Hi Everyone!
We hope you had a very Merry Christmas and we wish you a very good New Year!
Conferences:
Between November and December, we taught 40 conferences! This included more than 2000 youth (300 of whom made a profession of faith) and 500 pastors and church leaders. A very successful two months for conferences!
Kuza:
Our Kuza app has been doing wonderfully for the last 6 months. Before we started our partnership with Kubamba Radio, we were averaging 4 downloads a day. After partnering with Kubamba, we are averaging 25 downloads a day. It has been such a blessing, and because of their partnership, we don’t have to pay a dime for any advertising that they do for us. Kubamba also helps us promote Kuza by holding events where their DJs play live music, have dance crews, and preach the gospel. During these events, they encourage the attendees to download the app. If any become saved during the event, they encourage them to read our “Foundations” devotions which help new believers learn the basic foundations of Christianity. We have nearly 7,000 downloads on our app, and over 3000 actively read it on a consistent basis. Pray for these youth to continue to grow.
Download Kuza and see what youth are reading.
Coastal Youth Camp:
In December, Matt helped preach at a youth camp on the coast of Kenya with a missionary friend named James Wanje. He was asked to preach on the topics of identity in Christ, evangelism, and not wasting your life. He shared the preaching duties with a Kenyan pastor and another American. Around 60 kids received Christ. There were some powerful stories, including the exorcism of some demons and radical life changes! One girl had a terrible reputation, and received Christ during the camp. On the last day, she shared her testimony and sang a worship song in front of the entire camp. When the pastor called her mom and told her what had happened, the mother was amazed and said “if my daughter can change, then this whole family needs Jesus”. We’ve seen over and over here, youth camps and youth ministry is not just about youth… it’s about whole family transformation.
Personal:
Hopefully most of you have heard via our announcement and on social media, but we have been matched with a birth mother, and are coming back to the States on January 12. God willing, we will become parents to a baby boy who will be born in mid-late January. We are so excited! Please be in prayer for the paperwork we have to complete, for us as we become parents, for our baby boy, and for our lovely birth mom, and the difficulties she will encounter. Our ministry here will continue without us for 6 months until we can return. We have such a great team here, and are confident in their ability to keep things running. This will be the longest we’ve been in the States since moving to Kenya, so it will be quite a change!
Prayer Request:
Pray for a big Kubamba concert (over 15,000 students) on December 31st, and that we’ll have 3000 more downloads to reach our goal of 10,000 for 2017!
Pray for those saved at camps and conferences to continue growing in their faith.
Pray for us as we transition to the U.S. for a longer period, and prepare to become parents. Please pray specifically for the necessary paperwork to come through, for our baby boy, and for his birth mommy.