March 2019 - KENYA UPDATE FOR OUR FRIENDS cont...
What a year it has been as God has been moving like a fire in the wind! Since Pastor Tom's trip to Kenya last year God has birthed a “Life Changing Ministry” that is far beyond what his imagination could have thought of. While he was in Kenya, a he was connected by the Holy Spirit that became a bond of love like no other to a pastor there.
Our vision for Kenya is to teach Pastors that the same God that they worship is the same God we worship, and that He has promised to provide for us to have life in abundance and take care of our physical and emotional needs (not a prosperity give-to-receive perspective). We are not there to support the churches financially, that is God’s position; we are there for them to learn how to trust Him instead of looking for man to provide in a myriad of ways. Another purpose is to teach them administration skills so they can operate transparently for accountability. There is a great distrust of people in Kenya, maybe worse than America, which we hope to break within the LCM family of Churches by teaching the Love that looks to a brother’s needs before your own, and to learn to Love like God does by having a love-inspired desire for God.
We don’t want churches just to have churches; we want the witness of LCM’s vision and doctrine to stand for what Jesus stands for throughout eternity. There are many hireling Pastors who start churches to make a living. They are very easy to discern. We want only Pastors who have been called of God who would starve to death before they would give up on their church.
IF you would like to be our prayer partner and are willing to lift this ministry up at the least in weekly prayer, we would be so blessed. We will not succeed without many people praying for a change in the country of Kenya. We together can be like Gideon’s army and conquer the curses that are so prevalent there. Also, even though we don’t support the churches financially, we do not forget the many orphans, widows and single moms there who struggle to just barley keep alive without enough protein to stay healthy. We also have administrative costs to operate a ministry like this. God has given us favor in America with the people who have been chained with addictions and incarcerations, among many other curses, but we have enough resources here to minister effectively. In Kenya it is a different story, we need your financial help and there is not one person receiving a salary out of your donations. It will go to the people who have dire needs and to help us operate the ministry.
Just to show you part of our vision that is already in place at the Embu church, we have rented land to raise enough food for every person that has nutritional needs that aren’t being met. the Government just announced that 1 million will die from starvation in Kenya this year. We hired the plowing; the people of the church have already raked it out ready for planting, they have planted the seedlings and are fertilizing to reap a crop large enough to feed their own people and to sell what is needed to buy seed and fertilizer along with the rent for next growing season.
Will you help in our efforts to help the churches be the church that God wants them to be? We would appreciate all you can do, first in regular prayers and then in regular financial partnership. You will be every bit of what is being done as anyone else.
In the Love of Christ,
Pastor Tom Gregg
Matthew 25:35-40
P.S. Please pray for us and the team of five who will leave for Kenya in April to work with the pastors and people in the churches to realize they may live in a third world country, but more importantly they live in a First World Kingdom, because they are children of the Most High God. They have an inheritance that non-believers don’t have!
April 2018 - GOD HAS OPENED A DOOR IN KENYA, AFRICA cont...
...As the trip went on to various churches and orphanages, spending seven days with leaders of the Christian faith and watching their life styles and the power they preach in, God did something amazing. He showed His pure love to Pastor Tom and Brian while they bonded with the children, adults and leaders. (click here to visit the Kenya Trip 2018 photo gallery)
Over the months that passed since the Kenya visit, Pastor Tom continued to encourage and share many things of God with some of the Kenyan leaders. Sometime in March one of the Bishops from Bumala Kenya asked to see the doctrinal and belief statements of LCM. He also wanted to know about the leadership structure and accounting process of accountability.
Pastor Tom already had received confirmation from the Lord and welcomed such a move. They began the process of registering the name, the doctrine and the constitution of LCM and received approval to allow “Life Changing Ministries International” to operate churches in the country of Kenya.
Life Changing Ministries of Kalamazoo/Portage, MI will provide ministerial support, ministry leadership, administration, church structure in a family friendly environment and guidance in Church plantings.
Three other churches have heard about what God is doing with Life Changing Ministries International and have met and are in full agreement with LCM’S way of operating, the beliefs and constitution and have been approved for membership in the Life Changing Ministries International family of churches. Praise God!