April 9
awesome day in maridadi. discussed plans for orphan care, planned mission for couple weeks out, and lots of teaching. these guys are a great encouragement. one young man had experienced night terrors ever since violent sexual abuse as a child. prayed for him for forgiveness, release, and deliverance and he has been free of nightmares for a month now. God is awesome.
April 12
met w silas and henry yesterday. planning upcoming mission in kiminini and maridadi. spoke to immigration, nairobi trip postponed until friday. slow and steady wins the race. concluded that a motorbike is needed for intervillage evangelism and travel. shopped all the local models. will check out others in nairobi as well. once we settle on model will work with mission board to raise necessary funds. pray for wisdom and provision.
April 13
Awesome mtg. teaching tomorrow about surrendre, commitment, and repentence to 20 baptism candidates. i tond henry we’ll be lucky if we still have 10 when i’m done teaching. he said he would be happy w 5. amen. Bros visiting next week. you will be present for the baptisms!
April 15
Just returnrd from open air mtg. taught kingdom of God and count the cost. not what organizers expected.
April 15
Just returnrd from open air mtg. taught kingdom of God and count the cost. not what organizers expected.
April 17
Busy day. received brothers from the US. tired them out trekking many miles running errands all over nairobi. they said they wanted to go but i dont think they had a clue. they struggled to keepp up w me and patrick. they are now napping. training mtg tomorrow. big turnout anticipated. appreciate prayers.
April 17
Awesome fellowhip and teaching tonite. very encouraging. found the motorbike i want to get. yamaha ybr125. will be a great asset for mission.
April 18
awesome mtg. lots of heated discussion early on. by end all were in agreement. tremendous. going out two by twos tomorrow.
April 20
major fruit going out lk 10 style. we had five teams of 2 or 3 preaching the kingdom house to house in slums. we were invited in, taught, shared, prayed and allowed the HS to do the rest. message well received. many tears, repentance, and commitment. highlight was a prostitute turned disciple. she repented and was baptized and is now being cared for and discipled by the house church here. led to the Lord by our most novice discple in training on the US team, daniel. follow up from earlier training mtg. all 20 pastors have come back to the coordinator of the mtg to say they recognize they have heard the true gospel and will embrace it fully. david will guide them through the changes. glory to God.
April 20
Another great day. everyone is trained, practiced and fired up. the US team will never be the same. the poverty has impacted their perspective forever. the receptivity of the kingdom has also mobilized them to action. the kenyans, equally encouraging mission. they are mobilized and trained. fruit, yup. lots of very good responses today. im exhausted, but really pumped.
April 21
team now on the road destination kiminini from nairobi.
April 21
americans, nairobites, now at the carriers in kiminini. ugandans here soon.
April 23
yesterday was teaching at my house and watched baptism of 14 kenyans in the river. it was awesome. these were the folks henry and i reached going house to house. henry finished going thru spiritual inventory w them all saturday and burnt the papers. steven was rebaptized by charlton. mama, the formerly paralyzed woman walked into the water herself!
April 24
today was equally exciting. much to share. woke up early to plant crops barefoot in field. washed each others feet then fellowshipped. maridadi crew late due to rains. my sickness grew unbarable and i went to kitale w charlton for lab work and meds. yup, confirmed malaria. 62 cents for lab work and 6 dollars for prescription. love their medical establishment here! great time showing charlton around. special ordered a bacon cheese burger at best restarant in town. was terrible sick, by now, but was great time. he said he received confirm from Lord that this is the place for his family. teams meanwhile stormed the villages w gosp of kingdom. many received message. two will be baptized tomorrow so far. many want to learn more. ministry team amazed by harvest. ugandans on team changed forever. God glorified. village being transformed. more reports from meri dadi saying familiwes and village transformed. God is awesome. thanks Lightners for thoughtful care package. isaiah loved the aviation book, all priceless. we luv u all. lu u all.
April 24
More fruitful ministry. daniel overwhelmed to have listened to the spirits leading and have found man of peace. baptized onen rains interfered w others. i feel worse than ever, apparently normal when treating malaria. renee has it too now. to God all the glory.
April 25
lots of fruit today. several men of peace. i felt ghood enough for half day in field. baptized a priests son. he will likely be disowned, but said he had to cuz he has heard the truth. very receptive to kingdom gospel here. our team is really fired up. team has rexpanded. one whom wee baptized was going out w us. to God all glory.
April 27
much fruit. some supernatural as well. one house child was sick. person had a dream child was healed and he was. also had dream a white man would enter their home and teach about Jesus. if you knew how remote a possiobility that was. this place is very remote and never received a white man. well, dream come true, healed and saved. another group was startled by our yteam in midst of drinking gathering. one man ran home to avoid them to find another team there at his door. he knew he was a marked man and repented did all at the party. love watching God at work. too many reports to list. great stuff.
April 27
some of the best rpts yet. old woman confessed all sins and called whole fam in to receive msg. michaels team also found man o peace. grt rpt. i went to town center w charlton no translator. first person i met invited us to speak to all in largest high school in town. taught all students and teachers, 130 Tot entire msg of kingdom. totally received. youth then went home to share w families. nairobi team cont discipling after we left. done spiritual inv w all newbies incl formr prostitte. they baptized three more and still going. glory to God!
April 27
another rpt just in. steven was asked by a man what he was doing. he said making disciples. he said he was a disciple. so steven said “you obey everything Jesus said” and left him. he was so convicted he joined our team later in the day where we were staying. went through everything. total commitment, even did the spiritual inventory and burned it. glory to God for this new disciple.
April 29
grt fellowship back in kiminini last night. heading to nairobi to see everyone off today filmed many testimonies. maybe they will make youtube later.
April 29
en route to nairobi. mission winding down.
April 30
slept in home in nairobi last night where house church meets. several of the new disciples, including the former prostitute were there for followship. americans flew out early this morn. i will be meeting and encouraging the disciples and conducting business while here. pray with me to locate a professional illustrator to produce a kingdom gospel tract in multi languages.
May 1
big praise. for those who have seen gospel of kingdom presentation w classic atonement, i have an illustrator generating line drawing illustrations for a new multilanguage tract right now. that was one of the main objectives of this trip to the city. i believe all the to do yesterday was demonic attempts to derail this very important project. it almost worked ultil cindy and i both discerned it and stood firm.
May 1
Just finished fellowship w one of the nairobi house churches. great time.
May 2
tonite was fun. got caught in terrential rains treking to house church mtg. forced to take cover. divine appmt. preached kingdom w message well received. just received word of invite from ne kenya from pastor who attended nairobi mtg. he received message and broght kes book back w him. he infected his whole area w this radical brand of kingdom christianity and now all pastors in area want me to visit to teach them. will go w ministry team for multiday seminar/luke 10 mission w new tract/booklet in hand.
May 3
Still in town overseeing prep of illustrations. missing home and family but should wrap up tomorrow. jonah is w me here in nairobi. david was pulled aside by a couple and was invited in. he shared gosp of kingdom and went thru inventory right then. instant house church birthed. they were previously baptized, just recommited/repented when learned kingdom gospel.
May 4
Slow n steady, and pray the race will be won. power outages so frequent, progress on illustrations very slow indeed. got to share gospel of kingdom w illustrator and he will be visiting one of the house churches soon. day not a total loss. im sick w something new. on three meds. looking forward to being home tomorrow.
May 5
Im home.
May 7
The demonic forces battling against our presence are relentless. just received a report that my immigration file has gone missing the day the final signature was anticipated. the battle belongs to the Lord.
May 8
Cindy and I visited today with a young lady recently baptized along with several of her family members. all are growing strong in their faith. she mentioned being challenged to continually examine the fruit in her life and her obedience to Christ because of the teaching on John 15 by one of our missions teams. spent the day working on a pictoral tract of the Gospel of the Kingdom. Good progress.
May 9
new gospel of kingdom tract done english and swahili. five pages a4. that means about 12 cents a copy. swahili needs final review. im pumped.
May 10
went thru some of swahili tract today w translator. then met for several hours teaching kingdom, discipleshp, and simple church. he is a traditional church pastor wanting to transition. will go to mumius in coming weeks for mission there.
May 12
Interesting dream last night. A commander was coaching me and prepping me for an imminent battle. I was asking all types of questions. The commander was someone I know– Vic Barbara Clary Reffey–He said casualties would be high for the first wave but we would pave the way for many reinforcements.
This dream helped me understand the challenges we have been facing more clearly. For carnally, they make no sense. They are unprecedented. Here is the present status based on information from a trusted, informed ally. Our immigration file has been stolen again and not yet recovered. It only needs one signature. There is a cartel of folks thwarting its approval. I can’t share more details now. However, God is fighting for us. Two people were caught, fired, and reported to the police. We have an ally, a godly man, high up in immigration and the Director himself is working to see this permit through. Our visas expire next week. Please persevere in prayer and send some salvos to the beach to prepare for our landing. To God be all the glory.
May 12
nearly complete w swahili translation review and translated into french today.
The Gospel of the Kingdom tract is now available for download in English in e-book or for duplex and simplex printing here: http://kingdomdriven.org/purchase-resources
May 13
Swahili version of Kingdom Gospel tract now posted for download: http://kingdomdriven.org/purchase-resources French and Spanish soon. Taking requests for additional languages.
May 14
spent day w tonny, a real strong disciple. excellent time. tomorrow recording gospel of kingdom video tract ultimately for youtube. fyi, my immigration file was recovered today. uncertain on completeness. last time it was stolen three docs were removed.
May 15
audio recording of kingdom gospel teaching went excellent. a friend has a recording studio and let me use it. major blessing since acoustics horrible in our house. also all the children and neighbors cows make recording impossible. video production half done. hope to finish tonight. back to nairobi tomorrow.
May 16
in nairobi w david. since i left last week they have batized and added six more disciples–literally adding to their number daily like in Acts. tomorrow going to immigration. trusting the Lord for good results. friday, isaiahs bday, we are going to kawangware, have a man of peace ready w his fam to hear gosp of kingdom. printed 125 tracts while here. will print many more. i think sev hundred or 1000.
May 17
Busy day in nairobi. purchased 30 bibles for new disciples, 23 swahili new test and 7 niv full bibles. ordered the printing of 1000 gosp of kingdom tracts, 500 english and 500 swahili. Uploaded teaching of gosp of kingdom to our server for @charlton sweazy to post to youtube. real interesting thing at immigration. tune in later for the full rpt. keeping it hush for now. oh if you havent seen it, tune into the most recent post by @david wanjala. wow. this mission is the battle of the ages.May 19
Text of a recent email received from a gentleman in Nairobi:
————-
Dear Marc,
I am “XnameX” writing on behalf of my wife and two neighbors, who gladly received the kingdom message from David whom we call the Apostle of this season. We were baptized last week after seeing things that I had never seen in life-demons manifesting through my wife? I had no option. had just to surrender for the kingdom life. yeah, I will be soon traveling to up country taking this message to the remaining members of my family before I come to settle here in Kawangware. We have a house Church-had never heard of this before, wonderful!. David is leading us on how to proceed,thanks to GOD. He told me some days ago that you are the head of the mission and you were to come today to Kawangware.
He has called me this morning informing me of the issues with your work permit and that you may not be able to be here today. Great blessings that you have given us a bible and some tracts of which David says will be bringing to us.
Hoping to see you especialy after I come from upcountry. Blessings
————
**Update to the message: As a result of spreading the Gospel of the Kingdom in this area, three more people have been baptized and the house church there is growing. Praise God!
May 19
taught gospel of kingdom to three folks today. message well received. pressing on in nairobi. isaiah returning to kitale tomorrow via ezcoach. i have more to do here in the city. but really looking forward to returning home to the family soon.
May 20
great reception of the kingdom message here in nairobi by many traditional pastors. being invited to many churches, some very large, due to davids networking. isaiah home. preached kingdom on the way and message received. when in kitale, isaiah showe the man through town to catch the right bus to kisumu, his destination. gotta love that boy. he engaged several people on the bus. apples dont fall far from the tree.
Tuesday 22nd
shared gospel of kingdom w one woman on bus and had good conversations and provided tracts for three american short term missionaries. really peaceful and relaxing ezcoach trip back home so far. almost to eldoret. couple hours until home. havent seen wife and family for a week now.
Tuesday May 22
here is a text to isaiah from the man he spoke to on bus:
evangelist isaiah, am back in kisii. your zeal when u were preaching to me in the ezcoach touched my heart. it sounded nice to listen to u as u were reading the bible touching the Gods kingdom. him elly
May 23
good to be home. enjoyed quiet day w family and attended to administrative backlog.
May 24
You just might be a Kenyan if…
…you use your cell phone as a flashlight during a middle-of-the-night trip to the outhouse
…a 5-liter kerosene container gets rinsed out and re-used as a water jug
…you carry gasoline in a plastic bag
…you are one of 5 people on a motor bike, along with a propane tank
…a motor bike can transport a complete living room set from point A to point B
…you put kerosene on your cat to rid it of fleas
…the medicine you get from the local chemist is labeled as a known carcinogen and is not available in the US
…you think that chewing sugar cane is a reasonable substitute for tooth-brushing
…you start looking for a hat and jacket when the temperature drops to 70 degrees
…you’ve never eaten cheese, chocolate, pizza, spaghetti, ice cream, or ground beef
…tea made with water is totally distasteful (because everyone knows that tea is made with milk!)
…cleaning the toilet consists of dumping a 5-gallon bucket of water into the potty area and letting it rinse down the hole
…a meal just isn’t a meal without ugali
…you jam 23 people into a minivan (matatu) with two hanging out the open sliding door traveling at highway speed (no lie, seen it!)
…you dance and scream at every church service, even a Catholic Mass
…you feel uncomfortable touching a sit-down style toilet with your behind and hover over it because you are so used to making your deposit in an open ground-level hole
…you wipe yourself with newsprint or any scrap paper you can find
…you fully expose your breast while someone is sharing the gospel with you to feed your hungry child (this happened twice!)