January 2015 Archives

The War On Jiggers

Posted on January 21, 2015 by Charlton

Every week, for the last few months, we have been going out to alleviate suffering by removing jiggers, spraying homes, and giving out shoes. All of this has been made possible by the generosity of Heavens Family, and some wonderful kingdom saints from America. Many women, children, and men have been helped, and this is forever going to change their lives. All glory and praise to our heavenly Father.

The chigoe flea or jigger (Tunga penetrans) is a parasitic arthropod found in most tropical and sub-tropical climates, not to be confused with the larval form of Trombiculidae (called chiggers) found in more temperate climates. It is native to Central and South America, and has been inadvertently introduced by humans to sub-Saharan Africa. At 1 mm long, the chigoe flea is the smallest known flea. Breeding female chigoes burrow into exposed skin on the feet of mammals and remain there for two weeks while developing eggs, during which time they swell dramatically, sometimes causing intense irritation (condition called tungiasis). After this point, the skin lesion looks like a 5- to 10-mm blister with a central black dot, which are the flea’s exposed hind legs, respiratory spiracles and reproductive organs. If the flea is left within the skin, dangerous complications can occur including secondary infections, loss of nails, and toe deformation. These are relatively rare, but heavy infestations combined with unsanitary conditions greatly increases the likelihood of complications. (Source Wikipedia)

These sand fleas are absolutely debilitating if not properly cared for, and the removal process is painful. I actually got a jigger in my foot the day I helped distribute shoes. Let me tell you, it felt like a severe ingrown toenail, and it was not easy to remove. So, with the help of local brothers here on the ground, and visitors who have come to stay with us, we have been working to KICK JIGGERS OUT!

There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land. Deuteronomy 15:11

Every Tongue Will Confess

Posted on January 21, 2015 by Charlton

This week, we’ve had the honor to be a part of a pretty amazing story.

But this amazing story did not begin this week, it began over a year ago in a mosque…

Marc had the opportunity to teach an Imam (an Islamic leader) and his family about the kingdom of God. During this teaching he prayed for the Imam’s daughter, who was seriously sick with a long term illness. Unknown to Marc, she was miraculously healed in the name of Jesus! Amen!

Now fast forward a year. Through an astounding set of circumstances the Imam was able to reconnect with Marc, through Charlton. They set up a meeting at a local disciples home. At this meeting, the Imam was recounting the events of his daughters healing. He admitted that he felt God’s presents that day, and he even later borrowed a bible to look into what Marc had taught them at the mosque. It was all true. The only problem was, he did not know how to get back in touch with Marc.

Praise the Lord, because after this meeting the Imam surrendered, repented, and then Marc and Charlton took him down to the river to be baptized.

“For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Phillipians 2:9-11

Women’s Conference

Posted on January 15, 2015 by Charlton

This past weekend KDMK had our very first women conference! It was a wonderful event. We had 52 women in attendance, from near and far. Every lady who was a baptized member in one of our home fellowships was invited. But in true Kenya fashion, we had a few random visitors show up as well. 🙂

Marc actually came up with the idea for this event, and organized the entire thing. One of his objectives for wanting to get all of the women together, was just that. It was so encouraging and uplifting knowing that other women from around the country are on this kingdom journey with us. Being able to share together, sing together, eat together, laugh together, and simply look into each others eyes brought a beautiful unity between all of us. The only negative that I think we all experienced, was not being able to communicate as freely as we all would have liked due to the language barrier that we still experience. However, we have a very intelligent local sister in Christ that speaks excellent English, named Linda. She translated the entire conference. We definitely needed her help because Wanda, Cindy, and I (Natasha) did all the teachings for the day. The reason that the three of us did the teachings for the conference was simply because we all live in the same compound. We were able to collaborate and organize what we were going to share in a short amount of time. And Cindy made a great point to encourage all the ladies to continue sharing, and teaching one another.

So, after a worship song, prayer, and short introductions I was the first one to share. My main focus was seeking the favor of God. I really tried to encourage the youth, that they are not to young to serve God in big ways. (1 Timothy 4:12) I find Mary’s life to be a perfect example of that. Out of all the woman in the world, God chose this young Jewish women to be mother of His only son. She was the “favored one.” (Luke Chapter 1) So I used scripture to shed some light on her character as well giving a detailed breakdown on the fruit of the spirit. (Galatians 5:22-25) Those characteristics are suppose to define us as followers of Christ.

Next, Cindy gave a detailed teaching on biblical womanhood. Sharing scriptures on how to become the wife and mother that God calls us to be. She started in Genesis and worked her way through the New Testament, really focusing on God’s order of headship and submission. One point that I really appreciated that she made was pointing out that older women are instructed by scripture to teach younger women the practical aspects of running a household; on how to love our husbands and raise godly children. These teachings are not something that women in this area are used to hearing. So it gave many mama’s plenty of things to think about, and a great opportunity for self evaluation.

Wanda closed the conference by weaving portions of her testimony in conjunctions with 1 Corinithians 6:18-7:40. She wanted to share the areas in which she fell short of the proper roles in marriage. Her transparency, and honesty was really refreshing, and I think many women could relate with what she had to say. She ended with sharing the joy she has experienced by being able to serve the kingdom of God as a single person. Now she is able to be totally devoted to our King without any distractions.

The three of us are at three different places in life. We have three different experience levels, and three different backgrounds. But God intertwined us together beautifully to share the message that He wanted His daughters to hear.

Intentional church split

Posted on January 4, 2015 by KDM Admin

A major PRAISE GOD! We have many dozens of churches in our mission now. But today was a major milestone for the mission. A successful intentional church split!

A couple weeks back we had 98 people in attendance in the fellowship that meets in our home; 22 people had to sit outside on planks, motorbikes or the grass and listen in. That prompted immediate action. I discussed the situation with key leaders and we agreed to split the fellowship into three immediately, announcing it the following Sunday and implementing it the next which was today. Done. Well—this report is how it went.

The most disctant disciples from three villages (Kiungani, Toll Station, and Kiminini) met at Sam’s in Kiminini. For this one time I gave Nashon a motobike and he collected the brethren. They had the smallest fellowship of only seven but said it went very perfect.
The second fellowship was in Matunda and included saints from Milele. They had 19 in attendance and said it likewise went excellent. Then the fellowship that meets in our home still had at least 55 to 60 people and was quite awesome.

Now I know for many this all seems foreign to most married to traditional institutional church. Taking a vibrant growing church and instead of encouraging additional growth and simply constructing a building or adding services, we are splitting the church up into manageable “home-sized” chunks and dispersing our gifted leaders among the groups. Yup, organic kingdom expansion is different.

What are the benefits? By so doing, we are setting beacons of light into two additional communities. The Matunda fellowship boasted three visitors whom we will soon teach and add to our numbers who would not have attended had we met in Mwananchi (our home) this week. We are planting the kingdom within communities rather than extracting people from communities to trek to our “church.”

Also, in Mwananchi this week Geoffrey and Ben took a lead role. Patrick in Matunda. They did excellent. These are second tier disciples. You see, under normal circumstances the first tier teachers and leaders facilitate the meetings and provide most of the teaching. By splitting up the gifted leaders it allows the Holy Spirit to go deeper into the discipleship and expand our talent pool. Amazing and encouraging to watch.

Praise the Lord!