The drought is upon us, but the fruit is flourishing. In our case, the drought is a steep dip in financial support (both ministry and personal) while the fruit is an abundance of strong African disciples stepping up into Christian leadership.
It is like Jeremiah 17:7-8:
"But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,
whose confidence is in him.
He will be like a tree planted by the water
that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
and never fails to bear fruit."
We are nourishing our roots in God’s stream. He is encouraging us by the amazing fruit of the ministry as we wait for Him to bring the rain to end the financial drought.
Ben Kisiki, a Ugandan Rock scholarship student who has lived with us this summer while interning at Liberty Institute, is a huge encouragement. Ben was a bright light at Liberty, a Christian advocacy law group. “Ben is hard working, intelligent, well-spoken and committed to the constitutional law issues we work on,” writes Kelly Shackelford, chief counsel. “Without reservation, we would recommend him for a legal position.”
In addition to his exemplary legal work, Ben has challenged many with his strong Christian faith and commitment to the Bible.
Then there is Ken Mollo, another Rock law graduate who recently went to work for The Rock in Uganda. Ken is leading our cooperative agriculture program with Uganda Christian University. He has a passion for evangelizing the workers in the fields and also helping teach other indigenous ministries professional agricultural techniques as a means of attaining self-sustainability.
Ken is a born leader who also oversees John Mugowa, our Rock scholarship coordinator. John suggested a discipleship camp for our new incoming scholarship students. He and Ken are working together on a four-day conference later this month on an island in Lake Victoria for the eight scholarship students.
Here are some of the topics they are developing on their own initiative:
-The Rock Creed (see posting below) for initiating new entrants.
-Team work and team building, one body many parts. (1 Cor 12:12-30)
-Finding our identity in Christ: Building self esteem (1 Peter 2: 9-10 ); (Psalm 139:14) I will praise Thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
-Redeeming time for the days are evil: saving time to maximize academic and spiritual efficacy at campus ( Eph 5:15-21)
-Personal budgeting and Financial Management: Being good stewards of God’s gifts…even our monies.
-Personal and Public Etiquette, cleanliness is next to Godliness.
In addition to the scholarship students, the Holy Spirit is at work in our leadership of the men’s discipleship program in Kenya.
Daniel Omondi, chairman of the Rock-trained Kingdom Builders who seek to do business and life God’s way, has a passion for reaching more men. Recently, 52 men responded to his invitation to be discipled by the 10-member Kingdom Builders group in his church. Joseph Musungu, Rock East Africa program manager in Kenya, has a vision of 500 more men being discipled in the next year.
Peter Otieno, a young Kenyan pastor, is growing in leaps and bounds as we equip him and his church to be self-sustaining in the primary school we recently helped them start. Peter also is excited to oversee an agricultural project we expect will provide funding for a new mercy home for children in his village.
There is more but I won’t go on. We would really appreciate you standing with us financially as God yields the fruit in The Rock.
