Chet and Dolores Return to Kenya in 2009

NAIROBI EVANGELICAL GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY

"A School in the Heart of Africa with Africa on Its Heart"

9441 Haddington Drive West, Indianapolis, IN 46256
Tel.: 317-595-9850 Email: Chester.wood@att.net, Dolores.wood@att.net

Dear Friend,
December, 2008

ON OUR WAY TO NEGST NEW YEAR’S EVE

We are packing! We have been away from NEGST for over a year and a half and are a bit anxious about returning to a number of unknowns. We no longer have a house, furniture or car of our own. But more important than physical changes are the social changes at NEGST. Old friends have retired and left. Several new faculty members have come. There will be an almost completely new set of students except for the PhD students. We leave on New Year’s Eve and arrive in Nairobi late on New Year’s Day. Pray for grace to again make this long journey with a number of heavy bags full of books on the Gospel of Matthew.

OLD TESTAMENT SURVEY AND MATTHEW 14-28

Chester will have two sets of students for the second term which runs from January till the end of March. There will be a new cohort of students who begin with OT Survey. We are not sure just how many students there will be in this special cohort. OT Survey will be their first course. For more advanced students Chester will be doing an intensive study of Matthew 14-28 with 6-9 students, which is an ideal number for a seminar approach. The students will learn to dig into the Word of God and share their findings in class. If you have read Matthew 14-28 recently you will recall that it has some interpretive challenges such as
· Jesus’ “reluctant” healing of the daughter of the Canaanite woman,
· the keys of the kingdom being given to Peter the “rock” so he can “bind and loose”,
· the transfiguration,
· the long discussion about greatness and care for “little ones”,
· the matter of divorce with the difficult phrase “except for marital unfaithfulness”,
· the statement to the rich young ruler to “sell your possessions and give to the poor” and
· Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem and his temple “activity” which led to his death and resurrection and the “Great Commission”.
Pray for all of us as we seek to hear God speak to us from Matthew’s story of Jesus.

LEAVING FAMILY BEHIND

Leaving family behind has always been painful, but this time is even more difficult. Chester’s Mom, who will be ninety-two on December 20th, continues to suffer with dementia. She has been at The Forum for more than four years. Everyday, usually at lunch time, Chester’s Dad who is 95 and in good health, visits Mom to feed and care for her. We are scheduled to arrive home July 21st, 2009. Pray that Chester’s Dad will continue to have good health and be able to care for himself and Mom. We are thankful that two of our four daughters, Ruth Abbey and Elisabeth and their families, live in Indianapolis and see Dad on a weekly basis.


CHALLENGING DAYS FOR NEGST

NEGST celebrates its twenty-fifth anniversary this school year, i.e. 2008-2009. NEGST began with four students in 1983-84. Now with more than three hundred students and at times almost four hundred, NEGST faces a range of challenges. Over the years the most pressing challenge has been recruiting and retaining high quality faculty and especially administrators.
1. As we write this the Dean of the Faculty, an African, who has been at NEGST for only a few years, has decided to leave for a position elsewhere. Good Deans, and the one leaving was a good Dean, are hard to find! Much of the burden of recruiting a new Dean this time will fall upon Douglas Carew, the Vice-chancellor (what we would call the President).
2. We always pray that the LORD would send us high quality students who will spend their lives in ministry in Africa, especially in the difficult places among unreached peoples. A significant number of students have gone into ministry among Muslims and that number is increasing. Many NEGST grads are also involved in Bible translation among tribal groups.
3. Recruiting, training and retaining African faculty has been the special burden of Light of the World Ministries. We rejoice that a year from now the first cohort of PhD students should be very close to the finish line. Hopefully NEGST will be able to take four or five as faculty members.
4. Pioneer institutions like NEGST are always struggling to make ends meet. The last three years, which have been times of expansion of both the student body and faculty, have been difficult financially. Pray for wisdom for those in leadership.

CHALLENGING DAYS FOR LIGHT OF THE WORLD MINISTRIES

Light of the World Ministries, by the grace of God, continues to operate. At the close of the first fiscal year in 1986 we did finished with a bank balance of $10! God is faithful. Over the past two years we have been running a monthly deficit of $1,000 in our general fund. This fund is kept separate from grants and projects. Due to the monthly deficit and a number of major expenses such as airline tickets for travel to Kenya, and housing and transportation in Nairobi, we find ourselves about $20,000 behind. Thanks for your faithful prayers and concern! That is a great blessing and encouragement to us.

With deep gratitude we are your fellow servants in Christ,



Chester & Dolores

Gifts toward this ministry are tax-deductible. Please make your check payable to

“Light of the World Ministries.”
Mail to

Light of the World Ministries
825 S. Meridian,
Indianapolis, IN 46225.

LIGHT OF THE WORLD MINISTRIES, INC

Chet Wood Thanksgiving Letter

Dear Praying Friend Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Thanksgiving is just about here. We have a huge item of praise. Back in 1993 we sold our home in Minnesota and all our belongings. We thought that we would never again have such a cozy place. Five years ago we purchased a small, retirement house. The back overlooks a pond. This week we made the last payment on our house! Please join us in thanking the LORD for his amazing goodness to us. We want to thank you for your financial support which has made this possible. This is great encouragement to us.

We have starting packing in preparation for our New Year’s Eve departure on British Airways for Kenya and NEGST.
Sunday, Chester preached on “how can the church pass on its vision and passion for missions to the next generation” especially the post-modern generation. That sermon (audio version, mp3), the outline from the “bulletin” and a set of “notes” are all available online at http://www.faithchurchindy.org/sermons.
Yours with thanksgiving
to you and the LORD,

Chester & Dolores

Photo: Ruth, Alexander,
Rob, Deborah, Dolores

Nairobi Students Spend Time at Tyndale House

Dear Praying Friend, Below is a report taken from the recent Tyndale House email bulletin (http://193.60.91.18/Tyndale/Newsletters/TH_Newsletter_Autumn2008W.pdf). Your prayers, concern and financial support have made this visit to Tyndale House library a reality for the PhD students who are now back at NEGST and reunited with their families.

We still need $4,000 by the end of October to help Phoebe, a PhD student, with her rent.

Chester & Dolores

A visit from Nairobi

It has been a real delight to welcome a group of 10 third-year doctoral students from the Nairobi Evangelical Graduate School of Theology (NEGST) from 19 August to 30 September. All the students are working in Biblical Studies and four are majoring in Bible translation. Countries represented are: Sudan, Kenya, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Ethiopia. While at Tyndale House, the students have been using the library (obviously!) and also attending seminars put on by staff on subjects such as Greek and Hebrew reading, paleography, and IT for biblical studies. They have also been leading chapel, and teaching us to sing in Swahili!

Ramadan at Tyndale
Ramadan Chan is one of the NEGST students and tells us a little about himself: “I come from a mainly Muslim area in Southern Sudan, where I have been involved in Bible translation
and church planting. Since 2001 I have been General Secretary of the Sudan Interior Church (over 40,000 members). My main role is to equip local churches for outreach. My PhD
focus is on Biblical Studies and Translation in order to help me teach in churches and seminaries and to be a consultant for Bible translation projects. Our current translation projects are in Dinka Padang, Mabaan, Uduk, and Shilluk. These languages together are spoken by more than 2 million people. I have greatly appreciated the hospitality I’ve received at Tyndale
House and the comprehensiveness of the library collection. It’s hard to imagine how we could do our PhDs without coming to a library like this. The visit should make a huge difference to the quality of our theses.”

Can Kenya Christians teach us how to vote?

CAN KENYAN CHRISTIANS TEACH US HOW TO VOTE?
By Paul Heidebrecht

This may seem like an odd question. After all, wasn't it Kenya that had a disastrous election less than a year ago?

Sometimes the best lessons are learned the hard way.

When I was in Kenya in May, I had many lively conversations with Kenyan Christians about their election—NEGST students, professors, local pastors, ordinary folks—they all spoke passionately about what had happened in their nation.

I felt their strong emotions of . . .

Shock . . . that a predominantly Christian nation like Kenya could come so close to total collapse.
Shame . . . that Christians had failed to prevent the violence and in a few places had even contributed to the violence.
Concern . . . that the national and international media had not reported the whole story and actually distorted what really happened.
Resolve to not let this happen again and to do better as Christians in Kenyan society.

I heard their explanations. They believed Kenyan Christians had swung from one extreme to the other. For many years Christians had avoided politics because it was seen as corrupt and compromising. The only thing that mattered was "getting saved" and "getting ready for heaven." But eventually Christians realized that government can't be left to people without integrity. They had to be engaged. The past few elections saw many more Christians running for office and voting. But church leaders identified themselves too closely with particular parties and their political tactics. This left them without a credible voice when the crisis struck. In some areas of the country, the church was part of the problem, not the solution.

So what lessons did they learn?

Christians need to be careful with politics. They need to find the right balance. They need to hold firm to higher principles of justice and righteousness. They must ask, What is good for the nation? and not, What is good for me? Nor can they pin their hopes on one party but rather they need to be independent enough to speak respectfully and credibly to all parties.

Pastors especially have to be careful. In most cases, they should avoid endorsing candidates and parties, especially if their congregation has divided loyalties. They should challenge their members to vote and participate in public affairs. They should preach and teach what the Bible says about citizenship in heaven and on earth.

I met several pastors who did remarkable jobs preparing their people to vote. In hindsight, some of them wished they had spoken more directly about tribal identity and the need for Christians to put their identity in Christ first above all else. Clearly, devout Christians can be quite immature and even ethnocentric in their attitudes toward other groups of people in their nation. From time to time, pastors need to confront these attitudes within their own congregations, not just from the pulpit but also in private.

One Sunday morning the church I attended invited a well-known Kenyan politician to appear on their platform, talk about the election and the future of Kenya, but also to listen to the church challenge him and then pray for him. It was a striking example of how the church can engage politics in a proper and positive way without compromising the Gospel.

Don't expect too much from government was another lesson learned. Don't be naïve about politicians. Many are corrupt or susceptible to corruption. The pressure to take care of their supporters and family members is tremendous. Those who have absolute integrity are easily marginalized. Christians must keep calling upon their government leaders to act justly and for the good of all even when it seems hopeless.

But at the same time, churches must tackle the social problems that government leaders won't face. This means empowering those who live in slums, assisting refugees from other nations, resolving conflicts between antagonistic groups of people, establishing schools, clinics and small business enterprises.

The real story the news media missed in Kenya this past year was how local congregations responded to the humanitarian crisis that followed the election violence. Despite their sense of failure for the crisis that should not have happened, churches and pastors stepped up to lead and in many ways they restored the reputation of the church in Kenya.

The NEGST community as well as its graduates who live in Kenya were a large part of this unheralded but effective response in a national crisis. The campus took in refugees, collected food and clothing and visited refugee camps, spent hours in prayer and reconciliation efforts, and spoke in churches about issues of ethnic and Christian identity. All of us can be very grateful to be associated with such a community. We are supporting a powerful witness.

I came home impressed with the wisdom of these Kenyan believers and their journey to a better form of political engagement. North American evangelicals are on a similar journey. Check the outstanding document produced by the National Association of Evangelicals in 2004.
We are all learning from our mistakes and from each other.

For an amazing story of Kenyan pastors leading a prayer march for spiritual cleansing, visit http://www.listeningtoafricanchurchleaders.blogspot.com/

In Christ,

Paul Heidebrecht

Christian Leaders for Africa

P.O. Box 1642

Indianapolis, IN 46206

clafrica@sbcglobal.net

P.S. Contributions to the NEGST scholarship fund can be sent to the address above.

NEGST PhD Students travel to Cambridge

Dear Praying Friend, Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Years ago when the PhD program at NEGST was just a dream, a key part of that dream was that the students might be able to work in a world-class library for an extended period. Today, the PhD students arrive in Cambridge, England, to begin six weeks of intensive research, data gathering, writing and consultations at Tyndale House Library which is located in the heart of Cambridge. It is without doubt one of the very best biblical libraries in the world and has an excellent staff.

Of course the students took the cheapest flight to London which goes via Dubai. This means an extended stop overnight. So here they are sleeping on the floor in the airport!

But sleeping on the floor in an airport is something that many students know about! They are a hardy bunch.

Pray for them as the first few days entail adjustments to a new culture (English, not Kenyan!), new foods, new attitudes, new perspectives and a marvelous library. Tyndale House staff have gone out of their way to welcome the students. The Lord has opened doors for the students.

More later,

Chester & Dolores

Christian Leaders for Africa Newsletter

July, 2008

visit the NEGST blogvisit us online at www.clafrica.com

Look at the Missionaries Coming Out of Africa
By Paul Heidebrecht

We’re starting to get used to the idea that Africa is no longer our mission field but instead is becoming a continent sending missionaries around the world. So what can we expect of these African missionaries? What unreached people groups will they evangelize and how will they do it? One way to glimpse this rising missionary force is to meet the students of Nairobi Evangelical Graduate School of Theology who are in the Missions department. These are men and women preparing to be career missionaries.

This past May I had a chance to sit and talk with some who are currently enrolled and several who have graduated and are on their mission fields. I was immediately impressed with their strong sense of call to obey the Great Commission and their willingness to go to very difficult places for the sake of the Gospel. They seemed particularly attracted to unreached tribes and communities in Africa which often are also primarily Muslim and therefore potentially hostile to Christian missionaries. I was pleased to discover indigenous African mission agencies ready to send out these men and women. Local churches are starting to challenge their people to consider the missionary call and to support these missionaries financially. Patrick and Violet have lived in several African countries among unreached people groups and trained believers to take over the missions they began. Some of their methods are familiar. Radio may be the most effective way to reach the populations of Africa. Only a small minority have access to television but everyone listens to the radio.

Refugee camps and slums are great places to meet people who have fled Muslim-dominated countries. A ministry of compassion paves the way for the Gospel. Likewise, prisons provide opportunities to speak with men and women who might otherwise be unapproachable.
The great challenge for African missionaries is to deal with both an increasingly aggressive Islam and the deeply entrenched animist religions of African cultures. The Missions faculty at NEGST specialize in Islamic Studies and try to help their students become wise and discerning missionaries among Muslim people groups.

As I listened to these men and women speak, I wondered if they are not exactly the kind of missionaries we need for the century ahead. They are moving into villages and neighborhoods of unbelievers with considerable cultural awareness. They don’t have any of the baggage Westerners carry when they enter Muslim contexts in most parts of the world. Harun and Judy have settled in a remote village of northern Kenya where theybear witness to Muslim neighbors and nurture a fledgling church. Furthermore, they enter their mission fields with strong relational commitments and skill. Hospitality and appreciation of local customs and a desire to serve the community characterize their mission strategy.

Perhaps most striking to me was the ways they are funding themselves as missionaries. The usual support-raising approach of Western missions doesn’t work well in African societies where most people live near or below the poverty line. Tentmaking is not only necessary but also very helpful because it allows these missionaries to enter a community without arousing suspicion and resistance. Far better to be a teacher or government worker than an outsider representing a different religion. Spouses are often the main breadwinners for a missionary family.

Esayas spends his time among immigrant and refugee groupsin Nairobi while he continues his studies. And, like many African pastors, African missionaries accept upfront that the missionary call is also a call to simple living, if not poverty itself. This means a missionary can expect protests from his or her own family. They will truly live by faith and with daily perseverance.
And for those entering Muslim communities, there is also the expectation that they will actually encounter some persecution. Muslim leaders will not tolerate their presence in many communities. Converts to Christ from Islam will be ostracized and even attacked by family members.

There are 247 Muslim people groups in the world (with populations over 100,000) that have no significant Christian presence in them. I suspect we will need these African missionaries to enter these communities and plant churches. I’m optimistic that some of these African missionaries will be supported by North American churches and that someday we will view them as our missionaries. That’s why I keep urging you and others to invest in the students at NEGST because it’s all about the next generation of African missionaries.

In Christ,

Paul Heidebrecht

Christian Leaders for Africa
P.O. Box 1642
Indianapolis, IN 46206

clafrica@sbcglobal.net

P.S. Contributions to the NEGST scholarship fund can be sent to the address above.

Joe and Kim Cluff Prayer Letter

JoeFrom: Kim Cluff [mailto:kim.cluff@gmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, July 23, 2008 2:23 AM
To: Kim Cluff
Subject: Prayer Reminder



Greetings, family and friends!



We wanted to send out a quick email this morning to remind you to pray

for the team building retreat we will be having July 24-28. As you

pray, please lift up the following:



1. Safe travel to/from the retreat. We will have people traveling

from throughout Maasailand to Limuru (a town just outside of

Nairobi). It is raining here today. If it is doing so in Maasailand,

the trip will be slow going and adventurous.



2. Good fellowship - a chance to get to know one another better,

encourage one another, and pray with one another.



3. Unity of vision - again, this is an opportunity for all those

involved with the Maasai-wide ministries of Community Christian Church

(the registered church CMF has planted in Maasailand and Turkana) to

hear what God is doing amongst them. As we do so, pray that God's

vision for the church would come fully into view for us all.



4. Joy and rest - it is so easy to get caught up in the busyness of

ministry and the cares of this world that we forget to follow our

Lord's desire to find rest and joy in him. Pray that he blesses us

with both.



Thank you once again for standing with us in this ministry.



Grace and peace,

Joe & Kim Cluff

Dr. Chet and Dolores Wood's Prayer Letter

NAIROBI EVANGELICAL GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY

"A School in the Heart of Africa with Africa on Its Heart"

9441 Haddington Drive West, Indianapolis, IN 46256
Tel.: 317-595-9850 Email: Chester.wood@att.net, Dolores.wood@att.net

Dear Friend,
July, 2008

A WONDERFUL TRIP TO ITALY

We have been back now several weeks from our wonderful six week trip to Italy. You may recall that this trip was a gift to us from a friend to help us celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary, which was three years ago. In Rome we focused on the ancient Roman ruins i.e. the Forum, the Coliseum, the Palatine Hill and the Appian Way. We tried to figure out which parts would have been in existence when Paul came to Rome as a prisoner in the late 50’s AD. We saw Titus’s arch which commemorated the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD including the taking of Jewish slaves to Rome.

(Picture is Greek Theater at Syracuse, Sciliy.)

We spent a week at Ravello on the Amalfi Coast. From there we visited Contursi, a small mountain village southeast of Naples, where Dolores’ father grew up. We found the family house and family living there with the name of Garippa (Dolores’ maiden name). Although they could speak only a little English and we could speak only a little Italian, we had a wonderful visit with them over a noon-time meal. After Ravello, we spent nine days in Sicily including a visit to Castelbouno, a mountain village where Dolores’ mother grew up. Sicily is full of ancient Greek ruins. At Syracuse where Paul landed (Acts 28:12) we saw a huge Greek outdoor theater. We ended our trip with two weeks of walking in sunny Tuscany.

We returned home invigorated, ready for work but also with heavy hearts because in most of the churches we visited Mary, not Jesus, was at the center of the church. Yes, we have a million digital photos and would be glad to show all of them to you! We thank the Lord for this very special gift.

JESUS AND JUSTICE: A SIX WEEK SEMINAR

July 9th Chester finished a six week seminar on “Jesus and Justice” for a group of twelve or so very earnest people at Grace Community Church in Noblesville, Indiana. The participants had digital copies of the extensive notes on justice and read sections of these each week along with texts from Matthew in preparation for the class. All in the class are in some kind of outreach ministry to marginal peoples.

Chester has again begun to write on “Israel and Justice”. This summer the focus is on the Law and the Tabernacle. The writing is interesting, stretching (recently Chester tried to figure out the precise relation of justice to holiness in terms of the Law), overwhelming at times and moving along slowly but surely. Pray that Chester will stay healthy, focused and be enabled by God as he writes.

Later in the early autumn Chester will probably restart his Saturday morning sessions on “Teaching Dad’s how to teach their children the Bible as a whole.”

LEAVING FOR KENYA ON NEW YEAR’S DAY

We hope to leave for Kenya New Year’s Day 2009 so as to help out in teaching Bible at NEGST. Chester will probably be teaching OT and NT Introduction (survey) for a group of students working for a degree in theology. If the MTh, i.e. advanced level degree, gets off the ground, Chester will offer a course in that program as well. Our trip back will be a bit different this time because we no longer have an apartment of our own to which we can return and we no longer have a car in Kenya. We plan to stay through graduation, July 4th, and then return home for another period of writing. School year 2008-2009 is the 25th anniversary of NEGST. Since 1983-1984 God has blessed and kept NEGST through many ups and downs. Chester began to teach at NEGST in May 1984. It is thrilling to think about the hundreds of graduates of NEGST who are now in ministry throughout the whole of Africa and beyond. We hope to say more about what God has done at NEGST at the 25th anniversary celebration in the autumn of 2009 in Indianapolis.

PhD STUDENTS STUDYING ABROAD

When we return to NEGST in January, 2009, we look forward to seeing just how each of the PhD students is doing. They are now well into the dissertation writing stage which should reach its culmination by the end of 2009. All of the students are expected to spend two or three months abroad doing research at a major library. Hopefully they will also be able to meet with their external supervisor and maybe even attend an international conference in their field of research. Students in translation studies have mostly studied at Amsterdam where the university has a translation center and most of the biblical students are going to Cambridge to work at the Tyndale House library. Pray that
· Their health will be good,
· Their family will not suffer from this period of separation,
· Their time will be profitable in terms of discovering helpful materials and
· Their scope of contacts with scholars who might assist them will broaden.
The entire student cohort except two students has sufficient funds for this trip. We are asking the Lord to send us, LOWM, $5,000 so that we can help that last student to leave for Cambridge by the end of July. If you would like to help with this project, add a note saying your gift is for the PhD at NEGST. Thanks!

AN INVITATION TO VISIT US AT NEGST IN KENYA IN 2009

We would like to invite you to come visit us at NEGST and see for yourselves what God is doing in Kenya and to enjoy the beauty of Kenya. In 2009 NEGST will be celebrating its 25th Anniversary. Trips guided by Paul Heidebrecht of Christian Leaders for Africa are in the works for late January and early July 2009. Paul can be reached at his phone is 630 562-1640.

With deep gratitude we are your fellow servants in Christ,



Chester & Dolores

Gifts toward this ministry are tax-deductible. Please make your check payable to “Light of the World Ministries.” Mail to Light of the World Ministries, 825 S. Meridian, Indianapolis, IN 46225.
LIGHT OF THE WORLD MINISTRIES, INC

Dr. Mpinga's Obituary

Dr. Derek Amos Mpinga, International Educator, Dies at 64

Dr. Mpinga was the first academic dean in the early 1980"s at NEGST.

Derek Amos Mpinga, a premier administrator, academic and educator at various institutions both here and in various African countries, died on Friday, May 23rd. He was 64 and a resident of Phoenix, Arizona.

Widely trained, Dr. Mpinga received all his higher education degrees from institutions in the United States of America: an Associate of Science diploma in Mathematics and Science from North Greenville College, Tigerville, South Carolina; a B.S. in Mathematics and Physics from Carson-Newman College, Jefferson City, Tennessee; two masters degrees, one in Mathematics from Texas Christian University, Forth Worth, Texas, the other in Religious Education from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (SWBTS). Finally, Dr. Mpinga’s terminal degree, a Doctor of Education in Education Administration, also came from SWBTS.

At the time of his death, Dr. Mpinga was Vice President of Academic Affairs at Phoenix College, Phoenix, Arizona. His ascension to the upper echelons of higher education administration began with service in his native Zimbabwe, as Dean of Academic and Student Affairs at the Baptist Theological Seminary of Zimbabwe (1979-1983). He then served in Kenya as Vice-Principal for Academic and Student Affairs at the Nairobi Evangelical Graduate School of Theology.

Returning to the country of his academic preparation, Dr. Mpinga had a brief stint as a high school teacher in 1985. Unlike his teaching in Zimbabwe and Kenya, which had included courses in education administration, philosophy, ethics, and religious studies, Dr. Mpinga’s responsibilities at Americus High School in Georgia consisted of teaching mathematics and physics. He then went on to distinguish himself as a mathematics teacher at two colleges: the Tarrant County Junior College, Texas (1985-1987) and North Lake College, Irving, Texas (1992-1998). After first establishing himself in the class room, Dr. Mpinga turned to administration at several two-year colleges. He became Dean/Chair of the Mathematics Division at Lane Community College, Eugene, Oregon (1998-2000). That deanship launched him into executive educational leadership as Vice President and Dean for Academic and Student Affairs at Waycross College, Georgia (2000-2005) and as Vice President of Instruction, Brookhaven College, Farmers Branch, Texas (2005-2007).

Dr. Mpinga was a distinguished leader in the professions, the Baptist church, and various civic organizations. He was a member of many professional bodies, including the National Community College Chair Academy and the American Mathematical Association of Two Year Colleges. During his time in Zimbabwe, Dr. Mpinga served as the Executive Secretary for the Baptist Convention of Zimbabwe. He sourced $1.5 million from the Baptist World Alliance to help with rebuilding, drought relief, and the resettlement of war refugees. He served as a deacon at the First Baptist Church-Arlington, Texas. In his involvement with Waycross-Ware Chamber of Commerce, Dr. Mpinga served on the Education Committee, which came into existence through his advocacy. He served on numerous boards, including the All Africa Baptist Fellowship, Living Bible International-Africa, Leadership Development Associates-Hope for Africa, and the Accrediting Council for Theological Education.

In addition to being a pillar of his church and a preeminent educator and administrator, Dr. Mpinga was also a devoted husband to his late wife, Miriam and a doting father to his children, Denise and Daniel. From his early days on the faculty of the Baptist Theological Seminary of Zimbabwe to his recent service as the chief academic officer of several institutions of higher learning, he touched many lives. When Dr. Mpinga was hired at Phoenix College, referring to that school’s slogan “Go Far, Close to Home,” he observed “We are on this journey together guided by five hallmarks: integrity, innovation, sustainability, accountability, and a positive attitude.” Dr. Mpinga’s smile and his optimism will be missed. God be praised for his life. Many will cherish his memory.

Survivors: Daughter, Denise Mpinga; Son, Daniel Mpinga; Mother, Margaret Mpinga of Zimbabwe; Sister, Edith Muringai of Zimbabwe; Cousins: Marjorie Simbanegavi, Mercy Ziyenge, Margaret Nyoni, and Charity Bruce. Nephews and Nieces: Collin Muringai , Darlington Mwanza, Samantha Nhema and Pippa Mpunzwana and many more.

Christian Leaders for Africa Newsletter

Christian Leaders for Africa Update
June, 2008

visit the NEGST blogvisit us online at www.clafrica.com

Getting Beyond the Shame of Being Rich
By Paul Heidebrecht

A common reaction of North American Christians who visit Africa is to feel embarrassed by their wealth when they compare it to the poverty they see everywhere. Their shame is even more intense when they are shown generous hospitality by African believers who obviously have very little to share. I have concluded that our feelings of shame are of no value to anyone—unless they get us to think quite differently.

First, we need to think differently about ourselves. We are rich people. Very rich people. Most of us prefer to be known as middle class, and in North America we are, but not in Africa. There we are among the wealthy elite. We have to accept that fact and believe that God allowed us to be rich. We are responsible to him for what we do with our wealth.

Second, we need to think differently about the poor. They cannot be the objects of our pity. Rather they are people to admire and honor. The poor are often spiritually rich, and we are the ones who need them—though it is not always obvious to us. In his second letter to the Corinthians, the apostle Paul holds up the poor Macedonian church as a model to the rich one in Corinth. Despite their extreme poverty, Paul says, the Macedonians gave beyond their ability. They even begged Paul to let them give. And they didn’t just give money. Paul says they gave themselves. This is what poor Christians can teach rich Christians: how to give yourself as a gift.
But what about our wealth? How should we go to Africa and be rich? Or any other part of the world for that matter.

John Stott offers a useful embarrassment test. Invite a poor person to your home for a meal. If you feel embarrassed by your possessions and lifestyle, take that as a sign that you need to scale back. The same is true if you are invited into the home of a poor family. If you are comfortable and honored to be there, be encouraged. An African proverb says we do not have a relationship until we have shared a meal in our homes. Hospitality is actually a way to break through the barrier. Don’t turn down the chance to be a guest.

Jonathan Bonk, who edits the International Bulletin of Missionary Research, suggests the concept of "righteous rich" as a guide. Every society has rich people, Bonk argues, and in every society there are perceptions of "good rich people" and "bad rich people." When we enter another society, like one in Africa, we should figure out what "good rich people" do. This will help us know how we should act. Quite likely, it will involve some kind of generosity. Bonk acknowledges that our wealth is often a hindrance to our mission efforts because it affects the credibility of our witness. But if we can be at least "righteously rich," we reduce the problems of our wealth.

A few months ago, one of my board members passed away after a long battle with cancer. During a time of eulogies at his funeral, one of his friends made the comment, "Chris lived below his means." His income could have afforded him a much grander lifestyle but he chose not to live that way. I know why. He shared his wealth with many missionaries and schools like NEGST. In the end, we all have choices to make about the use of our wealth. We can spend it all on ourselves and our families or we can share it with those in need and invest it in the Lord’s work around the world.

None of these suggestions are intended to be formulas to resolve your feelings of guilt. You have to wrestle with the economic disparities that affect even the church. You have to find your way to becoming a "cheerful giver" as Paul puts it. But pay attention to the Macedonians. Paul indicates they were actually driven to give by the grace of God. They weren’t seeking to be known for their generosity. They were simply responding as people touched deeply by grace. If and when you visit Africa, concentrate on God’s grace to you and see where that takes you.

An Update on NEGST

By the time you read this, I’ll be returning from Nairobi on the campus of Nairobi Evangelical Graduate School of Theology. The political unrest earlier this year caused me to postpone a visit but I am eager to be on campus meeting with students and professors and staff to see how they got through the crisis. I’m especially anxious to hear stories about churches and pastors trying to be agents of peace and reconciliation.

I’m sure the consequences of the crisis in January and February have rippled through the entire economy and profoundly affected every institution, including the church. I’m sure that the community of NEGST will feel its effects for years to come. But Kenyans are resilient people. They have endured political crises before. They have endured droughts and famines. They were making economic progress before the crisis and there are many signs already that the country is getting back on its feet. The tourist industry is recovering well and many people are once again traveling to Kenya. The game parks are once again becoming busy.

I often hesitate to report on events on Kenya when my primary source of information is U.S. newspapers and television broadcasts. I fear that our media mislead us by focusing on the dramatic and sensational. Riots and mob scenes are especially prone to be exaggerated or misrepresented. There is a remarkable disconnect between the Kenya we hear and see in our media and the Kenya you experience when you are there. The recent movement of Kenyan pastors who went to many cities to pray for spiritual cleansing and forgiveness was never covered by any Western news outlets despite our efforts to tell them about it.

As we reported before, NEGST itself was always a secure place and the community became actively engaged in caring for refugees, protecting people who were threatened, talking openly and publicly about issues of ethnicity and tribalism from a Biblical point of view. What might be considered a disruption to learning was actually an occasion for great learning about being followers of Christ in a broken world. Friends of NEGST can be gratified that our support of students in their training for ministry bore fruit, especially among the graduates who are now all over Kenya leading the church.

The library at NEGST continues to be a place of special interest. It expands every year with more and more books, journals and electronic resources. The goal is for this library to be a major center of evangelical African scholarship for the continent. Not that long ago I received a $100,000 matching grant for the library. I’ve informed many donors of this grant and the unique opportunity it represents. Thus far about $10,000 has come in for the match. If you can help us toward the goal, even with a small gift, we and NEGST will be very thankful.
We think long-term about NEGST. We’re building for the future, for the next generation of church leaders. We’re looking to ground the exploding church on the African continent in the Scriptures and the application of God’s Word to Africa by Africans. That’s why I point to the endowment funds we started for faculty positions at NEGST. This will ensure that NEGST will have Godly evangelical African professors for years to come. This past year we went over $200,000 in the endowment fund. Our goal is $1 million and we are making progress. If you want your gifts to last for generations, give to the endowment fund. Your gift can be sent to the address below.

In Christ,

Paul Heidebrecht
Christian Leaders for Africa
P.O. Box 1642Indianapolis, IN 46206
clafrica@sbcglobal.net

Paul Heidebrecht's updates from his trip to NEGST

Dear CLA board members:

I returned yesterday from three weeks in Nairobi living on the NEGST campus and spending quality time with students, faculty and staff. The days were rich and full and I am "weary in well doing." I'll try to summarize important discoveries as they relate to our work.

1. Kenya was much calmer than I was expecting. The political situation has stabilized though the issues that led to the unrest have not really been faced by the government. People desperately want to get back to normal and resume the growth that Kenya had last year.

I was able to move comfortably everywhere including Kibera slum where I went twice.

2. Despite the calm, the population was traumatized by the violence and destruction in January and February and you feel it under the surface, even at NEGST. I heard many stories of great fear and anxiety. The mood was somber and I suspect many are still quite depressed. The economy took a real hit and the consequences of the unrest are now being felt on many levels. NEGST is expecting a decline of students as just one result simply because people have lost income or used their limited resources for more pressing needs.

3. The decline of the U.S. dollar affected me and all Americans there quite directly. Estimates of between 15-20% loss of value since a year ago means that everything we pay for when we go there now costs 15-20% more. It was a bit of a shock. Add to that the effects of higher fuel costs and suddenly it costs a lot more to go there. Plus our donations fall short. A $3000 full scholarship really needs to be $3500 to meet the same need. I have begun to re-think my safari trips there as a result.

4. It appears that at long last NEGST will receive its charter from the Kenyan government. The logjam has broken loose and already four other universities have received theirs. Douglas thinks it may come before the end of the year. But the charter will be in the name of a Christian university, not NEGST. The name was to be African Christian University but that name is not available, so the Governing Council will choose another. I attended one meeting on the Christian university plan and realized that Douglas and the NEGST leadership are very serious and energized to move in this direction. This is partly driven by a vision to prepare more than just church leaders and partly by the absolute need to recruit more students.
In November, when we meet with Douglas, we will need to consider the implications of this for us as the development arm in North America.

5. The entire Ph.D. cohort was on campus, though now engaged on their individual research projects. They expect to spend 4-6 weeks at Cambridge in August researching in one of the foremost libraries in the world. I spoke with many of them individually and was even more impressed with them than before. But of course all that we have invested in them depends on them finishing their dissertations, hopefully by July
2009 when we hope there will be a grand celebration at the graduation ceremony. I told them we were all praying and counting on them to finish. Three of the
12 will likely join the NEGST faculty. Most of the faculty who launched this cohort have retired or left and there were many new faces in the faculty and more coming this year. The next cohort will begin in August, 2009.

6. I was able to have one-on-one time with over 30 of the moer than 60 students whom we support. This is always the highlight of being there and if you have any doubts about the validity of our mission, just get to know these students and how God called them to NEGST and to a ministry beyond and you will know we are part of grooming the future leadership of the church on the African continent. The role some of the graduates played in Kenya during the crisis testifies to the quality of leadership emerging out of NEGST. You will be hearing about this in future mailings.

7. George Renner agreed to serve as acting director of the Institute for the Study of African Realities (ISAR) and to seriously build up this center for research, training and nonformal education. Two new M.A. programs will be introduced under the ISAR structure, one in Organizational Leadership (under David Fraser's oversight) and one in Peacemaking & Conflict Resolution. George and Linda have decided to return to NEGST full-time to take up this role. He was clearly very pleased to be there again.

8. Because NEGST kept losing money with their guesthouse/cafeteria, they outsourced the entire operation to a private company. I was present for the launch of this new enterprise. The woman who runs the company is very savvy and professional and will upgrade the services considerably but at much higher rates. There may be some discounts for NEGST visitors but we will all be paying customers when we go there.

9. At our last meeting I told you about an retired American studying at NEGST who has volunteered to assist me in our work when he returns to the U.S. this fall. He graduates in July, perhaps the oldest graduate NEGST has had. His name is Spencer Radnich and I spent an evening with him and his wife. They are quite the couple. Spencer was an engineer and executive for Xerox but took early retirement and has spent the last 12 years in Kenya where he has done many things,including service at Daystar in various capacities. He was also in the Army Reserve all his working life and so he is comfortably retired. He told me he likes to travel and would go anywhere to meet anyone on behalf of NEGST entirely at his own expense. I confess I was a bit stunned. He expects to be settled near Erie, Pennsylvania, by September and wants to spend some time with me learning and strategizing his involvement. I fully expect he will be at our next board meeting so you can meet him in person.

10. NEGST has had to borrow in order to purchase the four acres of land and buildings adjacent to the campus still owned by a Christian publishing firm. This is the same project which we agreed to raise $300,000 to help purchase. I told you and Douglas this has been very difficult money to raise since it's simply buying land and not building anything new on it. My failure to find this money has kept the pressure on NEGST and slowed down the move of the administration offices to that property and the expansion of the library to the second floor where the administration is now housed. All I could do was pledge to Douglas that I would try even harder this year to raise that money though I'm not sure where. If any of you have some contacts or ideas, please share them with me. This is not a glamorous project but something that only certain folks are willing to support because they know it helps stabilize an institution for the long term. Schools here have alumni who understand this but with NEGST, we don't have those kind of alumni. Finally, I was able to get some remarkable interviews with various denominational and church leaders about the recent crisis in Kenya and how the church responded. I expect to write a few articles this summer based on these interviews and hopefully get them published and generate some additional publicity for our efforts at the same time.

Thanks for your prayers,
Paul

Christian Leaders Board Meeting

CHRISTIAN LEADERS FOR AFRICA BOARD MEETING

May 2, 2008

Present: Lynn Cohick, Doug Long, David Holst, Darcy Weaver, Scott Swim, Ed Fischer, Dwight and Karen Jessup, Paul and Priscilla Heidebrecht

Guests: Keith Krispin, Nate Irwin, Steve Sanders, Luke Mertes

Following introductions at 9:15 a.m., Paul Heidebrecht led a devotional based on 2 Corinthians 8:1-9. We spent time in prayer especially for Mark and Ann Fackler, Derek Mpinga and Chris Schmid’s mother and friend, Meg Feemster.

On behalf of Douglas Carew, Dwight Jessup brought a report on recent events in Kenya and the latest developments at NEGST. He spoke highly of the Governing Council leadership at NEGST. He gave an update on faculty and staff changes, property and campus development activities, finances, enrollment issues and new programs, including African Christian university plans. Dwight and Karen reflected on their four years of service at NEGST and answered many questions we had.

After reviewing the audit, Doug Long, Dale Luther, David Holst and Paul Heidebrecht reviewed the auditor’s recommendations and presented the following motions.

It was moved and carried to:
Establish a Christopher Schmid Memorial Student Scholarship Endowment Fund for the support of tuition and housing costs for students at NEGST.

Appoint an audit subcommittee of two CLA board members (not including the treasurer) to meet prior to each board meeting and review accounting journal entries (if any) and report their findings to the board. Scott Swim and David Holst were appointed to the audit subcommittee.

Approve entering into a contract for a bank lock box service to process checks received at an Indianapolis post office and deposit in the CLA bank account. This arrangement will be reviewed after one year.

Approve the attached Sample Policy on Suspected Misconduct and Dishonesty and to designate the chair of the CLA board as the contact person for any employee, volunteer or donor to report concerns (this information to be posted on the CLA website).

Authorize Dale Luther to obtain the Quickbooks Premiere Nonprofit accounting software package which includes an accounting audit trail that cannot be turned off by the user.

Adopt a policy of receiving only cash and marketable securities and to accept these securities and sell/integrate them with our investment portfolio managed by South Indiana Methodist Foundation. Non-cash or other illiquid assets can only be accepted with prior approval by the CLA board and for which a letter of receipt will be issued but no value indicated for these non-cash item(s).

Approve the attached Sample Document Retention and Destruction Policy.

Maintain the official CLA Minute Book in the offices of Hall Render in Indianapolis with another set in the office of the executive director.

Since CLA is not currently in a position to promote Planned Giving activities, we will recommend to any donors the services of a qualified agency such as National Christian Foundation and to permit the executive director of CLA to enter into any agreements or accounts required for this purpose as approved by the CLA board.

Approve the attached Accountable Reimbursement Plan.

Require our accountant/bookkeeper to back up all electronic CLA financial records and databases on a monthly basis and store them offsite, preferably in a safe deposit box.

Request our Investment Manager to invest CLA assets in a broadly diversified portfolio of US and International stocks, bonds and cash equivalents, that in total, would be considered moderately aggressive.

Darcy Weaver and Ed Fischer were appointed to three-year terms on the CLA board of directors.

Paul reported that Scott Swim is beginning his third three-year term. Lynn Cohick, Mark Fackler, Doug Long and David Holst are beginning the third year of their terms on the board. It was noted for the record that in appointing Darcy and Ed, the board was also establishing two additional positions on the board.

The financial report from Dale Luther was accepted. It was moved and carried to permit Paul , Doug and Dale to prepare the 2008-2009 budget for consideration in June to be approved by email.

Darcy Weaver will submit a spending policy for the Wood Endowment Fund to allow distribution of earnings to NEGST when that fund exceeds $200,000. The original donor stipulated that this would be the threshold though the donor also indicate distributions should begin in 2008.

The board authorized the executive director to accept contributions for a TEDS/NEGST consultation next August provide the funds go to NEGST and not to a third party and also for the future student center at NEGST with contributions originating in Canada. The board was reluctant to receive contributions from friends or relatives of U.S. students at NEGST unless NEGST created a special fund for international students. Paul was asked to discuss this option with Douglas Carew.

Paul gave a brief report on his upcoming trip to NEGST, opportunities that have emerged with U.S. congregations and even a denomination to partner with NEGST for the training of African pastors and missionaries, his efforts to cultivate online donors and promotion of NEGST and his contacts with the new leadership of Bangui Evangelical School of Theology (BEST).

Paul presented his efforts to reduce health insurance costs for himself and Priscilla, for the most part, unsuccessfully. The board indicated it was essential that both of them have adequate coverage even if the premiums remain high.

The meeting concluded at 2:45 p.m. after a period of prayer.

The next meeting will be held on November 7, 2008.

Christian Leaders for Africa Newsletter

Published by Paul Heidebriecht
April 2008
Home
About Us
Articles
Headlines
Contact Us
Contribute A Story
Visit The NEGST Website
NEGST Alumni move for peace
On March 7, hundreds of Kenyan pastors, led and mobilized by NEGST Alumni, began an historic journey across the country. Called “Msafara”, the mission was to pray, listen, and bring peace to Kenya's five largest city centers. The journey began in Mombasa, on the eastern coast. The cities chosen were ones broken and hurting from the post-election chaos.
Along the route, the Msafara team gave out 100,000 Care Packs, donated by churches and individuals throughout the nation. By March 17, on arrival in Kisumu on the western border, the team had encouraged thousands, providing basic supplies and food, praying and offering God’s physical and spiritual healing. NEGST can rejoice that in keeping with our calling to "excellence in African Christianity" our graduates are leading the way in demonstrating godly responses to current issues. Many other members of the NEGST community were involved in ways too numerous to name here.
To visit the Msafara website, click here.


NEGST student organises camp for internally displaced people
Meet Christopher Ngugi Wanaina, a first year NEGST student pursuing an MA in missions. Apart from being a student, Chris also serves at Karura Community Chapel in the missions department, in charge of the compassion and social justice docket since 2007.With the onset of the post-election violence, Karura Community Chapel began hosting three hundred internally displaced people (IDPs)—95 adults and 205 children—within the first week of January. By the second week, the number had doubled!

Upcoming Events
7th - 18th April 2008 Special Courses on Conflict Resolution & Forgiveness
RSVP:
admissions@negst.edu

Need To Read
The Drama of Scripture: Finding Our Place in the Biblical Story
The Drama of Scripture is a great help to understanding the revelation of God as it unfolds redemptively and historically and, in consequence, making sense of the Bible as a whole. This book is highly recommended for those who desire to understand how the Bible's diverse writings are united in content and purpose.Dr. Peter NyendeNEGST Lecturer, Biblical Studies
NEGST in Figures
7 cows graze on the green campus of NEGST
Kids At NEGST
Abby (3yrs): "I love coloring at school and playing on the swings."

Updates from David Waweru

Hi Ed,

We thank God for the progress Kenya has made so far in returning peace and reconciliation among its leaders and people.

However the work has just began, there is a lot more that needs to be done in resettling displaced persons in affected areas. There is also the putting in of structures which will ensure the country never goes back to the state it was after election will be a crucial step.
So we need to continue to pray that this happens through Gods Guidance and Wisdom in the shortest time possible.

I`m happy to hear of your plans to come and minister at NEGST,on my part with the assistance of Carol Kariuki we will be happy to coordinate the Safari, in-road travels and home stays.
If there is anything else that we can do to make your visit here successful let us know.


David Waweru.

Kenya Is Attracting IPO Fever

This article appeared in the Tuesday, Wall Street Journal and was written by Sarah Childress.

Nairobi, Kenya--Despite global financial turmoil and months of violence in this corner of Africa, first-time investors are betting big on an initial public offering of stock on the Nairobi Stock Exchange.

Taxi drivers, kiosk owners and street vendors have been queuing up at banks in downtown Nairobi to subscribe to shares of mobile-phone company Safaricom Ltd. in east Africa's largest IPO. The government is selling 25% of the company, a stake valued at about $ 800 million. The new shares will be listed on the Nairobi Exchange in early June. There is no underwriter on the deal, though Morgan Stanley & Co. International PLC is serving as the coordinator and sole bookrunner.

The Safaricom offering which had been delayed from December amid election-related violence that month could be an early indicator that Kenya's economy--badly bruised by the violence--is moving on.

"After the IPO, I'm going to make a bit of money," said Mwatha Karuita, a 50 year old lab technician, as he prepared to buy shares one recent day.

Fierce ethnic clashes and a simmering political standoff set back an ecomomic boom this country had been enjoying. The government and opposition party took a step forward Sunday, when President Mwai Kibaki names a new cabinet, with opposition leader Raila Odinga as new prime minister. As part of the power-sharing deal, 40 cabinet postings were split between the president's party and its allies, and Mr. Odinga's Orange Democratic Movement.

Lingering tensions directly threatened the offering as recently as last month. Mr Odinga, who cliamed victory in the late December presidential election, held news conferences and threatened protests to warn Kenyans not to buy in because of a dispute over a minor shareholder in the company. But his advice went largely ignored. On the offering's opening day on March 28, people lined up peacefully by the hundreds for a chance to snap up shares.

The Kenyan government holds a 60% stake in Safaircom with Vodaphone Kenya Ltd., a subsidiary of London based Vodaphone Group PLC, owning the other 40%. After the sale, the government's share will drop to 35%. The government has been in discussions with the company for about four years to divest its majority share to raise capital and as part of its effort to diversify shareholders in state-0wned companies.

Safaricom is a household name in Kenya. Eight yers ago, American Michael Joseph was brought in to turn around the struggling carrier, at the time owned by state-run Telkom Kenya Ltd. Vodafone Kenya bought into the company in 2000.

On coming aboard, Mr. Joseph, chief executive, said the company had $ 20million in the bank and 17,000 "very unhappy" customers, "That's all we had," he said. He quickly retargeted the company's marketing and went after Africa's high growth but financially strapped "informal" sector.

Many Kenyans, unable to afford high public school fees, have had to forgo educations, finding themselves shut out of well-paying jobs. They turn instead to entrepreneurial pursuits--for instance, start-up car services, like my friend David Waweru, who left his job at Telekom Kenya, or hair braiding, Swahili lessons or house-cleaning.

Many of Safaricom's competitors saw these customers as a risk since the lack of a steady, dependable income meant they may not be able to pay their bills. Mr. Joseph introduced the prepaid calling and personal billing. The latter was a big departure from rounding up each finished call to a full minute, which was a big hit for customers watching every Kenyan schilling.

Safaircom also offered inesp0ensive phones and free, rount-the clock customer care. Last year the company introduced a banking program that allows people to send money via mobile phone.

The changes paid off. Safari-c0m now has about 9 million subscribers and claims 80% of the market share in Kenya. Longtime competitors Celtel Kenya and Telkom Kenya have only a sliver of the market now, though Safaricom will soon face additional competition from new entrants.

Kenya's elite--including black businessmen and wealthy South Asians--have seized on the IPO. Beginning last week, international investors also were given a chance to buy in.

Of the 10 billion shares to be sold, 65% will be offered to domestic investors while the remainder were available to foreign buyers. Retail investors will get 52% of the domestic offering. If the domestic pool is oversubscribed, the percentage of the available shares will be increased. The application period ends April 23.

Blue-collar workers and small-business owners are also rushing in. the offer price is about five Kenyan shillings, or about 8 US cents, a share. Some investors have pooled money to meet the 2,000 share minimum. Many of these first-time investors don't even have bank accounts.

Some who can barely support their families have applied for bank loans to raise enough funds for the shares, a practice that worries Michael Masau, executive director of Emerging Africa Capital, Ltd., an investment advisory company in Nairobi. He believes Safaricom is a good buy, but only for those able to pay in cash.

"It's an investment," he said. "People can end up losing all their finances. We tell them to only invest what they can afford to lose."

Jane Keobu, 35 years old and with her three-year-old tied to her back with a red scarf, came into a Diamond Trust Bank branch in downtown Nairobi one recent morning. She supports her five children by selling cabbage, potatoes, and sukuma, a vegetable used in traditional meals, in a small town outside Nairobi. With no bank or brokerage account, the single mother saved the $ 160 to buy a minimum stake, having decided to buy when the offering was announced last year. Bank respresentative set up special tables tables to help first-time buyers open up an account.

"This is my first time to buy shares," she says. "But when I saw them, I thought it'd be a good time."

Peter Ndirangu, 21, who works as a butcher, agrees. He came to the bank one recent morning, clutching forms to purchase shares. "When the price rises, I'll sell, he said.

Dr. Chet's Wood's April Prayer Letter

NAIROBI EVANGELICAL GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY

"A School in the Heart of Africa with Africa on Its Heart"

9441 Haddington Drive West, Indianapolis, IN 46256
Tel.: 317-595-9850 Email: Chester.wood@att.net, Dolores.wood@att.net

Dear Friend, April 6, 2008

LESSONS TO LEARN FROM THE KENYA CRISIS

It would appear that Kenya is back to “normal”. At least there is a measure of tranquility just now. But most of the underlying problems that gave rise to the recent crisis have yet to be addressed in any significant way. One deep underlying issue is injustice that goes back at least to the time of the colonial powers and perhaps further back. The apparent injustice in land distribution after the departure of the British is certainly part of the issue. Apparently the better lands were given to the more powerful tribe(s). And there are problems with the current constitution.

INJUSTICE AND ETHNICITY

If injustice is one of the fundamental underlying causes and if this injustice is along tribal lines, then NEGST needs to continue to take seriously both justice and ethnicity. Perhaps you will recall that the first fifteen months of the joint PhD in Bible and Bible Translation focused upon the topic of ethnicity starting with Genesis and going all the way to Revelation. This is a biblical theology approach to the topic. The PhD students have been called upon to speak publicly on radio, TV and in churches, universities and seminaries on this topic. What makes this all the more powerful is that the PhD students from Kenya represent some of the conflicting tribes. We thank God that He guided the PhD team several years ago to the topic of ethnicity. You may also know that each year from January to July Chester teaches OT and NT Theology at NEGST using justice as the integrating theme for the course.

One of the lessons to be learned from all of this is that we need to keep training more and more pastors like Pastor Oscar Muriu of Nairobi Chapel who will stay in Kenya for their graduate education, will take courses that speak directly to their local situation and consequently will be in a position to have a significant impact on the church and society in Africa. There are scores of NEGST grads in Kenya who have been and are seeking justice, reconciliation and peace in the months since the presidential election last December and are proclaiming the love of God and forgiveness through Jesus.

CONTINUING AND EXPANDING THE PHD PROGRAMS

The first cohort of twelve PhD students are now well into the dissertation writing phase of their work. The goal is for them to finish by the end of 2009, although the recent troubles in Kenya were a major interruption to their work. Pray for health, stamina, courage and wisdom as they write. This summer many of them will be traveling abroad as part of the program’s requirement
· to access a world-class library,
· to meet, if possible, with their international mentor, e.g. I. Howard Marshall, Karen Jobs, and
· to attend a major professional meeting in their area of focus.

The goal of LOWM has always been to assist in recruiting, training and sustaining African faculty members at NEGST. Currently we have been working in four areas to achieve that single goal. First, we want to help the first cohort of PhD students finish well. Several of these will become faculty members at NEGST. Most of the PhD students doing Bible will be going to Tyndale House Library at Cambridge, England which is one of the finest biblical research libraries in the world. Several years ago we (Dolores and Chester) spent twenty-two very productive weeks there. Although a great deal has already been invested in the PhD program, Light of the World Ministries (LOWM) is seeking to assist NEGST’s PhD students with a gift of $24,000 to help with trip expenses. NEGST needs these funds by June.

Second, LOWM plans to encourage the formation and launching of a second cohort in Bible and Bible Translation, a first cohort in Missions and perhaps a first cohort in Theology. All of these have faculty for NEGST in view. This requires seed money. We have set a goal of $6,000 to help start new doctoral cohorts. Third, we are continuing to sponsor the housing rent of one of the PhD students in this first cohort ($4,000). Fourth, from the beginning LOWM has assisted NEGST’s graduates, such as Douglas Carew, to be part of a post-MA/MDiv program known as the MTh which is a one year program that prepares students to do the PhD. We would like to invest another $4,000 in this area.

In addition to this goal of faculty development, we also undertake to give NEGST $3,000 each year for benevolence to help students who have had a death in their family or an illness that is not covered by the required health insurance program. Finally, we would like to make a special gift to NEGST as soon as possible to help them with preparations for celebrating NEGST’s 25th anniversary, which begins this September (1983-2008). In sum, we are asking the Lord to help us raise at least $46,000 in the next few months. We invite you to invest in African Christianity led by leaders trained at NEGST who are able to speak about and act according to God’s Word in matters such as ethnicity and justice. Please indicate that your gift is for “grants” rather than “general support”.

TAKING A BREAK

Four years ago we celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary, but we were just too busy to take more than a day or two off at a time because for the last ten years we have focused all of our energy on launching the PhD. Now that it is in orbit, we have handed over that responsibility to younger men and women. Now we can take time to celebrate by going on an extended holiday in Italy and explore some of Dolores’ roots (near Naples and Palermo) along with seeing the ancient Roman and Greek ruins, places St. Paul visited, the beautiful countryside and the coasts. An anonymous friend has made this trip possible for us for which we are most thankful. We are both rather tired. Pray that we might returned from Italy refreshed and ready for another period of writing and then back to NEGST at the end of 2008 for two terms of teaching. We leave for Italy Wednesday April 9th.

We also invited you to consider visiting NEGST during this special 25th anniversary year. There will be at least two special trips to NEGST, one in late January 2009 and one at graduation time, i.e. July 4th 2009.

With deep gratitude we are your fellow servants in Christ,

Chester & Dolores

Gifts toward this ministry are tax-deductible. Please make your check payable to “Light of the World Ministries.” Mail to Light of the World Ministries, 825 S. Meridian, Indianapolis, IN 46225.

LIGHT OF THE WORLD MINISTRIES, INC.

Update from Pastor Oscar Muriu

This article appeared in last weeks Daily Nation. I think you will appreciate reading it. The papers surprised us by honoring our work. Thank-you for being a part of it in prayer and giving.

You can see the original article at http://www.nationmedia.com/dailynation/nmgindex.asp . Go into archives for March 26.

Oscar Muriu.
____________________________________________________________
Halfway Point Back To Normal Life.
(The Work Of The Nairobi Chapel In Restoring People)
DAILY NATION, Living Magazine, Wednesday March 26, 2008.

Someone called my father from outside and I thought it was one of his friends who often called him to go and chew miraa with him. My father opened the door and went out to meet the man calling. I didn't give it a second thought. But he never came back.

"When I woke up in the morning, I went outside to wash my face and the first thing I saw was his badly mutilated body. It was floating in a stream next to our house. He must have been murdered and thrown into the water. I was so frightened that I literally ran all the way to the road. It did not matter to me where I was heading; I just needed to get away from what I had just seen. I ran without looking back.”

As many Kenyans try to settle down to business as usual following the very rocky start to the year, others, like 14-year-old Paul Ngatuk Erumu, are wondering where to begin to pick up the pieces. He is now an orphan - thanks to the post-election chaos in which thousands, including his father, were killed, and thousands others rendered homeless. The Standard Seven pupil's mother died several years ago in a village in Turkana while giving birth. Both she and the baby died, according to his father.

Paul was living with his father, an ODM elections agent, in a rented one room house in Isiolo town when the violence broke out. As he ran away in fear, he was lucky to get a lift to Nairobi. He arrived in the city in the evening and slept on the streets.

“I narrated my story to some strangers and a Good Samaritan gave me Sh20. The next morning moving from street to street, I found myself at the Kenya National Theatre where someone else me another Sh20 and told me to head straight to the Jamhuri Park showground. He said many fleeing Kenyans were being housed there.”

But by the time he got to Jamhuri Park following the directions he had been given, Paul found the gate closed.

"I started to cry. I didn't know what to do ' " says the soft spoken and traumatised boy.

I saw a man and asked him where I could go. After explaining to was from Turkana, he took me to some Turkana people who rejected me. I started crying again, feeling completely lost."

The man then took him to the Nairobi Chapel situated nearby and they asked him to stay with Paul for a few days while they looked for a place for him to go. "He bought me a meal and put me up for four days after which I went back to the church. From there I was brought here."

'Here' is a halfway house in Karen, Nairobi. The house is an initiative of the church; some members of the congregation have temporarily opened up their homes to accommodate Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs). These halfway houses have proved to be a saving grace for those who have no homes to go back to or are still too frightened to even consider going back. Paul is one of many who were caught up in the violence and are unsure of how to start again. But for now, he and others like him are safe.

The halfway house has also been home to 55-year-old Naomi Wanjiku, who fled from her home in Burnt Forest after a celebration jig following President Kibaki's disputed election win.

"Immediately after the elections results were announced, we (women from my area) all came together to sing and dance in celebration. Within minutes, our neighbours from different communities started throwing stones at us. Even before we could recover from this shock, houses were being torched. They burnt our maize farms, which were ready for harvest. I remember going to check why my sheep and goats were bleating only to find them roasting alive. I couldn't do anything to save them."

That night, Naomi says, nobody slept. Having lived through the 1992 violent clashes, she took her title deed and tucked it deep into her pockets.

"In the morning, people started to flee with whatever they could carry," she says. "By this time, arrows were flying all over the place. This was very scary. More houses were being torched and I fled at seven in the morning with only the title deed and my life."

Naomi is thankful to God for coming out alive, but says she can never go back. "It is hard to forget the things that have happened. No matter how much the Government insists on reconciling communities, it is hard. I lost literally everything in 1992. I rebuilt and resettled; now here I am, back at square one! Where is my future and that of my children? My grandchildren? Will the Government guarantee my family a future?"

Naomi's family was divided as people fled in different directions. At the halfway house in Karen, she has only her two young grandchildren. Her four children are living with relatives in Kinangop and Githunguri. Although she left 4.5 acres of land in Burnt Forest, she has no plans of going back. She is thinking of settling in Limuru and hopefully set up a business there.

Mercy Wanjiku, a 31-year-old mother of three, fled from Cherangany in Kitale. She weeps as she recalls how 27 women were whipped and taken away to Kaboret forest in Cherangany where they were raped. She says she lost her two-acre maize plantation. With her is 25-year-old Anne Wangui, a mother of four. She was a resident of Chepcion in Molo when the violence erupted. She believes her husband is still trapped somewhere in Molo even though she hasn't heard form him since she ran with the children. Maria Njeri fled from Elementaita leaving everything behind apart from her four children. "Everything was razed to the ground. The only clothes I had were the ones I was wearing" she says.

At the halfway house are about 40 people. Twenty-four year-old Moffat Njau is the caretaker. He worked as a chef before the violence broke out and when businesses in Nairobi and its environs came to a standstill, he decided to volunteer to help in the halfway houses programme. He was introduced to Njenga Muigai, the owner of the halfway house in Karen. Njenga is one of those who have given their houses to be used to accommodate IDPs. Njau was charged with ensuring the smooth running and administration of the halfway house.

Njau says nothing gives him greater satisfaction than to see people come to the halfway house in a very needy condition and be transformed through care and counselling, until they are ready to face life again. Indeed, about a week or two after they come in many of the IDPs are ready to leave.

"Some are transported to their up-country homes if they feel that the structures are still in place for them to resettle. But in most instances, they choose not to go back. " says Njau.

Situated about five kilometres away is the Jordana House, a bungalow that used to be a guesthouse before the post-election mayhem. Alyta Githire, the proprietor, attended a service at the Nairobi Chapel on the invitation of a friend. Little did she know that this visit would change the nature of her business for several months. She had been watching news clips on television about how much IDPs were suffering in the camps.

"I always wondered how all these people coped up with living out in the open. How did they cook, eat, shower, dress or undress with all those people around them?" Alyta says. During the sermon, the pastor leading the service made an appeal to the congregation and Alyta raised her hand and volunteered her guesthouse to be opened up to the displaced. From then on, displaced people and their families started streaming in. In the first week of February, Alyta received the first bunch of 30 people. And it has been like this ever since - after each group has been resettled, another one comes in and the numbers have not gone below 30.

Alyta, who reveals that she was previously a very private person, says the whole experience of opening up and having her private space invaded has taught her some lessons in humility.

"I feel humbled. I used to complain a lot about small things, but now I do not. I have learnt to appreciate what I have, including people from backgrounds different from mine.” She has grown spiritually, too. "I thought I was close to God before, but now I know differently. Now He is right here with me' "

The halfway housing project is funded and supported by Nairobi Chapel, some partnering organisations, various companies and individual well-wishers. "The church has played a big role; individual members of the congregation have also been very helpful donating foodstuffs, clothes and toiletries;' Alyta says.

In both halfway houses, there are rules and regulations to abide by. A very strict timetable must be followed, especially when it comes to meal times. Njau explains that the experience of cooking for large numbers has taught him how to budget for large numbers of people. He has also learned how to handle people with sensitivity.

The healing process

He says, "When they first come here, most of the IDPs are very quiet and distressed. They keep a lot to themselves and we allow them to do so because it is part of healing. But at some point, they open up. That is when we listen carefully, wipe their tears and comfort them. I walk with them through all this until the point when they sober up and actually start to visualise themselves starting a new life altogether," Njau says, adding that many of their visitors came from Kirathimo, Tigoni and Cherangany camps.

"It is at that point that they start living again and we sit down together and discuss plans for their lives.”

Leornidah Ambiyo, 30, is one person who has benefited from this humble rehabilitation project. She fled from the Kibera slums at the peak of the violence. She was with her 11-year-old son and they camped with other fear stricken families at the Jamhuri Park showground.

“A month and three days later, church people came to see us. Some young women interviewed us on how we could get back on our feet. I had nowhere to go; our rural - home is very poor and going back there without any form of direction would only have caused problems to my family," explains the single mother, who originally comes from Kakamega.

After the interview, Ambiyo was taken to Njenga's house and after 10 days, the programme administrators had rented her a house for three months at Riruta Satellite and taken her son, who is now in Standard Five, back to school. Ambiyo cannot see herself going back to Kibera where she worked as a cleaner during the day and sold vegetables at night. She still returns to the halfway house to help with the cleaning and other chores. She has this to say to her fellow Kenyans: "We must love each other like members of a family with different characteristics and interests. We must be one thing."

Milicent Mwololo

Turning A House Into A Home

According to Pastor Anne Mburu, the team leader of the halfway houses project overseeing resettlements, the houses have acted as a transit camp where IDPs come in to experience the warmth of a home as they await resettlement. Anne says in while these people live in the halfway houses, the administrators on the ground work hand in hand with Red Cross personnel to gauge ways in which they can be helped.

"In most cases, these people do not wish to go back to their homes, especially after what they saw. These are people who saw death and killings with their own eyes and talking about going back home might even offend some of them. In cases where they refuse to go back, we rent a house and pay three months’ rent in advance for them. We also take the children to boarding school and help the parents start a business” Anne explains.

There are a few who have opted to go back to their homes and the halfway house team has been the success of this programme. "Those we have helped have been able to -pick up the pieces and get on with life,” Anne says.

When there were still very many people living in the camps, it was common for children to come to the halfway houses very sickly because of exposure to the cold "but after they absorbed the warmth of the houses, they would get better. I have seen some very sickly children get better within two days of coming in"

Anne says the half way house project was originally supposed to last until the end of March but since there are still very many destabilised families, it is likely to take a little longer to wind up. “But it need support form Kenyans, especially when it comes to sponsoring as many children as possible to go back to school.”

She explains that due to the instability of the families, there is little choice other than to send the children to boarding school so their parents can have space to restructure their lives. "Part of this is done through getting them actively involved in the running of the houses through a duty roster for cleaning and cooking."

The houses have also hired caretakers, matrons and chefs - all aimed at making the IDPs feel comfortable. Volunteer youths teach children the basics of reading and writing. At the Jordana House, for instance, a makeshift school has been set-up and a Form Four graduate is volunteering as a teacher. Children under her care are learning the basics of the alphabet. They also sing songs and engage in sports as a way of occupying them and reducing the opportunity to relive the horrors they have seen. Prayer and Bible Study are also part of life in the halfway houses, which have succeeded in painting a picture of love amid chaos, warmth amid coldness of heart and a process of transition from displaced families to surviving families.



Oscar Muriu
P. O. Box 53635
Nairobi
Kenya

Tel (254)723-261-944

Reflections on the Msafara by Oscar and Muriithi

Msafara is Over

Time will judge just how effective the Msafara was in impacting Kenya’s destiny. And of-course reports will be written and audits done. However, off the top of my head and from my limited perspective several results of the Msafara seem evident…

300 Kenyans had a chance to visit and interact with the situation on the ground firsthand. They were able to see the extent of the country’s devastation for themselves. They learnt to care for the displaced. They were forced to deal with their own prejudices and to relate closely to people of other tribes. Each of these belong to a faith community and will return to it with a message of unity and hope. Especially powerful because many who came are the church leaders.

There was heartfelt reconciliation and a resulting unity among church leaders in the various towns we visited. Many leaders confessed that by taking sides in the political events, they had reduced their ability to care for all the communities they were responsible for. By repenting of this short-sightedness and committing to work with leaders of other tribes, they now model the way for the churches they lead to maintain peace in their areas and to care for those affected by the violence. And for church leaders to conduct themselves differently come the next election. There is great power for good when the church is united. An example - we were informed after Msafara left Naivasha, of an initiative by church pastors to ensure that the communities evicted from their town could return safely.

Many churches are caring for displaced people who are housed by their members. Because these people don’t live in the camps, they are ‘under the radar’ so to speak, and little support is going to the needy families caring for them. By delivering 65 tons of food and 5 lorries of humanitarian supplies to the pastor’s fellowships in the various towns, Msafara opened up new distribution channels that take care of, and support many of the most needy. The Red Cross has done a great job, but they can only do so much. We hope these channels will continue to be used by different agencies that are looking for alternative relief distribution channels

The hardest to quantify may be the most significant. In each town, united church leaders were able to engage in Spiritual Warfare prayer together over their communities. The bible teaches us that God answers prayers that are prayed in humility, unity and repentance. In 2Chronicles, God promises ‘If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray, if they seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and forgive their sins and heal their land’. I can’t wait to see the healing and turning around of our nation that will happen as God begins to answer the prayers that we prayed together!

What next after Msafara?

The initiative is ended, but the need is not. We were faithful to do that which the Lord called us to do – pray over 5 main cities in Kenya . . . and we therefore believe God will do a miraculous work as a result of our simple obedience.

Going around the country however, and meeting the IDP’s was heart-rendering! The need, the destitution, the hopelessness, their sense of despair, the children . . . it has reignited a desire to continue engaging in their plight, and work at ensuring their cause is not forgotten. We intend to close the Msafara office within a month, but to keep mobilizing food and medicines for the displaced. We can only do so much, but we must do what we can. We will therefore channel any new funds that come in towards the humanitarian work. At present, just as a single church, we have over 100 displaced children now in school under our care, and about 150 families under our support as we try and stabilize and ‘re-start’ their lives by giving them the psychological and financial support needed to get back on their feet.

Please pray with us.

Pastor Muriithi Wanjau/Oscar Muriu

Here is what Nairobi Chapel is doing to help

Pastor of church in which 30 died honoured for courage

Story by MICHAEL MUGWANG’A and DENNIS ODUNGA Publication Date: 3/17/2008

A pastor of a church in which over 30 children were burnt to death at the height of the post-election violence was Sunday honoured by a Nairobi church for his courage and sacrifice.
Pastor Janet Mutinda of the Nairobi Chapel announced the decision to honour Pastor Stephen Mburu of the Eldoret-based Kenya Assemblies of God church that was torched on New Year’s Day with 35 people inside.

Pastor Mburu also received a Sh400,000 cash token to help him “pick up the pieces of his life”.
According to Ms Mutinda, the cash will help Mr Mburu build himself a house as efforts to rebuild the church continue.

The Nairobi Chapel also plans to have Mr Mburu fitted with dentures at a South African hospital. He lost eight teeth when he was attacked as he tried to rescue the children from the burning church.

The screams

In a moving testimony at Nairobi Chapel Sunday, Mr Mburu recounted how the screams of children moved him to try and save them. He vividly recalled how he had to watch as a female child burnt to death because he could not reach her in time. “I saw the children crying as the fire engulfed the church, and as much as my life was in great danger, I could not run away,” the pastor said. He managed to pull out five children alive, he told the congregation.

Meanwhile, displaced children from Sugoi Children’s Home in Eldoret are not willing to return to the home even though normalcy has returned to the town. They instead want Eldoret Presbytery, which manages the home, to find an alternative location. The children spoke to the Nation Sunday at PCEA Ayub Kinyua parish where they were relocated. “We are still afraid of the place given that we would stay next to people who showed us no mercy as orphans and former street children,” said John Kamau a Form Two student at the home. Rev Geoffrey Mwihandi, the moderator of the Eldoret presbytery, said that 130 children were relocated after their farm and houses were destroyed.


Please visit this site:
http://www.nationmedia.com/dailynation/nmgcontententry.asp?premiumid=0&category_id=1&newsid=119211



Oscar Muriu
P. O. Box 53635
Nairobi
Kenya

Tel (254)723-261-944



Chester E. Wood
9441 Haddington Dr. W.
Indianapolis, IN 46256
Phones:
Home: 317 595 9850