News & Reports – August 2020

The Online Edition of the August 2020 BFM News & Reports is available at the link below. Read how God is working through the lives of our faithful missionaries and continue to pray for them.

As a reminder, you can also click on each headline in the PDF to view the story on our FaithWorks Blog.


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Doors of Opportunity Unlocked Amidst Lockdown

The Tates have served the Lord in Kitale, Kenya since January 2008. Their main ministry is church planting.

May 20, 2020

Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ,

It’s still all Corona, Corona, Corona around here. And as a result of that not much has been altered since the last time I wrote a report.

Schools are all closed so the kids are all at home. Josiah is at home doing on-line schooling. He is finishing his final term as a senior at Rift Valley Academy. He has missed his interim trip, his senior trip has been canceled and his graduation ceremony is probably canceled as well. It is unlikely he will ever see any of his friends again before they all head off to their home countries and home continents. Chloe is home too. Julie is homeschooling her and I am assisting by teaching math.

Churches are all closed. I haven’t been able to meet with the folks at Upper Room Baptist Church for many weeks now except individually. Everyone I talk to wants to get our worship services started back up again but to do so would be against the lock-down orders. At what point do we say we have to meet anyway?

Nairobi is locked down. Nobody is allowed in or out.

At least we still have access to food, water, and medicines. Our supply lines are operating as normal and all the necessities of life are still readily available.

The one thing we are desperately trying to avoid is Kenyan quarantine. People who test positive for Covid19 AND everyone they come into contact with are quarantined in official Kenyan quarantine centers. We all hear that these places are nightmares – No care, crowded, Corona-contracting centers. Healthy people get quarantined and are not allowed to leave. They end up coming down with the virus. I was in town today and saw a sign at the store: “Help contain Covid19 – Donate here to send street kids to quarantine centers”. I had to shudder. 

But not all is bad news. There are opportunities as well. The other day I was in town picking up some supplies and I was at the store of a Hindu proprietor. He started talking about Corona and I said, “All I can do is pray, and trust God, and leave the rest in His hands”. The Hindu store owner stopped and said, “Yes, thank you. I guess we should be talking more about God than about Corona Virus”. Now I know that the “god” in his mind is different than the God in mine but we have small opportunities to talk to people these days in a way we might not be able to during a normal time.

Another opportunity is to invest in the lives of other people. As a result of the schools closing, we have two Kenyan teenagers studying here at our house and Julie is overseeing their education and I am teaching them Geometry. One is staying with us around the clock, including boarding here and the other comes every day for school purposes and then leaves at the end of the day. Yesterday, during their morning break, the four of us (myself, Josiah and the two Kenyan teenagers) sat on the veranda while they drank their chai and we just talked. And the most amazing questions and discussions came out. We talked about salvation, heaven, missions, f=ma and e=mc2, the movements of planets, English idioms, biological taxonomy, sin, grace verses the law, Jesus’ interpretation of the 10 Commandments in Matthew 5, Mormonism, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and what happens to morally upright Muslims who have never heard about Jesus. It was all done in a casual way and I didn’t lead them to any of these topics. We just talked about whatever came up out of their brains. What an amazing time to try and make sure they heard wisdom from a Biblical perspective on all of these topics. 

Let’s ask God to give us more of these kinds of opportunities during this chaotic and unnerving time of uncertainty. 

Blessings to you all, Roger, Julie, Amy, Josiah & Chloe

Contact Info:
Roger & Julie Tate
P.O. Box 96
Kitale, Kenya 30200
rojuta@gmail.com

For ministry donations:
Pastor George Sledd, Treasurer of BFM
P.O. Box 471280 | Lake Monroe, FL 32747-1280
or click here to donate to BFM online.


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News & Reports – February 2020 Issue [Online Edition]

The Online Edition of February 2020 BFM News & Reports is available at the link below. Read how God is working through the lives of our faithful missionaries and continue to pray for them.

Note: You can click on any headline to view the story on our blog. 


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News & Reports – January 2020 Issue [Online Edition]

The Online Edition of January 2020 BFM News & Reports is available at the link below. Read how God is working through the lives of our faithful missionaries and continue to pray for them.

Note: You can click on any headline to view the story on our blog. 

Click here to read the January 2020 BFM News & Reports!


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News & Reports – July 2018 [Online Edition]

The Online Edition of the July 2018 BFM News & Reports is available at the link below. Read how God is working through the lives of our faithful missionaries and continue to pray for them.


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News & Reports – July 2017 [Online Edition]

The Online Edition of the July 2017 BFM News & Reports is now available at the link below. Read how God is working through the lives of our faithful missionaries and continue to pray for them. [Click here to read BFM News & Reports – July 2017]

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News & Reports – June 2017 [Online Edition]

The Online Edition of the June 2017 BFM News & Reports is now available at the link below. Read how God is working through the lives of our faithful missionaries and continue to pray for them. [Click here to read BFM News & Reports – June 2017]


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News & Reports – June 2016 [Online Edition]

INTRODUCING…YOUR NEW BAPTIST FAITH MISSIONS NEWS & REPORTS

[Click here to read BFM News and Reports – June 2016]

This is the first issue of our newly-revamped newsletter format.  It will be printed this way going forward. We think it will be more attractive, more inviting and easier to read, and that you will like it.

If you have been following our updates over the past several months, you are aware of the snags we have encountered to keep this periodical in publication and delivered to you.  The online issues have been composed and posted without interruption, but the printing and mailing of the newsletter – not so much. And, for that, we apologize again.

The primary reason for the interruptions was that we were not in compliance with USPS regulations for this periodical.  BFM uses a non-profit periodicals permit which allows us to mail at reduced rates. But, the Post Office requires us to comply with printing, addressing, and mailing regulations so their systems can sort, process, and deliver them efficiently.  We have not been in compliance, but we are now.

For all of these 70+ years these newsletters have been mailed, the work has been done by numerous volunteers – too many to name in this short space, but God has remembered each one by name!  But now, the regulations are just too complicated for volunteers to keep up with them and comply.  So, the Lord has sent a number of fellow believers who are professionals in this industry to advise us and get us back on this track.  We praise God for each one of them!

So, we are planning to be in your mailboxes and in your hands in a timely manner each month now – with the help of God and all the professional and generous servants He has sent our way to help us.

THE NAME OF THE PERIODICAL HAS BEEN CHANGED.  For all these years, the newsletter was called “The Mission Sheets.”  That was because when the first issue was produced and distributed, it was a mimeographed sheet. Then as other letters and reports were added, more sheets were printed. Hence, “Mission Sheets.”  But, we are reaching a new generation of readers and supporters, and few of them even know what a mimeograph machine was. And “Mission Sheets” has no significance or relevance to them, and we don’t have opportunity to explain what it means.  So, we thought it best to give our periodical a name which will instantly identify who we are, what the periodical is, and who it is about: BAPTIST FAITH MISSIONS NEWS & REPORTS. That is who we are, and that is what this periodical is.

PLEASE HELP US WITH YOUR ADDRESS.  Please check the address printed on this issue. Obviously, if you received this issue in the mail, then your address got it to you. If, however, your address needs to be tweaked, updated, or corrected in any way, please include both your present and corrected information, and send that correction to Steve Wainright.  His name and address [postal and email] appears in the information box in the upper left hand corner of page 2.  [Steve Wainright is one of our Directors, and he will be maintaining the mailing list database to be sent to the printer each month.]

IF YOU ARE READING THIS ISSUE EITHER BY ONLINE OR BY BULK MAILING TO ANOTHER ADDRESS – but you would like to receive your free personal copy via USPS mail, please send your name and address again to Steve Wainright as stated above.

IF YOU ARE A CHURCH AND YOU ARE RECEIVING MULTIPLE COPIES AT YOUR PRINTED ADDRESS – please note that we are no longer bundling multiple copies in envelopes as we have been. Now, we are sending the numbers of copies you have requested to the same address, but they will be addressed and delivered piecemeal.  Please count the copies you received and correspond with Steve Wainright if you need to change the numbers. We just want to be sure you are receiving what you want.

And, as always, we thank God for each one of you for your mutual partnership in this ministry – and ask on behalf of our missionaries for your continued faithful and generous support!


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