A new church is born in Kenya

Hello friends and family. It has been a fabulous two days here for Rick and I. The pastors were doing a church plant up in the hills in place known as Oneno Nam. It was an hour drive on a very rough dirt road but some incredibly beautiful country that you will see in the photos. A large group of pastors arrived on Thursday and started with door to door evangelism. We arrived on Friday and were split up into eight groups of four people and set out walking through the country and visiting homes in this very rural area and inviting people to the church. Most of the folks camped out on the property where the church will be. Today (Sunday) was special when we got to sit outdoors under the tree where the church will meet until God provides a building for them.

There was a lot of worship, great teaching by Pastor Boaz, the introduction of the new pastor whose name is Lawrence and an assistant from Pastor Boaz's church to help until the church gets going. They had their first baby dedication (Pastor Lawrence and his wife's baby girl) and also a dedication of a plot of the land that was donated by the owner of the property we were staying at. The view was so beautiful it looked like a painting. This new church will be a part of First Baptist Church of Chemilil which is Pastor Boaz's church and referred to as the mother church in this area. The last thing that the pastors did was name this church. The name that they had decided on as a group is Touchstone Christian Fellowship in Oneno Nam, Kenya. We were honored that this group of twenty or more pastors had decided without our knowledge to show their gratitude for the work that our church back home has done for them. Its kinda like when someone names their child after you. Thank you church family for your gifts, prayers and faithfulness and risking the reputation of TCF by sending a couple of clowns like me and Rick to oversee our first project in Kenya. The house is going great but will not be finished by the time we leave but they have worked very hard and are doing a great job. We will have dinner in the home tomorrow night with Boaz and his whole family and dedicate the home. They are doing more than we expected and we are pleased with the construction. So sit back and enjoy the photos of the very first service at Touchstone Christian Fellowship Oneno Nam.

Your brother in Christ, Shane

Boaz (in the brown suit) and the other pastors pray for some brand new Christians.












Helen, Boaz's wife, gets jiggy during worship...which was very lively! We have the video and may post it later...it needs some editing due to poor camera work.
















Here is the new pastor (Lawrence) being prayed for (I know that's poor grammar, give me a break I'm in Kenya!)











Pastor Lawrence shows his appreciation and respect to Pastor Boaz by giving him a hen and a rooster. We've been in several cars with live chickens in the "boot" during our stay. We've even eaten a few.










From the left are pastor Lawrence, his assistant, pastor Cosmo, the man who donated the lot to the church and some unknown guy...they're standing at the new church site.










This is a view looking east from the new church site...it looks better in person! In the distance is the Rift Valley province.












This is another view of the church site looking to the west.












Dedicating the site...













This is one of the better stretches of road on the way to Oneno Nam. It looks like rain ahead.