PS Update: Friday & Saturday; Feb 19-20; Langas Slum, Kenya

Doug VanDevender:

Friday & Saturday (19 & 20) we wound up our three week ministry tour with a two day training event of pastors in the Langus slum (between Eldoret airport & Eldoret City Center). About 70 attended.
On Friday we taught on what God is Doing in the World, Doing the Ministry of Jesus, Equipping God’s People to Do the Ministry of Jesus & Forgiveness as a Christian Distinctive.
When we invited people forward for prayers for physical healing, uncharacteristically only one woman came. As we prayed for her, God took away the deep seated pain of abuse and bitterness and apparently the pains of asthma as well.
We left the meeting very concerned that the group was reluctant to embrace the spiritual healing of forgiveness. Their area was marked by severe violence two years ago during post-election chaos, and the Church in the area had been fractured by suffering, suspicion, bitterness and the desire for revenge.
We prayed overnight that God would withhold rest & remove the flavor of their food as they struggled over whether to respond to God’s offer of forgiveness and liberation.
Saturday began with testimonies. Several reported their painful struggle to forgive, and their eventual success. Some prayed all night. As we ministered the introduction to Transforming Prayer there was a growing joy that God was providing them a simple means to bring freedom and healing to their churches and their communities. The meeting ended in celebration!
The week concluded with successful prayer for several key leaders. Several declared, “This message will heal Kenya.” Our host was more expansive, “All Africa is waiting for this message.” That’s a daunting thought, but we agreed that training meetings should be scheduled for other areas of Kenya, Tanzania & Uganda at the direction of the Spirit and as soon as logistics permit.
We return home deeply humbled by what God has miraculously done in only three weeks and optimistic that God will take our small contribution and grow it into something transforming and beautiful.
Thank you ALL for your prayers. They were felt by us and acknowledged by the Kenyans. We have never before ministered under such protection and grace.

Richard Cazzell: As Doug remarked, we both thought that the Langas meeting was “going South” after the 1st day. We were even discussing our thoughts with Ben at supper, when the conference leader, a pastor Isaac, called Ben to say how excited he was about the day’s meeting, & how we were right on target, and to please continue tomorrow! Well, we went to sleep believing God had it under control. When we heard testimonies the next morning, oh my goodness… we were like “laser bombing” the target. At the conclusion of the meeting, an attendee named Lucy, was ask to close us in prayer. She spent 5 minutes affirming our words, reciting many of the teaching highlights verbatim. After she prayed, Doug & I felt like we could fly home from right there… without an airplane!
After we left the conference, about 4:15 Saturday afternoon, we went to Ben & Mary’s home for a quick shower & change of clothes, before our 7:30 flight to Nairobi to catch the international flight to Amsterdam. Ben & Mary’s house is only about a 15 minute drive to the airport. After getting ready and having some tea that Mary prepared, she asked if Doug & I would pray for her. She said she wanted to receive from the Lord like Ben had received last night.

So here’s what happened. The night before, after supper, Doug & I prayed for Ben, and the Lord delivered him from some real painful discouragement issues he was having. When he went home, he told Mary about it, and she could see how happy he was. So from 5:15 until 6:00, we prayed for Mary, and God healed her in the same way from several emotionally painful things.
The setting was kind of funny in that the noise distractions included loud rap worship music from outside, the hammering sound of some boys fixing a speaker cabinet, and a goat braying on and on and on and on.
Mary was so happy when we finished! You could see in her face how the pain was gone. Then, off to the next adventure at the airport.
The incoming plane was 15 minutes late, arriving at 7:45. As we stood on the tarmac to go up the stairs into the plane, the power went off. All the lights went off, and the jet engine shut off, just like the entire thing had blown a fuse. We were sent back into the terminal to wait. Were we destined to spend the night again in Eldoret? After 20 minutes, the engine restarted and the lights came back on. We were finally released to board, and we took off at about 8:45, and landed in Nairobi at 9:20. We scrambled through security at the international terminal, and managed to hit one store for a couple of gifts for home before to time to board the KLM flight.
The rest of the trip went very smoothly, with maybe 7 hours of total good sleep time on the two 8.5-hour cross-continent, cross-ocean flights. Finally, Sunday afternoon at 1:00 PM, we were once again in the land of Blackberry’s and fast, reliable internet. Praise the Lord.

P.S. Updates - Wed & Thursday; Feb 17-18; Eldoret, Kenya

We finished the two-day event at the Spiritual Life Center in Eldoret (Bishop Ben Bahati’s church). We had more than 100 church leaders. We finished the day with two prayer demos which sent the group into orbit. The sessions seemed rather routine and subdued to us, but the people knew the two men we prayed for and know they had been locked up for a long time with deep emotional matters. Of course God quickly and gently healed them.

Bahati said afterward, "All Africa is waiting for what you are teaching and demonstrating." (We'll try to get that scheduled before we leave on Saturday… and Paul, could you wire us some more schillings?)

We're getting a bit weary and fighting sore throats, but the Holy Spirit is in overdrive and both the public and private testimonies are blowing our socks off.
God is speaking to the leaders day and night, transforming their thinking about themselves, God, life in general, and ministry. He is lifting them from a place of great weariness and energizing them with hope and fresh resolve.

God is really cooking up something in this area… and the smell is sweet.

Please pray as we wind up our whirlwind Jesus-tour with Fri and Sat in the Langus slum where post-election violence two years ago was quite shocking.
We are expecting over 60 bishops, pastors & other church leaders. Then a dash to the airport where home is only a short 30 hour hop away.

Please hang in there & pray the next 48 hours!

God bless you guys! We love you. Richard & Doug

Farewell, Kenya from Doug and Richard

Good morning. We arrived in Amsterdam in good shape & on time. Right now it is 6:25 A.M. I slept the whole way after having our dinner after takeoff, so I’m feeling rested & ready to head over to the McDonalds.

I just wanted to report that the final day in Langas (a “suburb” of Eldoret) was a major breakthrough. Our thanks to everyone who was praying! Also, in those last 2 days we got to pray for Ben & Mary, and each of those sessions was nothing short of a major tsunami!!! Greet the church. Send our greetings to Apostle Tim, and Sub-Bishop Bill!

In Christ, Travel Bishop Richard.

Testimonies from Turbo, 2/16

Pastor David Papella was bitter at his parents because he didn’t get to finish school. He was told that if he would grow his parents a good banana crop, they would pay his school fees, but they reneged on the deal. His friends advised him to start drinking, and that it would make him strong enough to beat up his father. So he did. But he said it never made him strong… only drunk. David said that he heard the word of God through Richard’s prayer testimony, and that he has forgiven his parents. David said his wife also had bought a herd of goats & her parents agreed to tend to them for her. They sold them out from under her, and never paid her… and even denied they had anything of hers. Thus, she hasn’t spoken to them in 3 years. David shared about forgiveness with her, and she is forgiving her parents, too. They are both planning to go visit their respective parents and share they have forgiven, and restore relationship.




Pastor Joseph wasn’t buying the forgiveness message yesterday. He had many of his things stolen in the violence. He woke up this morning & thought he would read his Bible. He randomly flipped to Matt. 18:21 and started reading (which he preached to the group!). When he finished verse 35, God spoke to him & said Joseph, all of your things were “little things.” So, he has forgiven those who stole from him.






Margaret said she was so happy, & she knows the Holy Spirit arranged this meeting. She & another lady were sent by their pastor to attend. She was not happy about coming. She further said she was bitter at a man who had defrauded her of 1000 ksh ($13). She prayed yesterday forgiving this man & he unexpectedly had called her today apologizing and sending her the money! She also apologizes to her pastor because she is so blessed to have come.







Pastor Francis Kamou said he left yesterday’s meeting feeling like what Doug & Richard shared was a bunch of junk. But, he said, the Holy Spirit followed me home.
At 3:00 A.M., he thought someone had broken into his house. A “lot of noise” had woken him up. He said it was the Holy Spirit who telling him he needed to forgive, and he said, “I did.”








Pastor Isaac (kalenjin tribe), said he has been ministering in his church his own way, and now he is turning it all over to the Lord. He is not going to continue to run it like a petrol station, but trust God. He repented to everyone for the crimes his tribe committed, & is asking God to grant forgiveness to his tribe for their sins.







Mama (Mary Mandoni) shared her joy w/Ben having brought them together in unity. She says we are all serving one God. She told us, “You have brought love!” She said, “You are blessed, for you are peacemakers.” She had an orphan’s school that was burned down, and lost other personal things. She said she has forgiven all!






James’ wife was murdered in the violence, plus his house and church destroyed. He and his 4 kids escaped to Turbo & were helped by Ben & Mary. He shared about God healing his heart yesterday, and how he was able to offer forgiveness to the offenders.

Turbo, Kenya Day 2

From Doug:
Before our trip, I was praying and God reminded me of some of the amazing things we have seen Him do through the years. Then He said, in reference to this trip, “Don’t assume you’ve seen everything yet!” He assured me there would be surprises on this trip. Today, those words came to pass.
The pastors and other leaders (some 51) arrived early and were in high worship when we entered the building. Ben Bahati, who had called the meeting, began by asking for testimonies of what the people had learned yesterday and what the Holy Spirit had been saying to them.
Richard will give snippets of those testimonies after my wonderful contribution…
The initial three testimonies astonished us, as the people reported what God was doing. Two years ago, post-election violence swept through the area. Many of the people were targets of political gangs. One pastor’s wife was murdered, their home and church burned. Another had her home, church and orphans school burned. And on and on.
What we had not realized is that since the violence the churches had been totally disrupted and bitterness and hatred severely divided the Christian community. So much so, that many of the leaders who came to the meeting had not spoken to one another in two years and refused to shake each other’s hands at the door. One pastor reported later that it was an astonishing event to see all these people in the same room.
BUT…the teaching we did yesterday on “God is Creating One People for Himself” and “Forgiveness as Central to the Christian Faith” was projected into the hearts of the people by the Holy Spirit. During and after the Monday meeting the Holy Spirit convicted (apparently) all of the leaders of the necessity of forgiving all their offenders and embracing one another as spiritual family.
To say that this is one of the most profound experiences we have had in our Christian lives is an understatement.
Richard gave an overview of the prayer model. Then I gave examples from my experiences in prayer to illustrate that TP is God’s tool to enable us to far better do the ministry of Jesus: i.e. evangelize the poor, heal the sick, peel the darkness off people, heal wounded and broken hearts & demonstrate that the season of grace inaugurated by Jesus is still in effect.
Particularly surprising is the response of all to our take on dealing with the demonic. Demons in Africa feel little need to camouflage themselves and the ministry to expel them is aggressive and loud. The demonic is viewed as a constant adversary needing constant vigilance.
The model we are introducing is quiet and hardly engages the demonic at all, rather looking for the root of the activity and having eliminated that cause to expect the demons to leave without much ado.
To our surprise (as in Mombasa and Nairobi) the people enthusiastically embraced the teaching, repenting of the way they have been ministering and rejoicing that God has already defeated the foe (Colossians 2:13-15).
After lunch we had announced plans to do 3-4 demonstration prayers for the group. However, God had other plans in mind!
Ben asked for additional testimonies, and the most astonishing flood of reports poured out for the next 2 ½ hours: twelve stories of God’s confrontation in the night; of deep repentance for feelings of hatred, bitterness and desire for revenge; of deep grief that they unwittingly had individually and collectively prevented God from working in their churches and the community at large for two year.
Again, Richard will report on specifics, but we are humbled and frankly a bit “fried” having never seen God in such a brief moment in time so dramatically initiate healing for a town and region. Many agreed this was their first experience of Christian unity, and declared that this is the message that can save Kenya and must be preached to the nation. They all agreed to begin in their own churches, then to consider having a community-wide service of confession-repentance-reconciliation, and pledged to take the word beyond their area.
Ben summed up the message that the group had collectively embraced:
There is only ONE Gospel
There is only ONE Ministry (Jesus’, not ours)
There is only ONE Nation of Kenya (not 42 autonomous tribes)
On that foundation he called everyone to unity to receive God’s forgiveness and healing themselves, minister healing to their churches and bring healing to the Turbo area.
I closed with an exegesis of 2 Corinthians 3:12-18 and a long period of prayer during which the Holy Spirit continued to speak and minister to the leaders.
We took up an offering for one of the pastors who leaves tomorrow for evangelistic meetings with Muslims in a very dangerous, remote area of NE Kenya.
Thank you all for your prayers. You cannot imagine how God is fashioning them to give us exactly the right words and timing for ministry, and for the extraordinary favor and protection we are enjoying.
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2010
Turbo, Kenya Pastors Conference (Cazzell)
We certainly had a fun time with God & the pastors yesterday. There was stuff like Doug’s opening session where he told everyone he was going to teach the entire Bible in just 5 minutes. There was the “cell phone blessing” by Ben in which he instructed everyone to turn them off. After lunch when I spoke, I passed out chewing gum for everyone to exercise their mouth & not fall asleep while I taught. As we drove from Eldoret to Turbo today (appx 25 minute drive), Doug told me to explain the 16-week prayer ministry training course to the group this morning in 30 minutes. I said “How can I do that???” Ben chimed in, “That should not be a problem. Doug taught the whole Bible yesterday in 5 minutes.” Then we laughed the next 10 kilometers! These guys are so neat to be with, because they are really fun-loving, and genuine. What you see is what you get.
Well, today’s meeting felt like some sort of sci-fi sonic wave blast that could surely be felt all the way to Campalla, Uganda. I’ve been in conferences in Australia, Colombia, Singapore, Hong Kong, many places in the U.S., and several times in Kenya………………….. and I’m telling you that I have never experienced anything like what took place today. If Paul can match the pics w/the testimonies, hopefully you can get a little insight. Love you all. Thanks so much for your continued prayer support. In Christ, Richard

Please Pray

Richard and Doug have asked that we all please keep praying for them. Pray specifically that the Holy Spirit shows them what to say and when to say it. Also pray for physical protection and spiritual insight so they can discern the needs of the people they are ministering with. We don't take any of this for granted!

Monday - from Richard and Doug

Monday, February 15, 2010 (Cazzell)
Do you remember the old worship song, “Let’s all go up to Zion?” I don’t hardly remember the words myself. But you repeat, “let’s all go up to Zion…” and then sing “the city of our God”. “Sing hallelujah…”, etc. Well, anyway, I was singing “Let’s all go up to Turbo” as we drove out this morning, and guess what?... God was out there today! I can’t explain quite where Turbo is, all I can say is to “Google” it.
As we did some errands this morning, Pastor Joseph of the GFE Life Center here in Eldoret shared his testimony. He was living in Nairobi in 1988 when his brother became saved at an open-air crusade. He said his brother really changed and suddenly was respectful of their mom, and was being responsible around the house. They asked him what had happened to him. When he told them that he had accepted Christ, Joseph said that he made a lot of fun of him, and gave him a generally continuous hard time about it. The God ambushed Joseph at a meeting with some friends, and he surrendered his life to Jesus. Soon afterwards, he found Ben Bahati in the slums playing an acoustic guitar and witnessing for the Lord. He liked what Ben was doing, and decided to throw in with him in ministry. They lived in a very meager place in the slums, even sharing a mattress to sleep on. And now, here they are… overseeing a fantastic ministry based here in western Kenya.

When we had dinner last night, we saw Valentine’s decorations at the restaurant, and again here at the hotel. I asked Ben how Valentine’s Day came to Kenya, because I thought it was a unique U.S. holiday. He said the media brought it here (I had thought maybe U.S. missionaries had brought it). I told Ben that this was a very big day for the women in the U.S., maybe even bigger than Christmas! Then I told him about my terrible mistake on the 1st Valentine’s Day I had with my wife… only 6 weeks after we had been married. I told him how my family never really bothered with the day when I was growing up, but Kathy’s family made a very big deal of it. Kathy & I were still students at the U of A, Fayetteville, and after I came home from classes that day, she had fixed me a very special dinner… with candles, and chocolate cake for dessert. After dinner she gave me a very sweet card and a gift. Then, I gave her…. a kiss, but that was it. It didn’t occur to me to even get a card (even at the gas station). I asked Ben, “Do you know how long it took her to forgive me? Ten years!” I went on to say. He laughed and said, “She forgave you on the installment plan!”
This story is just to say how great (and sharp) the Kenyans’ sense of humor is. We laugh all day long at stuff. It’s like I would never have the time to write it all down.



The meetings today were pleasant. Powerful, & well received by the group today. The church building is located on the bank of a small river running south of the town. It’s a beautiful venue for a pastor’s conference… completely different from the noise, hustle & bustle of Nairobi. We are still missing Paul, but we both agree he was vital in the 1st two weeks, whereas here the receptivity is greater. These guys are very appreciative of the fact that we would come to them out here in the country. It is not only verbalized, but you can see it in their attentiveness. These pastors are literally like sponges wanting to soak up every last tiny drop.
Doug is writing his reflections, too. So read on. Please pray hard for this final week! We love you all, in Christ, Richard Cazzell

Monday, Feb 15, 2010 (VanDevender)
Eldoret, Kenya
This morning we ran a few errands with Ben Bahati and his associate pastor Joseph of the GFE Life Center Church, and then headed west for the forty minute, bouncing drive to Turbo, Kenya. (And NO, we don’t know how it got the name Turbo!)
Turbo lies astride the railway line and national highway connecting Uganda with Kenya. It reminds us of a west Texas cattle town in the 1870s: primitive, dirty and alive with grassroots entrepreneurial activity.
This part of Kenya was wracked by the political violence of December 2008. Several tribal groups occupy the area and antagonisms are real and just below the surface.
Into this mix God has brought scores of Kenyan evangelists and church planters who are penetrating the area with the Gospel. One almost has the feeling, from a sociological perspective, that this area is in a race between the healing, reconciling grace of Jesus and the forces of violence and social chaos.
Ben organized the meeting, inviting pastors and evangelists from all the surrounding churches. Only about ¼ of the 45 or so participants belong to GFE (Ben’s group)—the rest are from independent churches and other denominations. The meeting didn’t start until 11:30 as some pastors had to walk long distances to attend.
As one pastor at the end of the day said with amazement, it is extremely difficult to get these diverse individuals and religious perspectives into the same room together.
Yet, as we taught through the day---really pushing the envelope as change agents with applied scripture, there was a quiet unity of acceptance to the message God had given us to deliver.
I opened with the theme of what God is doing in the world: creating a People for Himself out of every tongue, tribe, nation and people-group---a People called by his name---a People in whom He can come to dwell. I identified this People as a new ethnic group, a new race really, that produces a new people with more in common with each other than the non-participating people we grew up with.
We are a People who know God, love, God, worship God, obey God, serve God, represent God and enjoy God, now and forever.
Then we looked at the ministry of Jesus in Luke 4:16ff: to evangelize the poor, heal the sick, peel the darkness off folks, heal wounded & broken hearts and to declare that GRACE is “in season”. We noted that this Age of Grace is still in season, but will come to a definite and dramatic end---possibly quite soon---with the appearing of Christ to judge the nations.
We understand our calling as becoming functional members of God’s Forever People with the determination to bring along as many other folks with us as we can.
Richard taught on Ephesians 4:11ff---that the ministry of Jesus is not only for clergy, but for ALL of God’s People. He spoke as one who is not in the clergy, but as a “mere saint” as mentioned in 4:12---yet fully capable (because he has been equipped) to teach pastors and do the power ministries of Jesus.
Richard also taught on the centrality of FORGIVENESS to the Christian faith (versus other world religions). He dealt with the personal aspect of God providing us forgiveness through Christ’s death on the cross. And reminded everyone that forgiveness is a conditional offer from God (Matthew 6:14-15), i.e. you can have as much from God as you are willing to give away to others.
Following his excellent presentation, I led the group in a group prayer using the conversational prayer, and God appeared to be doing a deep work within many.
Ben closed with the request that we begin Tuesday’s session with testimonies of what God had been speaking and what He had been doing during the meeting in general and during the prayer time in particular.
Although this group of pastors could easily be overlooked because of their remote location and abject poverty, God assured us that this was as important as any meeting we would do in Nairobi and Mombasa, and He is being good to his word.
This entire mission has been characterized by peace, unity and fruitfulness. The only concern I would express today is that I feel the extraordinary prayer covering we have enjoyed the first two weeks slipping a bit. Perhaps that is just a reflection of Paul’s departure and a shift in focus of his community.
I would plead with all of you to hang in there with us for a few more days. We are doing solid meetings Monday – Saturday, literally until the last moment before we dash to the airport to fly home. Each day is crucial for the participants, and Richard and I cannot even begin to do what God has put into our hands to do without unusual “spiritual cover”.
Thank you all so much.
Blessings,
Doug VanDevender