Lack of Faith

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The Tates have served the Lord in Kitale, Kenya since January 2008. Their main ministry is church planting.

December 10, 2022

Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ,

Lack of faith.

Lack of faith is my trouble. When something terrible happens this week, my first reaction is “Why God?” Why did that horrible thing have to happen? Why, if you love me, did you allow that, when you could have changed it?

Lack of faith is my trouble. Why God, is my life like this? This is not what I designed for myself. I want my mind to think differently, and, God, I’ve asked you for help to trust. Why don’t you help me?

Lack of faith is my trouble. Why, God, does your Word not work for me the way that it works for others? Why do they find such comfort in it while I only struggle? Why do others find faith while I doubt?

Do you know what is interesting, though (for this newsletter)? I find the faith of Kenyan believers astounding.

Roger: “You have no money and no job. How are you going to provide for your family?”

Kenyan believer: “I don’t know. But God will feed us.”

Roger: “You have no income, no savings, and no friends with resources, and no plans. How are you going to pay your school fees?”

Kenyan believer: “I don’t know. But God wants me to go to this school and so he will provide my school fees.”

Roger: “Your husband has died after a long sickness. The hospital is demanding money. The mortuary won’t release his body until you pay. He was the only one with an income. What are you going to do?”

Kenyan believer: “I don’t know. I will trust in God.”

We are all in school together, my Kenyan students and me. We are all trying to learn God and learn God’s ways together. Our faith, theirs and mine, are constantly being stretched at the same time, but sometimes in different ways.

I have a lot of Biblical knowledge after years of study and I hopefully have a little wisdom from trying to apply that Biblical knowledge to everyday life for many years. I have a lot I can teach them. They have a simple faith (not a simplistic faith) that trusts God against reason, and joyfully. They have a lot they can teach me.

We are approaching the Christmas season. In Kenya, December is pretty much just like any other month of the year. Christmas consists of about three days for most Kenyans. Day 1: Travel back to your birthplace/homeplace. Day 2: Celebrate Christmas with your family by eating some roasted goat. Day 3: Travel back home. Whether we are rush-rush in the United States or eating goat in Kenya, may we all come and adore the King, our Savior, Jesus.

Joy to the world. Blessings to all,
Roger, Julie & Chloe

CONTACT INFO

Roger & Julie Tate
Moffat Bible College
P.O. Box 70
Kijabe, Kenya 00220
rojuta@gmail.com

For ministry donations:
Pastor George Sledd, Treasurer of BFM
P.O. Box 471280 | Lake Monroe, FL 32747-1280
or click here to donate to BFM online.


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The Privilege of Partnering with God

Bobby, Charlene, Jessie, and Brennen Wacaser have served the Lord as church planters in Curitiba, Parana, Brazil, since 1985.

May 2, 2018

Dear Friends,

As I begin to write this report, I am nearly overwhelmed with joy and gratitude to the Lord for all that He has done since last month. Our evangelistic outreach team has just arrived from a 4-week trip to several interior towns and villages and I was thrilled to join them in a couple of these towns. The greatest joy that comes from having the privilege of partnering with God is the business of bringing lost folks into His family. It is blessing to be able to go into public schools, by invitation, and share the gospel clearly and openly to over 3000 students and teachers, but my most satisfying happiness was to get alone with a young father of 4 and lead him to Christ in a personal conversation. James, the young father, had gone to the car repair shop that morning to have some work done on his vehicle. On his way home, he passed by the town square where we were giving free haircuts, blood pressure checks and family counseling. The Lord nudged him through his curiosity and he and his young son stopped to get a haircut. As James was getting his hair cut, our volunteers are trained to start up conversations that lead into discussions of spiritual needs. By the time the barber had finished his haircut, James wanted to learn more about God’s love and plan for his life. The barber then referred him to come over to my counseling area to talk more at length with me. In my conversation with James, the Lord guided me to share the Scriptures that clearly revealed his guilt of sins against a holy God and his need of repentance and forgiveness. By the time our conversation ended, James confessed Jesus as his Lord and Savior and returned that night to our outdoor service, bringing his entire family. At the end of that service an invitation was given to come publicly before the crowd to confess faith in Christ and James and his whole family stepped out to do just that. We spoke with his family and got them all connected with the local missionary at that new church plant. He will begin to teach them in weekly Bible studies. Nearly all of our team members have personal stories to share of individuals that they too had the privilege of leading to Christ during this month’s travels.

Back at our own local church, Charlene and I have been excited about the constant influx of new visitors. We want to see even more come, but we are seeking to teach our members how to lovingly embrace those who come and make them welcome into our fellowship. What really encourages me is to hear the visitors share how the church seems like a loving family and that the services are so practical and useful to them. I just got great news from a lady in our congregation yesterday. She sensed that God wanted her to give up her paying job at a secular company to come and work full-time with almost no pay as an assistant at the church office and she has already given her company her two-weeks notice. We had been praying for a couple of part-time volunteers, but this is even better. Having her come on the team is such a blessing and we pray and trust that God will bless her faith and trust in Him. Her husband is just as confident that this is God’s plan for them that he isn’t concerned about a drop in income, even though they are far from affluent.
Thank you for your prayers and faithful support.

In Christ’s love,
Bobby and Charlene Wacaser

Bobby and Charlene Wacaser
Rua Laudelino Ferreira Lopes, 279
Sobrado 1, Novo Mundo
81050-310 Curitiba, PR. Brasil
Phone: 55-41-99899-2333
bobbymichael_1[at]hotmail.com

For ministry donations:
Pastor George Sledd, Treasurer of BFM
P.O. Box 471280
Lake Monroe, FL 32747-1280
or click here to donate to BFM online


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