Missionary Update: The Tates in Kenya [October 2015]
The Tate Family has served the Lord in Kitale, Kenya since January 2008. Their main ministry is indigenous church planting.
September 28, 2015
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Hello Friends. I am in an especially happy mood right now as I sit down to write this update. As you know, we have been wanting to adopt Chloe since she came to live with us last October. We just celebrated Chloe’s first birthday back on September 17th but unfortunately the Kenyan government’s moratorium on foreign adoptions is still in place. Thus, in the meantime, because we are not able to proceed with formal adoption plans, we thought it a good idea to obtain some more legal and permanent recognition of our status with her. So, for the past few months we have been in the courts here in Kitale trying to obtain legal guardianship for Chloe. This isn’t adoption, but it is an extremely important legal proceeding for us. In granting us guardianship the court would in essence be recognizing us as her legal parents and no one would be able to take her from us without a court order from the same court granting us guardianship. In other words, it legally places her in our family and gives us legal parental rights to her. However, up to today we have faced many delays and postponements in this legal process. Countless times we have thought we would receive the ruling only to be delayed again. We’ve jumped through all the hoops only to be postponed again. Today, finally, we have received the ruling from the court – We have been granted legal guardianship of Chloe! We are thanking God for this ruling and for placing Chloe into our family and now pray that the government will open up the adoption process to us as well. She is a precious blessing to us and in light of the recent and horrible discoveries about Planned Parenthood we are blessed and pleased to be able to care for and love one of God’s “little ones”. Lord, help each of us to be as concerned as you are about your “little ones” and all those in this world who are weak and helpless.
In other news, I also just finished teaching a week long class at a local Bible college just outside of town here in Kitale. The class I taught was hermeneutics (or, how to interpret Scripture). The class was all day, every day from Monday to Friday with the final exam on Saturday morning. I was excited about being invited to teach this class at the Bible college because one of the best ways to see the Kingdom of Christ grow and spread here in Kenya is to help, teach and disciple the pastors of the country—and what better topic to teach them but how to properly interpret God’s Word. I found out how important it was to teach my students this topic as throughout the week I found out that their favorite method of interpreting the Scriptures was to allegorize the text (ie, replacing the original, intended meaning of the author with fanciful and imaginative substitute meanings). It was a grueling and tiring week but my eleven students were very bright and I grew to appreciate them all very much.
Finally, I want to give you my latest Pokot news. In my last newsletter update I reported my desire to visit a certain remote village in the bush in Pokot and to take the gospel of Jesus there to those isolated people. Since my last report I was actually able to meet with my contact and we had solidified my plans with actual dates and an itinerary. However, later that very day all my plans came crashing to the ground. I will not go into all the details but let me just say that it was obvious that God himself was closing all the doors for me to make this trip. We can have our own plans but ultimately God is in control and when He shuts the doors it is wise that we not try to force them back open. In fact, it appears that God has completely shut the ministry doors to Pokot to me, at least for the time being. I still desire to minister and share the gospel with these remote people and we will see how God opens things up and allows me to minister there, but for now I have no immediate plans to go. This makes me very sad but I comfort myself with the knowledge that the Apostle Paul also had certain ministry plans and had intentions on going to certain cities when God suddenly directed him to another city and gave him alternative plans. Again, I will try and trust in God and do all that He asks me to do. In the meantime I will pray for an opening up of the ministry back in Pokot.
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 & Chloe)
rojuta[at]gmail.com
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Missionary Update: The Tates in Kenya [September 2015]
The Tate Family has served the Lord in Kitale, Kenya since January 2008. Their main ministry is indigenous church planting.
August 26, 2015
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
NO! This report is not morbid. Although at times it might sound like it is and it does touch on some serious subjects. But I think you will want to read the whole thing anyway.
A few days ago I was praying out in the back shamba (a corn field, for lack of a better term) where I like to go to and pray uninterrupted. One of the things I was praying about, a subject I often pray about, was a certain Pokot village in the bush that I want to visit. Now, most everywhere in the Pokot region is “out there” and “off the map”, and the area I usually go to is even more “out there” and “off the map” but this village that I intend to visit is…well…really out there. From where I usually go we will have to take a long motorcycle ride until the path ends and then we will have to walk (who knows how long) over a mountain to the unreached people that live there. According to my contact, these people are “still wearing their skins”, which I understood to mean they were walking around naked but have now come to know means they still wear animal skins for clothing. While I was praying about going to this village I saw a “vision” (now, don’t freak out on me, I’ll explain that in a minute). What I saw in my head as I prayed was a series of pictures/thoughts/scenes and in these scenes I saw myself walking on the trail over the mountain to this village. Later in the scenes I saw myself getting violently sick, unable to walk, unable to get out of the bush and, ultimately, dying out in the wild. Now, listen. I don’t think these were visions from God. They may have been no more than hidden fears coming out of my own head, of my own making. I think I was just seeing something that my mind sees as a real possibility. But the scenes were real, the outcome of the scenes is a possibility and the fear real. Whether these scenes are from God or my own mind, by attempting to go to this village, this is a real possibility that I must face. Does it mean I still want to go? Nnnnnnnnn, Yes.
Let me clear some things up before I continue. (1) I don’t want to die in Pokot. I want to continue living, serving God and loving my family. (2) I don’t plan on dying in Pokot. I don’t take these scenes as a prophecy of my death and I’m not preparing to go up there and die. (3) It is not likely that I will die in Pokot. There are dangers and I need to be careful but, again, it’s probably not going to happen. (4) While it is not likely it IS still possible to die in Pokot and thus (5) I will take every precaution that I can to NOT die in Pokot. But I still want to go because these people need to hear about the Lord Jesus Christ and the salvation offered to them through His death for us on the Cross. They need to know how to follow Him, love Him, obey Him and glorify Him. If I don’t go will they ever hear?
After having faced the “vision”, I continued praying and as a result I learned many things. These lessons I do believe came from God. I learned that: (1) Life is short. How long do I have left in life? 40 years? 30 years? 20? Less? I can spend what time God has left for me or I can waste it. (2) I can die in a nursing home. That is fine. I can die in my bed at home. That is fine. But I DON’T want to look back and wish I hadn’t squandered my life in luxurious and safe living. (3) It would be OK to die in the bush. It might be better than dying in my bed at home. (4) I have no guarantee of tomorrow. No one lives forever. I could die in a car accident here in Kitale easier than I could die in the bush. But I would rather die in the bush than in a car accident going into town to get ice cream. (5) Hardship is good. Comfort is misleading. Hardship toughens my spiritual muscles. Comfort lulls me to spiritual sleep. (6) Just because I could or might or should die out on a trip to Pokot doesn’t mean I shouldn’t go. So go I must.
So, why am I writing about this and in this manner? For two reasons. First, I, myself, needed to go through this particular thought process. I, myself, needed to face the decisions and the possibilities. I, myself, needed to decide again whether I would walk with Jesus on the road He is on or not or whether I would hold all the good gifts He has given me in this life with a closed-fist, white-knuckled hand. Second, I figured that if I need to go through that particular thought process, then maybe some of you probably need to do it too. I certainly don’t know what any of you are facing or will face in the near future in your walk with Jesus. Let us set our minds together on glorifying Him by walking on the path with Him that He is walking.
I will keep you posted on any Pokot trips that I have planned. I keep trying to get back up there to that village but all my plans keep falling through. At this point God is blocking the path. I am waiting until He opens the door back up and sends me back in.
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 & Chloe)
rojuta[at]gmail.com
Visit their blog!
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Missionary Update: The Tates in Kenya [August 2015]
The Tate Family has served the Lord in Kitale, Kenya since January 2008. Their main ministry is indigenous church planting.
July 28, 2015
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
In many of my monthly reports I oftentimes ask you to pray for us and our ministry here in Kenya. This month I want to relate to you the items that I, myself, am fervently praying for concerning our Kenyan ministry. That way you can join me and send your prayers up with mine for the things we are working on here.
First and foremost (ie, the main priority of our ministering here in Kenya), is the starting and forming of new New Testament churches here in the city (town) of Kitale where we live. We are currently working with a new group that meets in the house of Kefa and Matilda and we have been working with this group for a few months. It has has its ebbs and flows, its many visitors who have come for a week or two and then left. The ones who have remained appear solid and seem like they want to really serve the Lord and see the work grow. This is how I am praying for this group: That they might grow spiritually and know Jesus and follow Him on the same road He is walking, that they might reach out to their village with the love and gospel of Jesus Christ, that they might mature enough to be organized into a church, that they would stand on the Word of God instead of on the whims of man, that they would be the hands and feet of Jesus to the villages around them, that they would be led and strengthened in all things by the Holy Spirit, depending upon Him for all things, instead of the missionaries.
Roger and Blessed
For your enjoyment I have included a humorous picture of me and a little girl named Blessed who attends the meetings. Blessed is an orphaned girl who has been taken in by Kefa and Matilda (something which is very unusual in this culture) and I think she has taken a liking to me. Anyway, please don’t look at the picture and think that Roger has lost his mind. Let me explain. I have been teaching the last couple of weeks on the wise use of offerings and on how the early churches used the collections they took up. I showed them that most of the times the early churches in the NT took up collections, the money was used to help the poor and needy or to send missionaries along on their way. As an illustration, I decided that I would act out a conversation between a husband and wife on offerings and giving and how they would like to see a church utilizing the money they donated. To make the illustration memorable to my audience, I purchased some hair in town and whenever I was talking as “the wife” I put the hair on, moved to an adjacent seat and talked in a high, falsetto voice. Then, when I talked as “the husband”, I removed the hair, moved back to my seat and talked in my normal voice. The “conversation” proceeded in this way until my point was made. Blessed got a kick out of me wearing this hair and later put it on herself. Then I put the hair back on myself and snapped the picture you see. I think it’s funny and cute. Julie thinks I look like a hippie and a druggie.
The second item that I am fervently praying about is my ministry up in “the bush” with the Pokot people. I have been praying a lot about this but it seems that at the time God has put things on hold. I think God has things only on a temporary hold and I believe He will once again soon open things back up for me to be able to get back to some of these remote people and villages and spread the gospel and the kingdom of Christ there. The man I work with up there wants us to visit a very remote village behind the mountains where the people still wear animal skins for clothes and have never heard about Jesus before. I pray that we will be able to reach this village, that we will have boldness to preach about God’s love and salvation, that the village would trust in Jesus as Lord and Savior and that a congregation of Jesus would be started in that place.
The last ministry item that I am specifically and fervently praying about concerns a small, local Bible college located here in our town. I have been invited to teach a class at this college and have accepted the invitation. The class I will be teaching is hermeneutics (How to interpret the Bible). This is an extremely important subject in Kenya as many of the pastors, teachers and leaders in the churches know very little about properly interpreting the Bible and end up teaching anything and everything except what the Bible actually teaches. I am thrilled to be able to teach on this topic and hopefully help some of these local, Kenyan pastors teach their people from the Bible in a profitable way. I pray that God would lead me in my own study, that the students would grasp the concepts of Bible interpretation, that they would learn to love God’s Word and want to teach its life giving principles to others, and as a result that many people would hear God’s Word, that they would be saved, and grow to maturity as followers of the Lord Jesus Christ.
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 & Chloe)
rojuta[at]gmail.com
Visit their blog!
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Missionary Update: The Tates in Kenya [July 2015]
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,
If you read my newsletter from last month, and I hope you did, then you read a little about my discouragement over not seeing as much spiritual growth in the disciples and churches I work with here in Kitale. I tried to end my newsletter on a higher note and show that God’s work will be completed in each of his children, but when I finished my newsletter and hit the send button I was still discouraged. But God has a way of encouraging his children and he did just that for me this month in the form of a message from a pastor back home. Many, many months ago I received in the mail a message on CD. This was a message taught by Tom Teall, pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in West Branch, Michigan. The CD sat on my desk for a week or two before I got around to listening to it. I tried playing the disk on various devices but because the disk had gotten scratched somewhere I could never get it to play past the first minute. Because I could not get the message to play, it sat on my desk for the next couple of months…until last week. Last week Julie and I were looking for something to listen to, pulled out this message by Pastor Tom, popped it into her computer, and, amazingly it worked. And now I know why it never worked before – because I needed to listen to it last week and not months ago. His message was from Psalm 1:2 –
He shall be like a tree
Planted by the rivers of water
That brings forth fruit in its season
Whose leaf also shall not wither
And whatever he does shall prosper.
I won’t repeat the whole message here but I just wanted to point out that Pastor Tom spent a lot of time on that third line in the verse: “That brings forth fruit in its season”. The point of his message was that fruit is seasonal. SEASONAL! In other words, you shouldn’t expect to see all the fruit on all the trees at all times but that when the season is right (the season God has prepared) then the tree will bring forth the right fruit, in the right quantity and in the right quality. Pastor Tom’s message encouraged me at the right time to press on and wait for the fruit that God will bring in his season. Be looking for fruit, beloved. It will come.
On a bit of a lighter note, let me ask you what has ever happened in one of your worship services that has held up or delayed the proceedings? Nathan and I were right in the middle of a worship/Bible study hour at the home where our group meets when a crazy chicken strutted in. This crazy chicken strutted right to my feet where it stopped, cocked its head to one side and stared directly into my eyes. When I didn’t move the way the foolish fowl wanted me to, she jumped up into my lap and lept onto my shoulder. At this point I was just hoping it would not release a bomb onto my shirt. The boneheaded bird then walked across the back of my chair and jumped onto Nathan’s chair. Nathan hastily extricated himself from the chair before the brainless biddy could land on his head or in his lap. With Nathan’s chair now free from its occupant the pesky poultry took up residence there. One of the Kenyan boys quickly removed the half-witted hen from the chair before it could nest down and lay its egg, which is what it wanted to do in the first place. The removal of the chicken allowed our Bible study to recommence and proceed. While being in Kenya I have now had worship services interrupted by a chicken, sheep, cow, dog and a snake. The young boy relieving his bladder in the corner of the church building never fazed anyone, though, and the preacher never missed a beat in delivering his message.
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 & Chloe)
rojuta[at]gmail.com
Visit their blog!
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Missionary Update: The Tates in Kenya [May 2015]
The Tate Family has served the Lord in Kitale, Kenya since January 2008. Their main ministry is indigenous church planting.
May 8, 2015
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Last month I mentioned a tragic event that occurred in Kenya, namely, the attack by the Muslim terrorist group Al Shabaab (based in Somalia) against an innocent school in the town of Garissa. Gunmen stole in at night while the students slept and murdered nearly 150 people. The carnage and the terror it caused was heard in news reports around the world. In my newsletter I mentioned that this terrorist event didn’t effect us too much because it was in a different part of the country from which we live. It turns out that I was wrong in that assessment. That event actually has effected the whole country in ways similar to the ways the whole United States of America was effected by the September 11 attack on the World Trade Centers. I’m sure it will be easy to think back 14 years and remember the ways that attack impacted our own country. Then you will be able to understand how the attack in Garissa effected Kenya.
First, do you remember the initial fear that the 9/11 attack caused? I remember watching the TV with shock and fear and thinking “how could this happen”? At the time I was working at the Wright/Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio and shortly after the attacks I watched out the window of my office and saw the command center plane took off and fly away. Do you know the command center plane? It’s the one that can launch all our nuclear weapons and control total annihilation all from the air. I couldn’t help thinking “we’re all going to die”. Well, similar reactions occurred here in Kenya after the Garissa attack. I just talked with a young man this week who told me that his entire school refused to sleep in the dorm after the attack because they were afraid of being sitting ducks in their rooms. They all slept outside or hid in places where they thought would be safer. People everywhere were concerned that subsequent attacks would take place and that they were all at risk.
Second, do you remember the anger that followed up the initial fear after 9/11? There was anger toward Muslims in general. There was outrage that innocent people were killed and that our way of life was altered. We went to war, we heightened security at the airports and we spew out vitriol against anyone we thought was an enemy. The same occurred here in Kenya after the Garissa attack. The government looked to close the border between Kenya and Somalia. Then there were loud calls to move the IDP camp (Internationally Displaced People) where thousands of displaced Somalis live. Kenyans didn’t want that camp to be located in Kenya anymore and demanded that the United Nations move it to another country. Security was beefed up as well, at schools, shopping centers and government offices. Most Kenyans were angry that so many students had been killed. They felt violated.
Third, do you remember the questions that resulted from the 9/11 attacks? People started asking questions like, “Why did this happen to us?”, “Where is God in all this?”, and “How could people be so evil?”. For a long time people were more interested in spiritual things. Churches had more people in them. More people prayed. People thought more about their eternal destinations. The questions that resulted here in Kenya after the Garissa attack were a little different however. I had people ask me questions like, “What should we do if a terrorist holds a gun to my head”, “Should I lie about being a Christian?” and “Should I pretend to be a Muslim to protect my family?”. One person in one of our groups asked me if it was OK to memorize a few passages from the Koran so that if he were threatened by a terrorist he could quote them, pretend to be a Muslim and live to see another day. Because of questions like these I have been addressing these issues in my teaching to the groups. You can look up what the New Testament says about these things on your own, but, in short what I’ve been trying to teach them is that the cost of following Jesus can be high and that they need to count the cost. I’ve tried to teach them that if they put their hands to the plow they should not look back. I’ve shared with them that if they gain the whole world and lose their own souls they have gained nothing and lost everything. I’ve shown them where Jesus says that if we seek to save our lives we will lose them and if we lose our lives for his sake we gain eternal life. They’ve seen also that Jesus says if we love father or mother or children or nations more than him then we are not worthy to be his followers. These are all hard sayings indeed but they apply just as much to Christians in Kenya in the 21st century as they did to the first century followers that Jesus was talking to.
How would you react if you were put in the same situation? 9/11 was worse by far that the attacks in Garissa in Kenya. But it didn’t take long for those effects to fade away in our country. I wonder how long it will be before people stop thinking much about it here too. I pray that we Christians here in Kenya and you brothers and sisters in the States as well would be totally devoted and committed to following our Lord Jesus Christ with all our hearts, souls, minds and strength. And even with our lives.
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 & Chloe)
rojuta[at]gmail.com
Visit their blog!
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Missionary Update: The Tates in Kenya [April 2015]
The Tate Family has served the Lord in Kitale, Kenya since January 2008. Their main ministry is indigenous church planting.
April 5, 2015
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
I want to write about something you may have heard about in the news and something I’m certain you have not heard about in the news concerning Kenya.
First, you may have heard that once again Kenya was the victim of a horrendous terrorist attack. Once again, terrorists from the organization called Al Shaabab (affiliated with Al Qaida but based in Somalia) have crossed the Somali/Kenya border and perpetrated unspeakable acts of atrocity against Kenyan citizens. 4-5 masked gunmen entered a university in the town of Garissa in Kenya in the middle of the night and wantonly opened fire on sleeping students. Their only objective was to kill and cause terror, a goal in which they succeeded. I have read news reports stating that as many as 147 students were killed in the attack. I don’t know if this number is accurate but I do know that many young lives were ended that night. News of this attack quickly went international and is probably why you have heard about it already. Garissa is not that close to Kitale and thus this horrible attack does not impact us directly nor were we ever at risk of danger or injury during this attack. But we do grieve for the Kenyan people; the families of the victims, the town of Garissa which has endured this suffering and the nation as a whole which has to repeatedly face such atrocities. We wonder why people would commit such acts of atrocity against their fellow man. We wonder how long God will suffer these people to kill others who are made in His image before He returns to this earth to set all things right. While we could never condone such acts, we pray that God would use this time to reach the hearts of many Kenyan people and cause them to reflect on eternity and their relationship with Him.
Second, I’m almost certain you never did hear in the news about an event that hit much closer to home here in Kitale. Here in Kitale, the city municipal council decided to make some “changes”. Our lawyer friend who lives next door described it so beautifully that I will quote her description. She says, “Some clowns decided to resite the bus and mini bus stage ‘temporarily’ while a new one is built on the old site. Might not have been such a bad idea except they gave no proper warning, did absolutely no planning of new traffic systems, built no new infrastructure and the traffic is now chaotic to put it mildly. To compound that, they then decided to resite the fruit and vegetable market from the old, largely covered, old site to the same place…. again, with no proper stalls, roofs or infrastructure or proper notice. And just to inflate already justifiably fraying tempers, part of the area they resited to is owned by the railway company who say they did not give permission to use their land and plan to evict everyone in the next day or so by force if necessary……… all the ingredients for a riot!” And, since all the ingredients for a riot were in place, can you guess what then resulted? That’s right, a riot ensued. The riot started at the governor’s house and then moved to the streets. The streets were blockaded, fires were started, things were smashed and chaos ensued. The police arrived, shot their AK-47’s and released tear-gas to attempt to disperse the crowds. All of this happened within 2 miles of our house and on the main road that we use to enter town. Once we heard what was going on we quickly closed and locked up the house, warned the security guard of possible danger and decided to stay indoors, at least for the rest of the day and night. I’ve heard unsubstantiated reports that a couple of municipal buildings were burned down and that a coupe of people were killed in the rioting. I can’t say if these reports are true or not. But this event happening so close to home certainly causes us to stop and think how quickly society can devolve into chaos and how people pursuing their own sinful ways can wreak havoc on society as a whole. Again, we look forward to the perfect reign and kingdom of Christ when our righteous and sovereign King will reign in all of his glory. We only pray that many Kitale residents will recognize Jesus as King of their lives and that he will become King in their hearts before he returns to reign as King of the earth.
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 & Chloe)
rojuta[at]gmail.com
Visit their blog!
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Missionary Update: The Tates in Kenya [March 2015]
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 send a special thank you to all those who have helped with the adoption process for Chloe. Julie and I appreciate so much that so many would want to assist us in bringing Chloe into our family. We are currently grieved at the moratorium the Kenyan government has placed on foreign adoptions. This decision by the current cabinet is NOT taking into consideration the needs and welfare of the Kenyan children. We are praying the Kenyan government will quickly lift this moratorium and allow us to continue on with the adoption process. Please also be in much prayer for this as we truly believe God has led us to this decision in our lives and in our family. Chloe is thriving and doing so well physically and mentally. Her rapid physical development has amazed me and we thank God for taking such good care of her.
I thank God for my other children as well. They are all such a blessing to me. Emily is currently in Michigan where she would like to gain residency and continue her education. The state of Michigan is being somewhat difficult and this has caused her some delay. Amy is continuing at Rift Valley Academy where she is taking her eighth grade year. It is difficult having to hear of her drama that she deals with on a day by day basis. It seems all eighth grade girls have a lot of drama in their lives. Josiah is our only other child at home besides Chloe. He is still home schooled and will continue to be home schooled until September when he will also attend Rift Valley Academy as a boarding student. He is growing fast (he is second tallest in the family now, behind only me) and his voice is growing deeper. We don’t have a little boy in the family any more.
We pray that God will continue to bless the ministries in Kitale. We have started a new home group that is progressing well. Each week we have a good number of people who gather for worship, prayer and Bible study. The host family is so faithful and generous in opening their home and in showing us love, kindness and hospitality. We are trying to share the love of Christ with all who come. You all can pray that we would have people who faithfully come each week to worship God and hear the teaching from His Word. We do have some that come every week but many of the others are very sporadic. We would like to see God capture the hearts of these people that they might know Him, love Him and serve Him with all their hearts. What a blessing it is for us to be able to minister to these beloved Kenyan people and to teach them how to know Him and serve Him. Thank you, Lord, for these new people to minister to and, Lord, we pray that many more would come to know you as their Savior and Lord and that your kingdom would spread in this world and especially in Kitale, Kenya.
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 & Chloe)
rojuta[at]gmail.com
Visit their blog!
Read more
Missionary Update: The Tates in Kenya [January 2015]
The Tate Family has served the Lord in Kitale, Kenya since January 2008. Their main ministry is indigenous church planting.
January 6, 2015
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Ministry here is always three steps forward, two and nine tenths steps backwards. It is constantly up and then down, encouraging and then discouraging. I keep asking myself, “Are we doing things the right way? What are we doing wrong? What do we need to do differently?”. When something positive seems to happen, if we give it enough time it will all seem to fall apart. So, I take my cup of tea out to the stable out back of the house (it is literally a stable) and pray, asking God to show me what he wants me to do differently, asking him to give me wisdom and to guide my ministry here. I want only to do what he wants me to do and say what he wants me to say.
I look around at other missionaries’ ministries here in Kenya and I ask, “Why is their ministry doing so well? Why are so many people working with them, clamoring for their teaching and following all that they say? Then I look closely and I know the answer: It’s because those missionaries are paying rent for their pastors, giving away motorcycles, throwing big parties and goat roasts or other similar things. I suppose I could also have a big, thriving ministry if I allowed myself to go that route too. It’s just hard when I compare my own ministry with theirs, when I see my group of students start at a meager six and dwindle down to one after a few weeks. Or, when starting up a new group with the promise of six to ten new students and none of them show up. Why do men plead with me that they want to be trained, set up a date and a time to start, and then never show up? Wouldn’t it be easier to just say you are not interested? I guess you all probably face some very similar problems back in the States, don’t you? I remember doing ministry back in Ohio (seems like forever ago). I would receive many promises from people that they would come to church. I think I remember about 1 in 20 ever showing up (and that statistic is probably on the generous side). Back here in Kenya I have been trying to reach out evangelistically to some of the motorcycle taxi drivers. I drive up on my own motorcycle to a group of 8 to 10 drivers sitting around waiting for work and engage them in conversation. I invite them to an informal Basic Christianity course at our training center. I say, “Come at 3:00. That’s 20 minutes from now. Will you be coming”? All of them promise me they will come. Back at the training center I wait for them to show up. Can you guess how many come? If you guessed ZERO you would be correct. After waiting until 4:00 for anyone to arrive I leave and return to the group that promised they would come. I ask them why they didn’t come. They all stare off into the sky, cough and laugh, and say, “We’ll come tomorrow”.
Is my soul cast down? NO, NO, NO! We serve a great and mighty God. I am so thankful that He promises that His Word will not return to Him empty. Praise God that he loves me, that he loves you and that he loves the Kenyan people. We will keep trudging along, looking for the called and faithful, until God tells us to something different. Maybe next time one or two of those motorcycle taxi drivers will show up and learn about Jesus, their Lord and Savior.
In other news, Chloe is doing fantastically well. She is over ten pounds now and is healthy (except for some moderate to serious acid reflux). She is a joy to our hearts and lives. Thanks to all of you who have assisted us with your prayers on her behalf and your financial assistance in support of her adoption process. Blessings to you all.
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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