receive from you thanks to your gifts to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering and the Cooperative Program.This transition includes a new job for me. I loved serving as Prayer Advocate for Kenya, but I now have the opportunity to work with all of our missionaries in the Equatorial Cluster which reaches from Gabon on the Atlantic Ocean to Kenya on the Indian Ocean. As the Cluster Connector I will seek to “connect” our staff with one another and to you through a monthly newsletter and by keeping all the data on our diverse group. Pray that I will seek God’s guidance in my every thought, action and plan as I learn/define this new position.
Pray for patience as I explore the best way to do the work, especially the work on the computer.Thankfully, transition is not required in Jack’s job assignment or my acting as the team’s Prayer Advocate. Why do we feel so strongly that Jack’s should be “Strengthening and encouraging” Kenyan Baptists “as we engage lostness together” (Acts 14:22; Rev 14:6) rather than working directly among the unreached people groups in our part of the world? Kenyan Christians are the ones who are uniquely equipped to by our heavenly Father to win their continent to Christ!
We see this exemplified at Parklands Baptist, our home church in Nairobi, which was begun by Southern Baptists missionaries in 1978, the year we arrived in Kenya. I was one of the first children’s Sunday School teachers and Jack was among the first deacons ordained. Parklands now has five thousands members and holds four services on Sunday mornings. Early church members were discipled/mentored/taught by many of your missionaries and they have learned, grown and now faithfully continue as multiplying “witnesses in (their) Jerusalem…Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). This past Sunday, we caught a glimpse of the vision statement of Sub-Sahara Africa in action: To see “a 
multitude from every language, people, tribe and Nation of SSA(Sub-Sahara Africa) knowing and worshipping our Lord Jesus Christ.” It was a skin-tingling time as praise, glory and honour was brought to our heavenly Father as we prayed and sang in multiple languages and watched others express their cultural diversity through drama and dance (praising God with their feet)!Jack needs your prayers this weekend as he is one of the key speakers at Parklands Mission’s Conference. Pray for him as he prepares to share on Mission Organization. Pray for him also as he works with the Legacy churches, the changes we face as missionaries also affects them.
Sorry, this has been long, but I must share a bit more. Another example of how one Legacy Church, Ruiru First Baptist – a church impacted by your missionaries – is now obediently sharing God’s love and salvation, can be found at: Ministering to the Kids .* These pictures are an example of how God blessed your past gifts to the Lottie Moon Offering and the Cooperative Program. Our last prayer request this week is that we and our co-workers will always be flexible so that we can be totally in line with our Father’s plans, always ready to sense the Holy Spirit’s guidance, always alert to opportunities to share our Saviour’s love, and always able to bring glory to our God in all we do!Bert Yates
* "Ministering to the Kids" is at: http://picasaweb.google.com/Bertndovu/MinisteringToTheKidsAtRuiruFirstBaptistKenya?feat=directlink
REMEMBER: Additional pictures for this prayer update can be found at my FACEBOOK page.
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