Prayer Request from Kenya

Things have not settled down in Kenya. My buddy Ed sent this prayer request...

Dear Friends,
We need prayer for a couple things. Both seem important enough that I did not want to wait for our normal weekly prayer update.

First; we are down. We are witnessing and living amidst a horrible atrocity. It is difficult and exhausting. A week ago Jackson and I helped deliver some food to Dandora Slum but as I type it is full of riots and people are being killed. On Saturday I was in the Soweto area of Kibera and now it is too dangerous for a mazungu to get into. Actually, it is too dangerous for anyone to live in. Haley is angered and Jackson is having a hard time expressing himself over this situation. Many of our friends have been beaten, lost jobs or evicted because of their tribes. A few have died. We are confessing to being tired in the work, but not of the work. Please pray.

The other issue is that a plot next to where Calvary International Fellowship has opened for sale and another church is making an offer on it. Please pray that God would give us wisdom on how to proceed. I spoke with the owner this afternoon and am now seeking God if we should do something. The owner said he would rather sale to us because he has seen CIF in operation and feels it is good for the community. It is an excellent location and would be a great site to move CIF onto, but only if that is what God would have us do –and He provides. Please pray, we this may be an attack from the enemy or a great opportunity.

Blessings!
Ed

Link to Calvary International Fellowship: Addendum

 

Technorati tags: Kenya, Ed Compean, riots, prayer reuest

Weekly Prayer Request from Ed Compean - 1/18/2008

Please continue to pray for Friday ended three days of mass rallies across
the country. Many were killed and riots destroyed many homes. We have sensed great discouragement among the people as their leaders have failed them. Please pray that this would lead to a revival in Kenya and across East Africa. The only hope is for people to turn to Jesus and away from men that continue to use them.

While Calvary International Fellowship, and Githurai as a whole has not had a lot of violence, people within the church are housing displaced friends and neighbors. There is little food and prices have skyrocketed. Please pray that we, meaning the church, can reflect Jesus at this time. We know that as our neighboring slums are decimated that God has protected CIF for a purpose.  We are blessed to see people within the church reaching out.

Please pray for Disciple Support Ministries with their pastors and leaders
in Mathare and Kibera as we prepare for the semester to begin in February. Pray that these leaders could share the love of Jesus and that the revival will begin in them.

Blessings,

Ed

Passing the Torch

My buddy Ed Compean has been training his boy in many ways. He's a godly man and father. He's shown his son that the most important and satisfying thing anyone can do is lay down your life for the cause and gospel of Christ. Jackson is learning to walk in his father's footsteps as Ed follows Jesus. The evidence that Jackson admire where his dad is leading him is that Jackson has taken up his father's trade and is doing well.

Ed is a photo journalist by trade. I met him on an expedition through South Sudan while working on a story for Calvary Chapel Magazine. We were both serving along side Far Reaching Ministries at the time. Now Ed is church planting in the slums of Nairobi, Kenya, with his family serving in ministry where ever needed. As you can see, you Jackson has a natural gift for communicating God's goodness and compassion for lives that are broken.  

"These are some pictures Jackson took from a food distribution in Dandora and Huruma Slums to victims of the post election violence. The lady pictured looking back from the rear of our Toyota is Frieda. She is a faithful servant at Calvary International Fellowship and heads up our helps ministry."

Good job with this boy, Ed. You must be proud.

Source: Ed's blog

 

Technorati tags: missions, Kenya, Ed Compean, Sudan, Shepherd's Staff missionaries

Prayer Request from Robin Shelley

Thanks for your continued prayers. We are doing well, but really busy. We just got back from doing a VBS in Canete and Ica. We spent almost two weeks in those two places. Liam (our 3 year old son) got really sick with high fevers and had to return to Lima to go to the doctor, but he is better now. He has a very rare parasite (parasites are a regular part of missionary life, you become acustomed to having them from time to time). We had a long couple of weeks and now we continue on with our weekly ministries. Tomorrow I (robin) go to Ica for the ministry there. Pray for me and the group that is going. Pastor Brian is going to the states to be at the Pastors conference and I will be teaching for the next two weeks in Ica in Spanish. This will be my first time to teach a Bible study to adults in Spanish (without the help of a translator). Pray for our family, we are going through a six month slump, where we are missing the states a lot. This is very typical for missionaries, and prayer is the solution.

Shelleys' blog

Safe Harbor International Relief - Sudan Aid - Africa Aid - Disaster Relief - Calvary Chapel » Articles » Sudan 308 - Update From Bill Paquette

 I enjoy reading about the work Safe Harbor is doing around the world. Safe Harbor has had boots on the ground in Sudan for many years. Here's an excerpt from Bill Paquette's latest update: 

From looking around at our American team members, they were equally blessed by the way the Sudanese worship. We can learn from them...

Pastor Gary taught from Isaiah 6 and while I have heard him teach from this passage many times, as always he did a wonderful job and made some observations that were different from past messages. Gary pointed out that the more we recognize God for His greatness, for His sovereignty, for His Glory, the more we learn how we are "Undone" and that we are men of "unclean lips". While truly in the presence of God, we will recognize 2 important things. First how great He is and second how much we need Him! We can do nothing without Him and when we learn of His awesome power and His unlimited love for us, we should bow, we should submit, we should worship Him. The result of our submission will be our willingness to serve. It is good to be in a place where we stop asking how or where but start asking when. This unconditional love for God will cause us to look for opportunities to serve and this is a great place to be.

Another great blessing is that during the service, there were 2 wonderful local Sudanese women to prepare food for everyone. The smell of good food and the sound of worship is how I imagine the early church as described to us in Acts. Also like in Acts, we all come from different backgrounds and have different social experiences. The one common denominator is Jesus. Because of Jesus, we can come together and pray, fellowship and worship with one heart. How amazing is it that just because of what One Man did on the cross, we can travel around the world just to share His goodness, His love with one voice.

Read the rest of this update here: Safe Harbor International Relief - Sudan Aid - Africa Aid - Disaster Relief - Calvary Chapel » Articles » Sudan 308 - Update From Bill Paquette

 

Technorati tags: Safe Harbor, Sudan, Darfur, Bill Paquette, missions

4 Cruces: The Haps

Is God calling you to the mission field? Do you feel like you're built for sun and surf?  Click the link below and read about a need on Costa Rica's Carribean Coast.

Link to 4 Cruces: The Haps

 

Technorati tags: Costa Rica, missions, Barrett Cruce

Calvary International Fellowship: Weekly Prayer Update

As you can see if you've been checking this blog over the past week or so, Kenya has plunged into uncertainty. It has been a relatively safe and stable place to minister (as Africa goes). Below is Ed Compean's weekly update. Everybody that is working in the mission field there has been stretched beyond their limits:

Dear Friends,

Thank you for keeping us and Kenya in prayer. Thank you for the numerous encouraging emails and prayer amidst this post election violence. We stepped out in faith knowing God would have us provide some food and basic relief supplies for these suffering people. As we completely blew our ministry budget for the next several months people began contacting us to let us know they were sending funds to our financial facilitator, Shepherd's Staff. We praise God for providing through His people for His glory among all this suffering. The glory is God’s but we thank Him we get the joy of being His conduit of blessings and grace! Please continue praying for peace of God that surpasses all understanding to overwhelm Kenya. The future here is very uncertain.

We thank God that the Disciple Support Ministry campuses in Mathare and Kibera are unharmed. There has been horrible devastation and death all around, but God found it good to preserve the school. Please pray for the pastors and church leaders that are part of the school. They are strategic in bringing peace to the slums. Many of them have suffered greatly, including some that have lost everything.

If you are on our mailing list, you should have received the most recent Uttermost within the last several days. One of the things we made known in this issue is that we are raising support specifically for a church building. Considering the recent violence and the volatile situation here, everything is on hold. While we have every intention to continue ministering here in Kenya, beginning a building project at this time does not seem appropriate. We hope God allows us in the next months to refocus on a building, but for now we are focused on more immediate issues.
Shalom!
Ed

Link to Calvary International Fellowship: Weekly Prayer Update

 

Technorati tags: Ed Compean, Kenya, Calvary International Fellowship, Discipleship Support Ministry

SGWM Screen Shot

Click on the picture if you want to get involved with Saving Grace World Missions Kenya relief project.

Douglass Family in Sri Lanka

I received this cool little story about God's deliverance from my friend Rob Douglass of Saving Grace World Missions.

One of the greatest joys of being in Sri Lanka is the precious people God has brought into our lives. We have built a close friendship with a Christian Sri Lankan woman named Ann. Several months ago, Ann’s sister’s husband died. During the funeral, a Buddhist man chanted something over the sister’s teenage daughter. Ann shared with us, in tears that the daughter would not eat, would fall into trances and speak with a man’s deep voice and had tried to cut herself with a knife. They were terrified and did not know what to do. We prayed with her, encouraging her of God’s great power over the demonic forces of evil. We called the pastor of Calvary Chapel Colombo, telling him of the situation.  Immediately, he went to the family’s home and prayed for the girl. 

The Lord delivered her this demonic possession and a great peace filled their home. They noted right away that all fear was gone and that very night they were able to sleep in peace. Ann’s sister and her daughter now attend Calvary Chapel Colombo. We watch this young girl worship the Lord, free from Satan’s grasp- filled with the new life that can only come through Christ.

Printable version of Douglass Newsletter

 

Technorati tags: Rob Douglass, Missions, Sri Lanka, Saving Grace World Missions

bryan.stupar

Bryan Stupar has been leading a group from his church on a short term trip to El Salvador. Bryan is a senior pastor with a heart for missions and leads his church into the field. I've been following his adventures over the past several days on his blog. Check it out.

Waiting for my midnight flight
El Salvador 1.0
El Salvador 1.2
El Salvador 1.2.5
El Salvador 1.4

Link to bryan.stupar

FRM Blog: Kenya Crisis

January 8, 2008 Far Reaching Ministries (FRM) along with CC Nairobi are reaching out to those in need after the recent political unrest in Kenya through the Kenyan Relief Fund. Anyone who would like to make a donation of any amount to FRM can call 1-951-677-4474 or write 41685 Date St. Suite 101, Murrieta, CA 92562. More information regarding donations at the bottom of this page.

Yesterday, we gave out food to about 50 families and 30 children. They were so grateful to the Lord for any provision. Some have lost their homes and many have had nothing to eat in days. Due to current unrest some cannot find family members. Many are upcountry and unable to return home because of ongoing security problems. Random road blocks are set up along the roads threatening and even killing the occupants in the vehicles if they are from a different tribe. There were 30 people killed recently as they fled to Uganda for safety. The truck they were in was pulled over by a vigilante group who led the people to a bridge and pushed them into the raging river below. There were no survivors.

Kenya Relief
The need is daunting yet God is bigger than the greatest need we bring to him. Over the next few weeks we will be giving out bags of food which will include corn meal, beans, rice cooking oil, tea, sugar, soap, toothpaste cabbages and spinach. One bag will feed a family of 4 for about 2 days. We ran out of food yesterday and had to turn many away. The greatest need is food and housing. Many lost their belongings and some their lives simply because of their tribal affiliation. Today people are still dying and many more are starving, yet God has not left or forsaken us. I shared last Sunday about God’s mercy enduring forever, even in the midst of so much evil. There are those in our church who are unaccounted for at this time, many familiar faces did not show up for the Sunday service, yet many came who I had never seen before. Lord, please help us.

Please continue to pray for God’s peace here in Kenya. If the Lords puts on your heart to financially give please call or write FRM.

Cheryl and I pray all is well with you. Thank you for your quick response. Here are the details for getting the funds to Calvary Chapel Nairobi congregates in need.

To contribute to relief in Kenya please click here or call our office at (951)-677-4474 or by mail:

FRM - US Headquarters
41685 Date Street, Suite 101
Murrieta, CA 92562
Please write Kenya Relief the notes

Source: Kenya Crisis

Book Review: Mission in the Old Testament

Missions is not a New Testament concept or venture. The Apostle Paul did not think that what he was doing by taking the gospel to the gentiles was an idea that originated with him after his conversion. Paul knew that taking the God's Good News to the Nations was God's plan revealed in scripture all the way back in Genesis when God called Abraham out of his homeland to go to a country he didn't know anything about.

Kaiser thoroughly documents the theology of cross-cultural missions all the way through the Old Testament. It's not a modern movement. It's God's plan from the beginning.

Kaiser helps us step back and look at the big picture. The fifth chapter was my favorite. Kaiser demonstrates the missionary heart of God as He calls Jonah to bring a message of repentance to Nineveh. "Should I not be concerned about that great city?" God asks Jonah.

The glossary is quite a useful tool with some great vocabulary words. Impress your friends at parties by knowing words like "Centrifugal" and "Centripetal."

Centrifugal - "Outward-moving." This is the word used to describe the active work of Old Testament believers to aggressively take the message of the Good News about the coming Man of Promise to the Gentile world around them.

Centripetal - "Inward-moving." A term used to describe the more passive attitude many think they observe in the Old Testament obligation to witness to Gentiles. Instead, the burden rested on the unreached to take the initiative to become converts to the faith according to this view. ---p. 83

Technorati tags: book review, missions, Kaiser

5 January Update from Dave Zavala

The riots have started again as protesters made their way to the huge rally scheduled in the Nairobi City Center. The last few days have been filled with tension for everyone here in Kenya. The new Year has been filled with sadness here. On January 2nd 2008, as early as 8 am people from all over Nairobi started walking towards Uhuru Park (freedom park) in support of the opposition leader, Raila Odinga's demonstrating against the president.

The public was informed about this demonstration, it was called the "Million Man March" (all the opposition leader's supporters were invited to show up at the park at 2pm wearing black arm bands) & the message that Raila & his ODM party were going to convey to the world was the " Death of Democracy in Kenya."

As I had heard about this Demonstration and all the insecurities that could come along with it. I decided that our team should remain at home and nobody could come in from the out side. I received a phone call from one of my church members who lives in Kibera slums that the people were all marching towards the city center. As we watched the news unfold, we learned that all over Nairobi people were walking to the city center to get to Uhuru park & the police were throwing tear gas at them as the president had banned the demonstration & the Rally.

Within hours, chaos erupted all over Nairobi, there was looting, burning of houses & the African Inland Church of Kenya was burnt down. Many people were injured as a result. This was also happening in all other areas of Kenya. Later that Afternoon as the opposition leaders marched into the city, they were stopped by the Police & so they decided to have a demonstration every day until the president confesses to rigging the votes during the elections & they want to have another presidential election within the next 3 months.

Today However some businesses re-opened in Nairobi & things seemed to have calmed down though you could cut the tension in the air with a knife. The number of demonstrators who marched to the city center today were less in number but the police continued to throw tear gas at them & dispersed them, this mayhem is to continue tomorrow as well.

As of yesterday the number of dead has risen to over 350. There are over 180,000 people all over the country who have lost homes & are staying in churches, hospitals, and police stations for shelter. A top UN official in Nairobi says about 500,000 Kenyans need urgent help. As there is a massive food shortage in the country, food prices have sky rocketed making it unaffordable to the poor people of Kenya (which is the case with most of our Calvary Chapel Nairobi church congregates) thousands are starving! I received phone calls from my own church members saying that they haven't eaten in days. Please continue praying for the people of Kenya.

Its our humble request that you would prayerfully consider sending finances to buy some food and supplies for our hungry congregation. A gift of $75 per person would be helpful and this would feed and supply their basic needs for 5 to 6 days we are trying to help about 70 congregates, some with families and some with children. Please make check out to, Saving Grace World Missions and write, Kenya Relief, on the memo line.

Pastor Dave & Twinkle Zavala

Kenya Update fom Dave Zavala

Dave is an old friend and partner in ministry from a few years ago. He has been faithful to send updates about his ministry situation as Kenya goes haywire in the wake of an election process that produced suspicious results.

Update from Dave Zavala and James Nyika

January 2, 2008

Pastor Dave Zavala

Dave said that today has been a little calmer. Dave was able to locate some basic food supplies. He is presently assisting church members with the same. Tomorrow, Thursday January 3rd, there is a huge rally scheduled in the Nairobi city center. Dave has asked us to pray that the rally will be poorly attended. It is vary likely that the riots and looting will reignite if the rally gets out of hand.

Missionary James Nyika

James said that his family and four other Sudanese are taking refuge in the house that Saving Grace has rented for James in Eldoret. They heard gun shots throw out the night and near by homes have been burnt down. Thirty Kenyans including many children have been burned to death in a near by church. See BBC news article below.

James is concerned that the violence could spark a civil war in Kenya. The people want the president to admit that he has rigged the polls and resign from his office. If he fails to do so the country could split in two. Half on President Mwai Kibaki side and the other half on his opponent Raila Odinga side.

Many locals have machine guns In the Northern borders of Kenya were James crosses in to Sudan with supplies for the ministry to the unreached tribes. Reports have reached James that a lawless situation is arising and that there are open gun battles. 

read what the BBC has printed today: here's an excerpt:

A mob set fire to the church in Eldoret where many people from President Mwai Kibaki's Kikuyu tribe were sheltering. The Kenyan government has accused supporters of opposition leader Raila Odinga of carrying out "ethnic cleansing" against the Kikuyu. Both President Kibaki and Mr Odinga have called for the killing to stop. An estimated 250 people have died in the violence that erupted following the controversial re-election of President Kibaki, according to police and journalists across the country.

source

Saving Grace World Missions

Calvary International Fellowship: Update

This is from my buddy Ed who's a missionary in Kenya. That place is totally spun out. Do me a personal favor and pray for Kenya and our friends serving the Lord there. This is the third post I've put up on various blogs today bringing news and prayer requests from missionaries. Post 1. Post 2.

In 1998 I was a journalist in Albania covering the Kosavar refugee crisis. After spending days among the suffering and human tragedy I found myself in a quite café on the Adriatic. It was a beautiful sunset, the pasta was wonderful and the coke was cold. It should have been relaxing and joyful celebration of a completed assignment. Everything should have been great, except I had deep sorrow that words are not sufficient to express. The preceding days had been spent in refugee camps documenting horrific scenes of people fleeing the horrors of ethnic cleansing. For days I silently prayed for people as my Nikon snapped away. With no shame I was a completely biased journalist slipping one family some crumpled lira to help them get reestablished. Now I was sitting in a café enjoying a hot meal and knowing I was heading back to a soft bed in the hotel before returning to my comfortable house and family in California. It was difficult knowing that the airplanes flying over head were on sorties going into Kosovo to kill. It was difficult to know that as I sipped that coke that people were fleeing their villages and becoming refugees.

That feeling is back. Kenya has been absolutely terrorized by ethnic violence resulting from a corrupt election process in the last days. There have been riots outside Calvary International Fellowship and the last three nights we have heard gunfire. Official reports put the death toll at about 200 from across Kenya, but that is way too conservative. Police are guarding the morgues so journalists can not give accurate counts. The most sickening report is that one tribe burned a church full of people from another tribe killing 30 people in the process.

Read the rest of this post here: Link to Calvary International Fellowship: Update

Urgent Update From Kenya - Dave Zavala

Please pray for Pastor Dave Zavala and his Family and  James Nika and his family during this dangerous time. On the 27th of December, 2007, Kenyan Elections started Kenyans started voting from 6am to 7 pm. The voting process was peaceful all over the country; this was the highest voter turn out at polling stations in Kenyan history. The Electoral Commission of Kenya (ECK) took many days to announce the results, they would announce the results a bit at a time, the opposition leader, and Raila Odinga seemed to be leading the elections for a while.

On the 29th of December the ECK had not finished counting votes yet & the people of Kenya got angered by the delay in the results & rioting began in various parts of Nairobi & Kenya. The leading presidential parties of ODM & PNU found out that there were errors in the numbers that were announced by the electoral commission & both parties spent Saturday night with the electoral commission going through this numbers & they found a lot of errors.

Pastor Dave was not sure if he should have Sunday service at the church due to the insecurity in Nairobi. He was concerned about his family's safety at the same time he wanted to be there & feed the sheep that the Lord had put him over. So after much prayer he got a peace about leaving his wife & daughter at home & go to church with Tom Rees. About 30 adults showed up for the service. They had a modified service, no children's ministry. Dave taught on Romans 13 & they had a time of praying for the nation of Kenya, tea and fellowship afterwards. We Thank God that Sunday morning was peaceful.

By Sunday afternoon, the Electoral Commission started announcing the results again & people protested the numbers were wrong and  they had evidence. The European Union members who observed the results also agreed that they were in doubt of the results being announced as some numbers were not accurate. The old president Mwai Kibabki seemed to have caught up with votes all of a sudden. The Electoral Commissioner refused to listen to the complaints & called for the Police & asked everyone to leave the building. Later he announced President Mwai Kibabki as the new president. He announced it on TV. 10 minutes after this announcement riots started popping up all over Nairobi & other parts of Kenya.

Dave kept receiving phone calls all evening until midnight from his congregation who live in the slums, they were letting him know about the riot mobs in their neighborhood, fires & looting & they were asking for prayer for their protection. They all stayed up until early hours of the morning, they stood outside their houses with their bags & their kids so that incase the mobs came to torch their houses down they could run away to safety. Kenyan national team members, Joyce & Eunice were in the same situation. They called Dave saying their neighborhood houses were on fire and no one could go get them, all Dave could do was pray that the Lord would protect them.

That night the president banned all live media broadcast. The next morning the news reported that there were over 120 people killed in Kenya overnight. That day was declared a public holiday (more like curfew day) Dave tried to go to a near by store to get drinking water & some extra food supply incase the situation in the country were to get worse. But he was surprised to find out that the store was short of food and there were such long lines of people waiting to buy food stuff at the stores. Basic foods like bread, milk & eggs were out (not even a hot dog insight). There was a lot of tension in the air with the people shopping & the store keepers.

Pastor Dave picked up Eunice with her kids & Joyce's kids to come & stay at the guest house until things calmed down in the country. Joyce decided to stay back with her mom & husband. Please continue to pray for their protection.

Missionary James Nyika has reported the same kinds of things are taking place in all parts of Kenya.  James, his family, and other Sudanese are taking refuge in James' small rented home. They do not know how long the food will last! Due to all the insecurities in the country, they are not going out of there houses. No one knows when the situation in the country is going to get better. So it’s our humble request that you remember our brothers and sisters in your prayers that the Lord would continue to protect them & the church congregates, & that Lord willing, peace would return to the country of Kenya.

Saving Grace Missions Pastor Rob Douglass and Pastor Chris DuPont of Calvary Chapel Victorville have postponed their trip to Nairobi and Sudan. They were scheduled to teach a three day Inductive Bible Study (IBS) at CC Nairobi and then go on to Sudan to join James Nyika for the mission’s conference in South Sudan. Pastor Rob Douglass has been in constant communication with Dave and James and we continue to keep you updated. We see this kind of thing all through the book of Acts and are confident that God will be faithful to make his greatness known through this.

Dave and James are trusting that the Lord has every thing under control. Thank you & Happy New Year!

Link

Important Prayer Request from Paul & Marcia - Kenya « CCk Missions

Thank you for your continued prayers, support and encouragement to us and the pastors. We have just arrived in the States and will be here through the end of March.

We ask for fervent prayers for Kenya, the pastors and Bible Schools as Kenya has erupted in the worst rioting and violence in 25 years due to disputes over national elections. It has deteriorated into massive rioting throughout the country. Firsthand reports from friends say the situation is much worse than being reported and may result in martial law being declared. Please pray for the safety of the pastors and Bible Schools, which are located in the epi-center of the worst rioting in the Kibera and Mathare slums. Updates can be found on BBC at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/7165736.stm

God bless you!

Paul & Marcia

Link to Important Prayer Request from Paul & Marcia - Kenya « CCk Missions