People will let you down but God is faithful.

I am still processing what has happened over the last two days. Things have gone very differently to what I thought would happen. Our procession yesterday did not involve any actual evangelism and todays meeting left me very frustrated. The ministry I am working with here set up these meetings with other ministries and the main one has altered things and I have been left with a strong feeling that this is about promoting a man and his ministry rather than Jesus and his gospel.After hours of this I was invited forward for 10 minutes at the end without warning to give a greeting for no more than 10 minutes. I asked the minister who was running this to clarify what was going on {in front of several hundred people} I was outwardly polite but inwardly very angry and frustrated. As it was I preached the message God gave me for around 25 minutes and focused only on what God had given me to preach. I didn't want all the other things to distract me even though I felt very disapointed afterwards. What was very encouraging afterwards was the response of several people who spoke to me including a number of leaders. It seems it is not just me but a number of people noticed how this service was inappropriately run and how the main ministry today was wrongly focused. I didn't realise until afterwards when a number of people thanked me for pointing things back to Jesus......I really don't like the pulpit being used to correct specific people or target people and it was only as I look back that I realised that a lot of what I preached {in line with the notes I had} spoke very specifically into today's situation. I am glad that God's word does not return void and the collected groups of people from several congregations received a very clear word about how we should become more like Jesus and how this is always to God's glory and not our own. I trust that despite the setbacks the word of God has gone forth and even clarified to people {who to my mind were being stirred up by hype, power and personality} what the true purpose and motivation of the church really is. Whatever happens, I know that God is good and His purposes will prevail and I am encouraged by how God gave me the right words to say at the right time......I am also glad that the minister I am working with clarified some things about how he had organised things with this ministry only to have a number of things changed at the last minute without his knowledge. He felt it wiser not to say anything during the service but to deal with things when the various leaders next meet together.Welcome to the real world of ministry. This is the stuff we have to deal with.......On another note I want to ask you to pray for a place called Kitale where we will meet on Tuesday. There will be about 200 people present including leaders from 7 churches and the host minister is adamant that the great need of the Kenyan churches is that the word of God is preached and Jesus is the focus. This could well be the the highlight of the mission. I'm praying that a fire for Jesus and his gospel will be lit that is carried to the whole area. Mungu akubariki sana {God bless you}