Valley Forge Baptist Church Missions

Brant Direct Link
Leading by Example
26 July 2009

This past week I have been with a tiny group of believers at the outskirts of Nairobi.  I needed my 4 wheeler to get through the mud to where the “church” was.  The church was a single room in one of those unfinished apartment blocks in the slum area of the city.    There was a long extension cord that went to some dubious place to bring power to the one light bulb in the room.  Most days we had five or six people in the meeting.  Occasionally a few stragglers walked in.

Now you say, why would you waste your time on something like this – don’t you have more important things to do.  Well, yes and no.  You see, about a year ago I gave a course on the book of Acts in a school called the “Africa Center for the Great Commission.”  Alice was one of my students.  She was quiet, but sat there drinking in the Word of God like a sponge.  At the end of the course she asked me, “If I gather a group of pastors from this part of Africa – Uganda, Tanzania, and Kenya here, would you come and teach us?  I quickly agreed.

We’ve had several calls over the year.  She invited 30 people.  How much money would I be willing to raise for her their transportation and the conference?  I would be happy to come, pay all my own expenses, print materials but the conference costs would have to be borne by them. Did they still want to do it?  A week later came the answer.  “Yes, we will do it in faith.”  I responded, “Then in faith, I will come.”

The day came to “see the church.”  We drove to the very edge of the Nairobi – out in the construction area where low cost apartments are being built.  I couldn’t believe it when we parked in front of a metal door and I read the name of the church.  “Healing and Deliverance Centre.  God’s Power for Deliverance from Satanic Bondages.  Sundays: A glorious atmosphere for praise, worship, miracles and deliverance.”  The building was located on one of the main thoroughfares coming out of the slum area.    

The drive to this place was an experience all of its own.  It was only 20 minutes on a normal day, but the traffic here in Nairobi is wild – and rush hour – you literally take your life in your hands.  Most people do not have their own cars so they travel on mini busses called “Mutatus” which “own the road.”  They dart in and out of traffic like wild rabbits.  It took me an hour to get there – and an hour and half each night to get home. 

Anyway, the first morning the one light bulb did not work.  So we are sitting in semi darkness – a little light coming through the door.  Huge apologies are made that many of the “Pastors” did not come, but Alice (right back) was there telling of how she came to this deserted place and believed that God wanted her to start a church.  She put out her shingle and started preaching to the empty room to chairs.  She slept on the bare floor with a piece of cardboard as she had no bed on which to sleep.  At night, the vagrants wandered through the building and even the police found here there.  She narrowly escaped being raped several times.

So we began our lessons with five!  One was a pastor from Uganda.  One a Youth Minister from Tanzania.  Two lady preachers.   A bright zealous young man named Patrick (front) who wants to be a world evangelist.  We started in at 8:30 in the morning -- a short beak for tea and then on to lunch.  “We want to eat – but we don’t know if you will eat our food.”  Beans and rice.  Lintels and rice.  Greens and corn mean (ogali).  Of course!  I brought my own clean water and Ethiopian red pepper which I love.

The first day, we were in the middle of a lesson when two women walked in off the street.  One appeared to be drunk.  They were asked to come to the front of the room.  All believers gathered around them and began to pray in their language – loudly!  Soon Alice started in, talking in a loud voice. Laying hands on them. Praying, calling up on God to save them.  When it was all over they told me, “They just got saved.”

On Monday we heard the loud banging of a carpenter.  He was using our abandoned building to do his carpentry.  Then came the “ziiiinnnng” of a skill saw followed by the electric grinder.  The local tent maker was using the building to cut metal pipes for making tents.  The one light bulb flickered on and off.

Late in the afternoon we heard loud singing, people shouting in prayer over a loud speaker.  Yes, there is another “church” that uses this abandoned building as well.

The lessons went on and I could see that they were really getting into it.  One man said, “We have never heard the Word of God taught like this before.”  Each wanted me to come to “their church” and they would gather people together.  Another pastor from Tanzania joined us on the second to last day. 

It was the last day and we were having our tea break.  Suddenly a stranger walked into the room and sat down.  I assumed that he was another “late pastor.”   After everyone introduced themselves, they asked him why he had come.  His response, “I have come from a far place looking for work.  I have found none and I passed by your church.  I came here for you to pray for me.”  Was he a believer? “No, I have never accepted Christ.”  Alice looked at me, “Would you please lead him to Jesus.”

I was about to tell Pastor Alice that she or one of her people should do it themselves because I always want to give others the joy of leading someone to Christ.  But suddenly I realized, here was a chance for me to teach by example.  So I carefully explained that in order to be saved, we must know who we are – and we must know who Jesus is.  Did he know he was a sinful man that needed salvation?  “Yes.”  Then I carefully explained who Jesus is and the Gospel. (All the students listened intently.)  Now, did he believe in his heart that God had raised Jesus from the dead?  Yes!  Was he ready to confess Jesus as his Lord?  Yes!  We read Rom. 10:9-10, prayed and welcomed him into the family of God. 

The lessons finished with the appeal of Paul to Timothy in II Timothy 4.  “Preach the Word…”  I challenged them to start preaching form the Bible itself rather than things they had heard from others.  And then I closed with the words of Paul, “I have fought the good fight. I have finished the course. I have kept the faith.”  They were weeping as we closed.  We gave certificates to the four who had faithfully finished the course.  After a meal (Jo-Ann had cooked some banana bread) and we had shared enough for them to buy a few vegetables and a little meat, they begged me not to let this be the last visit.  Pastor Alice came to me privately.  “We understand that we do many things in our church only because we learned them that way from others.  We need people to teach us the true Word of God.” 

That was last week.  Next Sundays I will be preaching in one of the largest churches in Nairobi – Nairobi Baptist.   The Vice President of the country attends this church.  Over the next months, we have a heavy travel schedule into Pakistan, India, Bhutan, Philippines, Korea and then back into Angola – all before Christmas.  Pray that the Lord will help us to be faithful to few or many, to the high and mighty as well as the poor and the lowly.  May we teach not only by our words, but by our example.

Your Missionaries
Howie and Jo-ann Brant
Serving with SIM in Nairobi Kenya

Email Response to: howard.brant@gmail.com
Official Address:  SIM, Box 7400,  Box 7900,
Charlotte, NC  28241-7900
Kenya Phone:  +254-723217000