The Tate Family has served the Lord in Kitale, Kenya since January 2008. Their main ministry is church planting.

February 13, 2020

Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ,

I want to thank you all for your prayers and support over the years. We just celebrated our twelfth year in Kenya—we left the United States to commence our ministry in Kenya on January 31st, 2008. It hardly seems possible that another year has come and gone again. We’ve gone through a lot of ups and downs in the past twelve years. There have been so many times I was certain we would never make it another year, another month, or even another day. Those times of doubt and frustration, periods of being overwhelmed and wanting to quit still come, and I’m sure we will again face them in the future. But by the grace of God we are still here. We definitely attribute our still being here to God alone and not to our own strength. If still being in Kenya was dependent upon our own strength, we would have left long ago. But God is good and He has strengthened us for this ministry. All the praise and all the glory go to Him. And if you are reading this report then that means you are interested in our ministry and support and pray for our ministry. We need partners like you to continue this work here. Thank you again for your prayers and support. We couldn’t even think about doing this without you.

At the Chapel we just completed an 18-week expository study of the book of Galatians. I thought it was crucial for the Chapel folks to know and understand that we are justified and sanctified by faith and not by the works of the Law. I think church goers in every culture (Kenyan and American) struggle with this Biblical teaching, trying to be acceptable to God by being “good enough”, by “human righteousness”, by not doing certain things, by keeping certain rules and regulations. I taught my people, as Paul taught his, that we are justified and sanctified by faith in Christ Jesus. We ended our study by investigating “walking in the Spirit” and how the Spirit’s fruit is produced in our lives. (By the way, my people are very gracious and loving towards me. Last week I preached for an hour and fifteen minutes before I even realized what time it was. Everybody listened attentively and nobody complained about the length of the message. I think I would burn too many roasts if I tried that in the States.)

Let me here give some kudos out to my wife (without her knowing that I’m doing it). Julie works so hard as the Head Teacher and main administrator of the Milimani Christian Homeschooling Community where she volunteers at that position. She does such an amazing job and cares for the kids of the school so much. She so very much desires that these kids get a good, Christian education so that they can thrive as adults and go change their world for Jesus. Many of these kids also have various learning disabilities which have prevented them from thriving at other schools and which has landed them at MCHC. Julie is helping come up with unique and outstanding ways of helping these kids learn. One of the MCHC directors told her this week, “Julie, you can teach anybody”. Another visiting missionary referred to her as a “rockstar”. Also, a mother of one of high school students recently posted this on Facebook:  “Last year I had a seriously depressed teen hating school and threatening to just leave and drop out, not caring about university, unhappy, ill etc etc. Removed from school system into a home based system and he is happy, striving, talking about getting A’s and interest in university fully awakened”.  Julie is definitely using this opportunity to make a big impact in the lives of these children and for the Kingdom of Jesus.  Glory to our Lord and Savior!

Blessings to you all,
Roger, Julie, 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.