Second day in Jomvu

Hello again.

I don't know how many of you were watching the royal wedding today but it is very popular over here. It seems almost everybody is interested in it. Every time a T.V is on it is on a channel which is covering the wedding.

We are in Mombasa in the area of Jomvu holding four days of meetings. Jomvu is one of the areas of the city which is an Islamic stronghold and is tightly controlled by the religious leaders which makes life difficult for churches. It is also known as a good recruiting area for extremists. The Jomvu church has an attendance of around 50 on a Sunday which, I am told for this area. is very good. Over 20 turned out for the meeting on Thursday night which, for a revival series starting in midweek,is good.

The Jomvu church is recovering from a a leadership issue where the pastor had to be removed. Some people have left but the church remains and the people I saw last night are strong in their faith. The Islamic leaders organised the building of a house on part of the church property to stop it's expansion but the church has appealed to a council which is a higher authority and is predominantly christian so there is still room to expand although the house has to stay. {Building and land regulations are a somewhat grey area over here.}

Bishop Samuel is trying to sort out some appropriate accomodation in Mombasa st this very moment. The original plan was to move from Mariakani to Ukunda on the 2nd May but plans have changed again. I'm due to speak at a number of lunchtime meetings in Mombasa in my final week here and transportation to and from Ukunda is easy enough. If I was based near the place of the lunchtime meetings it means I have more time to prepare before starting out. The morning traveling is then minimal. Please pray that these arrangements go well and that I will get a safe and secure place in Mombasa.

Tonights message is on the scripture 'Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God,'

egards...steve

Greetings from Kenya.

We have just concluded our three day series of meetings in Maweni and they have gone very well. The church responds very positively to the word of God and were very friendly and appreciative. It makes me want to go back again.
The three day series was taken from the Beatitudes from Jesus sermon on the mount. On the last night We looked at related scriptures to the statement 'blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God'. I kept it brief because I wanted the time to pray with people afterwards and it was well worthwhile. Around 20 people came forward for prayer and 3 people testified of immediate release from pain. One man recommitted his life to Christ and many other needs were prayed for. The main ones are below.

# Please pray for those who have asked for God to help them find employment. In some areas unemployment is as high as 20% and that is extremely tough in a country with no benefit system.
# Pray for several people who have asked God to give them peace in their homes.
# Some have also asked prayer for their sick children.
# The man who came to repentance last night said he struggles with temptation. Pray that God would help him, strengthen him and give him wisdom.

Last night the pastor took me back to his home so we could eat together with his family. I ate very well. His wife is a very good cook. Glad I didn't have to get up early this morning. Didn't have much room for breakfast. As I said, I ate 'very' well.

Today we are starting the first of four days of evening meetings in Jomvu {in Mombasa} For the first two days we will have evening seminars in the church and then on the Saturday and Sunday we will hold open air meetings to reach others with the gospel.

Incidently, one of the delights of going abroad is to sample local culture. For example The 'authentic locally sourced' bottled water here is called....wait for it.....KILIMANJIRO ALPS???!!. Shallow commercialism is rampant over here as well as pirate goods. I stopped by a couple of clothing stalls that were selling a colourful array of football jerseys to be told 'This is original'. The adidas logos looked like they has been sown on by the local drunk! Apparently you can buy an 'authentic' premiership football shirt for 'ksh700' {about 5 pounds 50p u.k money}. That still makes the fake goods better value for money than the real thing we are charged 40 pounds for back home.
I went round the music stalls/shops looking for certain items. Needless to say they rip off everything. There were some genuine articles though. They have the latest Cliff Richard and Kenny Rogers videos on sale. At around 2 pounds u.k money I felt this too was a rip off!! {lol} You'll have to pay me more than two pounds to sit through a hour of country and western!

Seriously though, I'm having a great time out here and enjoying it very much. Please continue to pray for the meetings and events. God is good, amen.

regards...steve

Akamba and Maweni

We went to Akamba today. Akamba is a co-operative where the members {part of the Kamba tribe}make models out of wood including of many of the animals local to Kenya, traditional items, masks, models of Masai in their traditional dress ect. This is the place we preached at last time I was here and many people came to the Lord and were healed. Today we were only here as tourists but it was important to see the place again. The people who work here are known for their craftmanship and skill in this work and I have many pictures of their work in process. Anyone who comes to Mombasa should visit this place at least once. It is fantastic. Just looking through the cooperative shop was great. There is so much there I could have stayed for most of the day. The workers share in the profits of the shop as well. So much that you see on the streets of the cities is cheap and 'touristy' but to go somewhere and see items locally produced, handcrafted and then have the opportunity to buy {not to mention putting money back into the local economy} is well worthwhile. Their talent really has to be seen.

Last night was the first in a revival series at Maweni which is a slum area of Mombasa. The pastor, Jonathon, started this church by preaching under a tree and gained a number of converts {as well as a bit of opposition and mocking} but now a church has been established. 23 people came out last night which for a meeting during the week is very good and people very very encouraged and grateful for the message on the new covenant and kingdom that Jesus announced that we are a part of.

The Maweni church meet in a bar which they hire out for meetings. Admittedly not the first place that comes to mind for a church meeting but people come nonetheless and the church is growing. My prayer is that the people will invite friends to come tonight and Wednesday. Tonight's message is on 'blessed are the merciful' a good message for visitors in particular. Tomorrow I want to give an invitation for those who are unwell to come forward for prayer and am believing God for good things to happen.

Mungu Akubariki {God bless you}

Crusades and meetings go up a gear.

Saturday was interesting. Not sure how many people responded as many don't want to come forward but rather they pray where they are standing. A lot of the churches here are divided along tribal lines so if someone is backslidden or doesn't want to go to that church they have to consider their relationship with their own community group. Therefore it is awkward to go to another church {although they don't take it anywhere near as far as the muslims do}.

On Sunday morning we celebrated the resuurection and thats when things started kicking off. As I was preaching one woman who had come to the church let out a huge shriek and threw herself back into the chair before writhing on the floor. As we neared the end of the service and we were all praising God the same thing happened to a girl who was seated nearby. In both cases disciples from the church led the person away to be delivered. Demon oppression and possession is not uncommon in Mariakani although no one has manifested one during the crusade. It reminded me of the scripture that tells us that when Jesus came the demons cried out. It's pretty awesome to know that God is among us in such power but sobering nonetheless. It makes me all the more determioned to avoid like the plague whatever these people were involved in to get to that state.

The final crusade on Sunday was excellent. After praying about it I decided to go all out for conversions. {If God wants to do anything else too then so be it}
We saw people actually start to come forward tonight and 12 people gave their lives to the Lord including one elderly Muslim lady. She came forward with the crowd for healing the previous night but nothing happened to her. I was glad to see her again. There has been a very good atmosphere in the crusades and to see many have the boldness to come forward the final night was great.

Today we are in Maweni.

God bless you...steve

Change of plans.

O.K this will be the first of two posts.

The plans have changed as follows.
Today {Monday} we start a three day series of meetings in Maweni church.
Thursday through to Sunday we are meeting in the Jumvu church {the correct spelling this time} In Jomvu we will have two days of teaching in the church then the last two days we will have a street crusade.
My next day off will be the following Monday before we go to Ukunda {Tues to Fri}

All the meetings this week will be evening services {starting at 2pm u.k time}

regards...steve

Mariakani - The place where the river flows

Firstly thanks to all who have left their comments. It is very good for me to know there are people at home following events here. Not much hope of a tan at the moment as the whole sky is cloudy and we are having one shower after another. Given the state of the streets in Mariakani town centre this is one place where the river is flowing.

There is another river starting to flow as well. The first night of our open air crusade went well despite technical difficulties. Not only did the power stop but the back up generator kept packing up. It didn't make much difference. The singers sang and many people stood around to listen. Then I had the chance to preach before it got dark. There were quite a number who raised their hands in answer to the call of salvation. Many were in the crowds who didn't come forward. How many I don't really know. 20? 30? The Lord knows. The river of the Holy Spirit is beginning to flow here.

I was told on Friday that many of the muslims here consider themselves to be culturally muslim but are not really practicing the religion {or interested in practicing it}. They shut their shops for half an hour to an hour during friday prayers out of fear of the religious leaders who will hastle them if they are not seen at the mosque. I'm told that violence is the norm among the religious leaders however there have been numbers who have put there faith in Christ. Some of these feel too threatened to stop attending the mosque so they turn up discretely holding a small new testament and when they pray they pray to Jesus and not Allah.

The easter Friday service in the church went very well. I preached on the cross {can't go wrong with that subject} and then pretty much the same message but with a more evangelistic edge for the evening crusade. The singing and dancing at the crusades have to be seen. The atmosphere is excellent. I think there were seven conversions {perhaps more but that's how many came to the front of the platform. Four others testified of immediate release from all pain as we prayed for the sick.

Tonight and tomorrow are the last two days of the crusade. We had someone testify through the microphone last night of her healing so we hope this will draw many others. Muslims and Christians alike agree that God is against sin but for the Muslim there is no peace, no assurance of forgiveness, no guarantee of eternal life, no hope of answered prayer and no deliverance. Just preaching on what Jesus means to us and what He has done is enough to get their attention. Thursdays subject was 'What can take way our sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.' Friday's message was the cross and Sundays will be the resurrection. All of them ave basically the same theme. Jesus has the power to take away all sin, can heal disease, deliver from demonic oppression and curses and can save to the uttermost those who believe in Him. I think tonight should be more testimony based with accounts from the gospel of Jesus power to save and heal and then hopefully plenty of live testimonies.

The sun is now shining outside but I'm praying that the spiritual stream turns into a river this weekend.

God bless you...steve

First night of miracles

Bwana Asifiwe {Praise the Lord}

The lunchtime and evening meetings are continuing to go well and are very well received. Yesterday evening was the last meeting in the Mariakani church before the start of our open air gospel crusade tonight so I decided to open up the end of the service for any prayer needs. Several people came forward for healing including one elderly lady who had suffered from head and chest pains for years. {These are always interesting because this kind of thing doesn't just go away by itself} God healed her and everybody else who came forward for prayer.
We also prayed for one woman who is looking for employment and another who wanted prayer for peace in her home and another who was praying for her husbands conversion. I hope to keep you updated on answers to prayer regarding these needs.

Tonight is the big night. The first evening on a four day open air gospel crusade. We will start around 3:30p.m U.K time. To see healings in the church is encouraging before we take to the streets. We pray to see much more of the power of God at work in these next few days. {Not sure if I will get to video any of the crusades but I got last nights service on film including the people who were healed}

Yours in Christ....Steve