Dear Friends,

Thank you for praying for this work and all God is doing in and through us here in Kenya.

For the last few years we often asked for prayer concerning the drought. It was common for us to ask for God to provide rain. He has answered abundantly, actually some areas are receiving too much rain. Because of corrupt building practices a local landlord built a complex of flats on an adjoining plot, but over Calvary International Fellowship’s drainage. It was supposed to be an open area, but the water now has backed up to that a portion of the church plot has standing water. There is no damage, and besides to mosquitoes and frogs it is really not a bother, but it is clear we need to put in new drainage through the other side of the plot. Again, God has radically blessed us with this piece of land. When we purchased it we had no idea that it would be 100 meters from East Africa’s first superhighway. It is all a blessing, but we can really use prayer for wisdom on how to deal with the water drainage.

Please also Brenten, our intern from Oregon. He will be serving alongside the guys of the church for a few months. Please pray we can bless him as much as he desires to pour into our young men.

Finally, Wednesday will be the 20th anniversary of the day God gave me Kelli. Imagine! Please thank God with us for 20 wonderful years and that our marriage would be a light to the people of Kenya.

Shalom!

Ed

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Dear Friends,

Kenya is approaching a vote on a new constitution and there has been great rhetoric. Please pray God’s people would evaluate their new constitution in light of God’s word and cast their vote for His glory. Please pray we at Calvary International Fellowship can reflect the heart of God and not politics. Please pray we can educate people regarding the Biblical view of family, when life begins and how Kadhis courts (Islamic sharia courts) are harmful to the freedom of Christianity.

Please pray for faithfulness among the the people of CIF and for families in the church. Please also pray for Brenten, out intern coming out from America this week.

Thank you for keeping us and this work in prayer.

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Dear Friends,

Praise and thank God with us not only for a great safari (journey) to Kisumu, but to see the Calvary Chapel Lakeside church plant in action. Tomorrow will be their sixth Sunday service and it is clear God is adding to His church in Kisumu. Please continue to pray for them.

Please pray for the School of Ministry meeting at Calvary International Fellowship. It is wonderful to walk into the church building and see a group of students huddled together studying.

Finally, please pray for families in the church. Pray that men would stand up against traditions and embrace a Biblical model of manhood and womanhood.

Shalom!

Ed

A dear friend that went to be with the Lord two years ago once told me he considered me a Barnabas in his life. Barnabas is typically associated with encouragement and I'm typically associated with cynicism, so I needed to ask for clarification. Rick explained we all need a Paul in our life to disciple, exhort and correct us in God's word. He went on to say we all need a Timothy to disciple and be a Paul to. He said he considered me a Barnabas, a peer that sharpens and keeps the other accountable. Coming from Rick, that was one of the greatest compliments I ever received. I miss him.

This weekend Kelli, Jax and I traveled to Kisumu with Ruth, Rick's wife, to visit and encourage Calvary Chapel Lakeside. Pastor Stephen Otieno was sent from Calvary International Fellowship to plant that church in Kisumu and I have the honor of calling him my Timothy. There is something special about seeing a man you have invested into minister in the power of the Spirit of God to others. Maybe the best was as Stephen preached from John 2, I was being ministered to. My disciple was teaching me. Stephen will always be my Timothy, but he has also become a Barnabas to me.

Sunday evening we celebrated the new church with a sunset dinner at Kiboko Bay Resort, a resort right on Lake Victoria. It is probably the finest restaurant in Kisumu, but a plate of tilapia and bitter lemon is still only about $6. Pastor Stephen, his wife Maureen and son John Mark joined us, Ruth and the Pottenger family for the celebration. As the sun set, a huge lightening and thunder storm approached from the Uganda side of the lake. Much to the amusement of the Kenyans Kelli began to cheer the storm. We all agreed it was a wonderful sign of God's power and strength. Somehow it also reflected His power and strength to gather His people in Kisumu.

The storm and dinner were the end to a wonderful day, possibly the greatest, or at least most rewarding, day of ministry ever. It was wonderful to share it with Rick's wife, my wife, my son and our friends the Pottengers. It was powerful to share it with my Timothy, now my Barnabas. Mostly it was humbling to see God's power in His calling a people together in Kisumu.

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We love being missionaries. This morning before dawn we drove into Kibera to help a friend have a baptism service. That would be enough, but he was the pastor of a Roho Israel church, if you can call it a church. The group is best described as a cult taking the law of the Old Testament and mixing them with traditional religions of the Luhya peoples. In the best-case scenarios they sprinkle some Jesus language and maybe a few Christian traditions, but for all their fervency there is no grace and they are far from God.

I first met Pastor Felix in 2006 when he was attending Disciple Support Ministries. That Bible Institute was a huge help for Felix to see some of the errors of the Roho group and was used of God to introduce the grace of Jesus into his personal life. In the words of Pastor Felix, “We have been sending people to hell and now I desire to teach them about Jesus.”

For more than two years I had the honor of meeting with Felix and helping him walk through a major change in his church and speaking to the cult’s leaders. David Leek with Mission Aviation Fellowship had also been meeting and disicpling Felix. While the overall changes of the cult have been limited, the church Pastor Felix oversees in Kibera has been transformed by the love of God. Some members still wear turbans and remove their shoes before entering the church building. The women still sit apart from the men. The good news is that they now do those things in worship and not in bondage. Pastor Felix has taught them they are saved by grace and not of their own works and abiding by rules. The real Spirit of God moved on Pastor Felix and then used him to minister into that little church in Kibera. Within the last year Felix has been teaching through the New Testament and many of his sheep have come out of darkness and into the marvelous light of Jesus.

All of that culminated this morning when David and I baptized Felix as an example to his congregation. Since he had gained a solid theological understanding of baptism, we taught Felix some practical issues and he continued to baptize several members of his church. Since the baptism was held at a Boy Scout camp pool on the edge of Kibera we returned to the church for chai and a wonderful service full New Covenant believers.

It is seldom that I’ve witnessed a group of people completely caught up into a dead religious system be set free by Jesus. While God has been working in their hearts for years to bring this change, this morning was the culmination as they embraced the New Covenant of grace and identified themselves with the death and resurrection of Jesus in baptism.

There are still parts of that church that God looks forward to transforming as He sanctifies them as individuals and a congregation, but there are huge portions of my life that need more transformation. Regardless of what is needed, they are now in the kingdom of light and are much further along His path than before. I was honored to witness this day and rejoice with my Luhya brothers and sisters. Lord willing I’ll travel to their rural area in December to help Felix with a seminar among some of those upcountry churches.

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It is with great pleasure and delight that I get to share that Calvary Chapel Lakeside in Kisumu, Kenya, has officially been started. Our first visit to Kisumu was in February 2007, and from that time the Lord had burdened our hearts for there to be a solid Bible teaching church in this city. We weren't sure all the details of how the church would start, who would be pastoring it, where it would be located, and many other details; but God has finally given us the means to move forward. When we first left our home in California we had thought that I (Matt) would be the pastor of this church, but as we got here to Kenya, the Lord clearly showed us that wisdom would be to have a Kenyan pastor leading the church, even from the the get-go. God had already connected us with the person who we saw as that man, and slowly but surely God confirmed that he was the one to lead this church. Pastor Stephen Otieno was originally from the area of Kisumu, but the Lord had lead him to C.I.F. near Nairobi, Kenya; a church that is pastored by a good missionary friend of ours. So the Lord brought all of us together to begin this new work in Kisumu. This past Sunday (Easter Sunday) we held our first service. It was such a blessing, and we were all so excited for all that the Lord is doing. Most of those who have been faithfully coming to the Bible Study that meets at Pastor Stephen's house were there for church, and have all voiced that they are excited to have a church that teaches the Word of God. Here in Kenya there are many many churches that "preach" but do not "teach" the Word. In fact, it is commonly thought that if the pastor has not lost his voice by the end of his message that he wasn't "anointed" (due to yelling). I do believe that this church is very different than the way Kenyan's are used to 'church'. All of us were blessed by the message that Pastor Stephen taught (John 20) last week, and starting this coming Sunday we will begin going through the gospel of John, verse by verse, chapter by chapter. We are so thankful for the Lord's grace in helping get started. We are trusting the Lord as we make many decisions in this early stage of the church. We are praying about direction regarding language, having 2 services, and children's ministry (to name a few things). We appreciate all the prayer and support and encouragement that we've been getting. Praise the Lord!

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Dear Friends,

Please thank God, continue to intercede and rejoice with us for Calvary Chapel Lakeside’s start up in Kisumu. After speaking with Pastor Stephen and Mathew out there it is clear God blessed and there is a core group. Everyone is really encouraged as things take off. Please keep them in prayer, particularly as Pastor Stephen considers adding a second service so one will be in English and another in Kiswahili to minister to a wider group of people. Go below this post or click here for an update from Kisumu, l

Please pray as Calvary International Fellowship ramps up for School of Ministry. Please pray for faithfulness and a reliance on God’s Spirit as this goes forward. Please pray all we do now would equip saints for all God has for them.

Finally, please pray for the personal and ministry financial support. Since the new year we have seen a considerable drop. That is not complaining, pleading or not trusting God for His provision. We are simply asking for prayer in this practical area and we are confident God will do His will.

Blessings!

Ed

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Thank you for continuing to pray for the work here.

Please pray for he security issues in and around our house. In the last weeks there have been several home invasion robberies. Gangs of up to 20 people have invaded local compounds, beaten the guards and in at least two cases killed the guards. As the inflation continues to rise there is more and more of this activity. Now many of the young people in our community are living in fear because the police typically round up suspects and shoot them to end crime waves. Please pray there would be repentance and Jesus would call people to himself through all this.

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Dear Friends,

Thank you for praying through the Dulos conference. All three days were highly blessed. There will be fruit from this conference for years to come. Many people are already asking about the next one and we are praying about that now. Wow!

Please pray as we begin setting things up for Brenten, our intern to arrive in May. He is planning, praying and preparing and we ask you to join in with him that his time here would be fruitful for the call God has on him as well as ministry into the Kenyans he will be working with.

This may sound a little “unspiritual” considering 1-Cor 9:25 but we ask for prayer for Jackson as he competes in field hockey. He and the team are improving and they want to be a witness to the mostly secular and Hindu schools they compete against.

Finally, please pray with us for Haley as she works and prays through an opportunity to spend her summer in Peru on mission with Intervarsity. There are a number of variables and she is seeking God for guidance to His perfect will.

Blessings!

Ed

Compean Missionary Page

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Dear Friends,

Thank you for continuing to pray for us and the work here in Githurai. God continues to bless, we continue to see His hand at work and we rejoice as we begin another year together with Him and you.

Please pray thanksgiving as Calvary International Fellowship enjoys meeting in the metal building. Please continue to pray as the toilets are completed and we can relegate the outhouses to a thing of the past! Please pray with us as we seek God and His desire for a new Community Group (home study) on the 44 side of Githurai.

Please pray as we plan and prepare for what we are calling the Dulos conference. Please pray as Calvary International Fellowship will host pastors and leaders for this special gathering in February and that the exercise in holding the three day conference will in itself build servant leaders.

Finally, please pray Haley can find just the right job as she begins her second term at UCSB. She has had some interviews and such, but nothing is firm so it would bring peace to mom knowing people are praying her through this part of her re-entry to America.

Shalom!

Ed

Compean Missionary Page

Calvary International Fellowship: Prayer Update...