Awesome mission. This was an exciting mission and a meaningful one because this was the first mission after having my work permit in hand, the first mission with the full fully-trained team, and the first mission using our new ministry model that has been perfected based on the experience of prior missions. And the results: IT WORKS!
Our model is simple: me or one of my mission team coordinate with a contact who is familiar with our message and method to organize a meeting at their location. I order books, Bibles, and tracts from Nairobi. I pull the team together, David from Nairobi, Tonny from Maridadi, and Henry who is my neighbor here in Kiminini. Then we travel to the mission location. Then I teach for a day or a day and a half. I first present the Kingdom Gospel, then multi-generational discipleship with emphasis on total surrender (Luke 14) and authentic repentance (completing a spiritual inventory). Then I teach about home fellowships (church planting), Luke 10 evangelism methods, and ministering to Muslims. Then me and the three leaders form groups of three or four and we storm the area with the Gospel of the Kingdom message using the tracts. We seek out men of peace, preach the Kingdom, and pray for healing. We take those who receive to surrender. We then follow up to bring them to repentance and baptism (spiritual inventory). Then the locals we trained continue with discipleship, organizing into home fellowships, and continued Luke 10 style evangelism.
We have perfected this model. It is not simply theory. It really works. Here is a case study.
We recently received a donation for Bibles and had some in stock. We also had tracts. So I just ordered 30 Kingdom Expansion Series books (which teach all mentioned above) and had David bring them with him from Nairobi. I had several Shepherd’s Storybook copies in stock. I normally bring two Swahili for every one English and it normally works out. I sent funds ahead for the team members to meet at my home. We fellowshipped there in preparation for the travel to Mumius. I coordinated with Erastus, the pastor from Mumius who gathered the folks for the meeting. After a four hour trip, I began teaching Thursday at 10 AM. He had six pastors in attendance from the area and then his congregation. Now Mumius is a Muslim stronghold, much like Mombasa. It is about 50% Muslim in the area. As a result of historic opposition and even violence, there is much fear to evangelize there. It is also a dark place, the source location of the tribal violence in 2007 which resulted in many deaths there. The horrors are still fresh in their minds. It is also the location of a kingdom. Yes, an actual monarchy within Kenya. Amazing. Many demonic strongholds there.
So after hearing the teachings these folks were just amazed and totally fired up. They now knew the Kingdom Gospel, how to present it, and our collective mission of making disciples and how to do it. We wrapped up for the day and I continued to teach the leadership into the evening. Now Satan was attacking in multiple ways. One, there was a misunderstanding about who would be funding food for the attendees. KDM literally didn’t have the funds available and neither did the locals. In the end, Erastus took his rent money and paid and the Carriers reimbursed him. Erastus’ daughter (3 yrs old) had malaria and serious pneumonia. She was hospitalized and his wife was in the hospital day and night. He had to rush her to the hospital in the middle of the night after the first day and did not sleep a wink that whole night.
Next morn, I mobilized the troops with Luke 10 evangelism and methods for ministering to Muslims. I also briefly discussed the objectives of planting home fellowships. We then prayed it up and set up into four teams with each team lead by one of the KDM crew. We went in four directions, house to house sharing the Gospel of the Kingdom to 34 homes the first day. Only two doors slammed in our face. Nearly all who heard the message received it as true. Over a dozen surrendered completely to it. And the shock to the locals there, out of at least ten Muslims presented the Gospel of the Kingdom, only two rejected it! Another miracle: the very predictable daily afternoon rains were held back for all three days we were there. The locals were in awe! Another miracle: a mute boy opened up a Bible and read: “Jesus entered the villages and healed all their diseases.” His mom, in shock, had no choice but to surrender to the Kingdom.
The next day two teams went back to the field for more evangelism and two went to the river for baptism. At the river, David went through their spiritual inventories, prayed through repentance, renouncing the enemy, and releasing victimizations. One disciple was slain in the Spirit when her list was burnt. A clear demonstration of the truth of what we were doing. Erastus was amazed.
Now, as part of this case study, I want to share the cost of this mission. Because it is our intent to do one of these a week. In fact, when my three partners are sufficiently trained, and they can teach what I teach, we will send all three of them out leading teams. So within a year, I want to send out four teams per week.
Here is a the breakdown:
We gave out 4 Swahili New Testaments (only given to Muslims on this mission). They are $3.38 each.
We gave out 30 Kingdom Expansion Series manuals. We set out to limit them to leaders, but it seems that at these events, everyone is instantly a leader. They are $1.91 each.
We gave out 5 Shepherd’s Storybook (to key leaders who will oversee house churches). They are average $1.78 (Swahili and English have different page count).
We handed out at least 100 tracts. I did not count them. They cost $0.10 to $0.23 each, depending on where we print. We ran out on this mission and had to copy more at the higher price.
So our entire literature budget for this mission was $13.52 + $57.30 + $8.90 + $15.00 = $94.72
Now transport costs for gathering the team and going to and from the mission and motorbikes for the trip to the river for baptism: $100.63
Food for the attendees and the team for all three days: $77.50 (paid by Carriers personally)
Other emergency aid for needy at Mumius: $62.50 (paid by Carriers personally)
So the total for this very fruitful and effective mission, which is really quite representative of the missions we are planning weekly going forward, is: $335.35
Now, I share all this with you because we need your help. We are ready to do the work, and are planning missions weekly going forward. However, we have no funds in the coffers. The model works. It is extremely low budget. This is grass roots and organic. But there are expenses. So please prayerfuly consider funding a mission.
God bless you,
Marc Carrier
From Kenya