it succumbs easily to religious condemnation, gets challenged by events in our lives we don’t understand, or can even be swallowed up by our own distractions and indulgences.  Like a small fire in the wind, it may be difficult to sustain and it may be true that we’ll have to avoid some places and people where love in us is challenged or thwarted. 

But as we grow in the reality of a Father’s affection we discover that his love in us is the strongest force in the universe like a raging wildfire where the wind only makes it stronger.  Now it consumes the same influences that it sought to avoid so that we can be in those same places, or hang out with the same people.  No longer feeling challenged by their brokenness or judgment, we are free to love them as love finds its way toward justice, truth, and joy.   I used to think love was such a weak way to live in the world, and discovered that there is nothing stronger and nothing richer.  

So let love grow in you.  If you need to be careful for a season of those places where it is challenged, do so. But watch as that love begins to grow how free you’ll be in those settings that used to challenge you the most.  

What a powerful view of love, and a powerful observation by a twenty-three year old!  How I wish that were the predominant  heritage of the Anabaptist tradition from which Peter Riedemann came rather than their rigid theology.  I suspect most of our traditions had rich beginnings in people who came to discover and live in the depths of Father’s affection, only to have subsequent generations miss that reality and give more effort to systemitizing their beliefs than propogating his love.   Sad isn’t it?  Since it is only the ferocity of God’s love that changes a world, not all our doctrine or rituals.  

The intervention in North Pokot is well underway.  A couple of months ago our friends in Kenya discovered 120,000 tribal people who were being wiped out by a prolonged drought. Their economy has collapsed. They had no water and their unsanitary living conditions had allowed disease and death to run riot through their families.  No government services or NGOs have dared to go into this area because the need is overwhelming and the costs to transport supplies into that region too costly. 
Yet teams of volunteers from IGEM have gone there to build schoolrooms so the people can be educated, a dispensary for needed medications to be available to the sick, and to drill three wells to put water within a short walking distance of the people.  (If you want to read the details of their plight please see my earlier blog.)  Their compassion for their fellow countrymen amazes me and I’m blessed that through the contributions of many of you we were able to empower them to make a difference in so many lives.  Four schoolrooms are being constructed so their children, who have never had an education, can begin.  Uniforms have been donated and teachers have volunteered to go into that region to teach the students. A dispensary is rising that can provide needed drugs to the sick and infirm. They also hope eventually to get a van that will be able to take the medications out to people who are too sick to travel.  A pharmacist from Australia has volunteered to help in set up the dispensary and train the workers.

A geologist has identified three sites for wells and they are drilling now in hopes of putting a well within a short walking distance from the population.  One man in Texas donated $135,000 for all of that to happen as I reported earlier.  The pictures below document the process they are making.   But there have been cost overruns with a truck breaking down and other expenses of getting building materials into the region.  They will also need some ongoing funds to pay teachers and provide food for the schools, so the need continues.  

Your prayers are most welcome for the people in need and the volunteers who are in Pokot right now.  If you can and want to help financially you can direct it through Lifestream as contributions are tax-deductible in the US.  As always, every dollar you send goes to the need in Kenya.  We do not (nor do they) take out any administrative or money transfer fees.  If you would like to be part of this to support these brothers and sisters and see the gospel grow in this part of Africa, please see our Sharing With the World page at Lifestream. You can either donate with a credit card there, or you can mail a check to Lifestream Ministries • 1560 Newbury Rd Ste 1  •  Newbury Park, CA 91320. Or if you prefer, we can take your donation over the phone at (805) 498-7774.

The bricks arrive

The digging is handwork by volunteers

The footings are almost ready for the dispensary

The new foundation is complete

The geologist finds the best place to dig the wells

The drill truck arrives

The children were excited to get the new uniforms donated by Kenyans in Kitale

These pictures were taken more than a week ago.  I will post more when the team returns, hopefully with good news about the drills finding water and school starting in a place where they’ve had no schools before.  The people from IGEM in Kitale, whom we have been working with for more than seven years now, are making a profound difference in the life of this remote region and sharing the gospel to hungry hearts who have never heard about Jesus.  Awesome!  

I don’t know if I’ve ever booked a trip this late, but it’s been one I’ve been in discussions with for some time.  Well, it is finally happening the weekend of May 29-June 2.  There are a lot of personal engagements during this trip that I’m excited about and have been trying to schedule for some time.  

Over the weekend we’ll have two events that are open to anyone who would like to join us and meet some other folks who frequent the Lifestream or GodJourney websites:

• On Saturday we’re going to hold a couple of conversations about Living Loved, one at 2:30 pm and one at 6:30 pm.  In between we’ll be having a BBQ dinner and fellowship time.  
• On Sunday, I’m just going to hang out at home for a day of more personal converations between 10 am and 4 pm. Drop by any time if you want to connect. For those there around noon lunch will be provided.  

These will be at a home and possibly a park across the street if we need it in Gilbert, AZ.   You’ll need to RSVP to come so they can be prepared for you all.  My hosts are  Greg and Kim and you can get all the details from them.  You’re more than welcome at any or all of these proceedings!    

Our offices will be closed for the next week as Sara and I take a long-planned week away to celebrate our 39th wedding anniversary.  So there may be some delay in answering emails or filling orders during that time. We apologize for any inconvenience that might cause.  

We are really looking forward to this time away.  The last two years have brought continuing transformation to our love for each other and spending some time celebrating that will be fun.  I have so treasured the gift God gave me in Sara and could not conceive of navigating the past 39 years without her love, wisdom, integrity, and partnership in the life of Jesus. In every way she makes my life more—more joyful, more gracious, more engaging, more beautiful, more focused on Jesus, more settled in what’s real, more complete with wisdom and wonder.   I’m so glad that we arrive at this season of our lives in growing excitement in knowing each other and still learning what it means to love another person the way God wants them loved.  Marriage is a great place to learn that, because you cannot pretend to be what you are not when you’re together all the time.  And when you truly find that the one who knows you best loves you most, you no longer have to be guarded.  

When two young college kids fell in love over forty years ago neither of us could possibly imagine where life would have taken us and where our spiritual journeys would have gone.  Every anniversary is a reminder of how much further we’ve come on this journey and what grace God has given us to keep tracking together.  

I got an email the other day that expressed this joy of recognizing progress in her life by reading one of my books:  

Wayne, I just read the Jake book again for the 3rd time and realized how far I’ve come on this journey, without even realizing it. The 1st time I read it as someone who felt stuck in the institution, not knowing there is life outside of it. 2nd time was more of a lonely time in our lives, thinking our we doing it right? Maybe we were wrong for leaving. Doubting ourselves every now and then. I read it for the 3rd time this past week and realized we are now on the other side of that, confident in this path that God has taken us on. And realizing it’s only going to get better, even with all the ups and downs of life. Thanks so much for writing and sharing what God puts in your heart! Our lives are changed because of it!

Isn’t that a great journey.  First she recognizes the pain of disillusionment and feeling stuck not knowing how to find life beyond it.  Then she read it during a time of transition where you’ve left what’s empty but comfortable unsure of what lies ahead. Finally she read it when her and her husband are finding life in the new creation, confident of God’s work in them.  The journey to gratefully dislillusioned needs all those points.  Waking up to the emptiness of negotiating life our own way or with religious systems is painful.  Breaking out of that and watching people you love mistrust your heart for God only adds to it.  But then finally you come into a wider space and realise that it has alll been worthwhile.   Having some touchstones that recur in our life enough to help us measure our progress are incredibly encouraging.   

I have that with Sara, over the past 39 years.  I also have it with Scripture.  Because I have read it constantly for the whole of my journey I ca

n see progress in my own life when I see how differently I perceive Scripture than how it was originally taught to me.  Passages that used to confuse make more sense inside the new creation of his love, and Scriptures that used to destroy my trust in God now expand it.  It has been a joy to learn to read it as a story of God’s redemption and not as a rule book for self-effort.  (If you want to know more about that, don’t write me, check out The Jesus Lens.  It’s free!)

I hope you, too, have some familar places that help you see what God is doing in your heart.  It helps to see progress and know that he is moving in us even if that seems slow and the circumstances that surround us are a mess.  And if it feels like you’re not making progress, don’t be discouraged, just lean into him.  You’re probably trying to do too much on your own, which doesn’t help.  Ask him to show you how to find his grace and his pace in your heart. 

Since I’ve come to see the church as an expanding set of relationships that share the life and love of Jesus, Sara and I have put all our eggs into the relational basket.  Instead of building things, we’ve connected with people and watched as he continues to knit together friends and friends of friends throughout the world.  I’ve simply trusted that all God wants to do in my life will grow out of the simple relationships he has given me with others.  I’m really amazed how far-reaching God’s work through relationships can go.  This has been a big affirmation of what God can do out of those relationships.  

I’ve been told so many times that if we don’t have large mission organizations, we wouldn’t be able to respond to the needs of the world.  But I’ve tried to get many to help us in the last couple of weeks with provision and wells in that region and have discovered that most are not looking for opportunities to help.  They are already overrun with them.  What they want is money to do projects they already want to do.  I also have so many emails from peope who’ve worked in the field or on staff with those organizations only to see how much money gets sucked up in fundraising and administration and how much they are hamstrung from really helping people by rules and demands from the home office.  

Who knew that eight years ago when we got involved with people in Kenya, that they would eventually come across a forgotten group of 120,000 tribesman in the northern reaches of Kenya that would need to be rescued from a severe drought?  And who knew that I knew enough people who would give over $62,000.00 in two weeks to bring food, water, and medicine to those people?  And who knew that our Kenyan brothers and sisters would be moved with compassion for these people and would want to return to build classrooms, a pharmacy, and dig some wells to help them build a more hopeful future for them and their children?  And who knew that at the time they connected, these people in Pokot would be fully disillusioned with praying and sacrificing to their ancestors who have not helped them from beyond the grave and would be open to finding a God who loves them? And who knew that I knew a man in Texas who would have the ability and the compassion to give $135,000.00 on short notice to fund those classrooms, pharmacy, and wells?  

I guess God did!

By the time I was able to relay the news to our friend in Kenya, they had already gone to bed and did not know of this gift last night.  This morning I received this email from Michael after they awakened.  

My brother since we left North Pokot, our intercessors team, all over IGEM territory, East and Central Africa, they have been praying, fasting and interceding towards our brothers and sisters in this region and even, the pastors who got the bicycles are among the team who are interceding for the Lord’s visitation to this region, since the Lord created the world, they have never seen, the miracles as the Lord did through medication, food, water and other things. So we appreciate God, through Lifestream for opening the heart to the oppressed community.  Many white missionaries, there are thousand in Kenya, but none who cares to reach the place like this.  This is amazing God and since I visit myself, I was really touched and even because of this region, even I forgotten to present Forkland school the slum where I have ministered the whole of my life but in order to present the need of brothers and sisters in this region.

So my Brother what is happening, is that the Lord has answered the prayers of our brothers and sisters in this region, because it will bring a shame to the god of Mountain Kadam and Mudeo, from now they will believe the God of Abraham, Jacob and Isaac and it will remain the live testimony and God be Glorified forever. The time I read this email, I was shocked….for what the Lord is doing, this is God’s provision, and the Holy Spirit convict me to read Isaiah 42:7-8-12, Jeremiah 29:10-11-12-13. These are the verses which I believe the Lord will be glorified to every creature.

Concerning yesterday, since I had to prepare the volunteers to go, you know what I shared with them?   That everybody needs to go to prayer and search the answer from God and provision and in the morning before I checked the Mail one volunteer rang to me and said, “My Brother Michael, the Lord has confirmed that he has provided all necessary need for this people, and not very long God will give us a surprise answer.”  After I got the message , I prayed and check the Mail, and I jumped out and immediately Thomas called that his wife has delivered a child in the night.  We came together in the office to lift the name of Jesus higher.  This is God’s doing, and Thomas called her daughter Sarah, for this kind of great love.

The geologist will be travelling from Nairobi, along with his team and the machine for detecting water underground, I thank God that, he will confirm. And the process needs to start soon as possible you will be informed.  About the school and dispensary, this work need to be started very quickly, I have again called the engineer this evening to tell them what the Lord has done and he has already communicated with the volunteer to arrange the trip next week as well as planning to purchase materials, ready for work, soon as the money indicate, so Brother the work will be well and every step you will be informed by writing and picture, for any step I would be consulting you along with Thomas for the better team work.   Send our greetings and appreciation to the brother who gave this support.

My heart is overwhelmed at this unfolding story and how God has brought so many things together for just “such a time as this.”  This is why my heart wants to keep encouraging people inside a relationship of affection with this Father, to connect with others in love, and participate together in the ways he works in the world.  I can’t wait to see how this story continues to unfold in days to come. I’ll keep you posted.  

I don’t ever want to stop being amazed. Some people think that faith sets our expectations with such certainty that we should not be surprised when God does something incredible.  I’m not personally partial to that tack.  I like praying and following my heart as it looks through a darkened glass trying to sort out what’s God’s purpose and Wayne’s preferences.  And I enjoy being constantly amazed with wonder and visceral gratefulness every time he makes himself known through moments large and small.  This day has pushed me over the edge with such awe and thankfulness that I am completely undone!

I recorded a podcast this morning (for tomorrow) and during part of it I update people on what our friends in Kenya hoped to do for the people in West Pokot that have been dying because of drought and unsanitary conditions. We helped finance a team to take relief water and food to them last month for $62,000.   But they came back with a vision on their heart to build four classrooms and a dispensary (pharmacy) there to help those dear people.  The cost of doing so would be $41,000.00.  They also wanted to drill three wells, with solar-powered pumps to provide water for them at a cost of $93,000.   I thought the $62,000 was a big deal, I had no idea how God would find us $135,000 for these projects.  

Two days ago I returned a phone call to someone in Texas who had called while I was on the east coast.  He asked me what I needed for Kenya and I told him about the classrooms and dispensary for which I already had a budget.  He said he would send me the money for that.  He asked what else we needed and I told him about the wells they wanted to drill, but I did not yet have a plan of how to do that or the costs involved.  He said let me know when I did.  Today he called me to tell me he and his wife wanted to pay for all the wells and would be sending me $93,000.00  

Before I was even able to make that need known, God had already supplied for it!  As I type this I am exploding with gratefulness at God’s provision for the people in West Pokot. The amount was overwhelming and my heart hurt for those suffering.  This gift will change their lives forever, saving many from certain death and carving out a hopeful future for them.  This whole process has opened them to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus.  If you haven’t read about it, check out the blog here.  

Generosity is a conduit for the kingdom, whether it means being able to give $135,000 to provide education, needed drugs, or water to 120,000 forgotten people in the bush of Kenya, or simply buying a $5.00 meal for a homeless person and offering them your friendship or volunteering to watch a distressed mother’s children while she takes a break.  Freely you have received, freely give.  The size is never what matters, only a heart that will put someone else’s need above my own preferences.  

Finishing up in Virginia this weekend, and have had an awesome time. Today’s podcast reflects on some of the experiences of my first week here.  I’m really excited about the folks that will be coming together this weekend.  I’m staying in the home of some amazing people who have weathered a deep tragedy in their own lives and have come out on the other side more whole, alive, and free in Jesus.  Their only daughter was murdered in the Virginia Tech massacre a number of years ago.  Out of a despicable tragedy, God has worked great life and mercy.  Plus we have people coming in tonight and tomorrow from all over.  

Editing the first chapter of Finding Church this morning, I thought I’d lift these paragraphs to share with you.  What if your discouragement is not due to the failures of humanity around you, but God inviting you into a wider and more fulfilling space?

If you share that same frustration I do in the disparity between the church as Scripture talks about her and what we see reflected in our religious institutions, you’re not alone.  You’re standing in a long line that includes the likes of Francis of Assisi, John Wycliffe, Martin Luther, John Wesley, and nameless others who dared to ask the difficult questions and struggled with the uncomfortable answers.    And just maybe your growing disillusionment is not the proof of his failing, but the evidence of his working. 

What if he is actually behind this move away from institutionalized Christianity as he invites people into a simpler and more effective way to express the reality of his family in the world?  What if that church has been growing in the world since the Day of Pentecost, and we’ve missed it not because it wasn’t there but because we were so distracted by human attempts to build our own version of church that we missed the more glorious church Jesus is building?  I know that may be difficult to consider if you’ve only known church as the sanctioned institutions that use the label.  But it may well be worth asking if you no longer feel at home in what you’ve believed to be the church.

The people I’ve met and the places I’ve been this past week only make me ever-more-certain this is so.

Last month we found out about 634 families who were starving to death in the northwest regions of Kenya, which is far beyond any government services or NGO outreach.  Through your generosity in prayer within two weeks we received almost $50,000 to share with them in this outreach to bring water, food, and a medical team into that region.  Below is the report I received from them and pictures (below) to accompany it.  It is a whale of a read!  It touched me very deeply, not only by what God did there, but by what God did here to bring the resources together to help them.  The challenges are great there, but the money we sent allowed some incredible volunteers to go up into that region and serve these people from a very primitive culture, not just to relieve their suffering, but help carve out a better future for them. Enjoy this!  It’s incredibly powerful and a wonderful insight into a very small corner of the world.  

I.G.E.M, Living Loved mission camping in Northern parts of Kenya
Mathew 25:31-40
April 14-23, 2014

We started our journey with, the convoy of vehicles, which was supported by the Kenyans volunteers. After hearing that the brothers and sisters from oversees have stretched dearly their hands towards the Kenyan families who were in need. These alerted them make them attention for what is taking place in Northern parts. We didn’t expect to be accompanied with huge number of volunteers but we didn’t expect to serve more than 12000 people.

We budgeted for 614 families and other more 231 were added walking from far different places, some of them reach in the night and some came when sick. These added to our budget and because of this we extended more days due to huge number of people.

Our doctors and nurses work tirelessly for seven days without resting; this are amazing grace. Other volunteers team were transporting maize to the villages using the bicycles. Our hiring truck for transporting food went ahead of us two days before we reach, leaded by brother Emmanuel Loriono and Brother Michael Wamukota, escorted by local security and we met when the local arrangement has been done, so it eased our work to serve them.
We depart on 14th at 03:00 a.m and we arrived on 15th in the morning, immediately we started the work for the first village and we took three days. Second we started at night and we took more three days and we went to another village again and took two days where we met other added families, in these last villages we served more and unexpected numbers of people,.

In the first trip, the road was bad and we decided to walk 15 km down the steep slope, after we reached their the local government received us in a high note.  They said that it is God who visited them because no one who has done these things for them especially in this remote and interior place.  No NGOs who has penetrated in these areas.  We got the people camped already because they saw food before we arrived, they jumped singing and rejoicing , interpretation of their language, they sing that we have you God through your people for visiting our village.  The old people were remaining in the village due to no strength and affected by hunger, we decided to send our volunteers team taking the food to the villages as you may seen in the pictures, the treatment were taking place, even during the night people are still coming. And even old people our nurses visited them in their village for treatment.

About the water we were told and we saw there is one NGO sponsored by drill water for more than 40 km from the place we were, the women can walk for that km to fetch water. We were also told, since the sun is hot in the region the women walked as a team as from 07:00p.m and return to the village 09:00 a.m in the morning, it means that two and fro they walk 80km. and they utilize the water for three days for 20L, remember one family is not having less than 15 people, it means that they cannot wash their hands using water, they cannot wash any utensil but for utensil they use animals urine, these is risks areas I never experienced in my life.

Because of these, many families died because of disease and more children affected by marasmus for the lack of food and nutrients. And when members of their family died they throw in the bushes, for three days or four wild animals e.g. hyena and wild dog eats the body. And for these reason, there is outbreak of various diseases. In those areas also there are no toilets, people just go anywhere and they don’t fear anybody or feel shame.

There is no hospital around, they rely on indigenous plants and roots, we tried to inquire if it cures but they told us, that sometimes it is risk because they can vomit and diarrhea for four days and those who succeed in that process get healed and those not they died, so we asked them how they feel about the treatment and the hospital, and they comment that they feel good. One young man who can spoke little Swahili told us that, they were counted among the animals because no one cares.

About food, we asked them how they survived in all these years.  This young man makes us to laugh and he said “he read somewhere in the book of Daniel, that meshack, shadrack and Abednego survived by eating little water and millet and he added and said that Jesus man cannot lived just for the bread but just through the word of God, which means they live by the ability of the grace of God. They said again, sometimes they can boil some roots mingling with the honey and they just count a day.

About the cattle, they said that their life is the cattle, they eat blood, milk and survived on meat , and during three years back there is persistent drought many cattle died and goats, so they are blaming the drought has contributed to their trouble but we ask them, “how do you understand about God” and they said that, “they have tired about their god who doesn’t hear them and bring the rain and they said again that every year they must bring goats and cattle for sacrificial but three backs their god has not answer them, so now their congratulating the God who is called Jesus Christ because they have seen food, water and medicine from other people who came from other region came and embrace them.

One old man told the team, that he will never believe that God till he sees the flowing water, from the drying ground pointed with his staff. And said again if we get the water we will get the life to our families, animals and it will be end of our suffering.  He added we will a shame their ancestors whom they have worship in Mount Kandam in all generation.  We asked him how many families do you have? And he said I have five wives with more than 37 children. Have you educated your children? And said for what benefit? And he makes us to laugh, what is the school? Is the school brought water, and then if it is that I will let my children to learn.

General long-term vision for these regions: 

We have more than 110 villages which have not been reached by anyone else, some they don’t want to be identify because of their external attack from the neighboring communities, because of this they suffer a lot. So if God’s open ways here’s what we hope to do:

 

• Wells.  If these villages can get one bore hole each can serve about three hundred families
• Dispensaries.  if five villages can get one dispensary it will can serve more 1500 families from one village to the other is approximately 15km away and for them these km are very near. We need to buy  the drilling machine and it’s truck, compressor and all facilities belong for drilling machine.   After the boreholes have been drilled, we will need to be accompanied with qualified volunteers, builders/mason. They will build the stream and fixing the pipes and water pumps in order even a small child can be able to access water easily. And after finishing one borehole we extend to another one, so the work of building the borehole will need wire mesh, pipes and iron bars, waterproof and cement. Buying the drilling it will be cheaper compared to hiring, because hiring for drilling one borehole is about 2.5m Kenyan shilling equivalent to $30,000 USD and this can be hired from NGOs and drilling company in Kenya.
• School.   We have large and huge number of children in every village and remember, even the people of age 14 have not gone to school, but below 12 years it will good for them to join nursery and class one and they are ready to study.
• Toilets.  We prefer if one family can get one toilet, it will be safer for them or we make for the community of three hundred families we dug 10 toilets with four doors each. And every school we dug three toilet, one for the teacher and two children.
• Development.   People in these areas are still behind like early 18 century, they don’t know about development and according to geographically some of the families, their children are being identified and being educated by family members who were more civilized and we can use them to interpret to their language hire them to wducate their children, because they understand the native language and their challenges, but the site of dispensaries we can do the same and have the volunteers from other region to go and assist them
• Polytechnic.  We can start the polytechnic and have sewing machine, carpentry tools, bakery items, and masonry.   They are very good for handcrafting and we can make the market for other region, so that they can sale their commodities.  Their young boys and girls, they are very brave to learn things, so the polytechnic can be good gift to them and this can change the old way of thinking and pursuing things to new generation.

About starting out pre-school in these regions.   The first community we visited, since the land was owned by the community Elders, it is under the observation and protected by the community, so the first village , they sit on April 22, 2014 with our team representative one day before we leave to Kitale and they called the local chief government representative and they have drafted officially the agreement between IGEM and the community, they have offered to us five acres of land freely in order for us and our partnering team to set up pre-school, dispensary, Drilling water and polytechnic if necessary and all three village has done so, they wrote the agreement in Swahili language. They took us as a sign of appreciation to God, and they gave me the tradition seat as the represent of the church, according to their culture and they said that my God will be their God and our people will be their people.

They have given us the full freedom to walk in these communities in liberty and confidence. Also they have given us 20 youths to come and build relationship as well as sharing the word of God for one month and a half as from July up to the middle of August, so we request if anybody wants to share with them, through teaching materials you are free to share. All of them they know Swahili and local language; we shall be able to interpret English for them.  I learned these through Brother Wayne, that it is good to build relationship with the small group and teach them, instead of huge group, I belief if we can able to stay with these young people for that moment, it will be more effective than sending the team to go and work there. Among them, six of them we gave bicycles and bibles. Our Kenyan volunteers were sympathetic after they saw, very big help you supported our brothers and sisters in these regions, the one who gave truck to carry our facilities pledged to donate sweater while other volunteers pledged to buy uniform for all pupils and they will bring these uniform in the first week of May.  The told us the name of the village is called Catalasia in English is tick, which bites animals and I ask them do you like the name?   they said no? They said choose the name of the village, and I renamed it Java, and they became happy about the name.  One of the volunteers bought ten iron sheets as the start of the school. This is how this school was born. So as God provide the school need to be open 1May 19, 2014. So we went with three volunteers who have volunteers to teach the school, they promise to teach till we prepare the native teachers, “I ask them will you manage to stay in desperate areas? Yes. Why not!  These love people and we need to feel and encouraged them that they are loved too. Apart from this three, one lady from the local area arises and says I will also assist as a teacher in this school; she is trained and qualified teacher.

We have approximated over 200 children who are ready to join the school, which will be launching officially with four teachers. Right now we need to have 100 iron sheet, 20,000 bricks, 150 bags of cements, before we drilled our borehole, we need to buy one motorbike for transport water for the school. 70 Desks and black board, textbook, exercise books, pens, pencils and other stationary, feeding program, breakfast and lunch in the evening they return back to their respective villages, and little support for the teachers and staff, dinging toilets and kitchen.  The local people have agreed to provide five acres of land, they will be clearing the thorny pushes and they will be involved in construction provided they eat till the school will be finished. For all the project, if we start with the school, dispensary and drilling water, then other will follow later it will be grateful.

 

Michael Wafula

I am moved by how much these Kenyans who know great need are giving freely to other Kenyans more desperate than they are.  I don’t know if God will provide enough resource through the people who read this page and listen to the podcast.  Maybe in a network of friends and friends of friends God will allow us to tap enough resource to get some wells there as well as dispensary and schools.  I have no idea what all that means yet, but I’m willing to put it before the Lord alongside my brothers and sisters and see what Father provides. 

Your prayers are most welcome for the people in need and the IGEM people who are in West Pokot right now.  If you can and want to help financially you can direct it through Lifestream as contributions are tax-deductible in the US.  As always, every dollar you send goes to the need in Kenya.  We do not (nor do they) take out any administrative or money transfer fees.  If you would like to be part of this to support these brothers and sisters and see the gospel grow in this part of Africa, please see our Sharing With the World page at Lifestream. You can either donate with a credit card there, or you can mail a check to Lifestream Ministries • 1560 Newbury Rd Ste 1  •  Newbury Park, CA 91320. Or if you prefer, we can take your donation over the phone at (805) 498-7774.

Here are some pictures from their outreach:

Medical station where doctors and nurses offered treatment

The joy of food reaching a distant village by bike and a woman who collapsed of dehydration and malnourishment before she could reach the staging area

The starging area for food and medical care

Some of the volunteers expressing their appreciation for those who gave money to help this happen.

Lined up for help and a woman’s gratefulness

Some of the children in need of a school

Thanks to all of you who by prayer or financial gift, helped this take place.  You have no idea of the lives you helped save and the joy you brought to some very desperate people.  

It’s time to catch another big bird out of Los Angeles.  Tomorrow I’m of to Maryland and Virginia for some conversations about this amazing life we have in Christ.  I haven’t done this in awhile and am looking forward to the people I’m going to meet and the life we’ll share together.  

Before I go, I thought I’d leave you with an excerpt from the book I’m working on, Finding Church:  What If There Really Is Something More.  One of my hopes with this book is that once again the idea of the church captures our heart, not as the source of pain and legalism, but as a spotless bride Jesus is assembling from around the world. We’ve been so focused on the church man builds, that many of us miss the one Jesus is building.  It is my hope that many of us will come to see that the longing in our heart for real community is the call of God to be part of that bride.  

I’m not advocating for an isolated, everyone-is-a-church-to-themselves idea.  The church takes her expression in relationships we have with others who are also following him—local friendships as well as international connections as he knits the wider body together.   We’ll first see it reflected in conversations where Jesus makes himself known.  Some of those conversations will grow into more enduring connections in friendships that become part of the fabric of our lives as we serve, encourage, and grow together.  These friendships will lead to others and out of that network of friends and friends of friends, God will have all the resource he needs to invite us to agreement in prayer and collaborative actions to fulfill his purposes around us.

Can it really be that simple?  This is perhaps the greatest stumbling block to people seeing the church for what she is.  It’s too simple, they think, or too easy.  So they put their trust in the vast array of discordant institutions instead of the work of Jesus.  As we’ll see connecting is difficult only because it is far easier than we dare to believe.  In fact, you probably have those growing connections with people, even in the congregation you attend.  I’m only suggesting that your interaction with them expresses more freely the life of the church than sitting in a pew watching the staged activity up front.

So we are going to have to make a distinction in our minds between the church that humanity has attempted to build for two thousand years, and the community of the new creation that Jesus is building. They are not the same, though they can gloriously overlap on occasion.  It’s just that our conformity-based structures cannot produce the internal transformation necessary for the church to take shape among us. 

Years ago a friend offered me a challenge.  “Why don’t we only use the term ‘church” the way Paul talks about her in the Scriptures?  Let’s call the church what he calls the church and not be distracted by the institutions that use the term for something less than the reality.”  It hasn’t been easy.  Common usage trips me up all the time, but I do think the word is worth preserving as a term of endearment so that as we read the Scriptures it will evoke the church Jesus had in mind.   I’m going to endeavor to do that here.  Rather than use the term for any collection of Christians that meet together in an established system, I’ll use the term church to describe the family of God, which Jesus is putting on display in the world.  When I talk about Sunday morning institutions, I’m going to use the word congregations or fellowships.  When, because of popular usage, I have no choice but to use the word ‘church’ (such as ‘church split’) for that which is not truly the church, I’ll set it off with quotes. 

For the past twenty years I have been privileged to be in a growing conversation with people all over the world who have lost confidence that an institution can provide the environment the church of Jesus Christ needs to flourish in our day.  Some of those have already left their congregations in search of a better home.  Many others who share the same concerns are still in them, either because they are trying to make the best of a situation for which they see no plausible alternative or because they don’t want to risk separation from family and friends.  Many of these are pastors and elders who know better than anyone else the constant struggle between institutional needs and living the priorities of Jesus’ kingdom. 

Those of us who’ve already left did so either because we were pushed out for asking the wrong questions or we left because we could no longer continue to serve the demands of an institution that seemed so at odds with the passion growing in our hearts.  None of us did so easily, having spent decades serving in local congregations and engaged in multiple efforts to reform them.  In the end we left not to abandon our faith, but to explore that faith on a more vibrant journey than our congregations would allow.

I am not writing this book for those who are comfortable in the institutions we’ve inherited in the 21st century, but for those who have the nagging feeling that what we call church today can’t possibly express what Jesus promised.  If it doesn’t, how can we recognize and engage the reality of Jesus’ church as she is already growing in the world?  

I have so apprecited the vantage point I’ve had over the past twenty years to watch this flock come together.  No, it isn’t all that visible for people looking for something splashy, but if you’re looking for the transformation that is going on as people are learning to live in his affection, and seeing the relationships he is connecting all over the world, his work is breathtaking.  Of course he wouldn’t do it like we would do it.  His ways are far better.  I hope this book will stir people’s hearts and open their eyes to a wonderful reality going on in the world.  

The book is finally coming together and I hope to be finished with it soon.  Right now I’m polishing some of the language, tieing up a few loose ends, and still trying to lose about twelve thousand words so there is less chaff and more wheat!  Or so I hope!  

I got a phone call a few weeks ago from an old friend asking if I’d be willing to speak at a conference for writers and film makers in Visalia, CA on June 20 and 21.  The Tellit Conference is a two-day conference where aspiring professionals who desire to use their media talents and passions to make a difference in the world can meet and learn from professionals with proven track records.  It will convene in Visalia, CA June 20-21 and is hosted by Fresno Pacific University. It’s not really my deal to speak at conferences like this, but I felt nudged to do it mostly to help people who want to tell their stories learn from the experiences I’ve had in these ever-changing industries.  

I thought I was going to be one of many speakers over the weekend, so imagine my surprise last week when I got the materials and found myself listed as the keynote speaker.  I had no idea that’s what I was being asked to do and I’m not really sure if they have any idea what they are in for.  I’ll be sharing from my own experiences in publishing as well as the challenge behind moving The Shack and So You Don’t Want to Go To Church Anymore toward feature film adaptations.  The conference is open to anyone wanting to find a way to tell their stories in contemporary media, though space is limited to the first 100 registrants to keep it a more intimiate dialog.  You’re welcome to come and participate if you like.  If you can’t make it, however, it will also be streamed live on their website during the conference and then remail online thereafter.  You can get details at the conference link above.  I’ll also be reminding people the week of the conference.

I’ll be making two presentations during the conference.  The first one will be The Fun Side of Creativity: Getting the Story Right.  How do you shape your story for the audience you wish to engage with an eye toward finding the audience that shares your passion and more importantly, how do you know your story is ready to share with others?  

The second is The Ugly Side of Creativity:  Cash, Credit, and Control. How do you interact with agents, publishers, and production companies whose only motive is to make as much money as they can?  Navigating those waters will determine whether you and your story can stay true to your passion.  We’ll also discuss the options of self-publication or indy productions, which can be great alternatives in this age of an increasingly de-centralized media.  

I’m looking forward to the opportunity to share what I’ve learned over 40 years of writing and dealing with the industries that make story available in our culture.  If you’re an aspiring storyteller, come join us.