Missionary Update: The Tates in Kenya [August 2015]
The Tate Family has served the Lord in Kitale, Kenya since January 2008. Their main ministry is indigenous church planting.
July 28, 2015
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
In many of my monthly reports I oftentimes ask you to pray for us and our ministry here in Kenya. This month I want to relate to you the items that I, myself, am fervently praying for concerning our Kenyan ministry. That way you can join me and send your prayers up with mine for the things we are working on here.
First and foremost (ie, the main priority of our ministering here in Kenya), is the starting and forming of new New Testament churches here in the city (town) of Kitale where we live. We are currently working with a new group that meets in the house of Kefa and Matilda and we have been working with this group for a few months. It has has its ebbs and flows, its many visitors who have come for a week or two and then left. The ones who have remained appear solid and seem like they want to really serve the Lord and see the work grow. This is how I am praying for this group: That they might grow spiritually and know Jesus and follow Him on the same road He is walking, that they might reach out to their village with the love and gospel of Jesus Christ, that they might mature enough to be organized into a church, that they would stand on the Word of God instead of on the whims of man, that they would be the hands and feet of Jesus to the villages around them, that they would be led and strengthened in all things by the Holy Spirit, depending upon Him for all things, instead of the missionaries.
Roger and Blessed
For your enjoyment I have included a humorous picture of me and a little girl named Blessed who attends the meetings. Blessed is an orphaned girl who has been taken in by Kefa and Matilda (something which is very unusual in this culture) and I think she has taken a liking to me. Anyway, please don’t look at the picture and think that Roger has lost his mind. Let me explain. I have been teaching the last couple of weeks on the wise use of offerings and on how the early churches used the collections they took up. I showed them that most of the times the early churches in the NT took up collections, the money was used to help the poor and needy or to send missionaries along on their way. As an illustration, I decided that I would act out a conversation between a husband and wife on offerings and giving and how they would like to see a church utilizing the money they donated. To make the illustration memorable to my audience, I purchased some hair in town and whenever I was talking as “the wife” I put the hair on, moved to an adjacent seat and talked in a high, falsetto voice. Then, when I talked as “the husband”, I removed the hair, moved back to my seat and talked in my normal voice. The “conversation” proceeded in this way until my point was made. Blessed got a kick out of me wearing this hair and later put it on herself. Then I put the hair back on myself and snapped the picture you see. I think it’s funny and cute. Julie thinks I look like a hippie and a druggie.
The second item that I am fervently praying about is my ministry up in “the bush” with the Pokot people. I have been praying a lot about this but it seems that at the time God has put things on hold. I think God has things only on a temporary hold and I believe He will once again soon open things back up for me to be able to get back to some of these remote people and villages and spread the gospel and the kingdom of Christ there. The man I work with up there wants us to visit a very remote village behind the mountains where the people still wear animal skins for clothes and have never heard about Jesus before. I pray that we will be able to reach this village, that we will have boldness to preach about God’s love and salvation, that the village would trust in Jesus as Lord and Savior and that a congregation of Jesus would be started in that place.
The last ministry item that I am specifically and fervently praying about concerns a small, local Bible college located here in our town. I have been invited to teach a class at this college and have accepted the invitation. The class I will be teaching is hermeneutics (How to interpret the Bible). This is an extremely important subject in Kenya as many of the pastors, teachers and leaders in the churches know very little about properly interpreting the Bible and end up teaching anything and everything except what the Bible actually teaches. I am thrilled to be able to teach on this topic and hopefully help some of these local, Kenyan pastors teach their people from the Bible in a profitable way. I pray that God would lead me in my own study, that the students would grasp the concepts of Bible interpretation, that they would learn to love God’s Word and want to teach its life giving principles to others, and as a result that many people would hear God’s Word, that they would be saved, and grow to maturity as followers of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Until next month, beloved.
May God’s peace and joy be with you.
For the glory of God in East Africa,
Roger & Julie Tate (and Emily, Amy, Josiah & Chloe)
rojuta[at]gmail.com
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Missionary Update: The Tates in Kenya [February 2015]
The Tate Family has served the Lord in Kitale, Kenya since January 2008. Their main ministry is indigenous church planting.
February 5, 2015
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Wow! What an exciting month we’ve had here in Kenya. It’s been exciting because it has revolved around the visit of Pastor Darrell Messer and his dear wife Shirley. Just in case you didn’t know, Pastor Messer is one of the directors of BFM, but he also just happens to be my own pastor from my own church back in Bellbrook, Ohio. When my family moved to Ohio and started attending Emmanuel Baptist Church in Bellbrook back in 1980, Pastor Messer was already the pastor there; he and Shirley have been there ever since then. So needless to say, these people are very dear to my heart. They have been trying to get here to Kenya for a few years, but their plans up to now have always been thwarted. But, they arrived here in Kenya two weeks ago, and now as I write this report we are on the eve of them returning to Nairobi to catch a flight to France where they will visit BFM missionary John Hatcher.
We’ve packed a lot into the past two weeks. After a couple of days in Nairobi allowing them to catch up from jet-lag and allowing us to worship on Sunday in English, we headed home to Kitale. Their first morning in Kitale gave them a rude welcome to missionary life in Kenya as I looked at the water tank and, behold, NO WATER! While Pastor and I scrambled around town trying to jimmy up some way of getting water, I had visions of severe water rationing and what it might look like to our guests if we couldn’t take showers or flush the toilet for two weeks. Welcome to Kenya, Pastor and Shirley! Fortunately by early in the afternoon the water supply was flowing again and I could put that worry behind us for a while. Although the morning plans got trashed because of the lack of water, we were able to tour Kitale in the afternoon – walking through the market with its mounds of second hand clothes, piles of stinking fish, blaring music and stares from the Kenyan people who were not used to seeing that many Americans in one place. In the days to come we visited some of our Kenyan friends in their homes, and spent a day at In-Step Children’s Home as well as getting to see the ministries we are involved in. Here are some of our activities for the week: On Thursday, Pastor and I did some evangelism in town and started up a new Basic Christianity class for which we did get one student to attend. On Friday we attended one of our classes which one of our students taught. We have been trying to teach him how to effectively teach the Word of God. On Saturday we went to a new group that Nathan and I started which meets in the home of Kefa and Matilda. We had 27 people attend the group that morning where we sang, worshipped God and studied God’s Word together. Saturday afternoon we went to the prison where Nathan ministers. We were able to meet his men and hear them sing to us, and then we watched as Nathan taught them from the Word of God. Sunday found us worshipping with Pastor Kirui at Bethel Baptist Church and then fellowshipping together with the other Kitale missionaries later in the afternoon. Throughout the week Pastor and I ate lunch at my favorite dive of a restaurant in town, Mama Chiku’s. I think Pastor has found a new favorite place to eat. I had a hard time convincing anyone else to join us there though.
Pastor Darrell Messer preaching out in the bush to the Pokot people to the “church under the tree”.
The highlight of the trip for me though, was when Pastor, Josiah and I were able to head up into the Kenyan bush and visit the Pokot people. The temperatures were oppressive, we slept in tents, ate rice and goat every day, and got filthy from the dust. But we preached a few times from the Word of God, encouraged the local ministers, met some new people, and showed the Jesus Film a couple of times – the result of which was that a number of people professed faith in Christ. Pastor was even asked to help a local pastor with some baptisms. We went to the river, dug out a shallow spot in which the baptisms could take place, and did the baptisms. Thirty feet away were two dead crocodiles floating in the water. They had been killed by the locals some time earlier. It made me keep looking around to see if there were any other critters swimming around that we needed to be aware of.
We love Pastor and Shirley and have thoroughly enjoyed their visit. We will be sorry to see them go. Blessings to you both, Pastor and Shirley!
Until next month, beloved.
May God’s peace and joy be with you.
For the glory of God in East Africa,
Roger & Julie Tate (and Emily, Amy, Josiah & Chloe)
rojuta[at]gmail.com
Visit their blog!
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Missionary Update: The Tates in Kenya [November 2014]
The Tate Family has served the Lord in Kitale, Kenya since January 2008. Their main ministry is indigenous church planting.
November 5, 2014
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
I did something this month I never really expected to do; I made my first solo trip into the African bush. And I survived! Let me tell you, it is a lot more stressful and “weighty” to go by yourself, be the only one responsible for your life and health, and be the only one taking care of everything. It’s a lot more taxing, nerve-racking, and challenging when it’s just you and the stuff you can carry in your backpack on your back; when the mere exposure to the elements (the fierce sun and brackish water) can kill you; when you only personally know one person within a hundred mile radius (and you don’t know him very well); when no one you will be going to see speaks any English or even Swahili except that one person you know; when you don’t know what you will be eating for the next four days; when you have no idea what to expect; when your surroundings are straight out of a National Geographic magazine. But like I said, I survived, and now I can even write about it.
My main ministry has been and will continue to be our church planting ministry here in the town of Kitale. But just a couple hundred miles north of Kitale are villages of people that have never even heard the name of Jesus Christ before and where the message of the gospel has never been proclaimed. Is it worth it to put yourself through some dangers, through some risk, through some stress, and through some discomfort to be able to share the gospel message of Jesus Christ with such people? I hope our answer is “Yes!”
My trip started from Kitale by boarding a shuttle (public van for transportation) to Makutano. From there I boarded another shuttle with 7 seats in it. The driver managed to stuff 17 people into that shuttle made for 7. He drove us down the long escarpment and into the bush. From there I jumped on the back of a 125cc motorcycle for another 1½ hour drive further into the bush, through narrow paths, over rocks, past camels, and through multiple 100 foot wide river beds (some completely dried up and some that still had water). I finally arrived at Benson’s compound where I stayed for the next four days. Benson is the Pokot pastor I went to visit. His compound consisted of a small hut to sleep in, a small hut for cooking in, a small hut to store food in, and a goat corral. Every night I was there, people emerged from out of the bush to gather at Benson’s compound for a time of worship. These 2-2½ hour worship times included singing, testimonies and me preaching the Word of God. We also had a Sunday morning worship service at the church (no building, just a large tree under which we sat on wooden planks propped up off the ground with rocks). This service was 5 straight hours of singing, testimonies, Roger preaching…singing, testimonies, Roger preaching.
These are the Pokot members of the evangelistic team! (L to R: Petro, Benson, James, Christina, __, and Salome)
The highlight of the trip for me was the all-day Saturday evangelistic circuit we made. The evangelism team was made up of three Pokot men, three Pokot women and myself. We walked 5 miles through the steaming hot bush to the village Benson had chosen for us to share the gospel in. There we began “hut to hut” evangelism with each hut being about a 10 minute walk from the last. At each hut where we stopped, we sang songs, and I preached the gospel of Jesus Christ. Each stop probably averaged about 30 minutes. This was not a completely unreached area but none of the people we visited were Christians. I enjoyed watching one of the older Pokot men on our evangelism team. Petro (his English name) never spoke during the public evangelism and sharing of the gospel; but while others were speaking or singing, or while I was preaching, he would look for people wandering around on the paths outside of the compound, grab them by the arm, and drag them over to hear the message. If a child got up to wander off, he would track them down and bring them back to make sure they heard about Jesus. While follow-up will have to be made to ensure that the conversions are real, I was thrilled when some Pokot people at different compounds trusted in Christ as their Savior; 4 at one compound, 3 at another, and 2 more at yet another. After we were finished with our evangelism tour, we walked the 5 miles back to Benson’s compound. The fierce sun beat down upon us the whole day. By the time we returned, I was so exhausted that I fell into a chair and immediately fell fast asleep, slumped over but still sitting in the chair. When I awoke, still groggy from my slumber, I found all the other Pokot team members had found grassy, shady places to lie down and sleep. I rejoiced the next morning when two of the women who trusted in Christ had walked the five miles to Benson’s “church tree” for the Sunday morning marathon worship.
Now that I’ve returned to Kitale, I have to decide how I will proceed with this Pokot ministry. There are totally unreached villages tucked up in the hills that Benson wants him and me to visit. These people have most likely never seen a white man, never seen a book, never heard of Jesus, are probably involved in witchcraft and animistic or spirit worship, and may wear animal skins for clothes. I would love to reach these people and share the gospel of Jesus with them. But, honestly, beloved, most of the trip was physically and mentally exhausting. Was it miserable? Yes. Was it rewarding? Yes. Does God have future ministry plans for me up there? Pray with me as I seek His face and His will in this matter and see how He would have me minister to His dear lost children in Pokot.
Until next month, beloved.
May God’s peace and joy be with you.
For the glory of God in East Africa,
Roger & Julie Tate (and Emily, Amy, & Josiah)
rojuta[at]gmail.com
Visit their blog!
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Missionary Update: The Tates in Kenya [August 2014]
The Tate Family has served the Lord in Kitale, Kenya since January 2008. Their main ministry is indigenous church planting.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
I want to write to you this month about a light in the darkness and a darkness in the light. Explanation of this cryptic sentence follows.
I had an opportunity this month to visit the Pokot region of Kenya where the Pokot people live. These people live north of Kitale. About a 40 minute drive north of Kitale, you drive down a long escarpment, go off the map, and enter a completely different world. You leave the cooler, green of Kitale for the hot and dust-filled land of the Pokot. You leave the “comfortable” and the “familiar” for the unknown, the desert. In a word, you leave “civilization” (some of you might not even consider Kitale to be civilization) for the world of National Geographic. You enter a land of small mud huts, goats and camels, no water or food, strange clothes, unknown language, sickness and blindness, thorns, mountains, dried up riverbeds, naked children, and even witch doctors. Our destination was a seven hour drive north to the Pokot villages of Konyau, Leyo, Alale, Nakali and other villages too small for a name. Our goal was to teach and preach the gospel and the salvation found in Jesus Christ. Of the many things I could write about concerning this trip, I basically want to summarize it by contrasting two of the small villages we visited, neither of which was big enough to have a name.
Village #1: A Light in the Darkness
We arrived in this village around 5:30pm, set up our tents outside the village, and got a fire burning so we could heat up some tea. We ate our evening meal of tea and peanut butter sandwiches without jam. We had plans of heading down to the village after dark for a time of worship with the villagers. At 9:00 we headed down to the village. It was already pitch dark. We arrived at the village where the only light came from a small campfire that was already burning. No one besides us missionaries had arrived at the worship site yet (the worship site being a cleared out area around the fire). While we waited for people to arrive we tried to call home and check in with our families, but we could not receive any cell coverage (surprisingly, you can get cell coverage just about everywhere in Kenya, even in the bush). We wandered away from the fire 200 to 300 yards looking for a place where we would find coverage. It was very dark. All I could see were the stars and the dark silhouettes of the nearby mountains. While I was out wandering around looking for a signal, drums from the village began to sound, signaling to the people to come to the fire for worship. If you’ve seen enough movies like I have, you may be able to figure out what I was thinking. Put yourself in my place. You’re in the middle of the African bush. It’s completely dark. You hear drums start to sound in the distance. If you’re anything like me you begin to think that those drums are an ominous sign that the cannibals are about to come and get you. A little far-fetched, I know, but you might think the same thing if you had been in my position. It was menacing. It was threatening. It was gloomy. It was intimidating, hostile, sinister and foreboding. Anyway, as we began to walk back towards the village, the sound of the drums increased, becoming even more daunting. But soon the light from the fire appeared as well as the sound of singing villagers. We arrived back in the village to the sounds of the drums, the people singing and dancing around the fire as the whole village had come out to worship and praise God together. They sang and praised God for over an hour in the Pokot language. They also sang some in Swahili so I was able to hear that they were indeed singing about Jesus, the cross, his grace, salvation and how much they loved him. The singing was followed by a time of teaching and preaching by the missionaries about the gospel, which was well received by all these people. As I sat there participating in all this I could not help but think that while the darkness of night had set in, and although the drums sounded menacing from a distance, this particular village was filled with the light of Christ and the gospel.
Village #2: A Darkness in the Light
The scenario surrounding the other village I will tell you about was completely different. This village we wanted to visit contained the witch doctor for the whole vicinity. Using divination he would tell people when and where to attack for cows, would tell the people what they needed to do for the rain to come, and performed other acts of “seeing”. His powers, albeit from the devil, are very real. We wanted to go see him and share the gospel with him and his village. We got up in the morning, ate our breakfast, and took off for his village. We left on foot at about 10:00 in the morning, carrying water and food for our long hike into the mountains where his village was located (any resemblance of a road ended at the place where we had pitched out tents for the night). The sun was shining bright and hot. I covered my head with a hat and my neck with a scarf. I drank a lot of water as we hiked up and down hills, the bright sun illumining our path while pounding us with radiation, light, and heat. We finally arrived in the small village. Some of the older women sat in shady areas with the small naked children. Most of these women looked blind, their eyes white and milky. We asked to see the old witch doctor. They refused to tell us where he was. They told us we were not welcome there and to go away. We told them we had words from God that he wanted them to hear. They would not look us in the eyes, they told us the words we had were not for them, that they did not want to hear them. We told we had walked far to see the old man and again asked if we could see him. Some of the teenage boys who were standing afar off tending the goats began to yell at us and threaten us. There was hostility in their voices and in their eyes. The resistance was great, not only to our message but also to our very presence. After about an hour, we had no choice but to leave the village. The old witch doctor never came out of his hut, and we never had a chance to see him. As we began our long walk back to our campsite, the sun continued to pound us with light and heat. I couldn’t help thinking that the whole time we visited that village the sun brightly lit up the entire area, but the poor people of that village lived in complete and perpetual spiritual darkness. Later, back at the campsite, we worshipped with some Christian Pokot people. I encouraged them to be thinking and praying about how they themselves could be missionaries to their own people by taking the gospel back to the witch doctors’ village in the hills.
I relate these contrasting stories to you so that you can see that while the gospel has made many inroads into far off places and is shining the light of the truth of Jesus in Satan’s dark strongholds, there are still many places and people that are blinded to the light of Christ and need his love, grace and mercy in their lives. Please pray for the conversion of the Pokot people of north-west Kenya.
Until next month, beloved.
May God’s peace and joy be with you.
For the glory of God in East Africa,
Roger & Julie Tate (and Emily, Amy, & Josiah)
rojuta[at]gmail.com
Visit their blog!
Read more
