Wednesday's Conference

Like in most churches, these people know how to eat. The people are great cooks and wonderful hosts, and I’m still getting used to the routine. At lunch we are led into the bishop’s office where we are served with a basin and pitcher of water to wash our hands. The food is excellent – all fresh food, and if anyone can figure out how to grow mango trees in Arkansas they will make a fortune. The mangos are from heaven and extremely refreshing!

Chai Tea is served in the morning and in the afternoon, no matter how hot the weather is. Water is served all day long and a soda is offered in the afternoon. The tea is mixed with milk, which sounds crazy to me but it is really good. They say if you can drink Kenya tea then you can go anywhere in the world.

The conference started on time this morning. We still had traffic but nothing like yesterday. Richard started off with sharing his testimony and his experience in praying for people based on Luke 11; I followed with a brief overview of the components of healing based on Luke 11 and John 5, and shared how we can believe deception just as easily as we can believe truth. Doug followed with a knock-it-out-of-the-park by sharing his testimony and going deeper into prayer that invites the Lord to speak through his spirit into the person’s heart and reveal the issues that are causing pain, and provide healing. The difference is allowing the spirit to speak instead of us giving all the counsel.

After lunch Doug led a session with me where we invited anyone who wanted to help demonstrate the healing available through prayer. I had never done this type of prayer publicly so this was new territory for me conducting a mini-prayer/counsel in front of 300 people. We ended up praying with four people, and had several others volunteering, in about 30 minutes. In these 10-15 minute prayer sessions we just invited the Lord to reveal the source of emotional pain in their lives and asked him to speak to them about the issues and healing. In every case we saw miraculous transformation in their pain and their spirit, by their own testimony, and in one man he shared that the tightness in his joints and chest was removed as well. You have to understand that this is radically different from what they are used to. Their tradition is that the level of healing depends on the volume they are praying. So it is not unusual to witness very loud prayer sessions for deliverance and healing, only to see momentary or no healing. Doug and I simply and gently prayed for the Lord to speak to the heart of the person and then quietly waited, and they would report what the Lord was doing. The pastors were fascinated to see the Lord work without a bunch of ranting and raving and casting out, and all the encouragement was very positive. When that session was done, we had more opportunity to pray with people and see them healed as well.

We took a break and then the evening session began with Richard knocking a home run by encouraging the pastors to pay attention to their ministry in their home before taking care of the church. Most of these pastors, we’re finding out, are neglecting their own homes for the sake of the church. We are hearing this not from the pastors but from the wives during the breaks we have. The most powerful statement Richard made, and I know the Lord was behind it, was when he said, “If you think your church won’t survive without you, then it’s time you give your church back to the Lord.” That hit home with many of them.

It's about 85 degrees and 75% humidity. The church is like a pole barn with open air windows and they have really good fans when the electricity is working. We are grateful just for the opportunity to be with these beautiful people.

We are all three drained from the day, but very grateful that the Lord was responding and ministering into the lives of these people in such powerful ways. The Lord has been faithful in showing us what to say and when to say it, as we’ve asked you to pray. We have had no problems, other than several electricity outages while Richard was speaking tonight. I was sitting with Albert and Nancy Mulemi tonight and Nancy said, “Our enemy does not want this message taught.” I told her not to worry; Richard would yell it without a microphone in the darkness if he had to because it was truth. Everyone is feeling great, digesting great, and definitely blessed with the Lord’s favor.