Missionary Update: The Tates in Kenya [February 2016]
The Tate Family has served the Lord in Kitale, Kenya since January 2008. Their main ministry is indigenous church planting.
January 28, 2016
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Sometimes you encounter things that really make you sit back and think. And some of those things hit you really hard. I had one of those encounters this month while just going around doing “business as usual”.
I’ve lived in Africa for eight years as of this month. So, needless to say I’ve come across poverty and seen sickness. It’s never easy to see these things and there is always a desire that I could help the people I see in these situations. But this time hit me differently for some reason. Nathan and I have been working with Kefa and Matilda in a village called Robinson trying to ultimately get a church started there in their house. Kefa and Matilda are not wealthy (if you saw their house you would probably think they are very poor), but they are doing well compared to some who live around them who really do live in utter poverty. They are good Christian people who desire to start up a church in their home and to minister to the people around them. So, in trying to start up a church here, Nathan, Kefa and I make visits to the neighbors and surrounding areas to meet the people, share the gospel with them, pray for their needs and invite them to our worship/Bible study meetings in Kefa’s house.
The door to the old man’s room.
On one of these visits this month Kefa took us to a line of “apartments” to visit the people who live there. These apartments are just a string of one room, mud wall, dirt floor houses. The people who live there live in poverty. We walked into one of these rooms and even after eight years here I was still amazed. The room was dark—nighttime dark. The window was boarded up and the only light came through the now opened door. The smell was terrible, the air hardly breathable. The dimensions of the room were about 8 feet by 8 feet. The walls were mud and stick and the floor was packed dirt. Trash was piled up in one corner. Besides the trash the only other thing in the room was an old man lying on a filthy, disintegrating mattress which was on top of a wood slated bed. He was not able to get up to leave the bed. When he had to spit (which was often) he would simply spit on the floor or on the wall. He could not get up to use the communal pit latrine (so you can only imagine). When I saw his feet I could see why he could not walk. His feet were eaten up and mangled by jiggers. Jiggers are the smallest form of flea, hardly visible by the human eye. They burrow into human flesh where they live, feed and lay their eggs. They have to be dug out with a razor and treated with a medicine difficult to obtain. He had obviously been in this state for a long time as he was not able to walk, his legs had become emaciated and he looked to be near starvation. As we stood there talking to and praying for the man I could not help but think what it would be like to lie in this dark, filthy, stench-filled room day after day, not able to get up, not able to leave, with absolutely nothing to do but lie there until I died. Can you imagine?
Caring for the old man’s feet.
When we eventually left the man I told Kefa that we would need to help this man. I told him it was one of the reasons for the existence of a church and was the ministry of Christ. I told him we couldn’t just leave the man in that room to die like that. Kefa was in complete agreement with me. When we returned to Kefa’s house we decided to take the money we had collected for offerings (which they had originally wanted to use to start a building fund) and use it help the man. We have been trying to teach them the Biblical way of using these offerings and now they were going to use them in a God-honoring, Christ-exalting way. Kefa and Matilda then took charge of the man’s care. That week they took him fresh fruits and vegetables to eat and cooked him food. They contacted a friend who had been trained in treating jiggers and was licensed to obtain the medicine (the medicine is restricted because it can be used in making bombs). When the friend was prepared he came with the medicines and he, Kefa, Matilda, Nathan and I went back to the man’s house to see that he was treated for the jiggers and was being cared for. My heart rejoiced to see Kefa on his knees in the dirt, gingerly holding the old man’s feet in his hands as he carefully cleaned them, cut his toenails, cut out the jiggers and treated the man’s feet. It was a beautiful picture of Christian service and of showing the love of Christ. Our small group is now caring for the man physically and spiritually. Please pray with us that he not have to die alone in that dark room, that he would regain his health and most of all that he would know Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior so that one day, when his suffering here is over, he can rejoice in the presence of the One who took our suffering for 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 & Chloe)
rojuta[at]gmail.com
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Missionary Update: The Tates in Kenya [January 2016]
The Tate Family has served the Lord in Kitale, Kenya since January 2008. Their main ministry is indigenous church planting.
December 27, 2015
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
I like living in Kenya. Most of the time. I think.
Ok, I can’t really make up my mind. I guess most of the time I get beyond tolerating living here to liking living here. Other times I desire the comfort of the familiar that I experience when I’m in the States. As we approached and passed the Christmas season here in Kenya, a couple of things I desire were brought to the forefront of my mind based on a variety of experiences. Those have to do with law enforcement and travel. I desire the familiarity and trust I have with law enforcement and travel that I experience while in the States.
Last month I was traveling back home from Nairobi with the family in tow when I was pulled over by police officers. They told me that they had clocked me speeding somewhere around 20 miles ago. I was incredulous because, first of all I was being very careful of my speed (not wanting to be arrested) and second of all because I had no idea where I had been clocked, what the speed limit in that area was and the speed they “clocked” me at far exceeded the maximum speed I had been going the entire trip. Although I argued my case, I was still arrested, paid a cash bond to be able to leave and had to appear in court the next day.
I was not happy.
I arrived in court the next day early and was sitting in an empty court room when I heard people shuffling around in the hall outside the courtroom and dropping a container that sounded like it contained a hundred gallons of water. Subsequently, a river of liquid came rushing down the center aisle of the courtroom near where I was sitting. As it turned out, however, the liquid was not water but a local brew of alcohol that had been confiscated and unfortunately dropped right outside our courtroom. The courtroom smelled like a brewery for the rest of the day as I waited (with a hundred other people) for my case to be heard. When my case was finally heard near the end of the day I plead “Not Guilty” and my case was immediately arraigned and rescheduled for two weeks later.
I was not happy.
When I returned to court two weeks later I sat all day and waited for my case to be heard once again. This time, however, the police didn’t show up and the case could not be heard. The judge told me I could either plead “Guilty” and have my case done with or reschedule my case for another day. I told the judge I could not plead “Guilty” as that would be lying to the court. My case was arraigned and rescheduled for January 14th.
I was not happy.
Then, last weekend we were all back in Nairobi to take Emily and Igor back to the airport and as I stopped the vehicle to wait and cross three lanes of traffic, Julie was attacked by a thug through the window. He grabbed what she had in her lap and ran off but when he realized it was just her pillow and valueless he returned, threw the pillow back into the car and grabbed Julie instead. A short scuffle ensued that included a lot of screaming, a water bottle being smashed into his head by Julie and Emily leaving a fingernail or two in his face as Julie fought him from the front seat and Emily from the back seat. I was helplessly sitting in the driver’s seat trying not to get hit by oncoming cars. Julie and Emily were able to fight him off and he fled into the darkness. We were only three minutes away from our guest house in Nairobi so we quickly escaped that area and hurried to our destination where tears, anger and some trauma followed until all our adrenaline subsided.
I was not happy.
Finally, to cap the weekend off, I returned Emily and Igor to the Nairobi airport. I found their terminal and pulled into the area clearly designated “Drop Off Area”. There were four lanes designated as drop-off and I pulled into the second one, dropped off Emily and Igor, and proceeded on my way. I only got ten feet down the path when two police officers again pulled me over. They told me I was being arrested for “Obstructing Traffic”. No amount of arguing would convince them I was in the right place, doing the right thing in the designated area. They spent the next few minutes intimidating me, threatening me with going immediately to jail where I would pay a large cash bond and be forced to appear in court the next morning. They insisted that they get in my car and I drive them to the jail. On the way they also insisted that in order to be set free I would need to give them “kitu kidogo” or “a little something”. In other words, I had to “grease their palms”, “buy them coffee”, give them “chai money”. In short, they needed a bribe to satisfy their corrupt demands.
I was not happy.
But on a different note, one thing that did make me very happy was Emily and Igor’s two week pre-Christmas visit. It was wonderful having all our children together for the first time (including Chloe) and celebrating the birth of our Lord together. I will focus on the fond memories of their visit instead.
And that makes me happy.
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 [December 2015]
The Tate Family has served the Lord in Kitale, Kenya since January 2008. Their main ministry is indigenous church planting.
November 26, 2015
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Hello dear friends. The day that I’m sitting here writing this newsletter is actually Thanksgiving Day back in the States. In Kenya it is just another day (Yes, I’m sure you’re shocked to hear that Kenyans don’t celebrate American holidays). It’s actually sad for us Americans who would love to be celebrating Thanksgiving with our families back home. Holidays back home are a nostalgic time and a time of missing family and friends.
And now that I said Kenyans don’t celebrate Thanksgiving I now have to admit that today actually is a public holiday – a one time public holiday for this year only was announced earlier in the week. Why? Because the Pope is in Kenya today. I believe this is the first time he has visited Kenya (not just the current Pope but any Pope). While it is not a big deal for me it appears to be a big deal in Kenya. A million people (over a quarter of the total population of Nairobi) are expected to gather and see the Pope perform mass. So, while your public holiday surrounds the giving of thanks, our public holiday surrounds the arrival of the Pope.
Now, speaking of Thanksgiving, I see from Facebook posts from various people that our tradition of giving thanks to God on this day for His bountiful blessings is under attack like never before. People are making it all about racism, the suppression of Native Americans, genocide, political agendas and what not. Now, while this attack on our desire to return thanks to the One who is deserving grieves me, I do not want to entangle myself today with the arguments. Instead, in the spirit of Thanksgiving:
- Thank you, Lord, for the gift of your Son, his sinless life, his sacrifice for us on the cross, his resurrection and defeat of the grave
- Thank you, Lord, for your grace, your mercy and forgiveness in our lives, and for the salvation you offer us through your Son.
- Thank you, Lord, for your Spirit who strengthens your children, gives us wisdom and guidance and empowers us to do your work and ministry here on this earth
- Thank you, Lord, for your eternal plan that you established from the foundation of the world that cannot be thwarted or prevented
- Thank you, Lord, that you hold all things in the power of your hand, that you are sovereign and transcendent, faithful and trustworthy
- Thank you, Lord, that while you are transcendent, we can know you personally through our mediator, Jesus Christ
- Thank you, Lord, that you change our hearts and minds and continually mold us into the image of Jesus
- Thank you, Lord, that you allow us to minister and work in your name for the blessings of the nations of this world
- Thank you, Lord, that you cleanse us from our sins and transport us into the Kingdom of your Son
- Thank you, Lord, that you have prepared for us an eternal home where we will live with you and worship you forever
- Thank you, Lord, that when this age is over you will return for us and will make all things in this world right again
- Thank you, Lord, for loving 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 & Chloe)
rojuta[at]gmail.com
Visit their blog!
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Missionary Update: The Tates in Kenya [November 2015]
The Tate Family has served the Lord in Kitale, Kenya since January 2008. Their main ministry is indigenous church planting.
October 31, 2015
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
If my monthly newsletters had a title I would entitle this month’s letter “Pastors NOT Welcome”. Well, with a title like that maybe I should explain. So, when I speak of pastors I am certainly not referring to American pastors. The American pastors I know are Godly, Christ-like and Biblical. They have the best interests of the church members at heart. They are concerned about the Kingdom of Heaven and furthering the cause of Christ. I’m not saying they aren’t without their faults, but the ones I know are good people who want to lead others to a deeper relationship with Jesus. No, the pastors I’m talking about are Kenyan pastors. It seems whenever they show up, I end up with problems.
We have a group meeting in the house of a man living in a local village. The group is small and though we have been meeting for nine months, it has been extremely difficult to get anyone to attend our meetings for more than about three or four weeks. Thus, the group has remained small. We have spent much time in the last nine months teaching them about salvation, baptism, following and loving Jesus, serving others and many other major Bible doctrines. We have also taught them to remain meeting in the house instead of buying property, we taught them how to remain independent, self-reliant and self-propagating, and we taught them to use their offerings to help the poor, the sick, the widows and the orphans in their community. All along the group has agreed with all the teachings. They seemed to agree whole-heartedly. Then, a few weeks ago I walked into the house to begin the group meeting and there sat a man. I introduced myself. Then I found out he was a pastor. I groaned within myself. I knew what his presence in the group meant. It meant the whole tenor and attitude of the group would change. I knew that the focus of the group would change. I knew that problems would begin to occur and I knew exactly what those problems would be. It would involve money, sponsorship, buildings, quarrels and dependency. How did I know this? Because that is the way it happens every time a local pastor gets involved with our works here in Kenya.
The very first week the pastor attended our group meeting things began to change. At the end of the meeting I was informed why the group was small and why a lot of people were not coming to the meetings. I was told it was because people didn’t want to meet in the house, that meeting in the house made them feel uncomfortable and not like a “church”. I was informed they wanted to start looking for a place to rent for a meeting-place. I asked them where they would find the money for such an endeavor. The answer was “God will provide”. Can you guess who “God” is in this answer? If you guessed “Roger” then you guessed correctly. The next week I was informed that the group had been “given” a piece of property. I was taken to the property and shown how ideal it would be for a church building. I was shown where the building could be built, where the toilets would be put and how much extra land there would be for growing crops. When I asked how much this would cost I was told 1,000,000 shillings (you could probably actually double that to get the true amount). This was coming from a group whose weekly offerings amount to 50 shillings. To give you an idea of what this is like, compare it to a church in the States which collects a total of $50 a week in their offerings who wants to build a church building worth $2,000,000. I asked where they would get the money to do this. I was told “God will provide”. Again, substitute “Roger” for “God” in this sentence and you will understand what they really mean.
Where will this end? I have a prediction. It will end with quarrels, struggles over who gets what share of the pie, resentment of me for not giving them what they want and ultimately the death of the group. Is the pastor the culprit or the symptom? I don’t know but either way he’s NOT Welcome.
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 [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
Visit their blog!
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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!
Read more
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!
Read more
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
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