Hearing and Sharing

We traveled to Tanzania to learn more about a
partnership to help local Believers share their faith,
as a well as a bit of enjoying God's creations!

"I hear something I must check out.” This comment made by our driver during our time last week of ‘retreat and refocus’ led to an adventure which I cannot document via a photo, but it is a story too good to not share! We were more or less in the middle of nowhere as the driver took the next left onto a road that appeared to continue the ‘going nowhere’ direction. A row of rooms, a cluster of buildings, followed by more houses soon appeared with all the structures being topped by one or more satellite dishes – sorry, we never did figure out the ‘why’ of all the rusty dishes adorning the simple structures.

Not a photo of the meandering zebra, but a few of
the hundreds of zebras spotted during our trip.

We stopped at a spot with a home-made ramp and quickly learned that this was the local place for vehicle repairs. As the problem was investigated, discussed and reinvestigated in English, Swahili and a mix of the two languages, I looked up to see a zebra walking down the path we had just traveled! To my amazement and that of Jack and our friends, the mechanics paid it no – and I mean ZERO – attention!

A view captured later of Jack getting an
'up close and personal' view of giraffe.

It took a while, but a broken bolt on a tire was soon spotted and removed. After multiple phone calls searching for a replacement, our driver and his assistants climbed into another vehicle and drove away! This was a bit unsettling, but thankfully they soon returned with a bolt they had ‘borrowed’ from a nearby broken-down truck. We were soon safely back on the road!

A Lilac-Breasted Roller - my favorite bird viewing!

This morning during my devotions I read Psalm 118:14-17, “The LORD is my strength and my defense; he has become my salvation… ‘The LORD’s right hand has done mighty things!’ I will not die but live, and will proclaim what the LORD has done.” My heart was filled with humbling queries as I remembered how upon seeing the moseying-along zebra, I immediately began mentally recording the zebra/ broken bolt story and getting excited about sharing it with you and others!

Mud-bath time for some of God's creations!

My selfie-questions included: Do I always get equally excited about claiming and proclaiming how “The LORD is my strength and my defense… my salvation”? How often do I overlook opportunities to share with others of the stories I experience of the mighty things done by my God? Do I make sure those others HEAR my Good News and are ENTICED to check out more about it?

If you can use this graphic or the one for KBTC
to promote the LMCO, please copy and use!

As I pondered all these things, I realized that this is also a good way to contemplate Colossians 1:5-6 (HCSB), this year’s guiding verses for the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering®. Believers “have … heard about this hope in the message of truth, the gospel that has come to you.” We know “It is bearing fruit and growing all over the world, just as it has among you since the day [we] heard it…”, but do we truly desire to share our “hope in the message of truth, the gospel that has come to” us with those who have not yet heard it? What more must be done, must we do, for the GOSPEL to RESOUND throughout the world proving ALL peoples with an opportunity to claim our “message of truth, the gospel”? We have a story, God’s story, which is the best story ever told and IT IS a story which we must share!

This time of year when many of you focus upon the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering® and the Week of Prayer for International Missions is very important to Jack and to me. 100 percent of your LMCO giving goes toward sending and sustaining missionaries – which includes us! Your financial and prayer support enables us to obey our Father’s call to be a part of His Work in Africa. So today, I want to thank you for allowing us to be in Africa strengthening and encouraging Believers as we engage lostness together (Acts 14:22; Revelation 14:6). Thank you for enabling Jack to teach and serve as principal of the Kenya Baptist Theological College. Thank you for enabling me to use social media to share what God is doing among our peoples and how you and others can join in His Work!

BERT YATES

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For more on the 2016 Lottie Moon Christmas Offering®, including lots ideas, guides, photos, and stories, visit
https://www.imb.org/lottie-moon-christmas-offering.

Perseverance and Patience

“Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.” Hebrews 12:1,2 NIV

Other instruments at church last Sunday.

Perseverance - that is my theme song at the moment!  I love this photo captured at one of our Baptist churches last Sunday as it is a great example of perseverance!  As the worship leader, guides the congregation in singing he is accompanied on the keyboard by one of his students.  Samson, the one leading worship, is a student in the music program at the Kenya Baptist Theological College.  Since learning to play the keyboard, he has persevered not only by learning how to play the keyboard but by teaching what he is learning to several of the older kids in the church and they did great on Sunday!

Now I have not persevered and asked Jack's permission to share the following video made up of photos I captured last Sunday (thus no music), and to be honest, I'm not sure Jack would quickly agree.  BUT... I thought you would like to see how Jack has learned from African preachers, who are often much more animated as they preach, but then one could say they are preaching with their whole heart, soul, mind and BODIES!  In case you haven't figured out what Jack is doing - which based on the rapt attention of those in the congregation led to true communication - he was illustrating running "with perseverance the race marked out for us." 

My perseverance story today includes a praise and a major need for prayer!  The Praise: Perseverance (lots of investments of time and finances) finally led this past weekend to my receiving a part needed so that my computer is finally working properly again!  The Prayer Need:  I need patience as I persevere and now try to catch up the work that was delayed during my computer frustrations as now we're experiencing super weak internet in our area!

The reason I need to persevere is that I have so many great stories to share of how Believers in Africa are persevering as they join our Father in His work!  A very, very special StoryTogether workshop is ongoing at the moment which is the story of a group of persevering women who truly desire to make Hebrews 12:1,2 alive and active in their lives!  Most of these women are the married to pastors and they asked to be taught how to share God's Stories with their unreached people in their heart languages.

These women need your prayer support this week as the complete their two weeks of training to share God's Stories.  They also need your prayer support as they return home, which is many different parts of Burkina Faso, this weekend and begin sharing what they have learned with those in their home areas in need of our Good News. Will you pray for clarity and boldness for these women and open hearts for those who hear their stories?  For more praises and prayer requests for this StoryTogether Project, click the BITS OF OUR HEARTS tab located at the top of this page.

Thanks to the limited internet, I'm stopping now, but I will add a photo which exemplifies what I do when my perseverance is wearing thin and I'm in great need of patience!  I go outside and persevere in spotting great examples of the work of our Creator!

The SUPER MOON, one of our God's creations
viewed at our house last Monday night!

To be honest, this is not the update I had planned to share today, but it is what I could share quickly and gives you a glance at our real lives.  Hopefully, this will help you pray for us and for other Believers in Africa who desire to help those without "the true message of the Gospel" hear and truly understand God's grace (Colossians 1:4-5), which includes bits from this year's guiding verse for the upcoming Lottie Moon Christmas Offering!

BERT YATES

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For more on the 2016 Lottie Moon Christmas Offering®, including lots ideas, guides, photos, and stories, visit https://www.imb.org/lottie-moon-christmas-offering.

Glistening and Shining

With all the emphasis and energy expended today on the presidential elections in the States, I had debated if I should skip this week’s prayer letter as the focus of most people will be elsewhere. I knew my answer was ‘SKIP my planned focus’ when I learned of the final result not from the internet or television, but through the window beside my desk in our guest bedroom.

Not sure if this bird was cold, working off tension, doing her morning
excersises or what, but I got tired of watching her flap and unflap
her wings before she got tired of doing whatever she was doing!

Yep, through the window as the Kenyan man who works in our yard listened to the radio via his cell phone while removing overgrown plants beside the corner of our home. Trust me, this was not the way I ever expected to first hear a presidential election speech!

So instead of continuing with my plans for this week’s Yates/IMB/Kenya&SSAPeoples update, I want to share with you of a chiding I experienced yesterday while walking in our rain-soaked yard. As I marveled at the beauty of the agapanthus flowers sparkling along our drive way, a query arose in my mind which left me heart-broken. Do others see evidence of my Savior’s “spring of living water” (Jeremiah 2:13) bubbling over in my life? Do they see glistening and shining proof of His gift of living “water welling up to eternal life” (John 10:14) in my life?

Another query left my heart, soul and mind burdened as I watched the US news on our television early this morning (8 Kenyan time/ midnight EST) as elections results were still pouring in and being debated.  The query: How would it affect the total of peoples in our world with NO realistic access to the gospel (currently nearly 3 billion people/imb.org/LMCO) if Believers spent as much time focusing on consecrating “themselves to the LORD” (1 Chronicles 29:5) as they have and will focus on the elections?  How quickly would those unreached by the Gospel be reached if more Believers truly committed themselves to openly sharing of the One who offers not just a drink of living water, but “a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:15).  

Don’t worry, I do know how to deal with being heartbroken – PRAYER! Thus, you get a short prayer update this week as I need to take some extra time today in prayer. BERT

Hearing and Sharing Hope/ Part One

Watching and waiting - This is what I've also done
today as I've watched and waited for my internet
speed to increase.  Prayers for patience are needed!

Today’s update was written and almost ready to share with you when once again God sent a diversion my way, a detour guided by a verse spotted as I did a bit of research. The verse is this year’s guiding bit of God’s Word for the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering® – “You have … heard about this hope in the message of truth, the gospel that has come to you. It is bearing fruit and growing all over the world, just as it has among you since the day you heard it…” Colossians 1:5-6 (HCSB).

Praise of the week:  The seasonal
rains have finally begun in our part of Kenya.

As I read this verse today, my first response was heartbreak as I know that nearly 3 billion people have never heard the gospel and have no realistic access to Jesus. THEY HAVE NOT YET heard of our “hope in the message of truth.” The gospel HAS NOT YET come to them! 

Visit Bits of Our Hearts (or click above tab) to view
daily On-Mission Devotionals shared by Bert.

My second reaction was thanksgiving for the support of Southern Baptists which allows Jack and me to be missionaries with the IMB. Your support enables us to be a part of God’s Work as we join others in proclaiming His eternal gospel to all “who live on earth – to every nation, tribe, language and people” (Revelation 14:6 NIV). As ‘old’ missionaries who have served for 38 years, we’ve had and have the joy of seeing and experiencing how the gospel “is bearing fruit and growing all over the world.”

I’ll warn you now that this will be at least a two-part update! Once I began sharing how Colossians 1:5-6 is alive and active in our lives, I knew it had to be shared in instalments. Thus today I’ll share why Jack is thankful for the support of the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering® and the Cooperative Program.

Jack being interviewed for the 40th Anniversary
Celebration of Parklands Baptist Church, Nairobi.

Over the years, Jack has also had the opportunity to share the gospel and to strengthen and encourage Believers in schools, churches, Bible Schools, seminaries and many more places as he has taught church planting methods, discipleship and many other things. For years, he worked with volunteers, enabling them to join in our Father’s work in Kenya. He has also helped construct buildings where church families of 50 to 100 members could worship in rural areas, as well as a overseeing the construction of a building in Nairobi where a church family of thousands now worship.

This photo was taken as the South Sudanese
student serving in the refugee camp in Kakama
heard plans for how KBTC would partner
with work in the camp.

Jack daily hears reports from Believers from all over Kenya and other parts of Africa, including reports from a South Sudanese pastor ministering in a refugee camp, of how the sharing of “the gospel… is bearing fruit and growing all over the world.” Jack was told today that 20 students will graduate from the KBTC branch on the coast of Kenya in December – new graduates equipped to share the gospel in an area where thousands and thousands of people follow a faith lacking the love, peace, joy and assurance of eternal life offered through our Savior.

Baraka Hall, where students sleep, eat, study,
attend chapel, etc.,  in August 2015

Another 20 students will graduate in December from the main KBTC campus – a campus that many thought was dead a few years ago, but God’s children are once again being trained to do His work through KBTC. It would take an entire book, not just a blog post, to share how God has been at work resurrecting the Kenya Baptist Theological College!

Baraka Hall when the completed building was dedicated in Febuary, 2016.
Lots of work is still ahead, including renovation of the lower floor
and the planning of needed new dorms and much more!

Another great bit of news about what God is doing – KBTC is now offering college degrees to prepare Believers for ministry, including a degree to train Africans called to serve as missionaries at home and in other places. Early next year a Master’s of Theological Studies will be offered. Jack and others are also in the midst of preparing for KBTC to begin teaching pastors and church leaders from another continent where few have an opportunity to hear of the “hope in the message of truth, the gospel.”

Jack posing in September with the
the KBTC students working towards a BA degree!

I’m out of space and time, but remember this is just the first of several instalments sharing our thanks for being able to serve our Father in Africa and our thanks for those who support us! So look for my thanksgivings next week and much, much more in coming weeks! BERT YATES

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For more on the 2016 Lottie Moon Christmas Offering®, including lots ideas, guides, photos, and stories, visit  https://www.imb.org/lottie-moon-christmas-offering.

I love this 2016 LMCO photo as it was taken

in our part of the world!  For a free download

of this photo, visit http://store.imb.org/LMCO/.