Kenya Revival Meetings

KENYA REVIVAL MEETINGS

THE TRIP BEGINS

We scheduled to go to the wonderful country of Kenya June 26-July 4, 2023. A wonderful couple, Joseph & Gladys Mbaire, natives of Kenya, went to Kenya from the U.S. about 3 weeks early to make sure everything was lined up for the revival services. Then Stephen Olatunde, of Nigeria, and I traveled the grueling 27 hours on planes & layovers to get to Nairobi.

WITNESSING ON THE PLANES

On the planes I was blessed to have fruitful visits with 2 Muslims. We talked about how they claim they can be forgiven of their sins by traveling on the Hajj. I asked about if adultery can be forgiven (they said ‘no’), or blaspheming God’s name. What if a Muslim couldn’t afford to go on the Hajj, or sinned once they got back home; wouldn’t they still be denied Heaven? These situations would mean that many Muslims would never make it to Heaven. But Jesus came, not just for Christians, but for Muslims too. He was God’s only sacrifice to take away sin. If we trust in Him, God promises to let our sins be transferred to Him and His righteousness be transferred to us (2 Cor. 5:21)! What a marvelous hope we have in Christ!

TRAVEL THROUGH THE COUNTRYSIDE

A brother met us at the airport and drove us to our hotel at about midnight. Nairobi is a sprawling city of 6 million. At 6 a.m. we were picked up to begin our drive to Western Kenya, the town of Molo, with a population of about 100,000. The roads in Kenya are good and the 4-hour drive was interesting. The country is beautiful and lush. We drove along the “Rift Valley” (Eastern, Gregory section) which extends for nearly 1,000 miles and has rising ground on both sides of about 3,000 feet. Herds of sheep, cattle, and goats were seen on both sides of the road. Away from Nairobi there are few cars; the preferred mode of transportation is motorcycles. In the small towns about 80% walk or catch a ride on the back of a motorcycle. I saw many motorcycles used to transport 100s of pounds of potatoes, firewood, plywood, and even a couch! As we approached Molo, the whole region is giant rolling hills maybe 1,000 feet high. This region is referred to as the “kitchen” of Kenya, because it’s where most of the crops are grown. All along the roads are small vendors or larger markets where all kinds of vegetables are grown – onions, potatoes, cabbage, limes, oranges, corn, etc. It’s lush grass and cooler temperatures (50-75 degrees F in July) are wonderful for raising flocks.

MINISTER’S MEETINGS

We were taken straight to Happy Church, Molo, to begin our minister’s training meetings with approx. 100 ministers. We were greeted warmly, treated to lunch, and then I preached on the call of Elisha, which I titled, “Burn the Plow & Roast the Cow.” I prayed for the ministers who identified with Elisha, working hard in their calling in their rural fields, yet of whom God was speaking about in His divine purposes. I had a translator each service because, although all the younger people were taught English in schools, many of the older saints were less adept and hearing it in their native language helped them get the full revelation. However this extended each service (accompanied with a vigorous 30 minute prayer time to God to save the city) to about 3 hours. We got back to the hotel, ate a snack, got cleaned up, and then prepared for the next day’s two services, then went to bed.

On Thursday I preached on “Characteristics of a World Changer” at the 9 a.m. service and then on “The Church Hell Can’t Handle” at the 2 p.m. service. The number of ministers in attendance reached nearly 200 and continued on Friday. On Friday at 9 a.m. I preached on “Be an Example of Jesus.” The 2 p.m. service was an anointing service where I anointed the hands (and heads) of all the ministers and other Christian workers in preparation of the outdoor meetings on Saturday & Sunday. Then we all loaded up and went to the center of Molo where we prayed on the ground where the open-air services would be the next two days. We circled the property and had a prayer-praise service asking for God’s deliverance, freedom, and salvation of souls over the area. Then we divided up into small groups and went throughout the area passing out 1,000 invitations to the open-air meetings and about 500 tracts. Simultaneously, a church bus with large banners attached to the sides advertising the open-air meetings went throughout the city center with speakers on top loudly telling all the people of the meetings. It was announced that 25 gifts would be randomly given out to attenders of the Saturday meeting.