Food Distribution

A Church Servant

Posted on March 21, 2016 by Reagan Simiyu

Unfortunately, some people believe that their standing before the Lord is determined by their power and influence, that their worthiness in the Kingdom of God is a result of their titles and positions, or that their greatness in the Kingdom of God is determined by their huge estates and wealth. They must perish the thought, that is not true. Our Mzee Timothy Sitati, a deacon and an elder in the church, understands the concept of greatness from a very different angle. Indeed, he understands it based on Jesus’ point of view.

An argument started among the disciples as to which of them would be the greatest, Jesus, knowing their thoughts, took a little child and had him stand by his side. Then he said to them, ” Whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. For he who is least among you all-he is the GREATEST.” (Luke 9:46)

Mzee Timothy is not a perfect man, but he is a blameless soul: sober-minded, a man of one wife and household that fears and loves the Lord, a man to hang around with and learn from. His mode of life and simplicity is unequaled and unattainable by many elders in our circle of local churches and community in general. His love and adoration of God is very evident in his commitment and service to the church and the needy.

Before he discovered the secret of the Kingdom he was a committed and faithful member of the Salvation Army church. Two years ago, he met with a disciple-maker and teacher of the Kingdom gospel, Marc Carrier, who shared with him the gospel of Christ. He yielded to the message and accepted to be baptized in many waters after the process of confession and repentance. This was a very new and unique experience for him. In his old church, baptism was nothing but passing under a special church flag. But that was not what Christ taught, rather he was conforming to the teaching and traditions of men.

Jesus answered, ” Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God” ( John 3:5)

Years have gone by since he entered the Kingdom, and the fruits of the Kingdom have steadily emerged in abundance for all to see and partake. Mzee Timothy is a man with many responsibilities and duties both at his home, church and community as a whole. Being a retired school master, many people regularly seek his advice and counsel, but these days his total focus, allegiance, and commitment is to the Kingdom of God and service to the church.

Mzee Timothy shopping for malnourished children

At Eldoret Hospital with Micah

After many days of preparation and discipleship, Mzee Timothy was officially ordained and appointed to take the position of a deacon. This ordination was organized and approved by elders and leaders of the church. Surely none could ever imagine that Mzee Timothy was capable enough to take the office of deacon considering his age and the demands and responsibilities attached with the office. But as the ancients taught, “wisdom is with the gray hair.” He has not only met the expectations but has performed all his tasks excellently and perfectly.

Here’s what you will find Mzee Timothy doing on any given day:

Supervising and taking care of premises where the Kingdom Driven Ministries office is located. This includes collecting monthly rent for those who pay it, noting repairs that need to be made and organizing for the work to be done, and generally keeping peace.
Maintaining and supervising the community water pump, which is located right outside the KDM building.
Managing KDM’s publicly available library of materials, and ensuring that the evangelists and teachers have access to teachings materials and literature.
Maintaining the prayer and meeting room, to ensure that the room is clean and in order before any meeting.
Overseeing the entire malnourished food program: purchasing food, packing and distributing, and taking all the children and their caregivers to the hospital’s nutritionist on a monthly basis.
Distributing food (typically maize) to the widows and the poor and keeping proper records. (Being a local, he is very familiar with the struggling families.)
To the patients with minor sickness, malaria, flu and headache, he is always ready to give pain killer and other medicines that we keep on the shelf. For those with more serious problems, he organizes with local medical health centers for their treatment.
He manages funds for malnourished, medical patients, and mission needs.
He helps in dealing with church discipline issues and solving disputes among brethren, along with our group of wazee.
As a church deacon, he initiates special collections for needs among the brethren that are brought to his attention.
Currently he helps Victor Simiyu (a brother with cancer) to manage and budget his food funds and take his medicines properly, and offers him fatherly guidance and support.
He visits the HIV/AIDS patients and ensures they don’t fail to collect their transport to go to the government health center for medicines.

Mzee Timothy with malnourished family at Matunda Hospital

Distributing food to the widows and poor

Washing the saints’ feet

Mzee Timothy has been a great blessing to the ministry and the Kingdom of God. He has been a great help to the missionary Marc Carrier, as he has relieved him from all these labors, which initially were all performed by Marc or others in the ministry. He is a great blessing to those that he ministers to and serves everyday. He is truly a light to the community. Let us always remember Mzee Timothy and other faithful servants in their work of service to God and men; remember them in you prayers and supplications.

Mzee Timothy was faithfully serving in many of these areas before his ordination in our fellowship. Because, as a deacon, he has taken on many tasks related to the administration of KDM’s service programs, he is receiving a small salary for his full-time labor from the KDM general fund. This is just one example of how your financial gifts are used within the ministry. God bless you!

“I followed happiness to make her mine…”

Posted on February 11, 2016 by Reagan Simiyu

As it is written, service to the poor and needy is nothing besides service to the Lord Jesus himself (see Matthew 25). It is our delight and honor to be His hands and feet in meeting and solving problems of the people around us, both in the Kingdom and outside the Kingdom. To share what we have with “the least of the these,” is in accordance with the Great Commandment. Last week at the KDM office (the hub of village activity where folks in need usually know to come), we received a number of widows and old people who were seeking food and medical assistance. People asking for help at this time of the year is not surprising, since here food availability is seasonal. People have a lot during harvest season (which has now past), and as soon as the season is over then acquiring “daily bread” becomes more of a struggle.

I believe our greatest happiness can only be attained when the basic needs of the poor and needy are attended to: food, clothing, and clean water especially. Many men and women are rushing hither and thither in a blind search for happiness, seeking from the things of the world, and cannot attain it; nor will they, until they recognize that happiness is already within their reach and around them:

“Once, on being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, ‘The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is in your midst.'” (Luke 17:20-21)

These beautiful lines of Burleigh’s express the secret of all abounding happiness. Sacrifice the personal and transient, and you rise at once into the everlasting Kingdom of Christ Jesus:

I followed happiness to make her mine,
Past towering oak and swinging ivy vine.
She fled, I chased, over slanting hill and dale,
Over fields and meadows, in the purpling vale.

Pursuing rapidly over dashing stream,
I scaled dizzy cliffs where the eagles scream;
I traversed swiftly every land and sea,
But always happiness eluded me.

Exhausted, fainting, I pursued no more,
But sank to rest upon the barren shore.

One came and asked for food, and one for alms;
I placed the bread and gold in bony palms;
One came for sympathy, and one for rest;
I shared with every needy one my best;
When lo! sweet Happiness, with form divine,
Stood by me, whispering softly, “I am thine.”

Kingdom Driven Ministries welcomes Reagan Simiyu as a contributing author to the blog.

A GREAT START TO 2015

Posted on February 6, 2015 by Charlton

“He, therefore, is the devout man who lives no longer to his own will, or the way and spirit of the world, but to the sole will of God; who considers God in everything, who serves God in everything, who makes all the parts of his common life parts of piety, by doing everything in the Name of God and under such rules as are conformable to His glory.” -William Law

We strive daily to work for the Lord with all of our heart, soul, and mind. Doing everything in the Name of Jesus, desperately trying to conform to His image. Glory to God in the Highest. What an honor and privilege it is, to be the ambassadors of Christ.

This new year has certainly started out with a bang. Since the beginning of the year, ten people have surrendered, repented, and have been baptized! Six out of those ten people live in Saboti, where a new home fellowship has been established. Last week alone, this brand new home fellowship had 23 people in attendance, with several people who wanted to know more about the Kingdom of God, and are receiving further teachings. The home fellowship in Bidii baptized three people, and our last baptism was a newly converted Imam (http://kingdomdriven.org/every-tongue-will-confess) who we are now working on relocating.

After people are baptized, they are strongly encouraged to walk closely with the brethren. One-on-one discipleship is key, but we also have various mid-week meetings: the mama’s meeting, youth meeting, and wazee (Wa-zay) meeting. Let’s start with the wazee meeting. You may be asking yourself, what is a wazee!? Basically, a wazee is just an elderly man. But around here, age is relative; once you hit your forties you can be a part of the wazees. The wazee meeting is like a very interactive home fellowship. They come together to pray, sing, and encourage one another. Currently, the wazees have been keeping busy with various livestock ministries. With the money received from an outside charity, cows, chickens, and a pig have been purchased. The livestock have been a tool in teaching the wazee about kingdom finances, through what we would call a “merry-go-round.” Basically, its a way of everyone chipping in some money so when there is a need or issue with one of the animals, the funds are there to lend a helping hand to anyone that may need it.

On average the youth meeting has about 15-20 people, ranging in age from 15 years old to about 35 years old. These guys are hard workers, and a number of them are employed by KDM. Recently they have been working on building the KDM discipleship housing. One of our youth named Sam, his wife Sarah, and their three month old son just moved into this building this past week. Sam just started translating books for us, and he is also a gifted teacher. Another project the youth are working on is a fish pond. They are hoping to use the fish pond to generate some income to not only assist one another, but the needy.

Last but not least, the mamas in our fellowship have been growing not just in numbers, but in spiritual maturity. We are hoping to get another mamas meeting started in Maroki, where another one of our home fellowships is located, in the near future.

Not only have we been teaching and discipling people locally, but we recently had a Women’s Conference where 52 mamas came together from various home fellowships and were taught about biblical womanhood. Also, a group of four men from Nabiswa, Kiungani, Toll Station, and Saboti are being trained as field evangelists.

In other news, we have some updates on the various Great Commandment work that is going on. The jigger clinic has been a huge success. To date we have treated roughly 700 people, and handed out over 500 pairs of shoes to people who have desperately needed them. This past month we have really been trying to get these shoes moving, sometimes going out several times per week. We’ve also been distributing SAW (Support A Widow) parcels. These parcels are a one-time gift that contain food and household supplies, as well as a little money. This is a CAM (Christian Aid Ministries) program that is administered through some of our dear brothers and sisters in Kisumu. This year we have already distributed about 40 parcels. Here is a short testimony from one of the recent recipients:

“I had been without food, caring for a few of my grandchildren. I woke up one morning, not having any idea how we would feed ourselves. I prayed to God, and that same day you came with the SAW parcel. I was so happy, and I continuously thank God for this help.”

Some of you may be familiar with the story of our local brother named Victor. He has received various cancer treatments, but we are sad to report that treatment has not helped his condition. He is a very sick man, and only God knows how much time he has left. For quite some time, Victor has been wanting to get his driver’s license. Because of his cancer, he is limited on job options. So, we have put him through driving school, and he has joyously received his driver’s license. But, just because someone goes through driving school, does not mean that they know how to drive. So, we will be giving him one-on-one driving lessons starting this weekend. Please remember to keep Victor in your prayers.

In January, our fellowship also hosted a marriage ceremony. A disciple named Patrice got married to Joan. Patrice had been previously baptized but was re-baptized into the Kingdom along with Joan about a month before their wedding. Thanks to everyone who financially supported Patrice and Joan in making this joyous day happen!

We are very happy to announce that Tim and Rebekah Nafziger and their three (plus one on the way) children have finally joined us here on the ground in Kenya. Karibu!

Looking ahead, we have some great missions planned for February. Next week we will be hosting a week-long Swahili language class. A man who has lived in Kenya for 30 years has made it his mission to help missionaries learn the local language. Glenn Roseberry will also be joining us from Tanzania for this event.

Charlton and Nashon (a local disciple) will be making a trip to Uganda to do some follow-up discipleship, as well as following up with a Christian disabled group, who they have taught the Gospel of the Kingdom to. They plan on assisting with equipment repair, such as paraplegic cycles and sewing machines. They will also be working on the building that they meet in, since it is falling apart around them.

I will close by sharing some photos of a recent Carrier/Sweazy Family Day trip to Mount Elgon. Thank you for all the love and support. Enjoy!