Hesitating to Collect Offerings
The Tate Family has served the Lord in Kitale, Kenya since January 2008. Their main ministry is church planting.
June 27, 2019
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
So, I started the Upper Room Baptist Chapel almost nine months ago. A number of people have attended and gone but I have been blessed with a few families and individuals who have faithfully attended and been an integral part of the Chapel. Since I started the Chapel almost nine months ago, I have not collected an offering or “passed the hat” in any way. I have been very hesitant to do so for various valid reasons, these reasons being especially relevant for here in Kenya. However, over the last few months at various intervals almost all of the faithful attendees to the Chapel have asked me why I haven’t taken up any offerings. They have respectfully and lovingly questioned some of my reasoning with some good, logical reasoning of their own. One thing that I have heard from most of them is that they want the Chapel to continue long term and they know I cannot possibly be around forever. They want to help support the ministry and ultimately see it become self-reliant. This is obviously a good, reasonable and Biblical goal (and quite lofty) which I whole-heartedly approve. Seeing as most of the faithful attendees have approached me on this matter at one time or another, I feel it necessary to discuss the reasons why I have hesitated such a long time to inaugurate the collection of offerings.
15 Valid Reasons Why I Have Hesitated to Collect Offerings at the URBC: 1. I don’t want anyone thinking I (or the Chapel) just want their money; 2. In Kenya, too many pastors (and churches) are in it just for the money. To them it is a job, a lucrative job, and people are easily fleeced; 3. Too many Kenyan pastors and churches completely misuse donated money, stealing money from the offerings for their own personal use; 4. Misuse of money causes Kenyan people to not trust the pastor; 5. I want the focus to be on the gospel ONLY and not on money (in some churches it’s just money, money, money all the time); 6. I don’t want anyone to think they cannot come to the Chapel to hear the gospel because they cannot contribute; 7. I don’t want anyone feeling pressured to give money they don’t have or to take food off of someone’s table (a reality here in Kenya); 8. I don’t want any unbeliever to think we are here just to collect their money. I don’t want them to even come close to thinking that; 9. Money can be a cause of division and fighting among God’s people. I have seen it cause countless troubles in Kitale churches as when there is money in the coffers people viciously fight over it; 10. People with the money tend to run a church with their money and have a greater influence within a church; 11. Pastors focus more on people with money than people without money (James 2:1-4); 12. Ministry becomes one of numbers and money; 13. Pastors become afraid of preaching truth out of fear of losing tithing members. Pastors become puppets of tithing members; 14. People will come to our Chapel only for the expectation of getting some of the money in the coffers; 15. I don’t want people to give money just so they will in turn receive material blessings, a typical and universal teaching here.
Do these sound like valid reasons to hesitate to you all? But my attendees have valid arguments too and I know that giving to the Lord’s work is Biblical and vital to the health of the ministry. We will be discussing these matters at the Chapel. Please pray with us as we want to follow the instruction of the Bible and the leading of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
Until next month, beloved.
May God’s peace and joy be with you.
For the glory of God in Kenya,
Roger & Julie Tate (and Amy, Josiah & Chloe)
rojuta[at]gmail.com
Visit their blog!
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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Foundational Teaching from Colossians; Battling the Flu
The Tate Family has served the Lord in Kitale, Kenya since January 2008. Their main ministry is church planting.
May 30, 2019
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Thank you, Lord, for Your mercy and grace, especially (this month, at least) for mercy and grace towards your missionaries doing your Kingdom work. This missionary, for one, desperately needs it.
I need God’s mercy and grace to do the work He has called me to do here. I can’t help thinking “Maybe I shouldn’t be trying to be a pastor of a church here”. The culture is against me. My inability is against me. Satan is against me. Kitale, in general, is against me. Even nature is against me (yea, I got really sick this past month). But God is for me and I don’t yet feel like He has changed what He wants me to be doing. Thus, I need to trust Him and obey Him and keep doing what He wants.
Things at the Upper Room Baptist Chapel are progressing. I’ve been wondering if a Sunday would come when nobody would show up. I thought that Sunday had come a couple of weeks ago. When 10am rolled around nobody else was there. When 10:07 rolled around there was still no one else there. But at 10:08 someone showed up and a few more trickled in after that. But our attendance that day was only 6. I worried that the low attendance would stay low but the next week we were back up to 16. Again, it is not about numbers. URBC is about proclaiming and living the Word of God and we will continue to be faithful to do just that.
I have finished preaching through the book of Colossians at URBC. The great foundational teachings of this book are vital to the people here in Kitale. Through this book, we at the Chapel learned who Jesus really is, who we are in Jesus, and what Jesus has done for those who trust and follow Him. If we could just learn and master this one book of the Bible, we would go a long way in our walk and relationship with God and in the Kingdom of Jesus. Last week I began a new short series preaching through some of the Psalms. It will be short because I obviously will not be preaching through every Psalm. I will probably only preach through 4 or 5 of them before moving on to something else, maybe to return to Psalms again at some future date. Last Sunday I preached through Psalm 1. It would be difficult for me to say whether the message was good or not (although I pray that it was). You see, I got really sick with the flu. I prepared my message while sick with the flu. I preached my message while sick with the flu. Then I came home and collapsed on the couch. Even for the next two days I was pretty much incoherent on the couch while sick with the flu. I am even late writing this update because I have been sick with the flu. It was a pretty nasty bug that Chloe and I shared but hopefully Julie will avoid. I will have to ask my Chapel members whether the message last Sunday was coherent or not. I am very glad to be feeling better now.
In family news, we have more transitions facing us in the near future. Amy turns 19 in June and then in July she will be graduating from Rift Valley Academy where she has boarded and gone to school for the last five years. Following graduation, she will be leaving Kenya and returning to the States to go to college. I’m sure I will be providing more on this transition in the months to come but I want you all to be praying for Amy (and us) even now as she prepares to make this huge transition in her life. [Read Amy’s testimony here.]
Until next month, beloved.
May God’s peace and joy be with you.
For the glory of God in Kenya,
Roger & Julie Tate (and Amy, Josiah & Chloe)
rojuta[at]gmail.com
Visit their blog!
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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H. H. OVERBEY SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENT
Amy Tate is our latest recipient of the H. H. Overbey Scholarship for the upcoming 2019-20 academic year. Amy is the daughter of our missionaries, Roger and Julie Tate. She has served with her family in Kenya since her childhood and will be entering Cedarville University in August.
The HHO Scholarship awards each recipient $1000 per academic year to continue their post-secondary education in a field that will further train and develop them for Christian service.
The H. H. Overbey Scholarship is named in the memory and honor of H. H. Overbey. Brother Overbey loved the children of our missionaries and contributed personally and generously to many of them for their Christian education and training – as well as others who are still today faithfully serving Jesus Christ. This is just one more way we can carry on his legacy of generosity.
Amy Tate with her parents, Roger & Julie
Amy Tate
We encourage you to pray for Amy and also for her parents and family as they are separated from one another.
And, if you wish to contribute to the H. H. Overbey Scholarship Fund to assist Amy and others of our missionaries’ children in future academic years, designate your contributions for “H. H. Overbey Scholarship Fund.” These funds are supplied only through your designated offerings.
You may read Amy’s personal salvation and service testimony here:
In a world so full of hate, is there room for love? In a world lost in darkness, is there a place for light? In a world consumed with affliction, are there moments of peace? In a world shattered by sorrow, is there hope?
I’ve been a pastor’s kid and a missionary my entire life, and yet I’ve been asking these questions for as long as I can remember. It’s too easy to look at the world and wonder where the beauty of life is. I didn’t have an easy life growing up, and I remember looking at my life and thinking, “There is no purpose.” Why was I still living through each and every day without reason, and why was I going through all of those hardships alone?
It wasn’t until God helped me really understand the joy and the hope that comes only from Him, that I was able to understand the light and the truth and the love and the joy in this world. The most spectacular thing, however, was when I finally understood the hope that was given to me, even in the darkness that I was enduring and living through at that time. I still lose sight of it sometimes, but that hope has, time and again, been a steady assurance to me, as I remember that things will not always be as they were, or even as they still are.
After that, I realized that as a follower of God, my calling- what God asks me to do- is to reach out to the people of this world and to serve them and love them. I want to show them, as God showed me, that there is more to life than just living through it, and there is more to life than the darkness that presents itself. There is more to life than the despair and the hopelessness that we daily feel when we don’t have anything better to look to. I realized that I didn’t want to hide that and keep it to myself, but I wanted to share it. I wanted to proclaim it, show it, and be an example of it. And that is still to this day what I want.
I will be entering and attending Cedarville University in Cedarville OH this fall of 2019. It is close to my home church, Emmanuel Baptist Church of Bellbrook, OH where Darrell Messer is my pastor.
I have no idea what my future will look like. I don’t quite know yet what I will major in, what kind of career I will have, or even where I will live. But what I do know is that it doesn’t matter, because wherever I am and whatever I’m doing,
I can always trust God with my life. What I believe He asks me to do stays the same, and that is to dedicate my life to bring glory to Him and to serve His people; the people that He loves, and the people that are still lost in darkness.
I want to serve. I want His light to be seen shining through me. And in this world of hate and darkness and affliction and sorrow, I want to bring God’s hope to the people of this world, by showing them His love. ~Amy Tate
Click here to make a donation to the HHO Scholarship Fund now.
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Sharing the Gospel Every Day at MCHC
The Tate Family has served the Lord in Kitale, Kenya since January 2008. Their main ministry is church planting.
Hello Everyone!
Let me just start by saying how excited I am to share with you how God has been working in me and through me recently! But before I get started, may I ask you to pray for our family? As you know, Emily has been back in the US for several years now, but Amy is also leaving us this July to return to the US for college. Then, in only one year’s time, Josiah will also be leaving Kenya to return to the US. This may be the most difficult part of being a missionary; when your kids grow up and leave the nest, they go 8,000 miles away (at least in our case). That’s over 48 hours of travel just to get to them if there’s an emergency. It’s daunting and heart-breaking, but I’m proud of all my children. They are amazing people, and I can’t wait to see what God has in store for them in their new chapters of life.
Ten years ago, Roger and I were taking a walk in our small neighborhood here in Kitale. It was the middle of the day; the sun was hot and the road was dusty, but it was peaceful. I remember saying to him, “This is going to sound really strange, but I feel like God is telling me that He wants me to start a school. I’m not saying He wants me to do it right now, I just feel like sometime in the future this is something He wants me to do.” Yes, I know that sounds strange, but God does that with me sometimes. I knew I didn’t have the ability or resources to pull off something like that, and I didn’t know exactly what it would look like, but it was something I felt very strongly.
A couple years later (unknown to me) two Kenyan families who didn’t even know each other moved from Nairobi to Kitale and couldn’t find acceptable schools for their children. Long story short, these two couples are now the directors of Rayzon Schools. Fast forward again several years and Chloe came along – a Kenyan child who needed contact with her culture. As a homeschooling parent at heart, it was difficult for me to make the decision to put her in school – especially around here. God, however, had that taken care of. By what may have looked like random chance to an unbeliever, Roger met two of the directors of Rayzon Schools and talked with them. I was cooking dinner when he came home and began sharing about the experience with me. I stopped stirring the pot, laid down my spoon, looked at Roger and said, “This is going to sound strange, but I feel like God is telling me Chloe needs to go to school there.” I know, I know…I’m freaking some of you out with my “God is telling me” comments, aren’t I? There’s really no other way to say it, though.
After Chloe settled into Rayzon Schools (okay, settled is a strong word…) we became good friends with the directors. This was about a year and a half ago now. This soon led to them asking me to fill in some Grammar and English gaps for their students, and I began teaching for two hours twice a week. I loved it. The kids loved it. The directors loved it. The teachers…they didn’t love it so much. Neither did the head teacher who took a serious dis-liking (read, “hatred”) to me.
Toward the end of 2018, the directors began planning to open a new branch of Rayzon Schools using an international curriculum (something they had wanted to do at Rayzon from the very beginning). They called on me and Carrie Radford to give them advice on curriculum. When all was said and done, they decided to use much of our homeschooling curriculum and another widely known Christian curriculum from the US. Carrie and I both volunteered to help with running the school and teaching, and thus, Milimani Christian Homeschooling Community was born.
It’s been quite a spiritual battle – different than anything I’ve ever experienced. The school is running, but Satan attacks from every side. We have 10 students (now including the 17-year-old son of one set of the directors. I oversee his studies). Of these students, one is Hindu. He’s a beautiful young boy in 4th grade, and his father is so happy with what he is learning here! What’s exciting is that he hears the Gospel every single day, and he soaks it in. Kitale is a spiritually dark place, and MCHC is a light – a small light – that shines like a candle in that darkness. Satan doesn’t give up his territory easily or nicely. No, he gets quite ugly about it, and he doesn’t let up.
We’ve seen such a huge change in our kids at MCHC. Most of them were shy, unable to do math without using tic-marks or fingers, and afraid of answering questions and participating in class because they came from a system that crammed information into them for hours upon end and severely punished them (literally beat them with rods) if they didn’t regurgitate answers verbatim. At MCHC, however, they are being shown the love of Christ on a daily basis as we encourage them to participate, use critical thinking skills, and care for one another. The changes are amazing. Each and every one of the children love coming to school! Even their parents have commented on that. They love each subject and participate freely without fear. We’ve watched sullen children become leaders, children with learning differences begin to make connections and grasp concepts, and all of them grow daily in their understanding of the Gospel and what it means to them personally.
Please pray for MCHC. As I said, Satan is attacking from every side…even from sides we didn’t know existed! Pray for godly, born-again, caring teachers who will embrace a new way of thinking and doing things. Pray for the directors as they make decisions and deal with the inevitable financial struggles of running a school. Please also pray for me as I am officially what they call the head teacher. Specifically pray for wisdom, and mental and emotional stamina. I started with a commitment to be at the school 3 days a week for half days, but on those 3 days, I’m actually there from 7:00 a.m. to 5:15 p.m. and occasionally a bit later. By Wednesday evening I am totally exhausted and need to turn off my phone and hibernate all of Thursday…but I love it. Outside of my family, it’s the most amazing thing I’ve ever been privileged to participate in.
Ten years ago, God gave me a little bit of a glimpse into the future. I had no idea how in the world He was going to facilitate it; I just knew when He was ready, He would. And now, here I am. I couldn’t have done it alone, but He was putting pieces of a puzzle into place even back then – including my Kenyan friends who are the MCHC directors. Without these two precious families, this would not be possible, and I thank God for their vision and their amazing faith.
Julie Tate
Roger & Julie Tate (and Amy, Josiah & Chloe)
rojuta[at]gmail.com
Visit their blog!
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.
Read more
Teaching through the Book of Colossians
The Tate Family has served the Lord in Kitale, Kenya since January 2008. Their main ministry is church planting.
March 28, 2019
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
I mentioned in my previous newsletter that I wanted Julie to write the next report. Since writing that I have heard that Baptist Faith Missions wants to hear from the missionary wives for the May issue of the newsletters. Thus, I will be writing this one and Julie will be writing the next one.
Julie’s newsletter will probably be more exciting to read than mine because the best I could say right now is “things are going on”. That isn’t very exciting but it describes the ministry I am doing right now. I’m preparing for messages, practicing new songs, telling people about the Chapel, teaching, teaching, teaching and lots of stuff, stuff, stuff. I think most pastors would probably relate to me saying “I just keep on grinding”. I’m not just “going through the motions” and I’m not burned out or anything. I’m just in a weekly grind. But I do try and break out of this grind as much as possible. And Kenya allows this to happen too. Take today, for example. My car was at the mechanic and my motorcycle developed a flat tire. I pumped air into the tire and limped the motorcycle to town to get the tire fixed. While the mechanic was fixing it I saw three old guys sitting on a bench doing nothing. I walked over and sat next to them. The conversation went something like this. Me: Is this your guys’ job sitting here doing nothing but watch people walk by? Them: Yes, but at least it is interesting. Me: Have you been doing it long? Them: Pretty much. Them: What do you do here? Me: I’m trying to start a church here in town just over there in that building on the third floor. Them: Are you like the other pastors in town, do you teach what they teach? Me: I can’t say what they teach but as for me I teach what’s in the Bible. Them: Really? That’s not what the other pastors here teach. But you don’t teach the whole Bible do you? Me: If it’s in the Bible I teach it and if it isn’t in the Bible I don’t teach it. I want people to know what God has said so that they can follow Jesus. Them: Do you teach from the Old Testament too? Me: I try to show that the Old Testament points to Jesus, prepared God’s people for the coming of Jesus and in every way brings us to Jesus. Them: And now Jesus has come. Me: Exactly, Jesus has come just as the Old Testament teaches, and he has died on the cross for us so that we can live in his kingdom and have eternal life. Followers of Jesus live under a new covenant that Jesus started. That’s why I focus on the New Testament because it teaches us more about Jesus. Them: This is very interesting. How many people come to hear you teach this? Me: Not many, about 15 per week. Them: That’s not very many. Me: Not yet. Maybe you would like to come and hear the teaching. We meet right over there in that building on the third floor at 10am every Sunday. Them: Hem, Haw, Hem, Haw, well, we’ll see. But when you need your motorcycle fixed again, you know where to find us. Me: But you just sit here doing nothing but watch people walk by. Them: Yes, but at least it is interesting.
At this point in the conversation my tire was fixed so I paid the mechanic and left to finish my business in town. Pray for these three old guys. None of them made any commitment to come so I don’t expect to see them on Sunday (not that commitments to come to church make any difference in whether people come or not, do they?). If they come they will hear me as I preach and teach through the book of Colossians. As I preach through the book of Colossians I love this epistle more and more. In it we see the grandness and awesomeness of Jesus, we see the mystery of Christ is in us, we see that Jesus is sufficient for everything and that we are complete in him, and we see that Christ is all in all. Those 15 or so that come each week are also enjoying the teachings of Colossians. I’m pretty sure none of them have ever been taught through a book of the Bible in this way before. May God bless these 15 who come every week and if God wants to bless us with more who want to hear Biblical teaching, we will be ever more thankful for that too.
Until next month, beloved.
May God’s peace and joy be with you.
For the glory of God in Kenya,
Roger & Julie Tate (and Amy, Josiah & Chloe)
rojuta[at]gmail.com
Visit their blog!
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.
Read more
Teaching in Three Places
The Tate Family has served the Lord in Kitale, Kenya since January 2008. Their main ministry is church planting.
January 26, 2019
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
It has been a long, hard month and I cannot remember being this tired for this prolonged of a period. We have worked really hard this month and it has left me feeling ragged and worn out. But that is not to say that the work hasn’t been rewarding, nor has it been drudgery. But it has been exhausting. I don’t know, maybe I’m just getting older and my mind and body just can handle what it used to be able to handle. I hope it doesn’t sound like I’m complaining, because I’m not. I’m just telling you all where I’m at right now.
Work at the Upper Room Baptist Chapel has been going well. Our attendance for the month has kind of been all over the place but our “regulars” have continued to come each and every week. On one of the Sundays this month we did experience our highest attendance to date with 28 people! While I’m not getting caught up in any numbers games, I did think this was a great attendance and I was very excited that so many people heard the Biblical message that week. Of course, the next week our attendance was about half that amount. I was telling a local pastor friend of mine about our fluctuating attendance and he gave me this perspective. He said, “Roger, you are the only full-time member of the Chapel”. I thought that was an interesting perspective. Anyway, I have been teaching each week on the parables that Jesus taught from the book of Luke. Through these parables I want the people to see into the heart and mind of Jesus and the Father. I think Jesus’ parables are one of the best ways to see how God thinks about things and they reveal the heart of God in an extraordinary way. And I want the people of Kitale to know this heart of God.
In addition to this Julie has been working extra, extra hard with the directors (and our dear friends) of the school Chloe goes to in order to help them start a new international branch of the school called Milimani Christian Homeschooling Community. She has been working very hard with them for over a year to help them get this started and my plan is to let her write the newsletter update for next month and explain, in her own words, this ministry that she has become heavily involved with. I am mentioning it this month because I have been asked to teach a math class at the new school. I accepted this ministry and now get to daily invest into the lives of some lovely young students at the school, as well as doing the morning devotions. But, again, I hope that Julie’s voice can be heard on this ministry next month.
Roger at the Bible College
And, now, throw into the mix that I taught a week-long class at the local Bible college on Biblical Financial Management and I can honestly say, I’m tired. But I always enjoy investing into the lives of the future pastors and church leaders that attend the college. Three of my students from this week were from South Sudan and plan, upon graduation, on returning to the war-torn region of their country and spreading the Kingdom of Jesus Christ.
We pray that God would continue to bless our feeble efforts, expand His Kingdom in this part of the Earth and glorify His name.
Until next month, beloved.
May God’s peace and joy be with you.
For the glory of God in Kenya,
Roger & Julie Tate (and Amy, Josiah & Chloe)
rojuta[at]gmail.com
Visit their blog!
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.
Read more
God is Blessing the Work in Kitale
The Tate Family has served the Lord in Kitale, Kenya since January 2008. Their main ministry is church planting.
January 1, 2019
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
It is the New Year. As hard as it is for me to believe that statement, 2019 is now here and ready for us. I write this on January 1st so today is page 1 of 365 for the year. My new year has actually started with a little adventure. I was driving to town today to get some dog food and as I was driving down the road my car broke an axle and my front right tire broke completely off from my vehicle. Next thing I knew I was skidding down the road with metal on concrete. Metal on concrete is not a lovely sound or a lovely feeling. But I am completely unhurt, for which I thank the Lord. While I was waiting for a tow-truck (which arrived in just 10 minutes), three different Kenyan friends who were driving by stopped and sat with me to make sure I was OK. It was comforting to know there were people who cared and would assist me if they could.
We have closed out the old year at Upper Room Baptist Chapel on a positive note. Attendance at the Chapel has slowly gone up a bit and we averaged 17-18 people throughout the month of December. On the Sunday before Christmas we had 20 people in attendance, which matched the high attendance of our Inaugural attendance on October 21st. The work of Christ here in Kenya is not a numbers game but we are very glad to see that some people are interested in what we are doing here in Kitale. God really has been blessing the work so far in spite of my weaknesses. We have had other first-time visitors to the Chapel which has been encouraging to me as the minister of the work. In fact, one of the three friends who stopped by while I was waiting for the tow-truck was a man who has attended the services a number of times. He was talking with the tow-truck workers when they arrived and introduced me to them as “his pastor”.
A few short stories from the Chapel. First, I noticed that the room across the hall from our room was being used by a school that meets in our building. Each week I noticed that the room was unlocked and unused on Sundays. I decided to approach the administrators of the school to see if it were possible to use the room on Sunday mornings. Without reservation they agreed to let us use the room since they had no use for the room during that time period. They even agreed to let me use the room for no charge. So, we are now using that room each week as a Sunday School room for some of the young children who attend. This was a blessing from God. Second, we had a teenage girl attend one of our services. She has a Catholic background and regularly attends a Catholic church with her family. After the service she mentioned to Julie how different our worship and services are than they are at her church. Specifically, she said “You all actually teach from the Bible. At my church we are there for three and a half hours and the only thing that happens is one politician after another stands up and talks about their own political agendas. Nobody ever talks about the Bible at all”. She said she really liked what she heard at the Chapel that week. We pray that she is able to come again and hear the gospel message proclaimed again in a simple, easy-to-understand manner. Third, it was exciting to see my son Josiah and another teenager, Jesse, ministering in our services. Josiah and Jesse took over much of the music duties during the month of December while Josiah and Amy were home from school. What a thrill to see these young men ministering unashamedly in the Lord’s Kingdom. The other benefit is that they are both better guitar players than me. I would be glad to completely hand the music responsibilities over to them. Unfortunately, Josiah and Amy return to school on Saturday.
Happy New Year to all of you reading this update. May God’s grace and presence bless each of you all through this year.
Until next month, beloved.
May God’s peace and joy be with you.
For the glory of God in Kenya,
Roger & Julie Tate (and Amy, Josiah & Chloe)
rojuta[at]gmail.com
Visit their blog!
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.
Read more
Faithful Attendees and Newcomers at URBC
The Tate Family has served the Lord in Kitale, Kenya since January 2008. Their main ministry is church planting.
November 27, 2018
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Wow, it seems so much has happened since I wrote last month about our inaugural service at the Upper Room Baptist Chapel. I was excited when I wrote to you all last month describing our first service. But I didn’t know who might return and who wouldn’t. Now I have more that I can report.
Since our inaugural service, we have been averaging right around 12 in our attendance each week. I am very happy that we have had that many in our weekly services. Especially since those who are attending seem to be truly interested in receiving teaching from the Bible and in knowing and following Jesus. The next four weeks after our first service saw pretty much the same 12 people attending the services. I think that they are definitely getting something they do not experience at other churches here in Kitale. Here’s a couple reasons why I think that.
First, I set up a time to visit one of the families in their home. Elphas, Ann and their daughter Esther haven’t missed a service since we started. I meet with Elphas every week to disciple him but I wanted to visit him at his home. While I was in his home (a small, one-room apartment), he told me that he has gone to church for a long time but has never had a pastor visit him in his home. He didn’t know that was a thing pastors did. This week Elphas and I will visit a man named Joseph in Joseph’s home. Joseph was a first-time visitor last week.
Second, I’ve been told by others who have been coming that the teaching is simple, easy to understand and straight from the Bible. I say, “Praise God,” because that is exactly what I am striving for! This is definitely a rare element in Kitale churches.
Last week I was really excited because we had four first-time visitors to the Chapel. Each of these four-first time visitors came as a result of being invited by other regular attendees of our services. Two of these four I know to be very new believers. After the service and the “informal pastor” time and fellowship they stayed around and talked with me for nearly an hour. They told me that what they heard and experience at the Chapel that day was not like anything else they’ve experienced elsewhere. They said the teaching was Biblical as opposed to, in their own words, “Motivational speeches about succeeding in business” or “sermons about making money and getting ahead in life”. They also said that when I confessed I was not a good guitar player and that they should expect to hear mistakes, that they knew then and there that the Chapel would be different. This is because they said a Kenyan pastor will never admit to doing anything wrong. Finally, they appreciated hearing what the Bible actually says instead of hearing a list of rules and man-made laws about how they can be acceptable to God.
Dear Lord, Oh, how we would like to make a difference in the lives of these new believers and in the lives of the others who are attending and in the lives of many other Kitale residents.
Please make this your prayer for us as well.
Until next month, beloved.
May God’s peace and joy be with you.
For the glory of God in Kenya,
Roger & Julie Tate (and Amy, Josiah & Chloe)
rojuta[at]gmail.com
Visit their blog!
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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