Dear Friends and Family,
The last twenty-four hours have had their unexpected twists and turns but when the way straightened out it was all good.
The plan was to have all of the details worked out in advance for Sandee’s meeting with some women here in Nairobi. Dorcas Obel was to meet her here and be her escort. We had asked for budgets for all aspects of her involvement with Sandee and we arrived figuring everything was lined up.
TWIST #1
The first twist was Friday night when we learned that neither Sandee nor Dorcas knew where the meeting was to take place today and efforts to reach someone who knew were falling short. We had Nathan Chiroma (now in Rwanda), Tom (a five hour bus ride away) helping us. Finally, late Friday night we made contact and got that straightened out.
Sandee reported that today’s session with the women went very well. I’ll have her write up a report and send it tomorrow, hopefully.
TWIST #2
The second twist came just a couple of hours ago. We were notified that Dorcas did not have a plane ticket to Kisumu, Kenya where Sandee will meet a second group of women early next week. The flight is Monday. They contacted me, I went online, when through the process of buying a ticket for Dorcas but I needed a code that would come by phone (here? From the US?). Well, it came through, but the process didn’t get us her ticket. Four times I tried. Finally gave “PayPal” a try and it worked.
TWIST #3
I woke up to no hot water in my shower. So I washed my hair and shaved with cold water and called it good. It is now fixed!
SUCCESSFUL SEMINAR
Actually, the seminar was more than successful. Pastor Patrick (I called him Peter in yesterday’s report) originally thought there would be between 70-100. Then later confirmed it would be at least 100. By the time all registered, there were 150. Take a look at the pictures. The room was packed, wall to wall, and some were sitting outside as well.
TWO LECTURES
I had two lectures to give slotted around a time for “tea” (more like a continental breakfast), lunch, and two scheduled Q&A sessions.
Lecture #1
The first lecture was on “worldview” (or “what influences the way you understand what is going on in the world?). I explained how culture, traditions, community, social media, and/or celebrities can influence the way we look at and try to understand the world and went on to state that the Bible is where we ought to look. Then I went on to describe what the Biblical Christian Worldview says about origins, identity, morality, meaning, and destiny. And I tried to give examples that demonstrate how the biblical worldview would see things differently than a non-biblical worldview. Some examples are how the Bible and the world see homosexuality differently and how the non-Christian worldview would see “mankind” as generally good but the biblical Christian worldview sees all born with a sinful, deceitful heart.
Lecture #2
The second lecture was on “Finding Answers from God’s Story.” In this lecture I talked about God’s storyline in the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. I tell them that God’s Story has four chapters. 1 is Creation, 2 is Fall, 3 is Redemption, 4 is Restoration or New Creation. (I picked this up from other well known apologists.) But I don’t take them in order. I go from CH 1 (Creation) to CH 4 (New Creation). Then I ask “why is there a need for a new creation?” Then I go back to chapter 2, the fall, when God cursed Adam and Eve, and the ground. And I explain that everything that is wrong with the world can be traced back to Gen 3, the fall. Then I ask how can the broken world be fixed? Not by government, new laws, education… only by chapter 3 in God’s story… redemption in the cross of Christ.
MY THREE TAKEAWAYS
Takeaway #1
One of the participants who obviously knew something about the topic of “apologetics” mentioned that for many, apologetics seems to be a category of ministry that you must be well educated to participate in. And he cited American apologists that answer questions posed by science students, etc. I assured him that I wanted to help the ordinary person noting that the first apologists in the first century were fishermen not men with a Masters in Apologetics degree.
Takeaway #2
I appealed more than once for pastors who were present to make this kind of training available to people in their church, that people needed to be helped on how to answer tough questions about Christianity. At the end of the day, the pastor who is hosting me tomorrow after church said the same thing. “Pastors need to hear this. I am going to call 5-6 tomorrow to have them attend at our church. That was music to my ears.
Takeaway #3
The Bishop in attendance, who oversees 5-6 churches, and one other man at lunch for said they were impacted by just how Genesis 3, the fall, messed up everything and that even poverty is the result of something that got messed up after Genesis 3.
So, it was a good day… a very good day. This weekend is not over yet and we already talking about how to expand what has been started here, today.
Be sure to check out the pictures and see the packed room.
Here is the link to the album.
Be in prayer for the service that I preach at in the morning and the apologetics sessions tomorrow after church in another location. Pray for wisdom on my part and understanding on the listeners part. Thanks.
By His grace,
Steve