December 5, 2012

"Strengthening and encouraging as we engage lostness together.” Acts 14:22; Revelation 14:6  I first used this phrase many years ago while preparing a budget request for my work at Kenya Baptist Media.  To be honest, I first wrote it to give a little ‘strength’ to my request for finances - finances which would come from gifts to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering (LMCO) and the Cooperative Program (CP).  Soon, Jack and I were using in on letters and messages as we realized that in a few words, this described our work.

As Jack works with the churches and members of the Baptist Convention of Kenya, teaching and acting as their Liaison to the IMB, his desire is to strengthen and encourage them  as they join in planting and strengthening God’s Work in Kenya and in other parts of Africa. My job is to use Social Media to encourage and strengthen others who can provide financial, prayer and personnel support for God’s Work, which I do as the advocate for the Kenya Legacy Work and in all of Sub-Saharan Africa, the other part of my job.  I've also learned that I can offer encouragement and strengthening to my co-workers as I share the stories, especially those who cannot freely share their stories due to security/persecution issues.

Yes, I am sharing all of this purposely this week as it is time for the 2012 Lottie Moon Christmas Offering (1) and this is the week that many Baptists in the USA take time for a special time of prayer for international missions (2).  The reason that this is important to us?  As the imb connecting website (3) says at How IMB work is funded (4), “Every penny given to Lottie Moon is used to support Southern Baptist missionaries as they share the Gospel overseas. The offering represents 54 percent of the International Mission Board’s total income.” Thus, we could not do our work without your financial support as we also rely upon your sending short and long term personnel our way and your prayer support!

You can find lots of information on the above links and others such as Lottie Moon at Work – Every dollar making a difference (5), where many special “Real stories of how your giving reaches the world” are found. And though I know this will make this week’s update very long, I want to share bits of how your giving to Lottie Moon makes a difference in our lives, the things which lead to our being very thankful for your gifts!

Medical care – A co-worker asked this week for prayer for a young Ugandan friend whose wife had died from asthma complications.  Medicines are available in our part of the world to help one cope with asthma or other illnesses and there are good doctors, but they are too expensive for many, if not most, Africans.  We have access to the needed medicines (you helped pay for two of my asthma medications this morning) and medical care thanks to funds from the Lottie Moon Offering and our salary - which also is funded via the LMCO and CP!

Housing – We live in a three bedroom flat on a mission compound, with another flat above ours and a 3^rd home on the upper half of the property.  Our home is not a mud home, nor is it the biggest/fanciest house on our block, but it DOES provide us with a needed 'haven’ where we can rest and recharge, which is very important when you live in a different culture, and a place where we can offer rest and recharging to others!  Security of our homes is a critical issue in our part of the world due to police without transport, increased incidences of violent robberies, etc. Thus our homes have security bars on all windows and doors and we have guards at night and on Sundays (the #1 day for robberies of missionary homes), all provided by funds given to the LMCO and CP. 

Transport – You (givers to the LMCO and CP) provide us with a reliable car, which allows us to travel across Kenya as Jack leads Church Planting Methods (6), as he teaches at our Seminary, and as we attend needed meetings – meetings such as one I attended last week to meet many of our newest workers and the prayer retreat (7) I attended last month, and meetings Jack has with volunteers and Kenyan Baptists, such as yesterday’s meeting with a Kenyan Baptist church planter.

Our car is a bit old, but it still gets us where we need to go, which included attending the funeral of our pastor’s mother last week – a woman who raised her children in one of the first Baptist churches in East Africa, Shauri Moyo Baptist Church in Nairobi. We are also very thankful for those who provide us with the funds for gas to run our cars – gas which is over $5 per gallon in our city! 

Schooling – your gifts to the LMCO and CP allowed us to send our kids to good schools and helped with a bit of their college expenses.  Many of our friends live where schools are not available and they are assisted in the costs of Home Schooling, which often is a bit more costly as books, etc., must be shipped to where they live in Africa. 

And on and on… You provide our salary and many budget items, such as helping us with our internet costs – which I really, really use!  Internet which allows me to post daily nudges from our part of the world at  2012 Prayer Nudges from East Africa (8), the new spot I use on Facebook, Sub-Saharan African Peoples (9) and a special ‘seasonal’ spot on Facebook, 2012 Lottie Moon: Sub-Saharan African Peoples (10) -  All can be viewed by those not on Facebook.

This week’s update is long, but the list of things you do to support us is very, very long!  So, THANK YOU for all you do to allow us to serve in Sub-Saharan Africa and BE HIS HEART, HIS HANDS, HIS VOICE among the Peoples of our part of the world!   BERT

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(1) 2012 Lottie Moon Christmas Offering – http://www.imb.org/main/give/pagelm.asp?StoryID=8078&LanguageID=1709

(2) Week of Prayer: Be His Heart, His Hands, His Voice –  http://www.imb.org/main/pray/page.asp?StoryID=5624&LanguageID=1709

(3) imb connecting – http://www.imb.org/main/default.asp

(4)  How IMB work is funded - http://www.imb.org/main/give/page.asp?StoryID=4426&LanguageID=1709

(5) Lottie Moon at Work – Every dollar making a difference at http://www.imb.org/main/give/lmw/default.asp

(6) “What Can We Do? (Responding to the needs of our world guided by Romans 13:15 with photos from a trip earlier this year when Jack taught Church Planting Methods at a rural Bible School in western Kenya – https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150846014900130.518785.685050129&type=1&l=7944f4f7da

(7) Thanksgiving – Psalm 118 used as a tour guide for scenes viewed by IMB Women of East Africa during a Prayer Retreat - a gift from those who give to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering! https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151505000150130.597467.685050129&type=1&l=375eb07f30

(8)  2012 Prayer Nudges from East Africa/Sub-Saharan Africa – http://easternafrica2012prayernudges.blogspot.com/

(9) Sub-Saharan African Peoples – https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sub-Saharan-African-Peoples/100173880060607?fref=ts – IF you’re not on Facebook, simply CLICK close on the lower corner of the big square that appears, if you are on FACEBOOK, log in!

(10) 2012 Lottie Moon: Sub-Saharan African Peoples -  https://www.facebook.com/LottieMoon2011.EastAfrica?ref=hl (follow above instructions)