90% Perspiration, 10% Inspiration & Continuing In Fellowship

Charles Spurgeon has been credited with saying at some point in his life, “Ministry is 90% perspiration and 10% Inspiration”.  

Now I am not sure what kind of perspiration Charles Spurgeon experienced in his personal ministry but I am confident that we experience this ministry formula on a regular basis as we labor here in Kenya.

None more so than when we helped Pastor Shadrach and Pastor Japheth dig and build a baptistery at the Landmark Baptist Church of Mawe Tatu this week.

For almost four years now when Pastor Shadrach wanted to baptize new converts we had to trek five or six kilometers to the river Nzoia or make multiple trips in the truck overloaded with people.

One of the benefits of working closely with our people is gaining access to their personal lives and home. Another benefit of having these close personal relationships with our folks is the ability to suggest ideas while mentoring these special men of God.

Armed with the knowledge of Pastor Shadrach’s farm and especially knowing that he has a fresh water creek running through his property year around, I suggested that we build a baptistry next to his creek so we can fill it up from the creek and then drain it after the service.

He thought it was a great idea and since it was my suggestion he let me take the lead in the construction.

Unfortunately, the lead involved digging a 10’x10’X 5’ deep hole next to a creek where the soil was pure clay and mud.

It took Japheth and I the better part of three hours to dig the hole by hand, probably a fifteen minute job with a backhoe.

I can’t remember the last time I have spent so much time on the end of a shovel but it did bring back lots of memories of the many days I spent constructing golf courses and installing irrigation in Florida.  

Many of you do not know that I was a bi-vocational Pastor who designed, constructed and managed golf courses for over twenty years. God has graciously allowed me to use many of the skills I learned in the secular/corporate golf world in our ministry here in East Africa.

And in this case it was the most rudimentary tools in my arsenal, a shovel.

                                                Foundation

Nevertheless we had a great day of constructing the new baptistry.   

I kept on telling Japheth as we were doing the dirty difficult part of digging that I felt like we were working a county job. 

He and I were doing the hard work while many others where conveniently busy doing other things. Oh well, we had a great time “breaking a sweat for Jesus” together and I can’t wait to see new converts lined up to use the new baptistry.

As people in the village would curiously come by one by one to inspect a project that they had never seen before they would say, "that is the work of an African, not a white man."

Then Japheth would bless my heart when he would politely reply that "Carlos is a resident of the village and not a visitor."

I can’t tell you how much it means to be considered a resident of the village.

It reveals something very special about the relationship with these folks which we have worked so hard to build.                     Little Helper

Along those lines, Terry continues to teach the women of the churches through monthly small group meetings. This week she taught both the women of LBC Mawe Tatu and the women of the outreach at Soysambu. It is important for the women in these Churches to be taught and mentored by faithful women so they too will one day be able to teach the younger women in the Churches for years to come.

In addition to these valuable Bible lessons they are experiencing what the Bible refers to as 'continuing in fellowship.'

It is a beautiful thing to observe the love, joy and unity that these folks find in Christ through their local New Testament Church.

Hey! It is fun being a Christian and this group of women had a blast as Terry taught them how to make tostones as well, which are becoming legendary among the Luhya tribe.

Terry and I were able to laugh as we continually hear the comments that it is a lot of work to cook tostones.                                  Cooking Class

This mentality reveals that they have never had to think about preparing anything other than the staple food they eat each and every day of their life.

Tostones are so easy to make that I can make them, peel, slice, fry, smash, fry again and add salt.

 Oh well, they are enjoying something new and I know their husbands and children are enjoying them as well.

 

In closing, we received word this week that the seeds we planted in August, 2010 during our initial survey trip to Pokot have began to grow and God has given an increase.

During that trip, which ended up being one of the hardest we have ever undertaken, we ended up in Marakwet where we saw fifty-six people profess Christ.

It was apparent that we would not be able to work in that region on a regular basis due to the difficulty of getting there, so that day we began to pray that God would use our guide Vincent to reach that area and follow up with those saved.

God has graciously answered our prayers for the Marakwet tribe as Vincent has recently baptized those whom we led to Christ and organized them into a New Testament Baptist Church.

 

We praise the Lord that He is able to take our feeble efforts and make something great out of them for His honor and glory.

We covet your continued prayers.

Generally, I put our special needs in our monthly newsletter; however I feel led to ask those who are not already supporting us to prayerfully consider partnering with us financially on a regular monthly basis to help us keep up with the significant growth we have experienced over the last few years.

It would be a great investment into the kingdom of God where you know that every dollar is going towards people coming to know Christ as  their personal Savior and New Testament Churches planted.

Fifty or hundred dollars per month goes a long way to bring the Gospel to those who have never heard.  

May God keep you and bless you.

Chuck & Terry Fernandez
Kenya