The Timothy Initiative (TTI)

After the medical team departed we had another guest in Kenya. Pastor David Nelms, the senior pastor of our sending church (Grace Fellowship in West Palm Beach), was in Kenya! He came with one of the church leaders, Mark Thorpe, to work on details for The Timothy Initiative (TTI).

TTI was founded by Pastor David and Grace Fellowship around 3 years ago. Since then they have seen over 11,000 churches planted through the training of church planters. TTI is especially effective at training pastors in rural areas that do not have any churches. They started in India, expanded to much of Asia, and now are planting churches in Africa, Latin America and the U.S. as well.

For more information on TTI, check out their website at www.ttionline.org. You can help provide a full years worth of training for a pastor and see a church planted for only $150. TTI’s goal is to plant 1 million churches which would result in an estimated 20 million new believers in Jesus Christ!!!

God is doing amazing things in Kenya through TTI. This year schools were started to equip 150 church planters, many of whom have already planted their first church since starting their training. Now, God is providing the funding and connections to begin training another 500 students in Kenya!

During Pastor David’s time here we met with potential district leaders (leaders in charge of organizing one or more TTI schools) and also visited some of the newly stared churches. We spent time with George who will be assisting the National Director, Emilio, in organizing the schools for 500 new students. We also had time to visit 70 street kids in Kibera Slum that are provided for through One Child, a branch ministry of TTI.

It was refreshing to spend time with such a great leader with God’s vision  for the Kingdom. I learned a lot about focus. TTI has planted so many churches because they focus on church planting. Pastor David has realized that God’s plan for the Kingdom here on earth is through the local church, and that is what he has concentrated on, building the local church.

we hope that as we learn and grow, God will help us to be as intentional in our work for the Kingdom as TTI is, but for right now, Abby and I are experiencing many different aspects of the ministry. One of those aspects is helping TTI plant churches. We will traveling about once a month to visit TTI schools and church plants to see how God is working and be an encouragement to the believers.

Advertisement

The Timau Boys

Andrew and I visited the orphanage out in Timau yesterday. 

We have taken on some new responsibilities at the orphanages nearby, and Timau is one of them.  Andrew is handling the finances while I am going to be working with the kids in their schoolwork.

April is a holiday month for the kids in Kenya, so today we went out to celebrate with the boys (we tried to tell them that kids in America celebrate when they are out of school, but I am not sure if they understood).

Timau consists of about 24 boys, and 3 caretakers. The boys range from about 7 years to 22 years old.

We showed up at lunchtime to eat with them, then we had a Bible lesson and played games.  They were a lot of fun, and enjoyed the new games we taught them.  We are looking forward to going out again 🙂 

Here are some pictures from our day…..

First, we had the boys line up from tallest to shortest…..then we had them line up oldest to youngest. Their instructions were to do it without talking, although there was a lot of whispering going on, haha.

Then we taught them link tag. It took a few minutes, but they caught on quick! They are great runners (which means I did terrible in this game)!

Lastly, which I think was their favorite, we played sword fighting. I should have known that a group of boys would love this game as much as they did.  Don’t worry, for those of you who don’t know this game, it is harmless!

Even the caretakers loved it!!!

We had a great time!

One last photo for you, this is the view of Mt. Kenya from the Timau orphanage.

It is absolutely gorgeous.  And this picture really does not do justice to what it really looks like.

 

Be still and know that I am God.

I will be exalted among the nations,

I will be exalted in the earth!

-Psalm 46:10

March Medical Team: The Great Physician

Abby and I led our first team a few weeks ago. It was suppose to be a time for us to learn how to handle the logistics of having a group, but because of the Daniels’ emergency trip to the U.S. to take care of medical needs, we jumped in the water and learned to swim on our own. We could not have hand-picked a better team for our first experience!!!

It was a small group—3 from the USA, a pastor and his wife from the Ukraine, 2 Kenyan doctors, and a couple of the local guys. It is an amazing story how God brought everyone together.

Most of the ties can be traced back to the Ukraine. Dr. Joe, the lead American doctor, met Vitali and Nadia, the Ukrainians, in Ukraine doing medical missions. The two Kenyan Doctors, Steve and Mary, met Dr. Joe, Vitali, and Nadia in Ukraine while doing their medical schooling. After a few years of medical trips to the Ukraine, last year Dr. Joe decided to lead a team to Kenya. This was Dr. Joe’s second time in Kenya and he brought Donna, a nurse whose husband had gone to Ukraine, and his son, Sayle.

(The 3 doctors)

Abby and I even fit into the mix. We are the first missionaries supported by the American teams home church, although the trip was scheduled independent of the fact that they supported us (Dr. Joe didn’t even know the connection until right before they left).

On a side note, Grace Baptist is a wonderful church in Grenada, Mississippi that was founded out of a spirit led desire to be true to the word of God as a Bible based congregation that holds strongly to expository, verse-by-verse preaching. They also believe strongly in church planting. These are values that we hope to reflect in our ministry here in Kenya and we are privileged to be partnering with them.

Back to the trip, we visited 3 churches in three days and held medical clinics at each location. The first day we served at a long time established, rural church in DolDol. The second day we helped a new church in the small village of Matunda. The last day we worked at a recently relocated church and nursery school in Juakali (meaning “hot sun” and it was). Here are the results:

Day 1- 134 patients and 295 prescriptions

Day 2- 198 patients and 490 prescriptions

Day 3- 273 patients and 572 prescriptions

We praise God for the people helped that these numbers represent, but I have also learned a new perspective on medical missions from the two teams we have worked with recently.

A week long medical trip is like a drop of rain in the ocean. The physical results, although more than wonderful to the people being helped, are minimal in light of the need. The true, lasting value comes from the spiritual impact. Some of the people, although helped for a day, will eventually get sick again and be faced with the same problem of poor access to good medical facilities. But the temporary relief experienced at the medical clinic is just a glimpse of the eternal relief from death we have through dependence on the Great Physician, Jesus Christ.

Nadia and Vitali and some of the local pastors did one-on-one evangelism during the clinics. We had right around 30 salvations for the trip! (I forgot to get exact numbers from the pastors at the end of 2 of the days) Beyond that there were a number of people who repented from backsliding and committed to turning back to God. Three rural congregations were also helped and encouraged. Glory be to God!