Mission Made Possible

“Dr. John, meet Raymond. He will be your interpreter as you preach.”

Robert had just introduced me to a young pastor who would preach alongside me in Swahili at the 2013 pastors’ conference of the Africa Gospel Church held at Tenwek Africa Gospel Church, a brief walk down the hillside from Tenwek Hospital. Rev. Dr. Robert Lang’at is the Bishop of the Africa Gospel Church, a Wesleyan holiness denomination started by World Gospel Mission in the twentieth century to serve the church in Kenya East Africa. Lang'at is also my friend, an alumnus of Wesley Biblical Seminary, and an advocate for WBS.

Raymond Tonui shook my hand warmly. His slight figure and sharp facial features framed a warm smile and intelligent gaze. As we prayed together before the message, I knew that I was with a like-minded brother.

Preaching alongside Raymond was invigorating. He translated my English into Swahili to the one thousand pastors in attendance with ease, anointing, and conviction. The first message we preached together had its text in Hebrews 12:14-17:  

^“Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;  lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. For ye know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.”

That service, the altar was crowded with kneeling, weeping, confessing Kenyan pastors, twenty feet deep into the aisles. Raymond remembers that evening, “I have not forgotten that night as the Holy Spirit spoke to us through the message of Holiness through you.”

Before the week was out, I met Raymond’s beautiful wife and two lovely children, and preached in the church he pastors, Karen AGC. I was present and preached at his ordination service at the close of the pastor’s conference. My heart was stirred when Raymond received the clergy collar along with the exhortation to preach the Word.

I learned that Raymond had graduated from Kenya Highlands Evangelical University, and that he desired to further his education. We talked about his attending Wesley Biblical Seminary as an online student in our MA Mission Possible program. This program commits to a tuition scholarship for international pastors in the majority world who can study online, in English, and with the recommendation of their host organization. I was the courier of Raymond’s college transcript from Kenya to Jackson, Mississippi.

Raymond was accepted and enrolled at WBS. In May, 2017, he is among the first Kenyans to graduate from Wesley Biblical Seminary’s MA Mission Possible program, and will do so with a Master of Arts in Christian Studies. Raymond describes his experience pursuing an online Master of Arts in Christian Studies at WBS: “I am grateful to God, you and the WBS Family, I am not the same person I was before. I have experienced the power of God in me and I am beginning to see his presence in my ministry. I believe in my heart that Holiness is what God wants for this Generation, and I stand up to be counted among those who will live and preach it. It has been a pleasure to sit under your feet and those wonderful men and women who serve as professors. I am eternally grateful.”

Your investment in the mission of Wesley Biblical Seminary is an investment with impact. You are impacting transformation in the Church at home and around the globe. Wesley Biblical Seminary depends upon the gifts of our friends to support 60% of our annual budget. We are dependent upon your prayerful and faithful monthly support to advance our mission. Thank you for equipping Raymond and many others to impact our world for Christ.