Jafya on mission

I got to Kisumu safely early this afternoon after a 6 and a half-hour drive. I was mostly asleep during the journey having slept late and woken up four hours later. I arrived when the team was on the way to a school for an afternoon ministry visit. They picked me up at the main highway and we proceeded to the school, where the team leader (Jafya) was at his usual versatile self.
I met him first in 2008 when he came to Diguna for the school leavers' camp. He had just cleared high school the previous year and was not a Christian. He decided to allow Jesus to become his Lord and Savior during that camp and was soon after a founding member of our Bible study group (Chosen829).
A few years down the line, he is a reasonably stable Christian, well on the way to maturity in the faith. He is the current camp director at Diguna and leader of the School ministry team. He is an awesome person, jovial, funny and has a sharp mind. He can preach, sing, act and counsel and is a great example of Christianity.
This does not make him a perfect man, far from it...he is still, as we all are, a work under progress. God is still using and moulding him into His own image and likeness and he is being greatly used of God in this generation.
I look forward to the future that is his in Jesus. So bright, so full of promise, he will need all the support he can get, I hope I can be part of the army God will use to bless his life.

Kisumu is calling

It has been a great week at the Diguna camps. I had a wonderful opportunity to be the main speaker through the week and I shared on the theme of choices. I posted the devotional guide on both my facebook profile (Tony Ouma) and on this blog. I also posted the sermon notes on my facebook notes page and got some interesting feedback.
The strangest thing is that I always somehow managed to get the sermon almost ready' only in the evenings. I never went to share feeling that it was completely ready, and even after sharing, I still got some ideas of other highlights I could have added.
I got a cold yesterday night but still had to lead praise and worship in our church today. I needed quite a few handkerchiefs, and a whole packet of strepsils, and a lot of help from the Holy Spirit. It went well, by my estimation. I hope God liked it.
I am planning to leave for Kisumu, about 300 or more kilometers from Nairobi for a mission trip. I will be joining a team of school leavers from the Diguna camp for school ministry visits. The focus will be on primary and secondary schools in the outskirts of Kisumu, sharing the Gospel message using songs, skits, mimes and preaching.
I return on the 12th of February so that I can take part in the Love Concert, a Christian music event focusing on the theme of love in a godly context, hosted at International Christian Center Mombasa Road, Nairobi west campus.
So now, I write from my flat, trying to catch my breath before I return. The thing is, even now, there are people in my house, and I am enjoying their company so much, even though I had planned to sleep the afternoon away..

Choices

I am speaking this week at the Diguna School Leavers' Camp. The theme of the camp is 'Choices'. Certain unavoidable circumstances led to me being the speaker at the camp, the major one being my availability and 'flexibility'. I figure that the main reason I am the speaker is because God has something He would like to say through me, and that is the scary bit.

I managed to prepare the devotional guide for the week and posted it on facebook and on this blog. Now I am still working on the sermon itself, and I am looking forward to what God is going to do through this experience.

I am learning a lot about choices myself but perhaps the greatest lesson so far, is that every choice leads to yet another choice and always has a consequence. There is no choice that is an end in itself.

Jesus made a great choice at the garden of Gethsemane...He asked that the cup of suffering be taken from Him if possible, and then asked the Father to allow His own will to prevail (Matthew 26:36-39). The Father followed through on the earlier plan and the rest, is the story of our salvation. He could have chosen to take the options the devil gave Him in the wilderness during His time of temptation, but using the Scripture, He took the Godly option every time....what would have happened if he had chosen to take the easy route? Something to think about... (Luke 4:1-14)

You are definitely going to face many choices this weekend and in the year, what governs your choice making process?

5 Day Devotional on Choices

Monday: Makutano Junction

Jonah 1

Define CHOICE, in your own words.

Based on your definition, what would you say is the hardest choice you've ever had to make in your life?

What influences your choice making process?

Read Jonah 1:1-3

What was the actual command given to Jonah by God?

If you were Jonah, how would you respond to such a command from God?

How would you respond to a directive from your leader in the event that you did not agree with the directive?

Read Jonah 1:4-17

What were some of the consequences of Jonah's disobedience to the command given by God?

How have your actions in the past put the safety of others at risk?

Focus Scripture: Jonah 1:8-9

God has the capacity to turn us to His purposes. How do we ensure that we follow His will without being forced into obedience?

Tuesday: The Bold and the Beautiful

2 Samuel 11

King David stayed home at the time when kings go out to battle. What lessons can we already learn at this point in this story?

Six things happened soon after:

·         He saw a woman bathing

·         He inquired about her

·         He sent for her

·         He lay with her

·         He sent her back home

·         She conceived

·         He tried to get her husband to sleep with her so that he would think the baby was his.

·         He sent the husband with his own letter of execution, and subsequently had him killed.

·         He brought her to his house and made her his wife.

There is a progression to sin, and there are also consequences. How have some things you were not supposed to engage in affected you in the past? How are some of those actions affecting you to date? (Take your time answering this question).

What are the ways you have used in the past to try and cover your mistakes?

Wednesday : Kukuru kakara za Kisiasa

1 Samuel 8

How did Samuel's choice of his sons as judges over Israel affect the nation? In other words, what led to the elders of the nation of Israel asking Samuel for a king?

In your opinion, why was Samuel displeased with the request for a king to judge over the people?

What do you think of God's statement to Samuel in verses 7-9 of 1 Samuel 8?

How would you decide if you had the information the elders were given concerning what the king would do? 1 Samuel 8: 11-17?

·         He will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen and to run before his chariots.

·         He will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and some to plow his ground and to reap his harvest, and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots.

·         He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers.

·         He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his servants.

·         He will take the tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and to his servants.

·         He will take your male servants and female servants and the best of your young men and your donkeys, and put them to his work.

·         He will take the tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves.

Focus Scripture: 1 Samuel 8:21

Samuel REPEATED what the people had told him in the ears of the Lord. Where do you take the hard decisions in your life?

 

Thursday: Jogoo wa Shambani

Matthew 26:30-35; 26:69-75

How alike to Peter are you? Explain, giving examples where possible.

Is it possible that Peter was supposed to deny Jesus, since Jesus himself had told him he would?

What do you think about prophecy? Are there still prophets to this day?

What do you think is the main difference between how Peter and Judas handled their remorse at betraying Jesus?

Focus Scripture: Matthew 26:75

How do you handle feelings of guilt and sinfulness in your life?

Friday: Referendum

Luke 18:18-27

How would you describe your relationship with God?

What do you think of Luke 18:22?

What hinders your full committment to the things of God?

What steps can you take to make your relationship with God fully functional?

How is your Bible study (not Bible reading) routine, if you have one?

How is your prayer lifestyle?

Focus Scripture: Luke 18: 27

Are you trusting God fully in your endeavors in life, or do you still think that some things are impossible even for God?

Smelly Business

The Diguna Mbagathi station opened officially today (Monday 17th January 2011). The morning session was a fellowship event in which the preacher was Pastor Richard Chogo from Mashariki Chapel in Nairobi. He was talking on the topic of The God of Missions. It was very enlightening as he shared on the missionary heart of God, the first event being His sending of His only Son as a missionary to earth.

There was tea followed shortly after by a station aptly named ‘The State of the Union’ in which the leaders of the key departments in the station summarily shared on the past year and highlighted the main priorities for this year.
Lunch was a very tasty combination of chapatti and green gram stew followed.

The session after lunch was basically hands-on. We were all involved to some degree in the general cleaning of the compound. Together with Oscar Wekesa and the assistant station leader Moses Migwi, we volunteered to wash the toilets adjacent to the Diguna Conference Centre. It was an amazingly interesting experience as we shared on life in general and on ministry and some challenges we face as we do mission. The most amazing part of the whole duty was watching Moses at work. He is a husband, father of two boys, a pastor in his own right and a station leader, yet he humbly did everything together with us. At no point was he barking orders and supervising, instead he was always involved, never afraid to get his hands dirty. I was deeply moved by a statement he made to the effect that most people would normally wash the toilets quickly to get the job over and done with. He does it to his satisfaction, to the level of cleanliness that he himself would appreciate if he were to use the toilet himself.

Seldom in today’s ego-driven leadership styles do you see this kind of leadership. When the leader does not simply delegate duties and retire to his corner office leaving his underlings to break their backs toiling…instead, the leader shows the way, demonstrates the direction of work and follows up to see that the job is well done. I am happy to serve under such a leader….the toilet ministry was smelly business, but the lesson learnt left a sweet smell in its wake.

Warranty

In business and legal transactions, a warranty is an assurance by one party to the other party that certain facts or conditions are true or will happen; the other party is permitted to rely on that assurance and seek some type of remedy if it is not true or followed.

I bought an electric kettle when I finally made the big switch from Umoja in Nairobi to Ongata Rongai in Kajiado county. I keep telling the guys in church (Deliverance Church Ongata Rongai) that I am a missionary from Nairobi to Kajiado but that joke is lost on some people...I digress, back to the electric kettle.
The kettle was perhaps the most used of all electric items in the house, and served well especially in the morning when I had to boil water for use in the bathroom. Yes, you get it, I take warm baths, what the Germans would call warm-duscher. I also had many people coming into and leaving my house and soon the kettle was not working anymore.

To my utter consternation, I have discovered that the music system is not as good as it was when first purchased and I am guessing that the many hands that fiddled with it have something to do with that unpleasant development. Some of the speakers in the surround system are not working, but the problem is not the speakers, rather the channels that connect them to the main player.

I recently had the electric kettle returned to the shop and they got the defective parts replaced and it seems I will soon have to do the same withe the music system. The repair of the kettle cost me nothing, literally, because there is a warranty that covers the item for a period of upto one year. I am so glad I took the extra time to fill in those repititive forms, haven't they ever heard of carbon paper? Now the music system has to go back and that too has a warranty, yeah! I shudder at the thought of the stress and expense of having to take it to a local fundi (repairman). Those guys would probably do worse damage to it and charge me the price of a fatted calf to get it back.

Our lives are irreplacable though.....there is hope for a man as long as he is alive, but once the appointment with death comes, then there is no more. We have to make do with what we have, utilising each day well, not counting the days but making the days count. Even a living dog is bette than a dead lion (Ecclesiastes 9:4). Wherever we find ourselves in life, with the resources at our disposal and the people around us....we have the opportunity to make every day memorable...before we expire, for we cannot be replaced, not with a better or worse model.

We are all the world has, the only version of ourselves in all eternity. Value yourself, discover your purpose, work at your field of calling, influence your generation....Keep Hope Alive...

SHELTER

This is the cover of the original design of my debut solo album, Shelter. The album has nine songs, all written by me andrecorded and produced in Nairobi, Kenya. I had the help of some very able musicians to help me in the project. There were Wycliffe Kokoyo and Cedoh on the keyboards and drum arrangements. Kevin Motema did the guitar work and then Wycliffe again featured prominently in the background vocals. Other friends on the background vocals included Alan Mwangi, Tony Kinuthia, Audrey Lioshi and Lydiah Ndwiga.

I would normally have had to look for these musicians but God in His own amazing way made it possible for them to assist in this project. The songs are set in a mostly relyxed atmosphere, easy listening kind of stuff, with the last two songs being the uptempo ones.
The song list is as follows:

• Shelter- inspired by Psalm 91 and Romans 8:35-39. It speaks about abiding in the Lord's secret place, and the fact that nothing can separate us from God's love.
• Come Away- is a love song, written for a friend's wedding. It shows an aspect of love borrowing heavily from the Song of Songs.
• First Love- is an almost word for word extract from Revelation 2, where Jesus dictates to John the letter to the church in Ephesus. It is a call to repentance and to doing the things we did when we first believed, before the complications of what we now define as christianity complicated our walk with the Lord.
• In You-is a devotional song...us leaning on Jesus and being so lost in Him that the pressures and pleasures of the world can't find us.
• Look to me- is a dedication from God to us...Him asking us to trust in Him, look to Him, call on Him..the influence comes mainly from Jeremiah 33:3...it is an encouragement song, to never give up on God, because He won't give up on us.
• Nimesamehewa-is Swahili for 'I am forgiven'. It is my testimony in song..I was relatively well behaved until I became a christian, then the trouble begun. I got to the point of realizing that the life I lived was not pleasing to God and so I had to change and become that which He desired, and when I did, He came running to meet me. How awesome is our God.
• Remember me-is a cry of desperation, in those moments when the storms of life threaten to overwhelm us. God finishes the song, saying 'I remember you'. He does indeed, for He promises to never leave us nor forsake us.
• Rais wa Kesho-is Swahili for Tomorrow's President, but in this context means The Future President. It is an anti-abortion campaign song...if we don't stand for something, we are likely to fall for anything..so I stand against abortion and this song is set in the persona of the unborn child..in the chorus, the child cries...Don't kill me, Don't destroy me, perhaps I am the future president, perhaps your best friend.
• Pressing on-is the last song of the album and packs quite a musical punch...it is upbeat and is a motivational song. Sometimes when we are so near our breakthrough, we tend to breakdown...we should keep pressing on, the victory will surely come.

This album is available for only Ksh. 500 if you are in Kenya, and 10€ if in Europe. Interested parties can contact me on +254726791797, or by e-mail tonyouma@gmx.com


On Facebook, look for Tony Ouma, there will be a guitar most likely somewhere on my profile photo.
Looking forward to being a blessing to you.

PS: I also visit churches and other events on invitation.

Passion, Purpose, Potential

I get to visit quite a number of schools whenever I have the privilege of traveling with Diguna Mission (www.diguna.de) around Kenya. Late last year (2010) I joined the school ministry team on a weekend tour of a cold Kenyan town known as Kinamba. We got to visit a few primary and secondary schools in which we were allowed at least an hour to have a program with the pupils and students in those schools. Mostly, I prefer to play guitar as someone else does the singing. I nowadays also have the added blessing of presenting songs from my debut solo album SHELTER. Many schools we visit have students who cannot afford the money to buy the CD so the best I can do is to make the song as memorable as possible, then hope the message rings continuously in their hearts.
I learnt the guitar albeit reluctantly but got hooked on it once I realized how sweet it was. I learnt to sing so that I would enjoy my personal devotion time with God. As amazing as He is, God decided to use both the guitar playing and the songs to minister to many people so that it is not only He and I that enjoy the gift. I have had the blessing of singing in and out of Kenya, and hope to be able to visit many more countries and continents, sharing the Gospel in song and also in the preaching of His Word.
I get the occasional opportunity to preach though nowadays that opportunity is not as frequent as it was before. I have so much bubbling inside and no means of bringing it out, except through music, for the moment. I look forward to greater things, to sold out audiences hungry for the songs God uses me to write and sing. My purpose is threefold: Music, Mentoring, Ministry. To make music that leaves no heart untouched, to mentor young people in the fear and love of God and to minister to those who would be sent my way by Jesus. There is a lot of potential (stored energy) that is yet to come out of me, but as I learnt in church this morning, God works with seasons and it is He who designs the seasons. Therefore I wait on Him and trust Him for direction and for His presence. What are you trusting God for? What great thing are you expecting God to do through you this year, FOR HIS GLORY?

Cooking

I had my time in Samburu. It was super fun and relaxing although there wasn't so much time for reflection and planning. There was almost always a team program that we had to participate in and I must honestly say that they were fun.
It would have been great to have more time to focus on God or to allow God better time with me. I still have the feeling that there is so much that He wants to load into my spirit. I am determined to hear Him and I know He is even more determined to speak. My spirit is on high alert, but so is my carnal nature which wars to muffle the sound of divine direction.

I feel like the food in the cooking pot. There is heat underneath and there is progress. I am cooking and getting closer to being ready to be served, or rather, to serve. If I leave the pot when I am not ready or if the fire is not enough then I won't be good enough to be served. I must stay in the pot and allow the fire to cook. Meanwhile, there are some things that will be added onto me to make me taste better. There is a cover over me, to keep me from impurities and to help me cook better. So much to learn and to plan for the year.

I trust God for those plans He has laid in my spirit. I am eagerly awaiting the fulfilment of certain promises to me that as yet remain unfulfiled. God is faithful enough to fulfil all He has promised. Now I hope I can be patient enough to await that fulfilment. My resolutions this year are pretty different. I didn't pray for stuff, I just asked God for two things: His presence and His direction. It is, perhaps, the greatest human tragedy to live life devoid of the presence of God. No amounts and nothing else can come close to satisfying the human longing for the presence of God. It is a form of spiritual torture in itself. I desire that He comes along in my actions and ministry and that as I learn to let Him control me, then He will eventually take complete control over my life.
Let's see what 2011 holds. Walk with me Daddy, Amos 3:3