Nairobi gospel fire

i hope you'll forgive this all being in lower case. {not every key on this keyboard actually works}

i am now in nairobi with gospel fire ministries and my accomodation is sorted out for the next two weeks. i also recieved some very good news today. the last time i was here some 18 months ago i prayed for a woman who had been married for 2 years but as yet had no children. some of the local people had begun to ridicule her and point at her because of this and she was desperate for a child. today i came to the church and she gave her testimony before the church while holding two babies which were both concieved within weeks of being prayed for.

the first days service has gone well so far but i'd like people to pray for certain people i prayed for back in kisumu. one was a woman who has suffered from an illness that has left her with stomach and head pains for the last month. the pain in her stomach went immediately after recieving prayer. pray that the healing would be complete. another woman prayed for god to bless her with a child as she has been unable to concieve as of yet. {i figure this is worth praying for given recent results!} the kisumu church are much encouraged by the series of meetings and now we will be holding meetings each afternoon with 'gospel fire' in nairobi and what are called revival services each evening.

there is a man in the nairobi church called francis. he is worried about his brother in mombasa who has gone off the rails and not contacted his family for 5 years now. he got married then split up leaving 2 kids and now has married again. things seem to be confused in his life and he is even quite distant to his brother when they speak on the phone.francis is hoping god does something to turn this guys life around.

also pray for me regarding spiritual preparation. i need to find adequate time to pray and prepare which will continue to make a big difference.

god bless you all....steve

Kisumu.

Things in Kisumu are going very well. The church is small but now they have their own building and the pastor meets with all the other ministers in the immediate area regularly for prayer and they are working together to see their part of town transformed by the gospel. The meetings are going very well and there have been no issues , no violence or problems as yet.
The church are making sure I work hard which is good because I want to make the most of my time here. After the wednesday evening meeting they asked me to preach twice this morning in back to back services as well as the evening meeting. It will be the same again on friday.
I had the chance to meet one of the ministers who lead the joint pastors group and had a very good conversation with him. It would be great to be involved in a joint evangelistic venture here when I return to Kisumu. He would like me to be involved in that. Pray that this would out in God's will and that the unity biuld between the ministries here would continue to develop and bear much fruit. {They already do more than meet occassionally and pray}
Friday evening will be a time of prayer for anything people ask for and especially healing so I wouls greatly appreciate your prayers in support of that.

It seems a very long time since I was in England. So much has happened. Saturday will be my rest day and I will gly back to the capital in the evening to begin the two weeks of ministry there.

God bless you...Steve.

Sunday in Eldoret

Sunday in Eldoret consisted of two back to back services which went well. It was a bit strange after all the experiences with the Bungoma team to be with a different group of people but it was still good. Two young men committed their lives to the Lord and we saw one healing as well. Carrying on with the theme of the names and titles of Jesus I preached on 'The Lion of the tribe of Judah' and Peter's statement in Matthews gospel chapter 16 'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God'.
One of the young men who came to salvation had been involved in drug abuse in the past. {I just happened to share an account of a couple some years back who were addicted to herion who came to the Lord- I don't believe this was a coincidence} The man who came yesterday for prayer is no longer involved in drugs but they have damaged his eyesight. When I held a certain number of fingers up before him he could only count them until I was 2 metres away. We prayed for him but with no results...yet. Please pray for this man.
A young lady came for prayer for a problem she has had for 4 months now. She can walk but quite slowly and cannot run. When we prayed for her she seemed to improve slightly. Please pray that God would grant her total healing.
Tonight I will be ministering on 'Christ, the Corner stone' with an emphasis on the church being as living stones {1 Peter}. I haven't finished it yet and have a lot of notes which I need to put together to build a cohesive message. Please pray for this also and that the church would be encouraged and edified by it.

God bless you...Steve

ps : Thank you to those who have left your comments. It is very encouraging to know that there are people in the U.K taking an interest and praying for us. Do keep the comments coming. I look forward to reading them.

Second week of mission - plan details

I'm in Eldoret now after spending this morning with the team from the Bungoma church. Their is such a hope and expectation in the Bungoma church of what God is going to do in the future.

It's good to see Jospeph Karanja again after over 18 months. Today is a day to relaxand sunday will see the start of three days of revival meetings with two services on sunday and a service on Monday and Tuesday evening. On Wednesday we will travel to Kisumu for three days before returning on Saturday. There is no specific itinerary for Kisumu yet so please pray for Pastor Karanja and the Kisumu leadership for God's guidance and favour in this.

I'm really on a high at the moment and looking forward to what is going to happen next.

regards...Steve

Thursday - Christian Fellowship Evangelistic ministries {BUKEMPE}

We had a fantastic day in the Bukempe church on the outskirts of Bungoma. We saw another person recieve healing and after yesterday I decided to respond more definitely when God was prompting me. I preached on Christ depicted as a bridegroom and touched on the issue of how the relationship between a husband and wife was a picture of Christ and the church. {It certainly got people asking questions!}. Today we went over dirt tracks, fields and grass lanes for the best part of 20 minutes to get to a church in the middle of nowhere. It is called Arise and Shine Ministries and people walk for up to 2 hours just to get to the church. They have only been around for 4 years and already have two churches planted out along with a cell group almost ready to launch as well. It was a minor miracle we got there at all as we drove through a torrential downpour and the dirt track was in places a river of water. The service was great though and again God is giving me the right words to say at the right time. Arise and shine ministries have a great vision of evangelism, discipleship and church planting and have developed a large and competent ministry team. Today was my last day of ministry in this region before traveling to Eldoret tomorrow. The friendships and meetings here are something I will never forget.

Sunday will be the first day of ministry with pastor Joseph Karanja and the Gospel Fire church in Eldoret and we will be there Monday and Tuesday before traveling to Kisumu on Wednesday to begin a three day crusade there starting on the day we arrive.

Please pray for...
The churches already visited, that the meetings will bear permanent good results and changed lives.
For the relationships and ties already developed, that they will be the start of a long term fruitful ministry partnership.
For traveling mercies on the journey to Eldoret.
For great favour, fruitfulness and miracles in the Eldoret mission.

ps : Certain conversations have confirmed what has been on my heart concerning Kenya for a long time. I intend to be much more heavily involved in the work over here in the future. This is not a spur of the moment thing but I would appreciate prayer regarding the fulfilling of God's purpose in my life with regards to Kenya. This is something I've been mulling over for the last 18 months and fits in with what I have believed for the last few years what God wants me to do.

God bless you...Steve

Firstly a big thank you to all those who are praying for this mission. We are really seeing God do some wonderful things here in the Bungoma region of Kenya.

1 / 'Jesus Christian Church' TULUMBA
We went here on Tuesday morning. It is a small congregation meeting in a mud hut church in the rural area of Tulumba outside of Bungoma. As I prepare messages on the various titles and names given to Jesus, God is helping me to see these things in a new way. At the time of prayer at the end two people suffering from physical pain in relation to their illness were relieved of all symptoms. {Praise God!}. We also prayed for a baby whose mother told us the child had malaria. Please remember this child in your prayers and ask that God grants the baby a full recovery.
For the first time during the prayer part of the meetings I felt I ought to pray against demonic causes of sickness. It was only afterwards I found out that this area is a stronghold of occult practices. God is truly helping us with knowing what to preach and what to pray. Please pray for the church also that they would be a shining light in this community in Tulumba and that their faith in Christ as the one who defeated the power of evil would grow and grow.

2/ 'In Jesus Global Mission' KIMANTUNI
Ithink this is about as far out in the sticks you can get! We travelled along dirt tracks and grassy lanes for the best part of an hour to get here. The church was another tiny mud wall building but was packed with around 80 people with others standing outside to listen to the word of God. I was going to preach on Joshua in the old testament {I used the same message at one of our A.W.E services back home some time ago} only to realise late on that I'd picked up the initial rough notes I made at work rather than the finished sermon! Thankfully as I glanced at the notes while preaching it all came back to me and the message was very well recieved. At the end 3 or four people who were not christians put their faith in Christ and committed their lives to him. Please pray for these new converts. Pray that they would learn quickly how to live as effective christians and would find key relationships with saints in the church who can guide them.

Two more people were healed immediately after recieving prayer including a man who had suffered a consistant headache for the last two years. He left the church without any pain at all!!! I would ask that you remember a young man who came forward at the end to be prayed for. He has epilepsy.

3 / Visitation.
We also had the chance to visit the homes of some people in the church to pray a blessing over their lives including the local pastor and a faithful godly woman who requested that we pray for her husband who is not yet a christian.

Wednesday - 'In Jesus Global Mission' LUMBUKA
Another church way out in the middle of nowhere. This congregation consisted of around 15 people and their church building was little wider than some corridors. The service went really well with a number of people rededicating their lives to Christ and a couple of people again healed and relieved of pain. However something different happened when I prayed for the last person to come forward {a woman and her baby} Both had chest and breathing problems. As I prayed I felt God tell me to stop praying because the root of the problem was her involvement in witchcraft and to deal with that instead. There and then she basically threw a fit and was writhing over the floor {I guess if you've never seen any thing like that It could really freak you out!} After several of us prayed with her for a few minutes she was perfectly alright. Part of the sermon before majored on the fact that when Jesus died on the cross his sacrifice not only means means our sins can be forgiven but that through Jesus we have the power to break the things that the devil uses to hold people captive.

I know some people in England struggle to get their heads round things like healing miracles and demonic possession but if anyone doubts these things then just come to places like this. It really hits you how God has the power to heal and deliver people. I really thank God for helping me in preaching what he wants the people to hear and that he is making such a difference in peoples lives. Everywhere I go people in the churches are saying how big a difference I made and that they are changed forever but for me this is all down to God. I can't get over the fact that God would take someone like me who has done so much bad in life, change him and even make him a preacher. All I've done is follow what I believed God wanted. The miraculous power is from God and He deserves all the praise. I'm just thankful that I can be a part of all this.

In the next two days we visit rural churches in Bukempe and Kimilili.

Bwana asifiwe! {praise the Lord}

Here at last - The first few days.

Here at last!!!

Things have either gone very right or very wrong. I only found out on wednesday that I would not get my entire holiday pay before I left like everyone else. For some reason I will be paid it on a week by week basis which means I will only get the first week of my holiday pay a week after I reach here. At one point I wondered if I had the funds to complete the first week! God is in control though and I only just missed a domestic flight to Eldoret and so had to get another one that turns out to be around half the price I would have paid before.

The first couple of days in Bungoma have been excellent. They have put on a two day conference bringing in many pastors and leaders of their churches in the region. The messages went down really well and the prayer time at the end was very good too. I'm starting to recover from the lack of a nights sleep after the overnight stop in Dubai airport and God is really helping me with the messages.

The pastor of the Bungoma church wants to send me to various churches in the region over this week so I'll be travelling with him to one location, preaching then going to do the same somewhere else the same day. We have great times of fellowship and have some really good conversations. I've already met many Kenyan pastors who have established their own churches and even some than have gone into areas that didn't have a church before.

I've managed to find a way around the financial difficulty mentioned above and although things are tight God is blessing me. Numerous people have made unsolicited donations which has made a big difference. One of the things that has really touched me is how so many have been encouraged by the word of God so far. God has really been helping me and despite the fact I'm preaching twice a day I'm finding the time to write sermons {usually the same morning or the night before!}

Please pray for travelling mercies and the churches I will be visiting, for an outpouring of God's Spirit, conversions and healings. God is very very good.

Leaving tommorrow - Please pray for....

....travelling mercies. That the weather will not cause any delays or problems {It seems to be getting warmer thankfully}

...for a safe journey. {I'll be going by train to Birmingham then flying out to Dubai and then on to Nairobi where I will try to get an internal flight to Eldoret before being picked up by the first pastor I'll be working with and taken to Bungoma.} The driving practices of some on Kenya's roads are pretty dangerous. Pray that we'll get to Bungoma without incident.

...also that I will get a good night's rest and sleep before beginning ministry on sunday preaching at 'In Jesus Global Ministries church' in Bungoma with brother Moses Nyongesa.

I doubt I'll get any proper sleep on the plane so a good night's rest on saturday evening is essential. {I'll be too excited to sleep on the plane anyway!}

ps : My arrangements for accomodation during my 2 week stay in Nairobi have fallen through. I've just found out tonight. Pray that I can make alternative arrangements.

God bless you all....Steve

In five days I will be flying out for Kenya. It's been a little concerning over the last few days watching the news and seeing the disruption to transport services and airports along with predictions that this cold weather will last for another week. Nevertheless I figure if God has got me this far he can be trusted to get me the rest of the way.

From Bungoma to in the west of the country to Mombasa on the east coast I expect to be kept busy. {which is how I like it}. The churches there are strongly evangelistic and are very responsive and so I anticipate seeing conversions. {They are not shy about inviting people to church}. I will be doing what are called revival/healing services which is really like a regular church service but is aimed at stirring and equipping the church to rise up and advance the kingdom of God. There is an opportunity at the end for people to respond to the message, either to commit their lives to the Lord or for a miracle of healing or some other pressing need in their lives.

Some of the churches I will be visiting are in the slum areas of the capital, Nairobi. They simply can't afford medical care so a miracle is often their only hope. It's strange when I think of it but as a new convert the idea of believing God for miraculous healing seemed very difficult indeed. Now I look back at all the things I've seen God do I can only be encouraged and greatly emboldened to believe that God will do something special and also act on that faith.

I'm going to be taking some recording equipment with me so I can get some of the accounts of what happened first hand. I will be looking to interview some of the people I saw last time and some of the people God touches this time around. Together with details {names, places, witnesses ect} these accounts will go onto a website I've been planning for some time which will feature testimonies from all kinds of people regarding their own experience of God.

I will be providing some prayer points very soon before I go.

regards...Steve