Earlier Prayer Letters
January/February 2010
"Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen." Ephesians 3:20,21
Our ministry partners,
We thank you for praying and allowing us to see God do things beyond our expectations. We want to share with you some highlights from the last two months.
OUR CHURCHES
Most Sundays Zion Road Independent Baptist Church is quite full. Each Sunday afternoon is dedicated to a door-to-door evangelistic outreach called "Netcasting," and we have seen several adults accept Christ as Savior. At an average morning service we have four to six first-time visitors, and some have made us their church home. In March we ordained our first deacon, Brother George Wambugu. Also we now have a church treasurer, Brother Zakayo Mwenga. We praise the Lord for these important steps toward the church becoming fully indigenous.
Santon Independent Baptist Church has been growing more slowly. We have about fifteen adults and thirty-five children on an average Sunday. Our two African pastors, Lawrence Isoka and Charles Okari, have been faithfully visiting the homes in the area and have won several people to Christ. Adults visit the church, but then, because of the great poverty in this community, they quickly move on looking for work elsewhere.
OUR COLLEGE
We finished our first term at Independent Baptist College of Ministry with twenty-eight students at the end of March. We open classes again on May 5th with thirty students from about a dozen independent Baptist churches. The college has been moved to the Zion Road Independent Baptist Church as construction continues on the multipurpose building which will be used for both college and church classrooms. We await the Nairobi City Council giving final approval of our building plans so we can finish the classrooms and library by the third term beginning in September.
OUR CO-WORKERS
Tom and Denise Canfield and their children have their tickets purchased, and we look forward to their arrival in Kenya on June 23rd. Our ministries have greatly expanded, and the Canfields will be a much-needed help to us.
OUR COUNTRY
For several months Kenya has been in the midst of a severe drought, and estimates are that as many as ten million Kenyans are at risk of starvation. We have already given food aid to some of the rural churches we fellowship with, and we will be taking more this summer. Some rain finally came the end of April, but it is now quite late for some of the crops to be planted. Also, the coalition government formed last year after the disputed Presidential election has begun to unravel as the President and Prime Minister compete for power. Some Kenyans are calling for new elections, which we fear would be violent in the present environment.
MEET ONE OF OUR FAMILIES
Zakayo and Mama Vivian Mwenga have been one of our most faithful families for the past four years. Zakayo is a Kenyan government seismologist. He is now also our church treasurer. Mama Vivian is a school teacher who leads an Awana Club and is also the chairlady of our women's fellowship. Their teen-agers, Denise, Martin and Vivian are believers and attend the Zion Road Independent Baptist Church when they are home from boarding school.
PRAYER CORNER
Would you please pray for the following needs:
* For an abundant rainy season that will end the drought and for unity in the Kenyan government
* For the addition of four families at Santon Independent Baptist Church who find employment and remain in the community and church
* For approval of our multipurpose building plans by the Nairobi City Council by the end of May
*For the safe arrival and quick adjustment of the Canfield family to life and ministry in Kenya
In Kenya for Christ,
Mike and Gail Mestler
John 3:30, "He must increase, but I must decrease."
Stateside for a Short While
As we write this prayer letter it is snowing outside. No, we are not in Kenya but in Ohio! We are beginning our third month of a short furlough in the Midwest. We plan to return to Kenya on March 18.
We enjoyed our first Thanksgiving Day and Christmas with family in three years. We are especially happy to be in grandparent mode. God has blessed us with two new grandkids in 2009, Kara Joy and Grant William, which brings us to four. Our children and their spouses are serving the Lord in our home church in Arizona.
God's Goodness in Kenya
We left our churches in Kenya in November in a growth spurt. An average Sunday at Zion Road Independent Baptist Church now has 150 worshippers. Santon Independent Baptist Church, where our co-workers, the Canfields, assist our two African pastores, now averages over 100 people. We have been receiving reports that the growth has continued into 2010 with several people at both churches accepting Christ in January.
Early this year we must try to buy two additional plots for the Santon church before the church becomes boxed in with new houses next door.
The first phase of our multipurpose building was completed just in time for Independent Baptist College of Ministry to use the classrooms in January. Zion Road Independent Baptist Church is also thankful to have some additional Sunday School classrooms, which were badly needed.
In January, Mike and Pastor Robert Shaw of Grace Baptist Church, Kettering, Ohio, were able to lead to Christ a Rwandses man named Innocence. We have begun a weekly discipleship study with him. We say asante sana (thanks much) for praying and giving so we can be planting churches and training pastors in Kenya.
PRAISE
- God blessed us with an abundant rainy season.
- The first phase of our church and college multipurpose building is complete.
- The year began with several people accepting Christ through Netcasters Outreach.
PRAYER
- Safety in travel and fruitful furlough meetings.
- Spiritual growth of a new Christian, Innocence N.
- Purchase of two additional plots for Santon Independent Baptist Church.
Mike and Gail Mestler
John 3:30, "He must increase, but I must decrease."
October/November 2009
January/February 2009
Hamjambo wote kutoka Kenya! Hello to all of you from Kenya! We began 2008 with the country ripped apart by post-election violence. How thankful we all are to celebrate this new year with peace in Kenya because God answered the prayers of His people.
A GREAT STEP FORWARD
Six years ago we began a Bible Institute at Christ's Independent Baptist Church with classes one night a week. Fundamental Baptist Bible Insitute took the next step in 2006 with the beginning of a day program offering our students a three-year Bible diploma. Last November the Lord opened a great door for us. The Baptist College of Ministry of Falls Baptist Church, Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, joined hands with us making our school here in Kenya a branch of their college. We are working jointly with some fellow independent Baptist missionaries to begin Independent Baptist College of Ministry, IBCM, this January. Our students will now be able to earn a formal Bachelor of Arts degree. Far more importantly, however, they will be trained for local chuirch ministry in a fundamental Baptist college, balancing high academics with evangelistic fervor and practical skills. A faculty mentor has been assigned to each student. Mike will be mentoring five men, four of them pastors. Please pray that his own life and ministry is a biblical model for them. Enrollment has jumped to thirty students for the first term, for which we praise the Lord.
SPIRITUAL TEMPERATURE OF OUR CHURCHES
Just as children from the same family can have different personalities and problems, so churches in the same locale can vary greatly. Zion Road Independent Baptist Church, "big sister," is doing great. Attendance averages around 120-130 on most Sunday mornings, giving is good, and in October we unanimously voted to put a sound church constitution in place. Often when we leave the church we comment on how enjoyable the ministry there has been.
Santon Independent Baptist Church, "little sister," is struggling a little. Attendance has leveled out at 40-50 on Sundays with about 15 adults. The community is poor, and people often move in and out because they cannot find work. Many of the people have a "donor" mentality, i.e., If I come to your church what can I expect the missionary to give me? Pastors Lawrence Isoka and Charles Okari are being very faithful, and we all are prepared to build up this work little by little as we win people to Christ and disciple them. We praise the Lord that a man named Matthew was saved there on Christmas Day and has been attending Sunday services.
MEET OUR MEMBERS
We are going to begin to introduce to you in each prayer letter some of our church members so you can pray for them. First are George and Jennifer Wambugu and children Clare, Wais and Sheba. The Wambugus built a house a "stone's throw" away from the church property of Zion Road Independent Baptist Church. When they moved in two years ago they immediately began attending our services and have become some of our most faithful members. They were already believers when they came to us and have grown much in the Lord in the last two years. George and Jennifer own their own business making snack foods. George is on our building committee and has a great deal of good sense and gives Mike good advice. We hold a home Bible study fellowship in their house twice a month. Clare, 11 years old, is one of our star Awana clubbers. Please pray for Jennifer to find a ministry in the church and that the younger children, Wais and Sheba, will begin to understand and accept the gospel.
PRAYER CORNER
Would you please intercede to God for us concerning these needs.
*Wisdom and spiritual and physical strength for Mike to teach and lead the Bible College as Dean of Student affairs
*Spiritual discernment for Gail as she helps mentor some of the female students at IBCM
*Obtaining the final approved building plans from Nairobi City Council to continue constructing our multipurpose building to be used by Zion Road Independent Baptist Church and IBCM
*The salvation of a neighbor, Mzee Major
Thanks for your indispensable part in our ministry.
In Kenya for Christ,
Mike and Gail Mestler
John 3:30
September 2008
Dear Christian Friends,
Hamjambo (Hello) to everyone from Kenya. Thanks so much for praying for us over the summer months.
SUMMER OUTREACH
We have just finished one of our busiest but also most fruitful summers in Kenya. In August we held back-to-back weeks of Vacation Bible School at Zion Road Independent Baptist Church and Santon Independent Baptist Church. Over fifty children from the two churches were counseled for salvation. We are now trying to encourage these children to attend our Awana and Sunday school programs. We praise the Lord for sending Miss Rose Fisher of Bethel Baptist Church in Sellersville, PA, to be our summer intern for seven weeks. She was our "right hand" during these demanding weeks.
CHURCH ORGANIZED
On August 3 Santon Independent Baptist Church received her first twelve official members at a Charter Membership Sunday. Attendance on Sundays is now around fifty, and several adults and youth have professed faith in Christ over the summer. They anticipate celebrating the Lord's Table together for the first time on September 28. Please pray for Pastors Lawrence Isoka and Charles Okarias they lead this young church.
NEW CHURCH PLANNED
For several years, Charles Okari, one of our Bible Institute graduates, has had a great desire to begin an independent Baptist church in his home village near Kisii in western Kenya. In late August we made a survey trip to see the "lay of the land." The Lord directed us to a closed private school building that the landlord is willing to rent to us with an option to buy. We returned excited with the possibility of assisting Charles plant this new church in January 2009.
A CHURCH MATURES
We are encouraged watching the maturing of Zion Road Independent Baptist Church. On an average Sunday over 120 people are now attending. Over the summer we had to build ten more church pews. The church's giving has been exceptionally good for a church only four years old, and they are making good progress to be self-supporting in about three years. In September we will be discussing with them a proposed church constitution to be voted on in October. We praise the Lord for all these evident steps of growth.
BUILDING THE BIBLE INSTITUTE
One of our most important ministries in Kenya is Fundamental Baptist Bible Institute where we are training Kenyan pastors and church planters. This term Mike is teaching Hermeneutics (Bible Interpretation) and Homiletics (Preaching). Also this fall our Institute is conducting an eight-week teacher training course at Zion Road Independent Baptist Church with seventeen students attending.
We have laid the foundation for our college building which will have two classrooms and a library with an administrative office. Also, our students will have access to computers for the first time. We appreciate any help raising the $10,000 we need to complete this project. Our desire is to be in the new building by our January term next year.
PRAYER CORNER
Please pray for these needs ...
* Salvation of two unsaved husbands, Anthony and Nicholas
* Completion of the college building by January
* Success in renting a building in Kisii for a new church plant in January
Asante sana (Thanks much) for praying for us faithfully.