Jambo

This month we are working alongside Pastor Joseph and Deliverance Church Southlands in Nairobi, Kenya. As a team, we have been involved in a variety of different ministries such as teaching moral lessons at primary and secondary schools, preaching, serving lunch at a home for the disabled, meeting with people in their homes, leading worship, meeting with Matatu drivers (local transporation), teaching Sunday school, leading a weekly Bible study, inviting the community to our worship services on Sunday, participating in a devotionals for police officers, and leading weekday lunch hour prayer meetings. For a majority of the Race, my team and I have helped meet physical needs of local ministries such as construction, painting projects, yard work, gardening, and even bamboo farming. It is refreshing to have a break from the physical labor and interact daily with locals in the community. I can see how the Lord used the last seven months of the race to prepare me for ministry this month. During a prayer meeting this week, I was thanking God for how many opportunities He has given me on the race to walk in more boldness and be more confident in Him. Before the race, I did NOT enjoy public speaking. An invitation to preach would be followed by the response: “Call back Lord. You’ve dialed the wrong number.” This week a miracle happened. On Thursday, I preached confidently at a service on foundational truths about spiritual warfare and was filled with much joy after speaking. For the first time in my life, I am beginning to walk daily in the confidence that has been given to me through Christ. It is a beautiful process of becoming more Christ-like and dying to my selfish desires.

The past seven months have changed me. I am recognizing slowly how beautiful I am as a servant of God; my identity is more rooted in the kingdom of God than anything else in this world. It is too late to turn back. There is a dream being birthed in my soul. A calling to be a part of something greater than myself. You can call it a small, still whisper. You can call it the great commission. It does not matter where you are currently in this world; each individual has a choice to accept and live out the Gospel in his/her context. One of my observations from this year is that we are more alike than we are different. Whether you are someone living in the suburbia of the United States, a high-rise in a metropolis, the jungles of Panama , or a slum such as Kibera [the largest slum in Africa], we are all in need of a relationship with Jesus Christ of Nazareth. I shared with a class this week that our hope does not lie in the government, in our home country, in finances, in our careers, or even in our families. Our hope rests in Christ.

Now is the time for the Global church to arise and bring light into the darkness. We as the church carry the Gospel, which is worth taking any risk for.

This is my prayer for you wherever you are in the world:

“I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” Philippians 1:3-6 

–Chasing Daylight by Erwin Raphael McManus