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Milk is important because Chai, 
yeah, Chai. 

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Tell us a little bit about Chai.
Chai is black good Kenyan tea, 

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black tea boiled together with 
milk and water and. 

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Hello friends, this is Scott 
Mazingo your host. 

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And we're here talking Chai tea 
and all things Kenya with 

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Bernard Kabaru in the studio. 
This is a special two-part 

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episode that I think you're 
really going to appreciate. 

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So sit back and enjoy. 
Well welcome back to the Grace 

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Church Members podcast. 
We have a very special guest in 

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the studio today. 
Well actually 2 but one who has 

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come almost 8000 miles to be 
with us. 

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And Brian, you only came about 8
miles. 

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So we're gonna, we're gonna 
defer to my friend Bernard 

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Kabaru Mowangi. 
He's here from Kenya. 

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And also my friend Ryan Burns, 
one of our members, Grace Church

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at the Taylor's campus, are 
here. 

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Good afternoon, man. 
How are we? 

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Very good. 
Doing well. 

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All right, I'm happy to jump 
into this conversation, Bernard.

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Most of our listeners know that 
our church does missions. 

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I'm using air quotes there in 
Kenya, but they're probably 

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unfamiliar with the extent of 
our partnership and the role 

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that you play in central Kenya. 
So could you just take a few 

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minutes, give us a little bit of
your background, your biography 

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and how you came to be doing 
what you've been doing for the 

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last couple decades there in 
central Kenya? 

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Well, thank you. 
Thank you, Scott. 

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And it's what a joy it is to be 
here today and also to have the 

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opportunity to be able to share.
And also I mean want to 

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appreciate and celebrate God's 
Providence in bringing us 

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together. 
My name is Bernard Cabaro 

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monkey. 
I was born in central Kenya 

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specifically in a place called 
Kyangundu which is a village in 

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Neri county. 
Grew up there humble background.

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My father and mother believers. 
So I'm the third generation 

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believer within our family 
because my Matano grandmother, 

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Patano grandmother was among the
first believers in the village, 

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became a Christian and came to 
know Christ when I was age 17 as

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a young person transitioning to 
high school, got involved in 

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establishing and a youth 
ministry. 

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So served in youth ministry for 
for some years. 

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Wrestled with God about his 
calling me to pastor ministry 

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but eventually giving. 
And one of the struggles 

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actually that I was struggling 
with is I was so ambitious to 

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want to address the poverty that
I had grown in the 

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underdevelopment of my area and 
what in my thinking I had come 

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to conclude was faith assured me
an eternity. 

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So no problem about heaven. 
But faith in Christ did not seem

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to address my real issues. 
And so the backwardness, the 

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poverty that I grew up in, I 
thought the only way to address 

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that is to pursue a career that 
will secure me with finances, 

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with wealth, with power, and and
and so yeah, that's that's what 

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I thought about. 
And and so when God started 

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calling me into ministry, I told
him, God, you're making a big 

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mistake. 
You have opened the opportunity 

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for me to go to high school. 
One of the best high schools in 

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in in in Kenya had a passion in 
my heart to pursue law join 

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politics. 
And I'm saying, God, you're 

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making a big mistake. 
And because I didn't know of any

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pastor at that time who had 
gotten to where I had gotten 

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there and had chosen to be a 
pastor, and some of the pastor 

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that I knew, they were living in
poverty. 

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And for me, giving in to 
ministry was like signing a 

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certificate of poverty. 
I didn't want that. 

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And but anyhow, who am I before 
God? 

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So God finally got out of me. 
So I stand today as a servant of

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God and with no regret about 
responding to his call. 

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I'm married to a woman again. 
I met God's Providence in my 

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ministry. 
Mary, my wife, she's a school 

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teacher and we are blessed with 
two children, two daughters. 

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Shirley who is currently married
and working a lot as a lab 

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scientist and with two kids. 
CJ who is five and Mary, who is 

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3. 
And Shirley is married to 

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Timothy, one of the young men 
that we raised the church at 

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Colonia, one of the orphans and 
a vulnerable children program 

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that now is my son-in-law. 
And then I have, we have Carol, 

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our second daughter who did 
business management and was 

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working with a corporate 
organization but resigned to 

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work with me. 
And so she's an administrative 

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assistant in our ministry. 
So, so generally that's that's 

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who I am. 
Born in a large family. 

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So we were ten sons and two two 
daughters. 

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So I'm the 5th in that line, 
yeah? 

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Big family. 
Yes, yes. 

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Are you the only one that's in 
full time ministry? 

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Yes, yes, Yes. 
I'm only one in the in the full 

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ministry. 
Yes, Yeah. 

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And so you had an opportunity to
come over to the States and do 

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some training and then when you 
when you move back, did you 

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start pastoring immediately? 
Yes, yes. 

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Yeah. 
Which is another again, 

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Providence. 
I had never ever dreamt of, even

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thought about coming to the US 
But one of the parts of God's 

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faithfulness he's he provided an
opportunity for me to come to 

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Arkansas to Baptist College, 
William Baptist University, now 

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full scholarship. 
And yeah, when I got here I got 

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again tempted to I think about 
God has given me an opportunity 

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now to be able to get some money
to secure myself because I 

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thought, I mean I faster 
minister again go back home. 

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There's nothing that is going to
provide, but praise God. 

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So I finished in May of 1991, 
and 17th actually to be 

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specific, and 21st of May. 
I was headed back to Kenya, 

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invited by the college where I 
was studying back in Kenya to 

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teach at the Bible College, and 
then also started invited to 

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pastor a church that was 
struggling on the outskirts of 

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Arabi. 
Banana Hill Baptist Church. 

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Yeah. 
So that was my first pastoral 

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ministry, yeah. 
So Fast forward a little bit and

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Grace Church comes into 
relationship with you when you 

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are pastoring at Koinonia. 
That's right. 

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Yeah, there's a second SAS plant
of Banana Hill Baptist Church. 

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Yep. 
Banana Hill, What a what a 

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beautiful place and a great 
name. 

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So we won't cover all the 
details of how the partnership 

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came about. 
A lot of just God moments and 

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and all of that. 
Let's, let's camp out a little 

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bit on that. 
When when you hear the word 

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partnership, when we talk about 
partnership, let's let's define 

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that 'cause that is a important 
characteristic and we hope hope 

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a distinction for our church and
for the work that you're doing 

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in central Kenya that separates 
it a little bit more from maybe 

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traditional quote UN quote 
missions. 

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So when we talk about 
partnership, what, what are you 

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talking about? 
Well. 

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Great. 
And and I, I, I, I have to say, 

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even if you define that, that 
our relationship with Grace is a

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unique one, that is drawn from 
an understanding of what I refer

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to as genuine partnership in 
partnership. 

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When you think about it, the 
beginning point you see think 

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about the imagery that Paul 
gives when he thinks about the 

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church, the body. 
And so when in First Corinthians

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chapter 12, he talks about the 
various parts of the body, there

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is none which is senior than the
other. 

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In fact, he makes an argument 
that even that which is seen to 

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be minimal in value is actually 
of greater value, and so 

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partnership therefore must be 
considered as the body of Christ

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working together as equals, with
mutual benefit. 

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And that's what Paul makes the 
argument. 

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And so our relationship, 
therefore with grace as we 

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relate, with grace coming 
alongside a vision that God has 

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given us, and even as grace 
pursues the vision that God has 

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given them. 
And the point of our 

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convergence, meeting together as
a body of Christ, is the pursuit

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of that vision. 
And so that has been great. 

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No, that's well said, Well said.
So then let's, we'll come back 

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to a little bit more. 
I'm going to have you explain 

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and what that, what that vision 
is for Central Kenya. 

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But Ryan, why don't you jump in 
and let's talk a little bit 

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about the role that you play, 
the volunteer title that you 

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have, and a little bit about 
your own personal experience in 

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travels to to Kenya. 
So what? 

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What is your official volunteer 
title here? 

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I think you guys call me a 
country lead within the outreach

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ministry. 
That's a that's a pretty cool 

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title. 
It's a pretty cool title, yeah. 

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You get a whole, You get a whole
country. 

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I just get a little department. 
You get a whole country. 

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Yeah, there we go. 
It works. 

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So I transitioned into this role
kind of over the course of 2023.

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So a, a great friend, Jerry Fay 
has been doing that, Great 

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friend of Burners, great friend 
of mine has been doing that for 

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a ten years or more. 
Yeah. 

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And I transitioned into that 
early 2023. 

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And so I've spent the last year 
or so just trying to kind of get

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my feet underneath me in terms 
of what have I actually 

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volunteered to do. 
Sure. 

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But it has given me some great 
privileges to spend a lot of 

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time with Bernard, more than I 
had in the past on phone calls 

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as we planned, as we talked 
about things, as we pray 

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together for upcoming trips for 
each other's families. 

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So it's been a real blessing in 
that sense to be able to to 

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spend time with a brother who is
1000 miles away as you said at 

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the beginning of this, right? 
And so the the leading the 

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efforts for Grace Church as it 
relates to the individual 

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countries and we have other 
country leads for for different 

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partners that we have. 
What does that look like as far 

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as planning a calendar year, 
trips that that, that kind of 

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thing? 
Yeah. 

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So for me and and for Bernard 
and kind of our partnership 

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together in that it is you know 
we're looking 12 to 18 months 

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sometimes even high level 
talking about two years out. 

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And we're we're thinking about 
the trips, we're thinking about 

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where can financial support be 
provided, where are we going to 

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need Grace members or Grace 
staff on the trips, What type of

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of team do we need to put 
together for a given trip, what 

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is the trip going to be doing, 
which helps also obviously 

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inform who's going to go on that
trip, right. 

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So we have some some kind of 
rhythms that we do, right. 

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So we have two medical trips we 
send a year, so we've got a 

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April and October. 
Those are doing medical clinics 

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where we're sending doctors, 
nurses, dentists and then many 

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people that are not those 
professions who are just there 

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to help, right. 
And we're we're running a a 

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three day medical clinic at one 
of the local churches where we 

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are providing medicines, we're 
providing direct medical care. 

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We are providing a lot of tooth 
extraction and and in the recent

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trips we've begun to add in some
some vision assistance with 

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glasses and and optical tests 
and things like. 

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That how large are these trips? 
Typically people. 

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Number of persons. 20 ish, 
right. 

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We go over that sometimes and 
then then a few times and 

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probably early on in our 
partnership they were smaller, 

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but 20 is kind of the target and
then we've got some variances 

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there. 
According to how many vans that 

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a burner can get for us, that's.
Right, That's right. 

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Yeah, we definitely have some 
Max's, right. 

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We realized that as you get over
24 people, it's actually adding 

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another two people. 
When you think about all the 

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luggage us Westerners bring 
requires more than than you 

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realize. 
Yeah, we're still working on 

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packing tendencies for 
Westerners. 

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That's right. 
Tell us a little, a little bit 

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personally about why can you? 
For you. 

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00:13:02,440 --> 00:13:05,960
That's an interesting one. 
So, you know, I think when I 

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00:13:05,960 --> 00:13:08,160
think about my own faith 
journey, I I came to know the 

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Lord similar to when Burner did 
late in high school. 

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And actually for me it's 
somewhat different. 

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Early on I wanted to go into 
ministry and as I mature to my 

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faith, I felt like God saying, 
no, that's not what we have for 

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you. 
And so there was a season where 

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I thought I was going to be that
God was kind of going to be 

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putting me in the in the 
position to be a sender and to 

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help send other people into 
missions. 

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And then the more time my family
spent at Grace, the more I found

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opportunities to go places. 
So I have been very blessed to 

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go on a lot of trips at Grace to
many different locations, which 

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is not what I expected from my 
life. 

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So one of the early trips to 
Kenya was in 2008, and I got to 

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go on that. 
Actually, all three of us were 

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there for that trip, right? 
And that was a teaching trip, 

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which I felt way out of my 
league because I was a in my 

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late 20s, not as a pastor or or 
ministry person anywhere, and 

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was supposed to be teaching a 
bunch of pastors in a country 

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I'd never been to. 
So, so that was definitely 

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challenging for me, right? 
To kind of feel like, what do I 

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have the maturity for this? 
Is my faith strong enough for 

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that? 
Hey, and just to just to pause 

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there for a second, I I love 
that story because I was 

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thinking about it as it 
illustrates the partnership, you

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00:14:20,360 --> 00:14:23,960
know, this is 2008, so 2008 
communication's a little 

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00:14:23,960 --> 00:14:25,640
different. 
You know, we're not jumping on 

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00:14:25,640 --> 00:14:28,400
Zoom calls. 
We might have had Skype, but it 

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00:14:28,400 --> 00:14:31,320
was, it was not not real easy, 
not real convenient. 

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00:14:31,800 --> 00:14:34,680
There was no WhatsApp. 
I mean, we might be emailing, 

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but it just the world was a 
different place in 2008 and so 

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and we had not done these types 
of trips before. 

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And so again, thinking about 
partnership, what we said is 

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we'll get over there and then 
we're going to listen and ask a 

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bunch of questions and Bernard 
is going to tell us what he 

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00:14:53,400 --> 00:14:56,200
needs. 
And so we had some stuff, you 

251
00:14:56,200 --> 00:14:59,200
had some stuff that we felt, 
quote UN quote, more comfortable

252
00:14:59,360 --> 00:15:01,520
teaching. 
But it really didn't matter what

253
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we wanted to do. 
And I remember we we, it was a 

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00:15:04,640 --> 00:15:06,880
little bit different trip. 
We had a day on the front end 

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where we just sat, we got to 
know each other and we talked. 

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Bernard explained this is the 
church situation. 

257
00:15:12,200 --> 00:15:13,560
This is what the pastors are 
struggling with. 

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00:15:13,560 --> 00:15:16,680
This is what the leaders are 
struggling with and we began to 

259
00:15:16,680 --> 00:15:18,800
just pray and we thought OK we 
can do that. 

260
00:15:18,800 --> 00:15:20,440
We can we'll put something 
together. 

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00:15:20,680 --> 00:15:23,520
We got a got a few hours tonight
we'll go back and refine some of

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00:15:23,520 --> 00:15:29,000
our notes and and to me one the 
type of relationship again, 

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00:15:29,000 --> 00:15:33,520
partnership, trusting in God and
really wanting to do what was 

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00:15:33,520 --> 00:15:39,760
needed, that was so refreshing 
to me and it I just remember 

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00:15:39,760 --> 00:15:41,360
where we were sitting because 
I'm on the front end. 

266
00:15:41,360 --> 00:15:42,480
I'm like you. 
I'm like what are we getting 

267
00:15:42,480 --> 00:15:44,080
into. 
I'm not really sure where we're 

268
00:15:44,080 --> 00:15:48,680
going and what we're going to do
and and I never sensed anything 

269
00:15:49,080 --> 00:15:55,680
but faith and love and support 
and Bernard was so gracious to 

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00:15:55,760 --> 00:15:59,560
just have new friends and we had
we had a good time we got we we 

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00:15:59,560 --> 00:16:01,680
still tell stories from. 
We still tell stories about 

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00:16:01,880 --> 00:16:02,120
that. 
Yeah. 

273
00:16:02,120 --> 00:16:04,080
So sorry, I didn't mean to 
interrupt you, but that is just 

274
00:16:04,080 --> 00:16:07,520
a poignant picture in my mind of
this principle that we're trying

275
00:16:07,520 --> 00:16:09,640
to describe. 
That goes way back to some of 

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00:16:09,640 --> 00:16:11,360
our first trips. 
Yeah, absolutely. 

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00:16:11,840 --> 00:16:14,480
So, so coming out of that trip 
actually I didn't go back for 

278
00:16:14,480 --> 00:16:17,560
nine years. 
So my wife Molly went on a 

279
00:16:17,560 --> 00:16:20,720
couple trips in that time frame 
and when Burner would come over 

280
00:16:20,720 --> 00:16:23,200
to the States to visit and spend
time with us, he would look at 

281
00:16:23,200 --> 00:16:25,360
me and ask and and ask me when 
I'm coming back. 

282
00:16:25,360 --> 00:16:28,280
And I don't know right now, 
God's taking Molly and we're 

283
00:16:28,280 --> 00:16:30,760
good with that. 
So I've been on several trips 

284
00:16:30,760 --> 00:16:33,160
since then. 
I've I've, you know we we kind 

285
00:16:33,160 --> 00:16:35,200
of started talking about the 
medical trips and veered off of 

286
00:16:35,200 --> 00:16:39,320
that a little bit. 
But for me at this point now I 

287
00:16:39,320 --> 00:16:42,200
think I've been on every kind of
trip to Kenya that we take. 

288
00:16:42,600 --> 00:16:44,760
So we do medical trips in the 
summertime. 

289
00:16:44,760 --> 00:16:47,440
We do some student trips where 
we'll take a group of students 

290
00:16:47,440 --> 00:16:50,760
and their parents and and really
kind of watch God, what God can 

291
00:16:50,760 --> 00:16:53,520
do with that relationship while 
they're in another country. 

292
00:16:54,160 --> 00:16:56,320
And then we obviously do some, 
some teaching trips, right? 

293
00:16:56,320 --> 00:16:59,760
And and I've been lucky enough 
to get to go on all of those in 

294
00:16:59,760 --> 00:17:01,560
in different locations, in 
different places. 

295
00:17:01,560 --> 00:17:05,000
So that's been really special 
for me and something I 

296
00:17:05,000 --> 00:17:07,359
definitely never thought was 
going to happen and that God was

297
00:17:07,359 --> 00:17:10,680
going to do. 
And so as we I think as some of 

298
00:17:10,680 --> 00:17:14,280
that rounded out and I started 
to get in a place of of being on

299
00:17:14,280 --> 00:17:17,240
the different kinds of trips, 
Donald Spann actually started 

300
00:17:17,240 --> 00:17:19,000
joking with me that it was my 
time to lead a trip. 

301
00:17:19,079 --> 00:17:21,480
And I told him I don't know if 
that's really where my gifting 

302
00:17:21,480 --> 00:17:23,400
is. 
I'm better as a number two kind 

303
00:17:23,400 --> 00:17:24,960
of behind the scenes help 
facilitate. 

304
00:17:25,560 --> 00:17:28,960
And so little did I know that 
then Donald and Jerry Faye were 

305
00:17:28,960 --> 00:17:30,960
going to get together and say, 
oh, is that what he wants to do?

306
00:17:30,960 --> 00:17:32,520
Well, let's just have him lead 
the whole thing. 

307
00:17:32,640 --> 00:17:34,240
So. 
So that's kind of where I got 

308
00:17:34,240 --> 00:17:37,640
into this a little bit also, 
which is is helpful. 

309
00:17:37,640 --> 00:17:40,600
I think 'cause I I am, I am 
behind the scenes. 

310
00:17:40,600 --> 00:17:42,600
I am getting to kind of do some 
administration. 

311
00:17:42,600 --> 00:17:45,560
Think about the resources that 
need to be put in place and map 

312
00:17:45,560 --> 00:17:47,280
out some of that stuff. 
Well, and use. 

313
00:17:47,400 --> 00:17:50,240
I mean use your strengths. 
You work in a couple of 

314
00:17:50,240 --> 00:17:52,320
different fields, but logistics 
is something that you do in your

315
00:17:52,600 --> 00:17:54,880
in your daytime job. 
And so just being able to take 

316
00:17:54,880 --> 00:17:57,960
the best part of you and apply 
it into the church as a 

317
00:17:57,960 --> 00:17:59,520
volunteer is pretty exciting for
me. 

318
00:18:00,560 --> 00:18:05,880
So Bernard, as you talk a little
bit about the transition from 

319
00:18:05,880 --> 00:18:10,640
being a local church pastor and 
then taking on some additional 

320
00:18:10,640 --> 00:18:14,560
responsibilities of training and
caring for other pastors and 

321
00:18:14,560 --> 00:18:18,880
just kind of walk us through how
God has directed your, you were 

322
00:18:18,880 --> 00:18:24,400
calling over the last 15 years? 
Well, thank you again. 

323
00:18:24,920 --> 00:18:29,880
And just before I address that 
the one of the joys of of of our

324
00:18:29,880 --> 00:18:33,960
partnership is when I sit and 
listen to a testimony like what 

325
00:18:33,960 --> 00:18:37,280
the two of you have said. 
Because again true partnership 

326
00:18:38,000 --> 00:18:44,520
must have a mutual blessing and 
so if there was no life change 

327
00:18:44,520 --> 00:18:51,280
for grace then that partnership 
is invalid is is is not genuine.

328
00:18:51,600 --> 00:18:54,400
But celebrate hearing the 
testimonies of of that. 

329
00:18:55,360 --> 00:19:00,000
Going back to the question. 
Yeah, after doing a combined 

330
00:19:00,000 --> 00:19:04,320
role of whether teaching at the 
theological college and 

331
00:19:04,320 --> 00:19:08,960
pastoring or being a counter 
director of an NGO in Pastoring 

332
00:19:10,240 --> 00:19:15,840
then I felt that those and and 
looking at the realities that I 

333
00:19:15,840 --> 00:19:19,120
had observed, particularly 
amongst churches in central 

334
00:19:19,120 --> 00:19:22,640
Kenya and those that I had 
involved in training. 

335
00:19:22,680 --> 00:19:30,080
I felt that as I got older the 
best way for me to be able to 

336
00:19:30,080 --> 00:19:34,680
multiply myself was to be able 
to release myself from the local

337
00:19:34,680 --> 00:19:40,800
church pastoring a job which was
kind of secondary to my primary 

338
00:19:40,800 --> 00:19:44,320
calling. 
And so therefore, I resigned 

339
00:19:45,080 --> 00:19:49,400
from Alam with the NGO that I 
was heading to become full time 

340
00:19:49,400 --> 00:19:52,480
at Coronia so that I can 
consider and help stabilize it 

341
00:19:52,760 --> 00:19:55,760
with an A perception that I'm 
going to leave exit to Coronia 

342
00:19:55,760 --> 00:19:59,640
so that I can concentrate to be 
more available to mentor the 

343
00:19:59,640 --> 00:20:02,560
Pastor Soul as a platform to do 
that. 

344
00:20:02,680 --> 00:20:07,040
When that time was right, we set
up Life Empowerment for 

345
00:20:07,040 --> 00:20:09,680
Transformation International, 
which is a nonprofit 

346
00:20:10,160 --> 00:20:12,680
organization. 
And that's called. 

347
00:20:12,720 --> 00:20:14,480
That's lefty for. 
Sure, that's right. 

348
00:20:14,480 --> 00:20:18,320
LEFTI say that again. 
Lefty Life Empowerment for 

349
00:20:18,320 --> 00:20:20,320
Transformation International. 
OK, awesome. 

350
00:20:21,200 --> 00:20:28,440
Which has the idea again of a 
community salvation, holistic 

351
00:20:28,440 --> 00:20:33,360
salvation, a community full of 
Shalom and that Shalom that is 

352
00:20:33,360 --> 00:20:37,160
centered around God, that 
wholeness that is centered 

353
00:20:37,360 --> 00:20:40,640
around the Gospel. 
And so I felt I needed to be 

354
00:20:40,640 --> 00:20:45,480
able to be more available and 
accessible to help the church 

355
00:20:45,480 --> 00:20:47,600
leadership to be 
transformational in their 

356
00:20:47,600 --> 00:20:53,600
thinking so that they can be. 
They can be able to effectively 

357
00:20:53,600 --> 00:20:57,880
lead their congregations to be 
able to address life change, 

358
00:20:57,880 --> 00:21:01,080
empowerment issues within their 
society, amongst themselves, 

359
00:21:01,080 --> 00:21:04,480
equipped for empowerment, but 
also a church that is bringing 

360
00:21:04,480 --> 00:21:06,240
change. 
Again the whole imagery that 

361
00:21:06,240 --> 00:21:12,240
Jesus uses about light and salt,
so every believer being assault 

362
00:21:13,120 --> 00:21:16,000
or light those are life 
transforming agents. 

363
00:21:16,080 --> 00:21:20,040
So so therefore every local 
church needs to have a life 

364
00:21:20,040 --> 00:21:21,920
changing impact within their 
community. 

365
00:21:21,920 --> 00:21:24,480
So I felt I needed to be 
available to do that and so 

366
00:21:24,480 --> 00:21:28,000
therefore do leadership 
development, which is formal, 

367
00:21:28,560 --> 00:21:32,200
running a Bible school, non 
formal training, having an 

368
00:21:32,200 --> 00:21:37,200
institute, selective men that 
have proven themselves in their 

369
00:21:37,200 --> 00:21:39,840
pastoral leadership. 
They are developing themselves 

370
00:21:39,840 --> 00:21:43,080
their potential for greater 
growth and so therefore bringing

371
00:21:43,080 --> 00:21:48,440
them together with their wives 
for an institute or coming 

372
00:21:48,440 --> 00:21:55,320
alongside a local church that is
involved in addressing often 

373
00:21:55,320 --> 00:21:57,960
than vulnerable children 
realities within the community. 

374
00:21:58,440 --> 00:22:02,320
And if they've already started 
doing it, just come and help and

375
00:22:02,320 --> 00:22:06,320
help them develop a philosophy. 
So rather than just catering for

376
00:22:06,320 --> 00:22:10,600
for example, a kid has been sent
home for fees or they they don't

377
00:22:10,600 --> 00:22:13,720
have enough food, just rather 
than just addressing the food, 

378
00:22:14,280 --> 00:22:17,480
give them a philosophy of that. 
So let's use that as an example.

379
00:22:17,560 --> 00:22:20,280
We'll go back to when you talk 
about holistic salvation and 

380
00:22:20,280 --> 00:22:22,080
wholeness. 
Those might be some new terms 

381
00:22:22,080 --> 00:22:24,600
for folks. 
So let's let's just talk about 

382
00:22:24,600 --> 00:22:28,640
the areas of life where we're 
seeking transformation in order 

383
00:22:28,640 --> 00:22:31,880
to obtain wholeness. 
So you mentioned, you mentioned 

384
00:22:31,880 --> 00:22:36,880
food, you mentioned schooling. 
What else are we thinking about 

385
00:22:36,880 --> 00:22:41,360
when we're when we're addressing
the entire needs of a child and 

386
00:22:41,360 --> 00:22:43,600
that of a family? 
Yeah, well, so that wholeness 

387
00:22:43,600 --> 00:22:46,200
comes at the center. 
Part of it is is pretty sure 

388
00:22:46,360 --> 00:22:50,640
them to be able to know God and 
identify themselves in court 

389
00:22:51,080 --> 00:22:55,440
because that identity will be 
able to address any reality of 

390
00:22:55,440 --> 00:23:00,240
vulnerability and then as Luke 
252 talks about, Jesus grew 

391
00:23:00,560 --> 00:23:02,160
instead. 
So there is a physical, 

392
00:23:02,160 --> 00:23:08,640
emotional, social, economic, 
environmental, all those factors

393
00:23:08,640 --> 00:23:18,240
that relate to real life and so 
being stewards of that growth 

394
00:23:18,720 --> 00:23:20,160
and to make sure that that is 
that good. 

395
00:23:20,160 --> 00:23:23,880
So within the OBC often 
invulnerable children program, 

396
00:23:23,880 --> 00:23:28,800
therefore at the call of it we 
want and and probably just 

397
00:23:28,800 --> 00:23:33,960
before getting that, often 
referring to a child who has 

398
00:23:33,960 --> 00:23:35,480
lost. 
Appearance. 

399
00:23:36,800 --> 00:23:42,480
Vulnerability because of either 
poverty, which again with the 

400
00:23:42,480 --> 00:23:49,080
reality of 40% of Kenya is now 
below poverty line, or abuse or 

401
00:23:49,080 --> 00:23:55,280
neglect or single parent that 
are poor, or a father who has 

402
00:23:55,280 --> 00:23:58,000
died and left the child with the
mother. 

403
00:23:58,200 --> 00:24:03,400
So an abuse, neglect due to 
alcohol abuse, drug abuse, those

404
00:24:03,400 --> 00:24:06,400
are realities that makes it 
'cause that vulnerability. 

405
00:24:06,400 --> 00:24:10,480
So at the core of it, the 
central part of it is we want 

406
00:24:10,480 --> 00:24:13,560
that child to come to know 
Christ and so identify 

407
00:24:13,560 --> 00:24:16,960
themselves with Christ rather 
than their environmental 

408
00:24:17,560 --> 00:24:21,920
environments vulnerability. 
So then the second part of that 

409
00:24:21,920 --> 00:24:26,400
is their emotional health to be 
able to address the trauma, the 

410
00:24:26,760 --> 00:24:28,400
the wounds that they've have 
experienced in their 

411
00:24:28,400 --> 00:24:31,440
vulnerability. 
And then of course within that 

412
00:24:31,720 --> 00:24:33,800
there is also a question of 
community. 

413
00:24:33,800 --> 00:24:36,440
So socio formations, we wanted 
them to be part of a community, 

414
00:24:36,440 --> 00:24:41,440
to provide a community that they
can be able to find love and 

415
00:24:41,440 --> 00:24:45,240
just a connection. 
And then there is a physical, 

416
00:24:45,600 --> 00:24:48,520
physical addressing the issue of
their health, their housing, 

417
00:24:48,520 --> 00:24:51,160
medical issues. 
And of course there is the 

418
00:24:51,360 --> 00:24:56,760
academic looking at their school
life, you know, to be able to 

419
00:24:56,760 --> 00:25:00,080
propel them to become what God 
would have them to be. 

420
00:25:00,440 --> 00:25:04,200
In addition to that progress, if
they do that, we want to find 

421
00:25:04,200 --> 00:25:07,680
that they have their gifting and
so we want them to exercise 

422
00:25:07,680 --> 00:25:09,680
their gifting. 
So there's a service for mission

423
00:25:09,680 --> 00:25:13,400
where we want them to at home, 
at church, in school they are 

424
00:25:13,400 --> 00:25:17,240
serving. 
And the other area of our 

425
00:25:17,240 --> 00:25:20,520
mission is leadership for 
mission, where we are saying 

426
00:25:20,960 --> 00:25:25,840
each one of them is significant,
is gifted, has influence and so 

427
00:25:25,840 --> 00:25:29,000
we want them to be able to be 
instruments of change. 

428
00:25:29,360 --> 00:25:35,160
Again, church home and school 
and of course as we are prepared

429
00:25:35,520 --> 00:25:39,440
to the last phase which is the 
launch phase and the exiting. 

430
00:25:39,440 --> 00:25:42,840
So we want to prepare them for 
the marketplace and so that they

431
00:25:42,840 --> 00:25:47,640
can go out in the marketplace to
be real changing of change and 

432
00:25:47,640 --> 00:25:50,360
hope that's right. 
So that's that's that's the 

433
00:25:50,360 --> 00:25:54,640
components that we have. 
So when we talk about Wholeness,

434
00:25:55,280 --> 00:26:00,400
Holistic salvation, identity, 
that then addresses all these 

435
00:26:00,400 --> 00:26:05,280
areas of vulnerability, this is 
this is decades long work that 

436
00:26:05,280 --> 00:26:10,640
is going to change prayerfully 
the the generational component 

437
00:26:10,640 --> 00:26:11,840
of these families. 
Absolutely. 

438
00:26:11,840 --> 00:26:15,200
We we factor these as 
transgenerational life change 

439
00:26:15,480 --> 00:26:17,400
that is going to be. 
And I can look at that in 

440
00:26:17,400 --> 00:26:21,120
myself. 
You know, today as I look at 

441
00:26:21,120 --> 00:26:24,920
myself, where I am and where my 
parents are, and I look at my 

442
00:26:24,960 --> 00:26:31,680
children, there's a faith 
connection that also deals with 

443
00:26:32,600 --> 00:26:35,040
and improved conditions of 
living. 

444
00:26:35,560 --> 00:26:40,360
Well, and this is a chance to 
just say thank you to the 

445
00:26:40,360 --> 00:26:45,000
families that are advocates for 
children in the OVC program that

446
00:26:45,000 --> 00:26:48,040
are Grace Church families. 
This is not just Grace Church 

447
00:26:48,040 --> 00:26:49,760
families that are participating 
with this. 

448
00:26:49,760 --> 00:26:53,320
There's you have partners from 
Australian churches, partners 

449
00:26:53,320 --> 00:26:57,080
from Romanian churches. 
But when you enter into this 

450
00:26:57,080 --> 00:27:00,360
partnership to be an advocate, 
this is the goal. 

451
00:27:00,360 --> 00:27:03,360
And so I just it's worth pausing
because everything that Bernard 

452
00:27:03,360 --> 00:27:07,800
said, you could take out a nice 
piece of white paper and chart 

453
00:27:07,800 --> 00:27:10,440
it and it would be a beautiful 
position paper. 

454
00:27:10,440 --> 00:27:12,960
You could turn it in in any 
Bible college seminary classroom

455
00:27:12,960 --> 00:27:16,520
and they'd give you an A. 
But it is not, it is not 

456
00:27:16,520 --> 00:27:19,280
theoretical. 
This is this is personal. 

457
00:27:19,280 --> 00:27:21,840
This is practical. 
You know there are names and 

458
00:27:21,840 --> 00:27:25,920
faces behind every one of these 
families and and I wish we had 

459
00:27:25,920 --> 00:27:27,320
more time to tell some of these 
stories. 

460
00:27:27,320 --> 00:27:29,720
We're going to tell a few of 
them here in a second, but this 

461
00:27:29,720 --> 00:27:31,960
is part of the your family's 
interaction. 

462
00:27:31,960 --> 00:27:34,120
Ryan, tell us a little bit about
Peter. 

463
00:27:34,880 --> 00:27:35,880
Is that right? 
That's right. 

464
00:27:36,000 --> 00:27:38,400
Tell us a little bit about about
Peter and your relationship with

465
00:27:38,400 --> 00:27:42,320
Peter. 
So we, I'm not sure at this 

466
00:27:42,320 --> 00:27:44,680
point, I don't remember when 
exactly we started as an 

467
00:27:44,680 --> 00:27:46,840
advocate for Peter. 
I mean it would have been very 

468
00:27:46,840 --> 00:27:49,200
early on. 
You know typically the way with 

469
00:27:49,200 --> 00:27:54,600
this our our OBC partnership and
and advocacy works as a child 

470
00:27:54,600 --> 00:27:58,400
comes into the program to the 
local churches there in Kenya 

471
00:27:58,720 --> 00:28:02,440
and Grace Church commits to 
taking that on and then Grace 

472
00:28:02,440 --> 00:28:05,000
Church works to find an 
advocate, a sponsor here in the 

473
00:28:05,000 --> 00:28:08,800
States. 
And so Peter was probably five 

474
00:28:08,800 --> 00:28:12,240
when he came into the program. 
He comes from a family. 

475
00:28:12,240 --> 00:28:14,880
His his parents are, are his mom
had passed away. 

476
00:28:14,880 --> 00:28:17,920
He lives with his grandmother, 
their other siblings, his, his 

477
00:28:17,920 --> 00:28:20,640
sister is also has an advocate 
here in the States. 

478
00:28:21,240 --> 00:28:26,160
And so we've been sponsoring him
for since he was 5 and I think 

479
00:28:26,160 --> 00:28:28,560
he's 10 now, so maybe five 
years, right. 

480
00:28:29,720 --> 00:28:32,720
You know a little fun tidbit 
that I think God threw in there 

481
00:28:32,720 --> 00:28:34,680
for us is that Peter and I share
the same birthday. 

482
00:28:35,480 --> 00:28:36,840
So that is always kind of fun 
for us. 

483
00:28:36,840 --> 00:28:38,320
It's easy for us to remember 
that. 

484
00:28:38,320 --> 00:28:41,040
So we've had the opportunity 
because of some of our trips to 

485
00:28:41,040 --> 00:28:45,520
be able to meet Peter to to go 
see at this point both I I got 

486
00:28:45,520 --> 00:28:49,680
to go into his home and meet his
grandmother his Shushu and and 

487
00:28:49,680 --> 00:28:54,560
along with his sister-in-law and
his his cousin or or niece I 

488
00:28:54,560 --> 00:28:59,680
think she is and then I've met 
his his sister as well And so we

489
00:28:59,680 --> 00:29:01,200
get to meet them and get to be a
part of that. 

490
00:29:01,200 --> 00:29:03,760
And then this past summer, when 
Molly and our our oldest 

491
00:29:03,760 --> 00:29:06,480
daughter went together on the 
student trip, they both got to 

492
00:29:06,480 --> 00:29:08,720
go in and I think you actually 
got to accompany them as well. 

493
00:29:08,720 --> 00:29:10,520
It was one of the highlights of 
the trip. 

494
00:29:10,640 --> 00:29:14,120
And so it's really great to be 
able to be a part of that, to to

495
00:29:14,120 --> 00:29:18,880
see how how much they love the 
Lord, how they're involved, how 

496
00:29:18,880 --> 00:29:20,760
they're faithful, how they're 
leading the community. 

497
00:29:20,760 --> 00:29:25,360
To hear the the stories from 
Peter's grandmother or about 

498
00:29:25,360 --> 00:29:28,000
Peter's grandmother of how she 
cares for her family at an 

499
00:29:28,000 --> 00:29:29,240
advanced age. 
Right. 

500
00:29:29,240 --> 00:29:30,840
And how she's caring for these 
grandchildren. 

501
00:29:30,840 --> 00:29:34,040
It's just, it's just incredible.
And there's a piece of that that

502
00:29:34,760 --> 00:29:37,200
you know is, is is one of the 
last trips or the last time I 

503
00:29:37,200 --> 00:29:39,080
was over in Africa, I was 
actually in Rwanda. 

504
00:29:39,080 --> 00:29:42,120
But we kind of highlighted some 
at that point that there's a 

505
00:29:42,120 --> 00:29:46,240
difference in socioeconomics 
between the families and the 

506
00:29:46,240 --> 00:29:49,600
churches that we're working with
in Africa versus what we have 

507
00:29:49,600 --> 00:29:51,520
here in the States. 
And to be able to witness that 

508
00:29:51,520 --> 00:29:54,760
and to have your child come home
and realize I need to stop 

509
00:29:54,760 --> 00:29:58,000
complaining when I don't have 
the things I want and that's a 

510
00:29:58,000 --> 00:30:00,000
huge back to your point of 
partnership of we're both 

511
00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:01,040
getting things right. 
So. 

512
00:30:01,360 --> 00:30:05,160
So our advocacy is a it's a 
small monthly at the stage of 

513
00:30:05,160 --> 00:30:08,080
Peter's schooling. 
I think it's $35 a month that we

514
00:30:08,160 --> 00:30:10,920
that we pay that that I don't 
notice right. 

515
00:30:10,920 --> 00:30:15,120
And so then it goes to pay for 
clothes, it goes to pay for 

516
00:30:15,120 --> 00:30:18,240
school fees. 
It goes to you know we've as 

517
00:30:18,240 --> 00:30:23,080
I've gotten to talk to some of 
the the ABC program managers 

518
00:30:23,080 --> 00:30:26,000
there in the in Kenya. 
It they are able to kind of 

519
00:30:26,360 --> 00:30:28,920
track the account and know how 
much is there be able to give 

520
00:30:28,920 --> 00:30:30,720
birthday presents when it comes 
up right. 

521
00:30:30,920 --> 00:30:33,360
Be able to work through what do 
you want do you want this or 

522
00:30:33,360 --> 00:30:35,760
this And here's your budget and 
they'll talk through it and. 

523
00:30:36,160 --> 00:30:38,160
And you're able to correspond 
some as well. 

524
00:30:38,160 --> 00:30:40,040
Yes, we sent, we're able a 
couple times a year. 

525
00:30:40,040 --> 00:30:41,600
We each send letters back and 
forth. 

526
00:30:41,600 --> 00:30:45,840
And so it's been fun for us with
Peter to see his ability to 

527
00:30:45,840 --> 00:30:49,840
communicate kind of increase 
right from early just I'm going 

528
00:30:49,840 --> 00:30:51,720
to fill in the blank to now he's
able to. 

529
00:30:51,800 --> 00:30:53,920
He's communicating more in 
sentences and there's still 

530
00:30:53,920 --> 00:30:57,720
certainly a a shyness there. 
There's still certainly some, I 

531
00:30:57,720 --> 00:31:00,640
would assume some insecurities 
there because you're a 10 year 

532
00:31:00,640 --> 00:31:04,520
old trying to send a letter to 
an American family 8000 miles 

533
00:31:04,520 --> 00:31:06,760
away and you just don't know 
what to expect there, right. 

534
00:31:06,760 --> 00:31:08,960
So but it's been great because 
we've been able to have our 

535
00:31:08,960 --> 00:31:12,760
children write letters to him. 
Our son has he constantly 

536
00:31:12,760 --> 00:31:15,400
complaints he doesn't have a 
brother and so he longs for the 

537
00:31:15,400 --> 00:31:18,640
day to get to meet Peter and and
and sure he you know he's an 

538
00:31:18,640 --> 00:31:22,000
eighth grader he's 13. 
He understands that that's not a

539
00:31:22,120 --> 00:31:24,080
that's a brother in Christ. 
It's not a true brother in the 

540
00:31:24,080 --> 00:31:27,120
same way that he wants a buddy 
to go play basketball with sure.

541
00:31:27,400 --> 00:31:30,040
But that is something that he is
looking forward to and and as we

542
00:31:30,240 --> 00:31:32,880
he's even now talking about when
do I get to go when it's my turn

543
00:31:32,880 --> 00:31:34,240
to get to go. 
So that's a really cool piece 

544
00:31:34,240 --> 00:31:37,880
for our family. 
Thanks again for joining us for 

545
00:31:37,880 --> 00:31:40,480
this episode. 
Be on the lookout for part two 

546
00:31:40,480 --> 00:31:43,480
of our interview along with an 
update from our most recent 

547
00:31:43,480 --> 00:31:46,720
medical trip. 
For more information on Kenya 

548
00:31:46,720 --> 00:31:50,480
and all our outreach partners, 
visit Grace dot SC or click on 

549
00:31:50,480 --> 00:31:54,000
the link in the show notes and 
we will see you next time on the

550
00:31:54,000 --> 00:31:55,240
Grace Church Members Podcast.