our ministry trip to Kenya (2026)

Broadly, the goal of HAI is to develop a vision and strategies for “ministry multiplication”: Don’t just start something; prepare others to start in the future as well. More specifically, we train on discipleship and developing lay-leaders—while other experts provide training to start schools and other businesses, develop ministry skills in “emotional healing”, learn skills such as mechanics and video production, operate medical and dental clinics, etc. 

So, FSM (through our training and DC/GE curricula) and HAI both emphasize empowerment and multiplication. We often describe it in light of a popular metaphor: don’t give a man a fish; teach him how to fish. But our goals are grander: we want to teach the man how to teach others to fish. In discipleship terms, we would point to the four generations of II Tim 2:2 (Paul, Timothy, faithful people, who can teach others; see also: Joel 1:3). Addition is ok, but we’re aiming for multiplication which is far more powerful. 

How did this trip compare to our others?

On the first five trips, our team led one module among many in the final two years of a three-year HAI process to train church leaders in a given country. This time, for the second consecutive year, we were part of HAI’s “Discipleship Training Academy” (DTA) near HAI’s headquarters outside of Nairobi. Last year’s group was mostly Kenyans with students from Mali, South Sudan, and Madagascar.) We were training in the 12th of their 13 week process. (It’s ideal to do our part late, after they’ve grown close to each other, but not the last week with the distractions of graduation.)

Two other differences: First, the DTA has a tighter, longer clock, with training 8:30-5:00, with four breaks (two 15-minute; one 30-minute for tea; and an hour for lunch with 15 minutes of worship to transition back to teaching). Second, they do prayer and fasting every Tuesday, so we only trained 3-4 that day.

Second, the students: This year’s group was half-Kenyan with students from Burkina Faso, Niger, Guinea Conakry, Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, Madagascar, and Mozambique. In addition to the 27 DTA’ers, many of Francis’ staff, interns, and key volunteers joined us at times. (Most of them went through some of the training last year.) This was a smaller-than-average training in terms of size—about 45 people involved. Like last year’s group, the DTA recruits were younger than previous groups– mostly early-mid 20s and a handful in their 30s. 

Third, language was easy; all English. The accents (and acoustics) added some challenge, but it was easy enough. (Think Britain not Ireland vs. American.) Given this, it was relatively easy to form relationships and have more meaningful conversations with the people we were training. (About the same as Ghana; easier than Zambia; and far easier than BF and Malawi.) They were very friendly, extremely kind, and quite enthusiastic.

Fourth, Kurt and I want to take different people on each trip—particularly those who haven’t taken an international ministry trip in the past. We want them to see God move in radically different ways and empower them to go “further still”—to do a range of other things, from everyday life to international missions. And we want the locals to be inspired by laypeople doing ministry. This time, it was powerful for me and Kurt to see them experiencing Africa for the first time, reminding us of things that are now easy for us to take for granted.  

The Training 

On Monday AM, Rick and Erin led off with “Identity in Christ”. And then, David and Kurt taught sessions on Spiritual Warfare. On Tuesday, Kurt and I did our version of “four chairs” and “the funnel” of Jesus’ ministry. On Wednesday AM, David and Kurt led the group through Neil Anderson’s “Steps to Freedom in Christ” booklet. (For the fourth consecutive trip, we finished with a ceremony to burn lists of sins that had been confessed.) On Thursday AM, Rachel taught on how to read the Bible effectively using Jonah 1-2 and I taught through Genesis 3. On Friday AM, we added some other brief sessions on making disciple-makers; Rachel and I taught through Jonah 3-4; and we left time for wrap-up, reflection, and Q/A.  

The rest of the time (Wed/Thurs/Fri afternoons) was small group discussions. In terms of material, we use GE (or DC) material/questions on unity/conflict/fellowship, leadership, marriage, and stewardship. The plan is always to model an effective small group with avid participation, facilitating more than teaching, striving to empower rather than teach at folks. We handed off leadership to chosen people in the group on Friday (Mare and Sam in my case)—to model empowerment. As with all the other countries except Malawi, the DTA’ers were comfortable in the small groups. The groups went really well.

The tribal-cultural aspects of the discussions were more interesting/unique than last year– perhaps because more countries were represented. There were some wild stories about marriage and getting married. We had more talks than I can remember about finances. (I learned that it would be difficult for them to have the $80 required to start a mutual fund account.) And the Muslim influence was again limited (as in Malawi and Zambia vs. Ghana and BF). For example, we didn’t hear a mosque with loudspeakers to do regular prayers on this trip.  

Aside from the training… 

This time, we had two Sundays (first time ever) and worshipped both times at Francis’ church. (As before, I’ve liked to open with a church service as a warm-up to the training—rather than to open with training and then close with a church service. This time we got both!) David, Rachel, Kurt, and I spoke the first week; Rick, Erin, and I spoke the second week.  David and Rick shared testimonies; Erin and Rachel taught; Kurt preached about “finishing strong”; and I talked about I Thessalonians 5:16-18 the first week (we needed 10 more minutes of content) and Genesis 12:1-6 the second week. (I was pleased with my spontaneous early effort, but tried to do too much with Gen 12.) We were impressed by the speed with which their tech guy brought up Scriptures on the screen. 

We finished the trip with our best Saturday / free day so far (even better than last year). We did a safari in the early morning– same park as last year, and amazing again! We saw everything we expected: giraffe, water buffalo (with babies), rhino (with babies!), zebra, ostrich, impala– all within 20-30 feet of our vehicle. This time, many of the animals crossed the road in front/behind, allowing some close looks. Easy to see, but at a considerable distance: hippos and crocodiles. We also got to see a lion walking between cars/buses on the road. Wild! All so majestic and beautiful! Then, they took us to a park where we got to feed giraffes by hand. (Their tongues are cool!) We also got to spend a lot of time with Susan that day– and Caren too (although we worked with her throughout the week). 

Miscellany 

The Kenyans were light on dancing and the music was modest (keyboard and a lead singer or two). Still, worship was inspiring. A bit of harmony. (Only Malawi has used extensive harmony when singing.) Dress ranged quite a bit from Masai to moderate and casual Western/modern (but conservative).

Travel was fine, except… 1.) A cancelled flight from Amsterdam to Nairobi. That situation seemed really dicey at first. (There was some talk about not getting out until Monday– two days later!) We thought we had it fixed by dividing us into two groups, but Rachel saved the day when she caught that they were sending us on different days! But long story short: with some help from our SE folks, we were able to get out with only the delay of an additional, long flight diversion thru Accra. 2.) Attempted extortion by custom officers in Nairobi. We were bringing in crayons, soccer balls, and teaching materials. They said we were supposed to fill out a form beforehand. We got them to focus on the crayons and balls, but they wanted to charge us $200 and then reduced it to $100. When we told them the crayons were worth $10, they let us go.

Otherwise, one short layover, but no trouble with making the connection. The seven layers of security at the Nairobi airport are between frustrating and amazing. Good food on the planes and I was able to sleep a bit. Along with my penchant for irregular sleep, the sleep turmoil seems to mean that one good night of sleep allows me to catch up with little jet lag (none going– and this time, little upon return).  

I was part of three extensive/productive conversations with strangers on the flights. On the flight to Amsterdam: Nick was a young German Christian who talked with me and mostly Kurt about an obscure sport (we forget which one) that had allowed him to connect with Americans in Ft Wayne over the last few years. On the flight to Nairobi: a riveting/poignant talk with an LDS woman whose adult child is transgender and transitioning.

On the flight to Accra: an exciting talk with the first real/religious (vs. cultural) Muslim that I’ve talked with. Sulemon was quite the apologist and eager to talk to anyone about Islam vs. Christianity. I had good answers for him. We agreed to exchange reading assignments: Romans for him and Surah #2 (the Cow) for me. When I told Francis about this exchange, he told me that good Muslims are supposed to read three things (Torah, Gospel, and something else). And that they believe Jesus is in Heaven but they don’t know where Muhammad is, so he asks them why they would follow someone who doesn’t know where he’s going! But the angle I pursued: he had pressed quite a bit on the divine/human partnership that resulted in the Christian Scriptures (II Tim 3:16′s God-breathed thru human writers), which is in contrast to the Muslim belief that the Koran was dictated by God thru Muhammad, keeping it “pure”. After he showed me the Koran on his phone in English, I asked who translated it– and he said a man, so I asked why that was ok. And, of course, there was no good answer for that. It seemed like he had never heard that question before. In any case, I’m praying that God uses the inconsistency to haunt him. Please pray for Sulemon!

The accommodations at Francis’ compound on Sifa Road were terrific—roughly equivalent to Zambia for the best lodging we’ve had in Africa. No A/C, but no need. Hot showers with modest flow. Firm beds. Electricity 24-7 (vs. generally off in Zambia 8-6ish). Really, it was far nicer than one could reasonably expect. And the food was terrific, breakfast and dinner prepared by Rebecca, with some help from Tabitha (who made a bead bracelet for each of us. (Lunch during the training was solid.) Meat, veggies, starches (incl chapati), and good sauces. Fresh mango, pineapple, oranges, and small bananas. Bigger focus on dessert this year: cookies and ice cream bars. Breakfast was peanut butter (and jelly/honey) with bread, yogurt, and most mornings, sausage or bacon with eggs. (David’s obsession with PB was probably the most frequent inside joke on the trip.) No crazy foods this time.  

After dinner and the debrief sessions, people mostly headed to their rooms (or headed home in the case of Frank, Pamella, and daughter Joan). We played more games than the Zambia trip, but less than the others: two evenings of No Thanks (riotous the first time) and two games of Splendor. It was also a time to mostly fast from phone, text, email, and current events. So, it was good to get solitude (quiet time and reading for an hour or two after others had headed to their rooms).  

We did some walking, although not as much as in Zambia. It was more difficult to walk here with the schedule and the dirt roads. But we had a memorable hour-long trek outside “the neighborhood”– north and south along Old Namanga Road (I think).  

On the trip, I mostly skimmed David Yamane’s Gun Curious (cool premise and solid read on a “liberal prof” getting into guns and gun culture), loved Garret Jones’ The Culture Transplant (provocative on culture, immigration, and econ development; I’ll write a review of it soon), and got about halfway thru David Kling’s The Bible in History (relatively thick but very interesting on the key passages that have impacted world history). On the longer flights, I watched some movies: Marty Supreme (odd/interesting on the pursuit of worldly fame, purpose, identity), F1 (entertaining with some strong themes), Dog Day Afternoon (a classic that was far funnier and odder than I expected, early Pacino, based on a true story), One Battle After Another (entertaining with strong themes), Man from UNCLE (entertaining).  

The weather was beautiful: sunny or partly cloudy with highs in the mid-70s and lows in the mid-50s—and only a sprinkle of rain. (They have a wet season and it does get 100+-degree hot in their summer.) Accordingly, the mosquitoes were a non-issue again—in general and in particular, with the preventative measures we take. No significant trouble with illness, thankfully. (Likewise, I was thankful to be given the strength to teach on Tuesday, despite the prayer/fasting.)  It was really dry and dusty. Plastic bags are illegal and there was less pollution than we’re used to seeing.  

We’re super-excited to see what the Lord does through HAI and the DTA’ers. We’re optimistic that the work will spread through Kenya and the other countries. As for us, our next trips to Africa are tentative– maybe Kenya for another DTA in 2027 or another country where Francis is starting to work. Stay tuned!