Missionary Update: The Radfords in Kenya [March 2016]
Nathan and Carrie Radford serve the Lord in Kitale, Kenya. Their main ministries include indigenous church planting, a prison ministry, and a hospital ministry for mothers with premature babies.
March 1, 2016
Dear praying friends,
Greetings from warm and sunny Kitale. As I (Nathan) see photos of parts of America with great levels of snow, here in Kitale, it is consistently around 85 degrees. It definitely makes me miss the snow and seasons in America. I always enjoy the snow and seasons while we are home on furlough. There is never snow here in Kitale, so it is an adjustment when we return to visit churches, friends, and family. We are now approaching rainy season in the next few weeks, so that will be a blessing as well.
This past month, we celebrated the birthday of our daughter Camille. She is such a blessing in our family and it was nice to have some friends over to celebrate. She is now five years old, which is hard to believe. McKenna will soon be eight years old, Lord willing. Please pray for us as we raise our daughters and for wisdom from God in our parenting. I love Proverbs 22:6, which says “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”
Please pray for the national that Roger and I are training. His name is Christopher, and he lives in a large village area called Kibomet. We train him in town and he has been coming faithfully to be taught the Word of God. We are now at a very important part of our training, where we are allowing him to teach us the Word of God. We are doing this so we can see how he will do before he would go to start a Bible study group. Lord willing, the ultimate goal would be for the group to become a church. He has shown much improvement in his teaching, for which we are thankful. Please pray for Roger and I as we continue to train him, model for him the teachings, and trust the Lord with the results. We are thankful for Christopher and his willingness to serve the Lord. He has shown a sincere desire to study and obey the Scriptures. Psalm 119:105 says “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.”
We are now nearing the end of the teachings at the Annex prison called Firm Foundations. We have been studying and learning about the life of our Lord Jesus Christ. We recently studied when the disciples and the Lord were caught in a fierce storm. The disciples feared, then the Lord arose, rebuked the wind and the waves, and there was a great calm. This proves the authority of our Lord and shows that we can trust Him during the storms of life as well. Mark 4:39 says “And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.” Please pray for the prisoners as they faithfully study the Word of God. What a blessing it is to be able to teach them the Scriptures, by the grace of God. Please also pray for my prison permit to be renewed so I can continue with this ministry, Lord willing.
We are so thankful that our daughters have friends now. There is now a family that lives in Kitale on an internship with four daughters. They are from America and it is great for our daughters to have some friends to play with. This will help them to get along with other kids their age, develop social skills, and have some close friends. We are also praying for other children for our daughters to play with, as this is a much needed area of interaction on the mission field. We know the Lord is in control of this and we trust Him.
May the Lord bless each of you who give sacrificially, pray for us, or send emails or letters of encouragement. It means so much to us and we really appreciate it. Thank you for your faithfulness and encouragement to us. God bless each of you so much.
P.O. Box 4150
Kitale, Kenya
East Africa, 30200
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Missionary Update: The Tates in Kenya [October 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,
Greetings, beloved, from the land of perpetual rain and blackouts. Well, OK, it’s not that the rain never stops. It just seems that way sometimes. This week the rain was mixed with a good amount of hail. This occurs here about once a year. The hail covered the ground and it looked like the ground was covered with snow (which never occurs here). Josiah played in the storm until it became too painful to be pelted by small hailstones. And, of course, we don’t have perpetual blackouts. In fact, the electricity is really on most of the time. However, it is off often enough to frustrate us. But right now the sun is shining brightly and the electricity is on, so I have nothing to complain about, right?
We were able to start up a new class at our church planting training center this month. It has pretty much gone the typical “Kenyan” way. Let me explain. The first day of class started with a nearly empty room. The room only contained two people – Nathan and me. We waited a long time by ourselves, waiting to see if any students would show up. An hour after the official starting time the students started trickling in. This is typical and to be expected in Kenya. A half hour later the room was filled with the students that had been recruited. We spent the first half of the class with introductions and getting to know these students better (It’s best to know up front: Whether they have more than one wife, which is a show stopper for some; What their purpose for coming to the class is, which for some is a free lunch; Whether or not they can give a good salvation testimony, which most Kenyan Christians do not know how to do; and etc.). They all seemed to be excited to study the Bible together, to learn to work for the expansion of the Kingdom of God, and to eventually learn how to start new churches of the Lord Jesus Christ. The second half of the class we began to lay out for the students what they should expect from us, the missionaries and teachers. We told them we would put great effort into teaching them from the Bible, into modeling for them how to do the work of the ministry, and into assisting them as much as possible in learning how to follow Christ, how to minister to God’s people, and how to start new churches of the Lord Jesus Christ. The excitement level was still high. Next, we explained to them what they should NOT expect from us, the missionaries and teachers. We told them they should not expect a salary, gifts, school fees, a church building, musical instruments, lunch or other handouts. We also told them that while we would teach them extensively, our training center was to train men to go out and do the work of the Kingdom, not to simply get a diploma. Many think they cannot minister or work in the Kingdom without a diploma. Diplomas are also seen as a way to advance oneself in the business world here and so we would not be administering diplomas or certificates. At this point the excitement level dropped a bit. We were not mean or nasty. We were not harsh or condescending. We were, in fact, gentle and meek with them. We wanted them to know up front what they should expect to get and what they should not expect to get. We wanted to be open and honest with them so that they would know what they were getting themselves into. The result? Well, over 80% of the class dropped out and never returned for the second session. This also is typical of Kenya and we have also come to expect this. We aren’t cynical. We’ve just come to know that only about 5% of those we train will actually progress to do the work of the ministry out of love for the Lord Jesus Christ. So, we are taking the remaining 20% of the students and have continued the class with them. We will train them, teach them, and model for them the work of the ministry. And we will be thankful for the ones that remain.
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: Sheridan & Anita Stanton in Peru [August 2013]
Sheridan and Anita Stanton have served the Lord in Peru since 1983. Their main ministry is church planting and they have helped establish churches all over the country. Sheridan also works to train pastors and Anita works with the ladies’ ministry and developing children’s material.
August 13, 2013
Dear friends,
We just finished our 34th annual Thanksgiving Conference here in Peru. This year it was held in the jungle town of Pucallpa. The first church we organized twenty-five years ago, Jordan Baptist of Pucallpa, was the host church of the conference. Pastor George Sledd of our home church, Jordan Missionary Baptist Church, came down as the main speaker this year. I had the privilege of translating for him each night. George and I graduated from high school together and later from Bible college together. He has been my pastor for the past twenty-two years. God used him in a mighty way and we saw several come to know Christ as Savior during the week, more than a hundred people reconciling their lives with the Lord, and about fifty making a complete surrender to serve the Lord. There were one thousand three hundred people in attendance from all parts of Peru. It was a wonderful, spiritual time for all that attended.
Pastor George Sledd from Jordan Baptist Church in Sanford, Florida, preached at the 34th annual Thanksgiving Conference, where there were one thousand three hundred people in attendance from all parts of Peru.
My Monday night Pastor’s Study is doing very well. The guys here in Huánuco are very faithful. I am considering the possibility of being able to teach “live” on the internet with a closed group from many of our cities here in Peru. Many of the brethren manifested great interest while we were in Pucallpa. If this works out it will open up an entirely new area of ministry for us. Please be much in prayer with us about this.
Bro. Sheridan Stanton at their 34th annual Thanksgiving Conference in Peru
The Calvary Baptist Mission is doing very well. We have a good lead on a piece of property where we can relocate. Hopefully by my next letter I will have some more news about this. The saints have been very faithful in their service but it is time for us to move to a permanent location. Your prayers are appreciated. Until next month.
Being “in Christ” by God’s Grace,
Apartado Postal 140
Huanuco, Peru
South America
(614) 500-8823 – Internet Number
sestantonperu[at]hotmail.com – Sheridan
arstantonperu[at]gmail.com – Anita
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