Sound and godly leadership is absolutely essential to the extension of the Kingdom of Jesus in the hearts and lives of others. Believers in the local church rarely rise above the character and conduct of their leaders. Hosea well said, “What the priests do, the people also do”. If churches in Kenya are going to biblical and God-­‐pleasing churches, then they must have biblical and God-­‐pleasing shepherds. This is why it has been my passion and purpose to commit the truths of God’s Word into faithful men, who will be able to teach others also. Foreign missions should not primarily be concerned with “sending people to other nations”! Rather, Foreign missions should be intensely concerned with “sending God’s truths, through disciple makers, to other nations. This has been my desire and determination, in many different nations, since my first pastors’ conference in Cuba in 1996! This most recent conference in Kitale, Kenya was my 11th consecutive year to pour the truths of the Word of God into pastors, church planters, overseers and others in leadership positions in that African nation. There were 578 pastors in attendance! They travelled from 3 different nations and many different regions of Kenya and Uganda. There were actually far more pastors and church planters, than there was room to house them. For this reason, a large number of these pastors joyfully volunteered to sleep on the floor in the sanctuary; others slept in buses; and still others slept in cars! They all testified, in one accord, “We don’t care where we have to sleep, for we do not want to miss this week of the teaching of the truths of God’s Word! We are hungering and thirsting to hear from the Lord, through Bro. Ed”!

When you consider the time difference of 9 hours, I actually began to teach the Word at midnight Alabama time; concluding each day’s teaching at 7 a.m.! And you must remember that only 10 weeks prior to this conference, I was in the hospital with acute pancreatitis, a dead gall gladder, and stones lodged in my bile duct! I was in a “life and death” condition on two different occasions, during my 12-­‐day hospital stay. So friend, I was hungering and thirsting for God’s supernatural power, God’s amazing grace and the Holy Spirit’s anointing, wisdom, guidance and government, as I moved through the teaching on “The Key to Supreme Happiness and Spiritual Prosperity”! The congregation was also demonstrating an insatiable appetite for the truths of God’s Word. And our awesome and gracious Lord fed these appetites in astounding ways. I would like to share a couple of testimonies, of God’s reviving work among these 578 pastors and church planters. Below is the personal testimony of Pastor John Malemo, who is the Director of CBLT in the Bungoma district (state) of Kenya.

Pastor John writes, “I am both a pastor and the director of ‘Church Based Leadership Training-­‐Kenya’, a ministry that is now reaching more than 600 pastors and church leaders in North West Kenya and Eastern Uganda, through “small group” biblical and ministry training. CBLT trains leaders to systematically study the Word of God, so that others may be illuminated to soundly and passionately teach their congregations. I first met Bro. Ed Lacy in Uganda in 2011, when I attended his ‘Christ Centered Evangelism’ conference. I listened to him keenly! I immediately knew, in my heart of hearts, that all of the church leaders and pastors that we have been training needed to take a part in his ministry. I tirelessly worked on the ‘Christ Centered Evangelism workbook and converted it into a “book format” in the Swahili language. We now use it as the training manual for our evangelism course in CBLT.

God has used Bro. Ed to be such a great blessing in East Africa. God has gifted this man to be an earthen vessel for the glory of God. God has given him grace, passion and knowledge to de-­‐mystify systematic theology, on key aspects of Christian life and experience. God has empowered him to teach at a level that reaches both the ordinary man and the highly intellectual; and God uses him to move both categories to walk the narrow path of salvation and discipleship, with carefulness and absolute dependence on God. Every conference, which we have attended, has moved us into a deeper fellowship of intimacy with God and has stimulated us with an insatiable appetite for God, for His Spirit and for His righteousness. Through Bro. Ed’s ministry, the church in this part of Africa is experiencing an awakening to otherwise neglected areas of Christian life, Christian doctrine and the disciplines of authentic discipleship. One would have to pay highly to learn these truths in an institutionalized setting, such as an evangelical seminary or bible school. Furthermore, these truths are sometimes taught mechanically. So many attempt to teach these profound truths, while being void of the power of the Holy Spirit. But it is the Spirit’s power which alone brings conviction and contrition; and which moves the believer to seek the Lord for help, so as to be able to relate these teachings to personal life, family life and ministry life. Because of the spiritual significance and worth of these conferences, our CBLT board has made the ‘Ed Lacy conferences’ to be part of our annual calendar event, for which we pray for and long for. This year, we brought more than 100 pastors and church leaders from Bungoma district. We have been doing this in successive years since 2011. Our commitment to these conferences is fueled by the testimonies that we continually receive, concerning how these pastors’ lives and ministries have been changed, as they feel God speaking to them personally on particular areas of their lives: such as personal sin, apathy toward God, pursuit of personal holiness and righteousness, prayer, worship, use of the tongue, fidelity, soul winning and many others.

I sincerely thank all those who partner with Ed Lacy Ministry to support this conference annually. All of these pastors serve in remote communities which are poverty stricken and economically challenged. Most of us cannot afford the cost of transportation and accommodation to attend such a conference. We are deeply indebted to all of the supporters of this ministry, for helping meet not only the transportation costs of more than 600 church leaders; but also for all of our accommodations, our meals and the publication of all of the workbooks. Through your faithful stewardship and bountiful gifts to this ministry, you have stirred up the hearts of all of these 600 pastors and church planters. We are all committed to teach these truths, which we are learning from Bro. Ed, to the tens and thousands in our many churches; as well as spreading the authentic Gospel of Jesus to hundreds of thousands of those who are perishing in East Africa. As we came to the close of this years’ conference and I reflected on the many lives that have been impacted by this man of humility, I could not hold back the tears! Our dear Bro. Ed is setting a powerful example of passionate devotion to the Lord before all of us; as well as a living testimony of voluntary sacrifice and suffering for the cause of Christ. We continue to pray for Bro. Ed. We cannot put into words the spiritual blessings that we have received through his teaching and his life. As I think of my dear Bro. Ed, I believe that “who knows … but that God has called him to us for such a time as this”. I am certain that God has providentially placed him among us; to prepare His church in East Africa to fulfill God’s purpose and bring glory to our Lord Jesus Christ. We will diligently commit to these truths, that you have committed to us, to faithful men and women. So that they too can teach others also. I look forward to more of such teachings; because we desperately need them.”

My dear brother, Rev. George Wafula, is the Director of Kenya Ministries Training Institute, which is the ministry which annually hosts this conference. George and Pastor Fredrick Mulei are both intricately involved in the intensive preparation that is needed to organize a conference of this magnitude. George is also the dear brother who translates each workbook that I have developed into the Swahili language. He was also my interpreter for every one of the 13 sessions that it took, to expound and apply the beatitudes. George shares these words of testimony, concerning this year’s conference.

“Once again, we were tremendously blessed to have our Bro. Ed Lacy coming to speak to 578 pastors, overseers of pastors, church planters, evangelists and some of their wives in our annual conference at KMTI. These leaders came from 15 different cities in Kenya and 3 different African nations. This was the largest conference that we have ever held on our campus. God anointed our dear Bro. Ed with such mighty power, as he taught ‘The Key to Supreme Happiness and Spiritual Prosperity’. This was an awesome exposition of the beatitudes, which came to all of us under the unction of the Holy Spirit and with great illumination and conviction! I have never been in a meeting where hundreds of senior pastors and overseers of pastors were willing and ready to sleep on a two inch mattress with only one sheet for four days, just to hear the word of God! Some of these pastors even slept in the vehicles, that were packed onto our campus; because they didn’t want to miss the opportunity to hear the exposition of these powerful and profound truths. This can only happen because God had arrested the hearts of these leaders. All of them were exhibiting a tremendous hunger for the truth and a joyful willingness to sacrifice, for the purpose of being equipped with these glorious truths. After the second day of teaching, in which Bro. Ed spent some of a session exposing the false prosperity Gospel, one pastor came to me and told me that, ‘He was considering not preaching in his church for 1 year, to give himself to God and reconsider deeply what he has been teaching his congregation’. Several other church leaders confessed that, ‘they have been seducing people into salvation using human invented methods’. I am so very glad to see these truths being multiplied into the lives of hundreds of our Bible institute graduates and church leaders from all across East Africa! They have all committed to teach these “life-­‐transforming” truths to others also. There will be a great multiplication in the lives of thousands of people! There was one particularly youth worker, from our local city of Kitale, who really challenged my life during this year’s conference. This lady had been involved in a motorcycle accident several months ago; and had not been able to walk, except with crutches. When she heard that Bro. Ed was coming to teach, she decided that she could not miss this conference. She came to the conference, hobbling on her crutches. Unfortunately, she was not assigned a place to stay on the campus. She was assigned a room that was 2 kilometers from the venue, because we did not realize that she had no transportation. Nevertheless, she did not complain. She jumped on those crutches for 2 kilometers, both in the morning and in the evening. She exhibited such an insatiable appetite to attend the conference and digest these powerful truths. She was there in attendance, with a big smile on her face, every morning! I did not realize that she was walking to her place of rest every evening. But one evening, I was driving to the place where I was sleeping, when I saw this young lady hobbling on these crutches. Then I saw a Bible and Bro. Ed’s workbook in her hands. And I realized that this lady was one of the attendees at the conference! I stopped and offered a ride to her place of rest. She told me that she doesn’t mind either the distance or the pain; she only desires to be edified with the word. My heart was shattered with conviction. I was amazed by the hunger and thirst that she was demonstrating for the word of God.

I want to express my sincere thanks and appreciation to Dianne, for her personal sacrifice to give her husband to serve us here in Kenya! I also want to give my personal gratitude for all of those dear disciples who pray and support Ed Lacy Ministries. Brothers and sisters, you are making a huge difference in East Africa. All of these leaders pray for God’s riches blessings on each one of you, who personally give to this ministry, for the multiplication of God’s truths into the lives of thousands of Africans!”

Friends, one thing more I want to share with you. As you can surmise from these two testimonies, the Lord was working in the hearts of all of us, including this earthen vessel. Upon the conclusion of the conference, one pastor went home and returned with a Love offering for me. He gave me one of his goats. My heart was filled with love and thanksgiving over such an unselfish gift. This was such a sacrificial gift from this dear man. Goats provide families with much needed milk and cheese. Of course, I gave the goat to the school, where it will be an on-­‐going blessing.