Missionary Update: The Tates on Furlough from Kenya [March 2014]
The Tate Family has served the Lord in Kitale, Kenya since January 2008. Their main ministry is indigenous church planting.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
I can hardly believe that this furlough is coming to an end and that this is the month that we return to Kenya (minus Emily). I can’t believe how quickly it has passed and how much I will miss you all once we return. But, since we are gearing up to return to Kitale, let me do two things in this newsletter. First, let me quickly recap this furlough time and, second, I would like to summarize again what we would like to see happen in this upcoming term in Kenya.
So, first, how has this furlough gone? Well, it certainly has been rough at times but in all I think we have managed it the best we could. There are two things that make furlough tough. The first is instability. When you don’t have a firm, permanent place to stay, life tends to be a bit unhinged. Jumping from one place to another is volatile and erratic. Next time we will want to find a “permanent” place to stay as soon as we arrive in the States. The second problem with furlough is travel. Every weekend takes us on the road again. Most of the churches I visit are centrally located in states surrounding Ohio but most still require at least a three hour drive to reach. If I travel alone it takes me away from my family. If I travel with the family, that brings its own challenges. Among many other things, instability and travel especially make furlough tough. The other difficulty with this particular furlough has been weather. We have received a considerable amount of snow and ice this winter, as you know. It hasn’t prevented me from traveling much, but it has prevented me from attending services at our home church. It seems that every weekend I wasn’t traveling and had an opportunity to be spiritually fed at our home church, the weather would turn sour and all the worship services for the weekend would be cancelled. This happened often enough that I began predicting weekend weather. If it was a weekend in which I would be at home I would predict a large amount of snow and ice for Saturday night and, sure enough, the snow would inevitably come Saturday night and Sunday morning and all worship services for the day would be cancelled. I’m not sure why God wanted this to happen for me but it sure seemed to happen every time. I enjoyed the snow, I just wish I had been able to spend more time at our home church. I have, however, been able to enjoy some pizza, big macs, donuts, and the endless cereal aisle at Walmart so now I am trying to take off the weight I have gained this furlough. I guess I need to get back to the Kenyan beans and rice.
Next, let me briefly summarize what I envision for our ministry in Kenya for our third term. Once we return to Kenya I will be searching for two important ingredients. First, I will be searching for a house to rent in order to start training faithful Kenyan men our model of independent, self-reliant, reproducible church planting. Remember, I want this house to look just like the houses the men who will be trained are living in so that it resembles their own houses. They need to know they can do in their own home what I have been modeling for them in a house just like their own home. The second component I will be searching for is, of course, faithful men to teach. We want to teach them how to reach their own people with the gospel and how to start, organize and maintain New Testament Baptist churches. Definitely something you all can be praying about with us.
Until next month, beloved.
May God’s peace and joy be with you.
For the glory of God in East Africa,
Roger & Julie Tate (and Emily, Amy, & Josiah)
rojuta[at]gmail.com
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Missionary Update: The Tates on Furlough from Kenya [February 2014]
The Tate Family has served the Lord in Kitale, Kenya since January 2008. Their main ministry is indigenous church planting.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
I want to start this update by extending my thankful gratitude to all of the many churches that I have visited already during this furlough/home assignment time. We have been all around in Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky and some in Indiana.
We still have a few more churches yet to visit. Every church we have visited so far has been so warm, so welcoming, so loving and for all of this I am extremely grateful. It is good to know that all these great people in all these great churches are praying for us while we are in Kenya. I can’t tell you how many times I have visited a church and someone comes up to me and says “I pray for you every day”. Just today I had a lady come up to me and said, “I pray for you two times every day”. I was so amazed and so appreciative of her prayers that I semi-jokingly said, “Well, then you need to take two of my prayer cards”. She semi-jokingly replied that one card would be enough. But please believe me when I say how much we need and covet these prayers. Another thing that I really appreciate when I have been visiting the churches is the interaction and questions that I get at nearly every church. The intelligent questions and informed interaction tells me that people are interested in what we are doing and involved in fulfilling the commission that Jesus gave to his churches to reach all the nations of the world. Do you know what else the questions and interaction accomplish? They make me have to think through things that I might not have thought through completely already. I’m not saying I haven’t myself thought about these things, but the questions and comments make me have to think harder about certain elements of my ministry and try and figure out how we will need to change and evolve more in the future. God’s people are such a blessing. The hospitality and kindness that I experience at every church lets me know how much you all love your missionaries. And one more point I will mention is all the differences I see in the churches I visit. I love the diversity. I’ve visited large churches and small churches. I’ve visited city churches and country churches. Some churches use more contemporary music and some more traditional. Some church buildings are old and some are new. But all have been friendly and loving. All are interested in missions. And all are occupied with preaching and teaching the gospel. Knowing that you all are diligently praying for us missionaries I also diligently pray that God would bless all of these churches and that they would be beacons of light in their own communities. May God empower each of you to fulfill the great commission here in your own hometowns.
We are now only one and a half months away from returning to Kenya. This brings me mixed emotions. I want to return and commence our third term and get going on our ministry. But I’m not yet ready to leave my beloved United States. I’m not yet ready to leave Emily here behind. I’m not yet ready to leave my home church. And, jokingly, I’m not yet ready to leave the pizza, Big Macs, and donuts. I’m not even ready yet to leave the snow and ice. But Kenya awaits and we begin to set our hearts on returning to the place where God has placed us to minister. Pray that God would prepare our hearts and minds for this return.
Until next month, beloved.
May God’s peace and joy be with you.
For the glory of God in East Africa,
Roger & Julie Tate (and Emily, Amy, & Josiah)
rojuta[at]gmail.com
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Missionary Update: The Tates on Furlough from Kenya [January 2014]
The Tate Family has served the Lord in Kitale, Kenya since January 2008. Their main ministry is indigenous church planting.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
As I’m writing this the new year has just begun. We have flipped from 2013 to 2014 and, just like that, 2013 is gone, filed away forever. In this update let me recap 2013 and give tentative plans for 2014.
Recap of 2013:
2013 turned out to be a good year and a difficult year at the same time. The difficulties came in facing the normal hardships of being missionaries. This includes long periods of time away from our home country and living in our host country. Maintaining close relationship with God can also be difficult given these circumstances. But 2013 brought many blessings as well. Throughout the year we saw advances in the ministry and the kingdom of God. We saw Shangalamwe Baptist Church organized, members baptized and a Kenyan elder appointed to oversee the work. We saw other groups come together for worship and Bible study only to see many of these groups falter and stall. However, we learned much from the failure of these groups and why they were never able to mature and ultimately be organized into New Testament Baptist churches. In addition, we watched as our friend and student, Titus, began starting groups on his own that came together to hear the gospel and learn from the Word of God. He started many groups, saw many Kenyan people being saved, was able to organize some of those groups into Baptist churches and baptized many. Sometimes we think that the work is progressing slowly (and it is) but when we look back we praise God for the many things he has accomplished. Then, finally, at the end of August of this past year we returned back to the States for our time of furlough and reporting to the churches of the work we have been doing in Kenya.
Plans for 2014:
Since no one can predict or control the future, these plans and hopes for this year are strictly tentative. We place 2014 into the hands of our Sovereign and loving, Heavenly Father and entrust what we do to Him. That being said, here’s what 2014 might look like. Early this year, in early January, we will take Emily, our firstborn, to Virginia to begin attending Patrick Henry College. This is a major event in the lives of the Tate family as I have written before. In just a couple of days our family dynamic changes dramatically. This event is lying heavy on my heart and on the hearts of the whole family. Then, in March, we return to Kenya. Again, this is all in the hands of God, but we do have return tickets already and barring some emergency we will be back in Kenya in March. The only other major event that I can foresee is that if Amy is accepted and there is an opening, she will probably be attending Rift Valley Academy starting in August. This is the same boarding school outside of Nairobi that Emily attended throughout her high school years. And, of course, in between all of these major events will be the work of the ministry. Our plans include renting a small Kenyan house in order to use for training of men to do the gospel ministry. From this house we will train, model, teach, assist, watch and lead faithful Christian men to reach their own people with the saving message of Christ and to start, organize and oversee New Testament Baptist churches. I would also like to see this house used as some kind of charitable outreach center that would could be used to help Kenya people with the many difficulties they face each and every day. There are many logistics to work out concerning these plans. May God’s will be done in our lives, in our family and in our ministries.
Until next month, beloved.
May God’s peace and joy be with you.
For the glory of God in East Africa,
Roger & Julie Tate (and Emily, Amy, & Josiah)
rojuta[at]gmail.com
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Missionary Update: The Tates on Furlough from Kenya [December 2013]
The Tate Family has served the Lord in Kitale, Kenya since January 2008. Their main ministry is indigenous church planting.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
The season in which we celebrate the birth of our Lord is now upon us. Lights are being displayed on houses. Festive music plays on radio stations and in all the stores. Black Friday money has already been spent. Church choirs prepare for cantatas while children are preparing their plays and memorizing their lines, all of which will revolve around the baby Jesus. Holiday food will be consumed in mass amounts: Turkey, ham, cookies, fruitcake, punch, dressing, sweet breads, etc. It is a great time to be in the United States. We always look forward to spending Christmastime in America if possible. I love the joy of the season.
Christmastime in Kenya is much different. Not as much joy. Holiday food consists of everyday fare like ugali (corn meal) and sukumawiki (cooked greens) or for the more fortunate, an anemic chicken. I have yet to see a children’s play. There is no such thing as Black Friday. Lights are non-existent and festive music rare. All of these things are simply not part of the Kenyan culture in Kitale. And yet Christians in Kenya are able to celebrate the exact same thing that Christians in America celebrate, namely, the coming of the Messiah, the coming of the Savior, the coming of the King.
As I progress through this holiday season I want to keep in mind what we share in celebration with the churches in Kenya and the churches where other BFM missionaries are found in Peru, France and Brazil, and the churches all around the world. That common thread through them all is the entrance of our Savior and our King into this world.
In furlough news, our travels have taken us to numerous states. We have reported on our Kenyan work in:
Ohio: Emmanuel Baptist in Bellbrook (Pastor Darrell Messer), Cornerstone Baptist in Cincinnati (Pastor Jonathan Gordon), Covenant Baptist in Dayton (Pastor Kelvin Benton), Union Baptist in Union (Pastor Bruce Winner)
West Virginia: Calvary in Hurricane (Pastor Jeff Hurst), Mt. Calvary in Charleston (Pastor Jesse Waggoner)
Kentucky: Emmanuel Baptist in Salyersville (Pastor Mark Campbell), Emmanuel Baptist in Oldtown (Pastor John Lybrook)
Michigan: Grace Baptist in Holly (Pastor Bob Hopkins), Lake Road Baptist in Clio (Pastor Doug Armstrong), New Hope Baptist in Dearborn (Pastor Terry Atkins)
Thank you, Lord Jesus, for loving us. Thank you for your churches that you have established in America, in Kenya, in Peru, France and Brazil, and all around the world. Thank you that they continue to proclaim your truth and your name on earth. Thank you for empowering them with your Holy Spirit to accomplish your purpose of spreading your kingdom to the ends of the earth. I pray that you would strengthen your churches that are called by your name. I pray that they would be kingdom minded. I pray that they would shine your light and your love to this lost world. I ask that they would stand firm on the truth in your word. I pray that through your churches you would receive honor and glory and praise. Amen.
Until next month, beloved.
May God’s peace and joy be with you.
For the glory of God in East Africa,
Roger & Julie Tate (and Emily, Amy, & Josiah)
rojuta[at]gmail.com
Visit their blog!
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Missionary Update: The Tates on Furlough from Kenya [November 2013]
The Tate Family has served the Lord in Kitale, Kenya since January 2008. Their main ministry is indigenous church planting.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
I read the following post from a missionary friend who lives in Kenya about a half a mile from our house: “Just experienced the worst day we have ever had in our three years in Kenya”. There are good days and bad days in Kenya but to say this is the worst one we’ve ever experienced is sobering. I thought I was having a bad day myself, that is until I read that post. We are preparing to move again into a different house while here on furlough and things just weren’t going well. My patience was thin; the children were lazy; there was a lot to do; I couldn’t lift anything because I’m recovering from hernia surgery. Then I read my friend’s post and realized my day couldn’t be nearly as bad in comparison to the worst day in Kenya in over three years. I suppose it’s all a matter of perspective.
Me personally, I’ve spent over five years in Kenya (over 2000 days) and I have found that most of those days are challenging. There are many battles to fight, many challenges to face and many hurdles to overcome in serving the Lord. But I’ve also noticed while I’ve been in the States that each day here is also filled with its own individual challenges. So many people in Kenya are hurting and need the Lord. Here in the States the situation is the same – so many people hurting and needing the Lord. Are we going to be willing to reach out to people, no matter where they reside and call home, and to be usable tools in the hands of the Lord to bring Jesus into the life of these hurting people? Aren’t you thankful for second chances? Whether you’re one of those hurting people or whether you have failed to be someone who has reached out to help one of these hurting people I’m glad to say that we’ve been given countless second chances through the cross.
In furlough news, we have been traveling to various churches and reporting on our work in Kenya. I am once again finding God’s people in the various churches and various places around the country to be filled with grace, kindness, hospitality and love for one of God’s missionaries. I am grateful and thankful for churches that wish to partner with us in reaching the lost in Kenya and in starting New Testament churches in that far away land. The light of the gospel of Jesus Christ can reach darkened lands but only after God places that burden on the hearts of His people. I see that burden in the hearts of the people and churches I am visiting. May God continue to fan the flames of missions in our hearts.
Thank you, Lord Jesus, for loving us and placing your Spirit within us. We praise you for the gifts of your grace, mercy and love. We praise you because you have brought us salvation through your cross. We praise you for your glory and majesty. Lord, may you draw our hearts to you. May you ever increase our faith and trust in your word and in you. Increase our love and grow our faithfulness. Thank you that you have transported us from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light. Now, may we live as citizens of that kingdom of light and may the light of your gospel and grace shine forth from us here in our own land and to all the far reaching places on this earth you created so that those near and far may also experience your love and grace. Amen.
Until next month, beloved.
May God’s peace and joy be with you.
For the glory of God in East Africa,
Roger & Julie Tate (and Emily, Amy, & Josiah)
rojuta[at]gmail.com
Visit their blog!
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Missionary Update: The Tates on Furlough from Kenya [October 2013]
The Tate Family has served the Lord in Kitale, Kenya since January 2008. Their main ministry is indigenous church planting.
October 4, 2013
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Kenya made major international news this month but not for any reasons that are good. You probably saw or read in the news that a group of heavily armed terrorists from the group Al-Shabab entered into a heavily populated upscale mall in Nairobi and held it hostage for five agonizing days. They threw hand grenades, shot their AK-47s and killed people indiscriminately. Then they holed up in the mall with their hostages for five days while Kenya police and military tried to root them out. The terror, chaos and pain they caused is simply indescribable. In the end at least 69 people were killed with hundreds injured and many still missing. The mall was burned and partially collapsed. It was indeed a great and terrible tragedy. This terrorist activity touches our family personally. This is a mall and a place that we frequently visit whenever we are in Nairobi. Throughout the ordeal I kept thinking, “This could have been us. We could have been there”. This mall is very familiar to us and so all the pictures shown on the news were also very familiar except that these familiar places in the pictures now included smoke, bullet holes and corpses. But I wasn’t only thinking, “This could have been us”. I was also thinking, “Who is in that mall right now that I might know”? As it turns out, we did have personal connections there that weekend. A friend of ours was killed by the terrorists in the mall that weekend. She and her family are Muslims but on occasion she attended get-togethers at our house. One of her daughters is friends with Emily. We feared that her children were with her at the mall but fortunately they were not there. Please pray for the family of Shirose and pray that the Lord would use this terrible event to bring them to faith in Christ. We weep for our Kenyan brothers and sisters over this tragic and senseless incident and pray that God would bring healing to our beloved host country.
In other news, we have arrived in Dayton and are finally spending some time with our church family at Emmanuel Baptist in Bellbrook, Ohio. What a blessing to hear the Word of God preached and to worship with our church family. Each time we return, though, the dynamics are slightly different. We see less of the familiar faces at church and more faces that are not familiar. If we spend another thirty years on the field in Kenya there may be very few people left at our own home church that we actually know. I suppose that is the plight of a missionary. But our dear pastor of 30 plus years is still there and we still have many dear and wonderful friends there and maybe we will be able to make new friends as well before we head back to Kenya.
Much of my time has been spent in preparing for traveling to our various supporting churches. I’m running through my checklist of all I need to do in order to begin our traveling: Design and create the DVD – CHECK; Develop and print the prayer cards – CHECK; Update pictures and information for the display board – CHECK; Call pastors and schedule traveling dates – IN PROCESS; Appropriate all equipment for showing the DVD – IN PROCESS; Prepare messages – IN PROCESS. Throw into this mix a seemingly endless running of errands, appointments and phone calls and I am easily finding enough tasks to keep me busy until we begin traveling to the various churches. I also have other speaking engagements that I am preparing for and for which I need the Lord’s help and guidance.
Until next month, beloved.
May God’s peace and joy be with you.
For the glory of God in East Africa,
Roger & Julie Tate (and Emily, Amy, & Josiah)
rojuta[at]gmail.com
Visit their blog!
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Missionary Update: The Tates on Furlough from Kenya [September 2013]
The Tate Family has served the Lord in Kitale, Kenya since January 2008. Their main ministry is indigenous church planting.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Back in the United States of America after two plus years. Things don’t seem to have changed that much since we last were in the States. The last time I returned to the States, after our first term, everything looked and felt strangely different. Kind of like when you look outside through an old window that has darkened or settled. After a while those kinds of windows begin to ripple and warp and everything you see through them is slightly distorted. That’s how I saw everything upon my return after our first term. Now we have returned after our second term and most everything seems normal to me, not distorted or as if I’ve just passed through a time warp. I don’t know how to interpret this but I do know that this time is different.
Our travel time was long but uneventful and without difficulty. It took almost four days of travel to arrive at our final destination (my parent’s house in National City, Michigan). It went like this: Drive from Kitale to Nairobi; Overnight in Nairobi; Fly from Nairobi to Istanbul, Turkey; Delay in Istanbul; Fly from Istanbul to Chicago; Overnight in Chicago; Fly from Chicago to Flint, Michigan; Drive from Flint to National City. Needless to say we were all very thankful and glad to have arrived. God was gracious to us and we all arrived safely and even with all our luggage. So much detail and planning had to go into making this whole trip work and to close up things on the Kenya side that I think I’m still worn out from all of that. But we’ve been able to spend some good time with my parents and now we are back in Flint spending some time with Julie’s parents and soon we will be heading to Dayton where we are looking forward to reuniting with our beloved church family.
There is still much to pray about. We are all well physically but we are all fighting emotional and spiritual battles. I feel so sluggish in body and mind, but especially sluggish in soul and spirit, almost like I’m weighted down. Furlough is a challenging time for Julie. All the stress of constant change and constant traveling weighs her down. Emily has left Africa and faces the challenge of college while the rest of her family will be living on a different continent. Amy misses Kenya and the life she has made there. It’s not that she isn’t excited about being back in the States, but again, it’s not what she’s used to. Josiah is doing well but he also is facing all of these things along with us, probably without showing any wear and tear.
We love you all. We’re so thankful for all your love, prayers and support. Looking forward to seeing you all soon.
Until next month, beloved.
May God’s peace and joy be with you.
For the glory of God in East Africa,
Roger & Julie Tate (and Emily, Amy, & Josiah)
rojuta[at]gmail.com
Visit their blog!
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Missionary Update: The Tates in Kenya [August 2013]
The Tate Family has served the Lord in Kitale, Kenya since January 2008. Their main ministry is indigenous church planting.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Well, the time is almost upon us. We are just a couple of weeks from departing Kenya and returning to the United States for furlough / home assignment. We are all excited about this but because we are so close to returning we are in almost total and complete shut-down mode here in Kitale. Shutting down operations here in Kenya while we are gone takes a great amount of time and a good amount of money. We have tried from the beginning of our ministries this term to build independency into the people and churches. We have been training them for a long time now and we believe they are ready to begin to stand on their own and lean on the Holy Spirit alone for their strength, wisdom and leadership. Thus, while we are not abandoning these ministries, they will be forging on ahead without us during the time we are in the States. I know it will be hard for them to carry on but it will be hard on me also as I wonder in what way they will proceed in my absence. I wonder if Paul worried much about the churches he started and the men he trained when he left a city and went to another city to continue to preach the gospel. OK, I guess I don’t have to wonder because he said did worry. In 2 Corinthians 11:28 he spoke of his “deep concern for all the churches”. But he also was able to trust in the Holy Spirit to take care of them and knew they were better off in God’s hands then in his own.
We are also in full shut-down mode with all our personal and living arrangements. Making sure everything here will run smoothly for six months is not easy. If there are problems I will certainly not be able to “run back to Africa” to see to things. The logistics of leaving everything for that long can be overwhelming, especially knowing there is little you can do if something goes wrong. Much of it we will have to leave in God’s hands.
Obviously, since we will returning home soon for furlough, we will also begin traveling to our various supporting churches in order to see you all and to give updates and reports of our work here in Kenya. After we have returned and spent some time with family and our home church, Emmanuel Baptist in Bellbrook, Ohio, I will begin contacting you pastors and churches to set up times for us to visit. So, I hope you will be expecting to hear from me. I can also be contacted via email at rojuta[at]gmail.com. We do not currently have a US phone so that is not currently an option. Looking forward to seeing you all soon.
For the glory of God in East Africa,
Roger & Julie Tate (and Emily, Amy, & Josiah)
P.O. Box 96
Kitale, Kenya 30200
rojuta[at]gmail.com
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