September 25, 2012

A slightly different update today.  Due to time and energy, I will share the past week with the help of photos!

First, a few photos I captured while Jack was teaching Church Planting at Kenya Baptist Theological College last week.  Yes, it was a little freaky having the bird watch me as I watched him.  But as I was taking this photo, Jack was having a great time.  During a break he talked with a student in another class - a student who had taken Jack's Church Planting class a few years ago.  At that time, the young man was leading a Bible study group in a home and was discouraged.  None of those attending knew much about the Bible or what it meant to be a Disciple.

The young man had a very different report this time and he said it happened thanks to what he learned in the Church Planting class.  He now pastors a small church - which includes people from that home Bible study.  These Believers now know much about God's Word, especially about what it means to be discipled.  Not only has he taken these Believers through GROWING IN CHRIST (one of the books that I had the joy of revising/re-editing while with Kenya Baptist Media), he has translated the book into Kikuyu for members who can only read this language!

Then on Sunday, we left home a bit early to attend the Ordination service at Parklands Baptist Church.  Of the five pastors being ordained, two serve at the Mombasa Road campus (far right and far left), which is our church, and three of the five deacons who were ordained are also from our Mombasa Road church family.  Above is the 'serious' pose of the Mombasa Road guys before ordination and...

... this is the photo that really looks like our friends!  We have known all of these men and the others ordained for many years, some since they were kids!  The greatest part about all ten who were ordained was that we can trace their discipleship 'tree' to former colleagues with the IMB!

These are our new pastors' wives - all beautiful women who are strong Christians!  The one in blue and yellow belong to our church and we are especially proud of the one in yellow!  We have known Sally since she was a kid in Mombasa where her Dad served as the pastor of Chamgamwe Baptist Church and her Mom was one of those who introduced me to the work of the Baptist Women of Kenya.  Sally was a student at Mombasa Baptist High School during the time Jack served there as the headmaster!

The above is another special photo!  Before the Ordination Service began, Jack asked someone on the Media team to find me so I could meet the newest member of a very special family - Daniel's and Stellah's family!

Some of you with good memories may remember 'meeting' this couple before - when I shared photos from their wedding at Parklands in August 2010.  We first met Daniel thanks to a co-worker, who worked with the Maasai people of Kenya.  Daniel is a graduate of Nyeri Baptist High School and he now works in geothermal energy.  He and Stellah are making a difference in our world professionally and more importantly as Believers!

While running around getting photos, which meant leaving the church and re-entering in another door for different angles, this little boy stopped me and made it very clear that he wanted his picture taken!

This is one of the photos that I captured during one of these 'runs.' Missions Week had also been at the main campus in Westlands the previous week and they still had their world flags hanging.  I love this photo!

And I took this photo in front of the church around the water fountain just because I knew all of you would not want to miss this beautiful scene.

I also love this photo!  A fellow member of Parklands' Media team was joined by two future members - who happen to be the oldest kids of our two new pastors at Mombasa Road.  They were busy getting photos of their parents as their Dads were ordained.

To be honest, after Jack taught the previous week and the excitement of Sunday (we were at church for more than 4 hours), Jack asked to stay home all day Monday.  But thankfully, I had to walk to the grocery store and caught this Hamercop beside our fence.  We both thought it was a hammer cock until I looked it up in our bird book!

I took the above photo for you this morning - the seasonal rains are beginning and our yard is so beautiful at the moment.

This photo shows a bit of why you are getting this update a day early. Early tomorrow morning, before sunrise very early to be exact, we will be leaving our house to begin a trip to Western Kenya with a group of leaders from the Baptist Convention of New Mexico.  So join us in praying for travelling mercies and that we will be good hosts for this group as we share with them our vision for how God is at work in East Africa and how they and their people can join in His work!

And I will close with this photo - a very special one of the baby dedication for the infant daughter of the newly ordained Worship Pastor at Parklands (far left).  Like all those ordained and their families, we are blessed to call Pastor Masha and Priscilla our friends!  Thanks for taking time to view our week, BERT