KENYA/TANZANIA 2012
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| In the Kibera slum |
This summer the Lord
allowed my wife and I to participate in a Short Term Missions Trip with
Heritage Baptist Church. We went to Kenya and Tanzania with a group of almost 30
people from our church for about two weeks. We spent one day in the Kibera slum
in Nairobi, Kenya, we travelled down to Arusha, Tanzania. We ministered to a
Maasai village school and church and then I did some training with Tanzanian
pastors who came from around the country.
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| Preaching in Tanzania |
The missionaries in
Tanzania have planted many churches over the past two decades and have started a
regular pastor’s conference and a Bible institute. Almost twenty pastors
attended as I lectured on the reliability of the New Testament and the
historicity of the resurrection (utilizing Gary Habermas’ “Minimal Facts”
argument). That was followed by a Q&A time with Dr. Jerry Kroll and I. The
following day I was given the opportunity to go with the puppet and drama teams
into the public and private schools of Arusha to do gospel presentations. That
day the Lord brought about 700 children to our program to hear the gospel and
have an opportunity to respond. In our first weekend there, the students in the
Bible institute came from around the country (about thirty in all) and I
trained them in some basic principles in biblical interpretation. My translator
was a Liberty graduate who has sent two of his daughters to Liberty University.
On Sunday morning, I had the opportunity to preach at the English service. I
preached on “The Transforming Power of the Gospel” out of Ephesians 2:1–10.
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| With a local church leader |
The second week began with us
leading a retreat for many of the Bible Baptist Fellowship missionaries in
Tanzania. We ministered to their children by playing games and having fun with
them. My role was partly with the children and partly with the missionaries. I
was blessed to lead the missionaries in worship through music and to give a
devotion on struggling with doubt. We spend a couple days on Safari; we got to
see elephants, zebras, giraffes, hippopotamus’, rhino’s, wildebeests, baboons,
monkeys, lions, and a cheetah. Our last day there was spent ministering to the
children that attend the Christian school started by the missionaries.
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| With my wife on the rim of the Ngorongoro Crater |
The Lord was so gracious to bless
our time in Africa. About 80% of the people in our group came down with an
illness, but the Lord spared me and about 4 others. The sense of fellowship and
unity with the believer’s in Tanzania was incredible, as was their dedication
to serve our Lord. Thank you so much for your prayer and financial support.
While I am confident that the people we ministered to felt loved and grew in
the Lord, I also know that God used this trip to help me grow in my perspective
on the body of Christ.
