Praise and worship is much different in Kenya than in the USA. It was especially exciting to watch at the church in Kimaeti. As the music is played, many people dance. It took me a while to get used to it. But now I have come to expect it and really enjoy it.
They dance with great joy and enthusiasm. And although I do not understand the words to their songs because they are singing in Swahili, I do know their heart. They are demonstrating their love for God through dance, just like David did in the Old Testament. I never really understood what David was doing, or why, until I saw these people dancing.
I am always excited to teach God’s Word. It doesn’t take a lot to get me excited to teach. I love doing it so much. But their praise and worship really got me fired up. After hearing and watching them, I was now so ready to teach that I was counting the moments until they would introduce me. They were like cheerleaders. And they were pointing us to God, who was the reason we were here.
When I was young, I used to attend rock and roll concerts. And the audience would get all excited to the point where they were shouting and screaming with delight. Why not show this excitement about God? He is the Creator of the Heavens and the Earth. And we had come together to worship Him, and to hear a message from His Word. We should get excited!
The atmosphere here was like one of those concerts. Only people here were shouting their praises to God instead of at men who were likely stoned while they were banging on their instruments. The enthusiasm of these people filled the entire church building. Everyone got involved. Swaying their hands to the music. I could see a huge smile on the face of just about every person. Age didn’t matter. They all got involved, from the youngest to the oldest. I have never witnessed anything remotely like this at any church fellowship in the USA. And doubt that I ever will.
Since I have been in Kenya, I was consistently waking up at 5:00 am. I needed no alarm clock. I just woke up. And I was wide awake. I would pray and ask God what I should teach that day. And every single time it would include at least one thing different than what I had planned to teach. As I listened to our Lord, I would humbly shake my head in near disbelief before choosing to obey. God is never wrong. And when our Lord Jesus Christ directs us to teach something, we would be wise not to ignore it. I have been consistently obedient in that area, and it has shown great dividends.
Early in the morning, as I prayed about what to teach Saturday at Kimaeti, my five senses mind told myself, “Make sure you set aside you best teachings for Sunday. You want to save your best for last.” But the Lord clearly told me not to be concerned about Sunday. Today was Saturday. Focus on Saturday. Listen to what I am telling you to teach Saturday. We will focus on Sunday once Saturday is over with. It reminded me of Matthew 6 where Jesus Christ says to focus on the present day and not worry about tomorrow. That tomorrow will take care of itself when the time comes.
So on Saturday I taught what I thought was all of my best stuff. They were giving me very LARGE amounts of teaching time. We are talking about no less than an hour and a half per session. And two sessions. In the USA I rarely taught for more than 25 minutes. A long teaching would be 40 to 45 minutes.
But I am not in the USA, I am in Kenya. And these people absolutely love to hear the Word of God. Many are taking notes. As I teach, I am looking at their faces. The expression I keep seeing is, “This is wonderful. This is awesome. Please continue.”
A teacher feeds off of their audience. In the USA, it is difficult to teach at times because people sometimes look at you like, “Can you please end this? I am bored and have something else I want to do.” The environment here is so much different. They don’t want me to stop teaching. And I am constantly feeding off of their energy. And so, whenever I walked up to the pulpit, it was rarely less than 90 minutes before I would sit down again.
Most of the teachings I had prepared were about 30 minutes long. That was speaking in English. But in Kenya I would always have my messages translated into Swahili. Which means it would take nearly twice as long. God knew all of this. And it was amazing because during my long layover when I was flying to Kenya, He had me go through a lot of my major teachings I had printed out and was prepared to teach.
I had a mechanical pencil. And I would find sections of each teaching that I would pencil a bracket next to it and write ‘Skip.’ These were identified sections that God was saying I didn’t need to teach. That the meaning of the teaching would come across to the Kenyan people without me having to include all of these ‘flowery’ illustrations or some of these extra verses.
I was amazed. God had found a solution for the extra time it would take for me to translate my messages. Most of that time would be saved by eliminating things that I didn’t really need to share from each of these teachings in order to accomplish the goal of getting the overall message across to them. Praise God.
Now, if I am going to teach for 90 minutes, and each teaching is 30 minutes in length, then that means I am actually teaching three topics each time I stand up at the pulpit. And that’s what I did, nearly every time I walked up to teach. I had never done anything like this in the USA. In America, I would only teach on one topic and then I was done. But I am in Kenya, and these people are hungry for truth. I shake my head in amazement even as I think about it now.
Sunday arrives and I wake up at 5:00 am. The Lord then shows me what I need to teach for the Sunday morning fellowship. It consists of two things I have never taught since I have been in Kenya. And one short message that I have been teaching at each place I have gone to in Kenya.
Something else I would like to share. I have been teaching God’s Word for a long time. And, sadly, up until I came to Kenya I had always planned during the week or so leading up to the meeting exactly what I was going to teach. When the time came, I would then teach it, pretty much exactly how it had been outlined on paper.
In contrast, every time I teach here in Kenya, while I am teaching, God will reveal something to my brain that I need to say. That will be mixed with Him guiding me to not teach things that were written on the paper. So, by the time I have finished teaching on a particular topic, I would guess that 70% of what I shared came from what I had written on the paper. And 30% came from inspiration while I was in front of the audience God had put in front of me.
I apologize if I appear arrogant, sharing about how God is talking to me. But, I’m telling you, all of this is really happening. And it’s not because of me. God is the one who is great. And I know why this is happening. It is not happening because I am some awesome guy. It is happening because the Kenyan people are so hungry to hear truth. And I am a humble servant of God who has a desire to teach them the message that God wants me to bring to them.
In the Sunday morning teaching, my entire focus was on the unconditional love of God. (I will be glad to share this, and all of my other teachings I did in Kenya with you.) After I finished teaching, I could sense an atmosphere in this church that is hard to put into words. These people were really excited about God. And I mean, really excited!
There were approximately 250 people crammed into this small church building. 
Every seat had been filled and people were standing in the back. I learned afterwards that they had never had this many people in their church service before.
Immediately after I finished teaching, they gave an invitation for prayer. Anyone who would like to be prayed for was invited to come to the front. I could not believe it. Between 35 and 40 people lined up. Bishop Isaac turned to me and asked, “Should we pray for them as a group? Or would you like to pray for each one individually?”
The previous evening a similar thing had happened at the end of the crusade. A large group of people came to the front seeking prayer. I prayed for each one. As I walked up to each person, they would speak to the translator in Swahili. He would then tell me in English what they had said. Then I would pray for them.
So here we are on Sunday morning. There was no way that I was going to do a ‘group’ prayer for these people. I don’t care if a hundred of them needed prayer. I was going to go up to each one and pray for them individually as I had done during the crusade the night before. How could I do any less for these people who were humbly reaching out to God for help?
One of the things God had told me prior to me coming to Kenya is that He was going to change me. That my life was going to be transformed spiritually from this trip. That I would not be returning to the USA as the same person who had left the USA to come here. Now it was starting to become clear to me what He meant.
You see, prior to this, I was not very comfortable praying for people one on one. I didn’t have the confidence that when I prayed for them, we would actually see results. And I didn’t want to fail God or fail them. During that Sunday morning fellowship, my heart completely changed in that area. I understood now. Prior to coming to Kenya, I had been focusing on my ability to pray for that person rather than God’s desire and ability to perform a miracle in answer to that prayer.
The best illustration I can think of to describe what took place in my mind prior to me walking over to that line of people on Sunday morning to pray for them is that I went bungee jumping. Now mind you, I have never been bungee jumping, and never plan to. But that is what it felt like to me at that moment. I put myself out on a limb. I was completely taking all of my ability to help these people out of the picture. And I was relying completely on that rope of God’s love and His power to bring healing to His people.
I walked up to each person with a totally different attitude. All I was there to do was to command boldly, in the authority of Jesus Christ, for God’s will to come to pass. God, by way of our Lord Jesus Christ, carried the entire responsibility to answer these people’s prayer. Not me. I have no power, or any responsibility to bring forth results.
In bungee jumping, it is that rope tied around parts of your body that is going to keep you from failure. In ministering to people, it is God, and the promises He has given us. He has all of the power. And He is the one we are relying on to bring results to the needs of the people standing in front of us. We are simply commanding God’s will and power into existence.
And so, I proceeded to pray for each one of those 35 to 40 people. And I wasn’t embarrassed or concerned if we would or wouldn’t see results. That part I would leave between them and God. I prayed for each one with great love, boldness and conviction. Then it was up to God to work within these people and bring to pass what we had spoken about in prayer.
Next up we will talk about the crusades at Kimaeti where great evangelism occurred.
Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they ask, it will be done for them by my Father who is in heaven.
For where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there in the midst of them.”
Matthew 18:19-20 REV