REPORT FROM THE KIBERA AND KANGEMI SLUMS 

IN NAIROBI, KENYA

Jambo!  Bwana asifiwe!  This trip was a joint effort of Gateway East Africa and Criswell College with a team of 10 people including Professors Bobby Worthington and Kevin Warstler, Richmond Goolsby, Brandon Autry, Mark Hampton, Darrell Vang, Christian Cook, James Wright, Stephen Raikes, and Valerie Sallee.  This missions effort was unique in that we had 7-8 people doing evangelism everyday while 2 others met with 33 pastors from across Kenya in Ruiru for pastoral training.  Our normal efforts have been to take evangelism teams on one trip and then return for pastoral training but this approach was greatly blessed by God and was dually effective.  

God was very gracious to protect us in our travels and to give us good health the entire trip.  There were a few minor stomach irritations as usual but God’s healing hand was upon us.  I had contracted some type of virus right before we departed which caused an intense eye infection and a few days of fever but even still God gave me the strength to continue and I did not miss one day of work.  All is well now, thanks be to Jesus!

We had a slow start due to the New Year’s holiday but were still able to lead some people to Christ that day and we rejoiced with the new church that is meeting in Kibera.  First Baptist Church Lindi is the new work that has begun meeting and started in a miraculous way.  After I visited there last August Samson Kisia communicated with a few believers who were living there about us coming back to start a Baptist church in January.  They prayed and decided that they better get to work since we were coming back so beginning the first of November they have a pastor and a strong core group of about 15, every one of whom went out witnessing with us the days we evangelized in Kibera.  It was amazing to cooperate with these new believers for the sake of the gospel!  They have already outgrown their small building and have secured a new space which will seat 200.  Brandon Autry preached there Sunday and there were around 50 in attendance!

Each day in the slum of Kibera we found tremendous response to the good news of Jesus and there were over 100 professions of faith each day.  I approached a tomato stand and asked if I could share Jesus with the people gathered.  They welcomed me and I shared and asked for their response.  A woman named Nancy said she had been saved but had backslidden but had now decided for the new year that she would quit running from God and start telling others about the gospel.  When they saw me walking up to the stand she told a man James (who had come to buy tomatoes) that God was sending me to share the truth with him.  After I shared Christ with him James said, “I thought I came to buy tomatoes but I really came to get saved!”  He received Christ along with another lady and we all rejoiced together in God’s amazing grace.

We had great faithfulness by those on our team and they worked hard every day in difficult circumstances leading many people to Jesus.  Bobby Worthington was so excited I thought he might explode as he was in his “element” preaching the gospel to the poor.  Kevin Warstler was especially appreciated by the students we were training in Busia Bible College and also displayed the practicality of the gospel as he also went out to do evangelism.  Darrell Vang had an amazing experience one day as a lady who was a groundskeeper at some type of church in Kangemi was mightily saved.  After sharing the gospel with her and she prayed to receive Christ she then told Darrell that she had been hiding something that had been destroying her life.  She went back to a dark corner and brought back a plastic bag that contained a heroin-type substance and she asked him to dispose of it because she was now set free through Jesus.  He brought it back to me for its disposal and we offered a “burnt sacrifice” but avoided the smoke!  Along with our Kenyan brothers we praised God for His liberating power!

Everyone on our team has miraculous testimonies of seeing God’s mighty hand at work and they will be encouraged by these for a lifetime.  Overall there were about 840 people make professions of faith in Christ with a new church in Kibera and another in Kangemi.  We trained 33 pastors and church leaders from across Kenya in the areas of Bible Exposition, Preaching, Survey of the Pentateuch, and Evangelism.  I was blessed to preach at Ridgeways BC in Nairobi which is pastored by my friend Elijah Wanje.  Each of the people on our trip were able to preach, share their testimony, and lead many people to Christ.   We thank God for His faithfulness and look forward to our soon return to East Africa.  I will be leading an evangelism trip to the Taveta people in south Kenya at the base of Mt. Kilimanjaro October 12-24, 2015 and will be returning between now and then to train pastors in the western region of Kenya near Busia.  For more information go to www.gatewayeastafrica.net    Bwana asifiwe!  Praise the Lord!

Onward and Upward,

Richmond Goolsby

Jan. 12, 2015