This Sunday we were at Elevation Church for the second time. Aside from seeing our projects here, I would love to take every one of my friends to a lively Kenyan Church, and believe me, Elevation Church is totally alive. Here you’ll find a classic Kenyan Worship Service– a combination between a barn dance, a rock concert and an old fashioned Hymn sing. Kenyans have found a way to take very old choruses and Kenyan-ize them into fantastic and meaningful songs. They also love to take Hillsongs music, add some Kenyan spice, and sing them over and over for about 10 minutes. Some people might object to the repetition, but by the time the song is over, you really get the point.
The pastor of Elevation is the son of a Toddy Chacha, a very old friend of mine and I was especially blessed to find him and his wife sitting in the pastor’s office waiting to see us. I can’t tell you how glad we were to see them. Sammy Chacha, his son, has now picked up the baton and is carrying his father’s heritage into the future. I was able to tell Toddy how much I admire and love his son. Sammy has a very unique and powerful presence. I have rarely seen such leadership in a man. He is totally non-religious and perhaps the most relevant leader I have seen in this country. I guess there is something to be said for “coming from great stock”.
Valerie and I are on the home stretch here. We leave for Western Kenya tomorrow for a week. After that we’ll come back to Nairobi for our final meetings with our WorldComp team.
I want to thank all of you who have prayed for us and supported us. When we are in Kenya for an extended stay, we try to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit about how to spend “your” money. This time we have spent a lot so I hope you will consider a contribution to the work we are doing. For example, the water tank at the Kibera Kids Center fell over in the rainstorm and we had to fix it. We are praising God that the thing tipped on its platform, but didn’t crash into the building (it was a miracle.) Several other major expenditures were the Medical Camp in Masai Country and the Network Partners Seminar and many other things.