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| Christ's Ambassadors Church in a community called Fuatanyayo in a slum just south of Nairobi. |
This building is like an oasis in the middle of a desert of tin buildings. Friends Les & Twyla Brickman were asked by fellow American Rick Montgomery to preach to local pastors. I was privileged to be invited to join them for the day.
Below is a garden of greens on the church grounds.
Here you get a glimpse of the community through the church gates...
The front of the sanctuary...good words!
Tree of the knowledge of good and evil? Notice the bite?
Proposed schedule for the day...actually we only started about an hour late...not bad!
Even though the day did not go exactly as programmed, we ended only about 30 minutes late, which in my opinion was early!
Below Les and Twyla are setting their props :)
The MC and his interpreter, Pastor John. Before the day began I enjoyed a lengthy chat with Pastor John who has a church just down the road. It is a small church but he is trusting God to do great things through him and his congregation.
Twyla spoke first. Her sermon was based on 1Peter 5:1-4 "Shepherd the Sheep"
Sometimes we get discouraged, weary and dismayed and just want to 'sit down' on the job. But we must persevere...in the strength of the Lord.
We are not to lean back and feel superior to the flock...
Here Twyla is talking about the importance of the marriage relationship in the life of a Shepherd (she is pointing to Les)
...audience reaction...
The man in the gray is Bishop George Kamau - this is his church...
Pastor John and his mtoto (baby)...this is the pastor I chatted with before the day began. He was also on the committee that organized this event.
Twyla making her final point!
Praying at the end of her talk...
Worship in between sermons. It was very good :)...and so much better after they turned down the volume!
Pastor Leonard hosted the event...enjoying the time of praise and worship.
Even Les is dancin' to the music!
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| Yea! for tea time! |
Yum! Chapati...so good with tea
Les' first sermon was based on Jer 18 "The Potter's Wheel"
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| Engaged... |
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| Studious |
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| Pointed... |
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| Receiving... |
Even though there were few before lunch time, the ones who were there were powerfully blessed!
"You will not perceive the will of God until you first perceive the wheel of God" - the heart of his message.
When God molds us He uses His foot to make us pliable...ouch!
She is either deep in thought or resistant (or maybe just cold?)!!!
When we are not in the center of the wheel, we are in danger of
flying off when the wheel starts turning!
When we are 'centered' on the wheel, God begins to put the pressure on to push into us...and shape us for His pleasure...
I just had to take this shot of Les dancing and skipping across the floor! This is when He has shaped us and begins to use us...we are overjoyed - yea! we have arrived!!!
Sometimes God puts us on the shelf...what?!?
Then He seems to leave us...and seems so far away...
Just when we begin to feel His presence again, He puts us in the furnace!!! Remember the story of Daniel's 3 friends? They encountered the presence of the Son of God and emerged completely unscathed, without even the smell of smoke on their clothes...
What a great message about how God prepares us for service in His Kingdom...
Praise and worship was a great way to transition from one session to the next...
Putting the play doh away :)...I am sure there is some great spiritual truth, if only I could think of it!
Kids enjoying the music :)
See the scarf? Omygosh it was freezing the whole day!
Twyla's second message was short...see her fingers? Kidogo (small)
She shared from Mark 4:26-27 "Partnering with God"
One extreme is to do what we do as though there is no God...the other extreme is to just sit and wait for God to do it all...we want to serve from the middle ground...we do what we can do and God does what ONLY He can do!
Just like the man with the withered hand...
...was told to stretch out is hand...God will work in us as we put forth effort according to His will.
The Bishop's wife returned thanks for our lunch...
...yum! Green grams, rice, cabbage and meat.
Lunchtime conversation; Pastor Alice (from a local church), Les, Bishop Victor Matoki (who organized the day for us) and Rick Montgomery (from the US, he funded the day)
The "father" of the house was invited to address the group...he seems like a gracious man and we are grateful to him for sharing his building with us.
Les in a baseball cap...inviting the pastors to write on a paper the name of the candidate they plan to vote for in the upcoming presidential election...
They are not too sure about this request!
But he convinced them that they do not need to share it with anyone and they can even change their mind later, but just to write the name now...and save it for later...
Reading from Psalm 133...v1:"For brethren to dwell together in unity!"...v3:"For there the Lord commanded the blessing"...his sermon entitled "The 43rd Tribe" was a call to unity among pastors and their congregations.
Notice he turned the cap around? On the front was the Kenyan flag, on the back the words "43rd Tribe" He shared about the apostle Paul who had to "lay down" his tribal identity for Christ.
Sharing as a Jew from the line of Aaron he made a connection as a member of his tribe to the pastors each of whom is a member of one of the 42 tribes here in Kenya.
Les showed them that his lineage goes back 1000's of years while theirs goes back only 100's
His identity, purpose and truth come directly from the Most High God while theirs comes from generations of people. The pivotal question "Who has more to lay down for Christ?"...then he made the point that most if not all of them wrote the name of a candidate from their own tribe on the piece of paper from the beginning of his message (tribal identity).
Les praying for these pastors to be willing to "lay down" their tribal identities for Christ and to unify their people in the nation of Kenya.
It was a powerful message and a powerful prayer..."wow" was my word for him.
Rick closed the day with a powerful message about "Two Trees"
One tree represents an unbroken relationship with God, which gives Hope (the expectation of God's favor) leading to Faith which produces the fruit of the spirit.
He then shared a heart wrenching story from his childhood, when at the tender age of 5 he was touched inappropriately by a beloved aunt...and then treated harshly by his older brother.
Sharing from his own life, made the "other" tree of a Fallen World make so much sense and seem all too familiar...
...from this tree we experience brokenness, wounding, bitterness (negative expectations) which leads to self-focus which out pictures as stubbornness and/or rebellion.
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| Rick praying for the Holy Spirit to reveal in us roots of bitterness |
During the time of prophetic ministry, Rick and Les were moved to pray for several of the pastors...
Somehow the words spoken over this lady touched me and left me with a burden to pray for her...
Twyla ended the day by handing out some audio lessons that she and Les have put together...
...what a blessing to these pastors who are hungry for good teaching!
Waiting for the vehicle to be packed up, I watched these kids playing in the church yard :)
