OUTREACH TO KENYA 2024
Stephen Akin-Olatunde and I were invited to preach in Kenya. We left on June 16, 2024 and returned on June 25.
MINISTRY ON THE WAY
In the airports and planes we had remarkable opportunities to witness. I was waiting to board one plane and was eating an unusual nutrition bar when I noticed a young lady from Finland was staring at it. It turned out that she had just eaten the same exact bar a few minutes before. We were launched into a conversation in which I witnessed to her for about 30 minutes and gave her a Billy Graham “Four Steps to Peace” tract. When she was called to board the plane, the large group of people sitting around us told me that they had enjoyed “listening in” on my testimony and explanation of the Gospel.
Arriving in Nairobi, Stephen and I stood in the document check line and talked to a Catholic couple who’d come for a safari. We discussed about knowing Jesus personally and how no church can save you, but only Jesus. And personal relationship with Jesus is non-negotiable. They shared with us that God put a cross on all donkey’s backs as a reward for the donkey carrying Jesus into Jerusalem at the triumphal entry (possibly from the beginning, prophetically?)
We arrived late in Nairobi and got a taxi to take us to our hotel. We witnessed extensively to the taxi driver. The next morning two men from Molo arrived to take us on the 4-hour drive to that city. The driver was a young successful farmer and the other man an associate minister at the Molo church. We had very interesting conversations. At Molo they took us to a mansion – a five bedroom beautiful house, formerly of a wealthy family who ran a large farm there. The grounds were lovely, as was the house. The house had four servants – a gardener, a young man who took care various household tasks (whom Stephen witnessed to and prayed with), and two lady hostesses, who we also witnessed to. I prayed with one of them for salvation and gave her a “Four Steps to Peace” tract.
THE BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY OF KENYA & ITS PEOPLE
The countryside of Kenya is beautiful, with towering hills and the luscious Rift Valley with its beautiful lake, and the richest green growth you’ve ever seen. The temperatures are very moderate – between low 50’s F and low 90s. Also many lower areas of the country are covered with the savannah lands, where wildlife still roam free and you can drive your car among them (or your safari van) and they pay no attention to you. The land is very fertile and often the roads are lined with local farmers selling their fruits and vegetables. Everywhere you see herds of sheep and cattle, always with a shepherd nearby. Near the wildlife refuges, it’s not unusual to see baboons in large numbers, lining the roads to receive handouts from passersby.
One of the most remarkable sights are the motorcycle drivers. The common people can’t afford cars or trucks, so the taxis are motorcycles. I watched a number of well-dressed ladies in ankle length dresses arrive to church on the backs of motorcycles! Everyone uses motorcycle taxis to get places. Motorcycles are also the cheapest mode of transporting merchandize. You see couches balanced on motorcycles! You see 300 pounds of potatoes in sacks hanging from the backs of motorcycles. You see great mountains of boxes, 12-foot 2x6s turned sideways, 6-foot acetylene welding bottles, sacks and sacks of vegetables and produce. I have seen as many as 4 people riding on the same motorcycle. I did see one driver who tipped over and crashed with hundreds of pounds of potatoes. Such feats are dangerous, but poverty compels them to try dangerous things.
The average number of children born to Kenyan families is five children. So you see 3-4X as many children as in the U.S. On school mornings an army of children are marching down the roads making their way to school, without their parents; but the environment is safe for them. All the children wear uniforms. Regular jobs, as we know them, are few in Kenya. Probably half the population are farmers, next shepherds, vendors, taxi drivers, and service personnel. Many are in poverty. Hundreds of young men roam the streets until midnight. Often they look hopeless and discouraged. As far as Christianity, it seems very similar to the United States. Many profess Christ but they don’t attend church. They have a Christian background but probably aren’t born again. Kenya desperately needs revival before this generation of young men & women move away or get set in their ways as nominal Christians.
THE MOLO OUTREACH
Bishop Joseph Karanja, Pastor of the Molo Happy Church, hosted us for a two-day minister’s conference. (Molo has about 100,000 people in it). I had 3 messages planned to preach to the ministers (with fill-in-the-blank outlines and powerpoints), with an anointing service on Thursday evening. But they had other plans. They planned I should preach 7 hours a day. So on Wednesday I had to add an extra message – “Anywhere but Nineveh.” Then on Thursday I used one of my messages for Nakuru – “God’s Fire only Falls If There’s a Sacrifice.” Then I preached a divine healing message – “The Lystra Cripple Healed,” followed by an anointing service where we anointed all the hands of the ministers with oil and prayed over them. God allowed the messages and prayers to have a powerful effect on the ministers. Praise God! On Thursday night we were transported to Nakuru, a city of almost 1 million people.
HISTORY OF THE HAPPY CHURCH MOVEMENT
About 50 years ago a man (and his wife) named Joseph Kamau determined to start a church in central Nakuru. He set up a tent and had revival services every night for 5 months (150 nights in a row)! Many people were saved. Local politicians tried to shut his tent down – the bar owners were complaining that the number of their patrons was dropping off – but God intervened to keep it going. A church was established and in time, Pastor Kamau bought a large movie theater and turned it into a church. He bought the adjacent buildings until the church owns a city block. He called it, “Nakuru Happy Church.” The Molo church is a daughter church of the Nakuru church. There are now 200 other churches in the Happy Church brand. It’s a remarkable achievement for one generation and presages a bright future for the movement.
THE NAKURU OUTREACH
I didn’t know all this until I arrived, but the Happy Church leaders had moved their annual minister’s conference to the date of my revival and combined both into one. So when I got to Nakuru I found out that the congregation I was preaching to were mostly from the nation’s ministers! I preached to them the same three messages as in Molo (topics: surrender all to Jesus, receive spiritual power, and be God’s agent in divine healing). There was a move of God; the ministers were greatly affected. Some of their leaders said they felt it was the greatest minister’s conference they’d ever had and they believed in would impact the future of their movement. I am thankful to God for the results and pray their assessment might come to pass. I enjoyed my exposure to Bishop Kamau & his wonderful wife; I can see why he’s been such a success – he’s very intelligent and has unusually good thinking skills and is a born diplomat.
Then on Sunday I preached in the main Happy Church, who’s pastor is Patrick Mwangi (and wife Ann). Stephen and I got to spend Sunday afternoon with Pastor Patrick, his wife, and two younger daughters. He has started an outreach to the poor which will, I believe, be God’s vehicle to reach many in that city. Both of the Sunday morning services are 2 ½ hours long. In the 7:30 a.m. service I preached, “God’s Fire Won’t Fall Unless there’s a Sacrifice” and in the 10 a.m. service I preached, “The Holy Spirit Fire Tunnel” – a message about the Holy Spirit, which is followed by a massive prayer line that everyone in the church slow-walks through and were deeply touched. The result was wonderful; many received a new anointing from the Lord! While I was preaching at the Church in Nakuru, Stephen Olatunde was preaching the Sunday morning service in the church in Molo. Stephen was a blessing to the people and they were uplifted in Jesus! God is so good to help us in all we do.
THE TRIP BACK
On Monday Pastor Karanja picked us up early and took us to a wildlife refuge where we saw multitudes of animals in the wild. Then we drove the 4-hour drive to Nairobi and said our goodbyes. God blessed us on the plane and we got a free upgrade to some wonderful seats in business class and could enjoy the ride home in style. I got to witness to a doctor returning to the States from a European medical conference. I suggested he get involved with medical missions. I hope the suggestion will take root. We consider this trip to be the second best for revival atmosphere of any of our five trips to Africa. We are sincerely thankful to God and the leaders of Happy Church for this opportunity. We are continuing to pray God’s Spirit will fall and bring great fruit as a result of this endeavor. May God do it, in Jesus name! Amen!
