Why Kenya?

I was recently asked why I chose Kenya for missions. Well, I wouldn't say that I have chosen Kenya, because that would be unwise to assume that God has definitely called me to a country I have never been to, however, I do feel assured that God is leading me there to do my 6 month stint with Dennis Omondi in Kenya.
But before I get into the process of how this came about, I'd like to ask a different question, "Why missions?" Why is it that so many of us spend so much time deliberating over whether God has called us into the mission field or not? Has He not given us a command and commission? Has He not told us to take His gospel unto all the nations and to make disciples of all peoples?



Matt. 28:18-20 - The Great Commission: "And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, 'All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

There has been commands and commissions given to us. In asking if God has called you to missions, the answer will always be yes, but the next question will be, "Where Lord will you have me go?" That place may be exactly where you are right now, or it may be somewhere in the U.S., but it may also be a place that will strip you of your comfort and force you to rely upon His grace alone to complete the work He has charged you with.
I believe that God has called me to obey His Great Commission in the context of full-time ministry and possibly a long term career overseas. Whether or not that will ultimately be the case, I cannot say; all I know is that God has placed in my heart a desire to be trained for the mission field. So in asking the question, "Where, Lord, will you have me go," I came to realize that the place I go to is not as important as the reasons why I go. Missions is nothing more than light going into a place of lesser light in order to shine the light of the worship of God in darkness. If God has called you to missions, should you go to the place where there seems to be the most harvest, the least harvest, the least reached, the most need? No one can really say, but I believe that you should simply follow the leading of God through His Spirit and prayer and lay open your plans wishing only to serve and represent Christ as His ambassador in a place of darkness. This really could be anywhere.
I came to the decision of going to Kenya for my stint through first of all being grounded in the desire to go through MTI and then praying about the places where Denton Bible has missionaries: Russia, Mexico, Kenya, Argentina, China, Romania, etc. I prayed, I flip-flopped back and forth all the while knowing that my flesh most of all did not want to go to Kenya. It's hot there. It's on the equator! But Kenya seemed to be near the part of the world I have been drawn to over the last couple of years. Kenya also has a significant Muslim population which has also been growing in my heart (side note: The Muslim world is no more lost or gridlocked than the Communist Soviet Union was before their collapse in '91. God has a way of breaking through impossible religions and ideologies). The Denton Bible Kenya Team also has the most need for new team members. Right now, there is only Dennis Omondi, Jill Senechal, and in 2008 Allison (soon to be Omondi; Dennis' fiancee). All that, plus a vague sense of the Spirit's leading within me that only grew my conviction to choose Kenya above the other places.
That was a long description of the process of my choice. But in the long run, if it were any other place I would be just as excited about the upcoming possibilities for ministry, missions, and the work of the kingdom of Christ. Ask God about the where knowing that the why has already been answered in His Great Commission given to us almost 2000 years ago.

First Post

Right now, the question of the hour is: Will I go on my 6 month stint to Kenya starting this summer or will it be in January of 2008. For some reason my guess is that it will probably be this summer. I am committed to lead the College Life team from June 2-23, and it would probably make things a lot simpler if I simply stayed there until December. We'll see.