The Coaches Summit has been great, with all four members of our leadership team serving and teaching. Now the coaches have returned home, and for the rest of Tuesday until Wednesday afternoon (Wednesday morning MO time), our leaders are holding the Pillars Summit, focused on ministering to the nine pillars who currently oversee all those coaches in nine regions of Kenya and Tanzania.
Tuesday’s Prayer Requests:
1. Our Four to accurately speak and share exactly what God wants them to impart to the pillars.
2. Open hearts for everyone to be both greatly encouraged and, if necessary, gently corrected.
3. The Holy Spirit’s continued clear direction for each level of servant-leadership moving forward (coaches, pillars, national directors) as the ministry expands into new regions of Kenya and new nations, particularly Uganda and Rwanda.
Tuesday’s Details:
In the past, in addition to actually presenting hours of seminars, all the planning and preparation for nearly all the aspects of a mission trip have landed squarely in Scott’s lap. But now he is greatly helped by having Hillary and James – both of whom are pastors and oversee numerous churches – on the ground and consistently working aggressively to cast vision for disciple-making among more and more pastors and handling many logistical details.
And God has graciously added Mark, a pastor who also has extensive management experience in business settings. On this trip especially, he has taken a huge load off Scott in the thinking, planning, preparing, and “getting things done” realms.
This team of four is just working very well together, and we are thankful to God for putting these key puzzle pieces together for such a time as this.
About the Monday/Tuesday Coaches Summit, Scott said, “I definitely made the right choice when I made Hillary the Chief National Director of the Kenya DM Movement. The message he gave last night on counting the cost was so powerful.”
Hillary teaching with passion
All the DM coaches, ready to receive what God has for them during this summit!
Scott said, “Things are going extremely well. We’ve had different teaching sessions that had a great focus on ‘Are you ready to die so that your disciples may live?'” [That is NOT a lightweight theme!]
One of James’ sessions
Mark prepared communion for everyone, and they all shared in that special remembrance of Jesus.
Mark is honored to serves and takes it seriously
Afterwards, he said about their communion experience, “It was a very powerful fellowship time.”
But along with deep and serious ministry, the coaches also laughed and had fun. Here’s a 20-second video of everybody running around playing Human Bingo. I’d like to have seen one of those Bingo cards!
The Coaches Summit ended well…
40+ East Africa DM coaches, blessed and ready to head out
… and now Our Four (Hillary, James, Mark, and Scott) are spending focused time with the nine regional Pillars. They truly appreciate our daily prayers for them and will surely have exciting stories to tell as the return home in less than a week! Please continue to pray for them and those they are serving during this Pillars Summit.
Thank you all for praying! The Better Together Marriage Seminar on Saturday was well-attended and very successful. Afterwards Mark sent me SEVENTY-SEVEN pictures, a few of which are included in the Details section below. He preached at Hellen’s church on Sunday morning, but Scott, who was scheduled to preach at James’ church was feeling sick Saturday evening and so canceled, although thankfully he was better Sunday morning and did attend the service later. Now excitement is building for the Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday Summits our team will hold for all the current KDMN (Kenya Disciple-Makers Network) DM coaches and the “pillars” who oversee them!
Sunday’s Prayer Requests:
1. Concerning both the Coaches Summit and the Regional Pillars Summit: logistics to run smoothly; expectations to be clearly set and understood; coaches and pillars to be greatly encouraged and effectively equipped.
2. No hindrances to keep many new DM groups in Uganda, Rwanda, and Kenya from starting this week while enthusiasm from all the recent seminars is high.
3. Our team to be healthy (spirit, soul, and body) and have strength to finish the final week of this mission trip well. Mark starts home on Friday night; Scott next Sunday afternoon.
Sunday’s Details:
28 couples attended the Better Together marriage seminar on Saturday! That seminar is specifically designed for – and therefore most strongly impacts – ministry couples, although others can certainly benefit from it. A total of 70 people attended, so some must’ve come without their spouses.
Scott uses humor, object lessons, personal examples, and some friendly competition to communicate biblical truths and practical information, some of which is fairly common knowledge in the US, but may not be taught in churches in other cultures. It’s typically a roughly six-hour, upbeat presentation that works its way at the end to some very serious private communication between the spouses; confession, forgiveness, repentance, etc..
During the seminar, Scott asks husbands to write down why they treasure their wife as their princess, and wives to write out why their husband is their hero. Those comments are judged, and the winners are called up front to read publicly to their spouse what they wrote about them. The audience applauds, the couple hugs (and sometimes cries), small prizes are given, and the winning couples have their pictures taken wearing the princess tiara and hero glasses. Many couples also ask to have their photo taken holding the Better Together plaque.
With that background, here are some pictures from Saturday’s Better Together seminar.
James translating for Scott
Scott was running a fever a few days ago, but he’s not really off-balance. At least I don’t think so…
He’s just demonstrating what happens when the body doesn’t follow the head!
One of the winning couples
Another winning husband giving his wife a prize
Big hugs while Hillary laughs
Reading to her husband what she wrote about him
This lady said today was the first day for her husband to say “I’m sorry.”
Three winning wives
A private conversation during couples discussion time
Couples scattered all over the room for serious one-on-ones
Scott also said, “My translator, Antony, said, ‘If that is what you do for marriages, we need your discipleship.’ They are arranging for Hillary to come for vision casting.” = )
Scott finally got some sleep Saturday night, and Sunday morning he felt better enough to go to James’ church, arriving mid-service. He said, “The number of children at James’ church outnumbers the adults by 4 to 1. They started holding Bible club meetings on Saturday for neighborhood kids, and now parents send their kids to church without them.”
Kid magnet in his element
While I was typing this, Scott called and explained a bit more about the upcoming summits that start tomorrow. From Monday morning till Tuesday afternoon, all the coaches who are leading Disciple-Makers (DM) groups in the nine TTC regions of Kenya and Tanzania will gather together in Nairobi for a day and-a-half to be encouraged and equipped by God and our KDMN leadership team (Hillary, James, Mark, and Scott). That’s the Monday/Tuesday Coaches Summit.
Then most of those leaders will return to their homes while the nine regional “pillars” (who oversee all those coaches) stay in Nairobi for 24 more hours of focused appreciation and training. That’s the Tuesday/Wednesday Regional Pillars Summit.
Each of these is a MAJOR event, both spiritually and logistically, so your prayers now and in the coming days will be greatly appreciated. You are making a difference! Thank you.
Though they were far-flung over the past week or so, our team was already “in one accord,” and now that they are also in one place, they are experiencing God’s clear direction as one unit and are working together exceedingly well!
On Friday they… had a great lunch meeting with another co-worker; officially set up the Kenya Disciple-Makers Movement Command Center, carefully reviewing the Policy and Procedures Manual and delineating responsibilities of each member; planned for next week’s several summits and decided who would lead which sessions on which topics; and prepared for Saturday’s Better Together marriage seminar. WOW. God’s grace has been amazing, and Friday has been a gold medal day!
Friday’s Prayer Requests:
1. Each team member (Hillary, James, Mark, and Scott) to have insight and creativity in successfully completing his specific tasks over the next few days; the sum of their efforts to be greater than its parts.
2. Clear communication among team members; no confusion.
3. The Holy Spirit to speak strongly to each person at the Better Together marriage seminar on Saturday, and positive changes in their marriages to endure long after they return home.
4. Continued healing for Scott. He’s still dealing with cold symptoms but seems to have turned a corner.
Friday’s Details:
For a number of years, our wonderful co-worker Hellen has been – along with James and Hillary – a key leader of the disciple-making movement in Kenya. However, 25 years ago, long before we met her, Hellen’s husband Symon, left her, and all that time she has been standing in faith for him to return and God to restore their marriage. A few months ago, that exact thing happened(!), and Hellen is now on a sabbatical from her TTC work so she can focus fully on rebuilding her long-severed marriage.
Today Scott had “a very productive” lunch with Symon and Hellen, and we are all praying for God to help them re-create a new marriage. Please join us in rejoicing with them!
Rev Hellen and her husband, Symon
Scott sent me an audio clip about our team’s amazing Friday, saying repeatedly that the day was “very powerful” and “really productive.”
Kenya Disciple-Makers Movement Leadership Team meeting(L to R: James, Mark, Hillary, My Hero)
I’ve mentioned how Scott is laser-focused on making TTC sustainable, and getting everything for the Kenya arm of TTC well-planned, lined out, and clearly communicated is a big step in that direction, because the Kenya team has been “out in front” as far as organizing and expanding disciple-making. It is currently the flagship of Take the Challenge internationally and is setting an example for teams of disciple-makers in other nations to follow. All that to say that we believe it’s strategically important that we “get it right” in Kenya. Now and always we give God the credit for guiding our team to do just that.
Scott said, “We’re getting everything in order, and everyone is so moved by the opportunity to become TTC missionaries.” This will basically be TTC saying “Amen” to – and increasingly helping facilitate – what they’re each already doing as disciple-making leaders. Scott said, “Everyone is on board, and God is so good. He knows our needs and is able to help us. Everybody knows their assignment. Everything is in order. It is well!”
So that’s the heavy-duty ministry news from Friday, but our gang is also having fun. I believe this is the remnants of Hillary’s dinner. Looks like he enjoyed it maximally.
Umm… blackened some-kind-of fish with lime?
And for game night, they played Spoons using Uno cards.
You may remember Spoons. It’s a classic, high-tech game (NOT!) that works like Musical Chairs, in that there is one less spoon than the number of players. With the spoons piled in the middle, you pass cards around the circle, and when one player gets four cards of one kind, he stealthily grabs a spoon. Everyone else then does the same and the spoon-less player has to do something silly or embarrassing; in this case, a chicken dance.
Five of them were playing at Hillary’s house where Mark and Scott are staying. James and his wife, Susan were not there; their home is also in or near Nairobi.
Scott encouraging Ephraim (Hillary and Joyce’s son) to do his chicken dance (L to R: Joyce, Ephraim, Scott, Hillary; Mark is taking the picture)
It’s only 0:09 long, but here’s the chicken dance.
You may want to watch that one again. A merry heart does good like a medicine. = )
And would you take another moment now to pray for our folks in Kenya? Thank you so much!
By now, you know that I always put the “bottom line” first, so you all can quickly see what’s going on during a mission trip. If at all possible, please also read the prayer requests and pray. Then, if you’d like to know more and have the time, read on for more details.
Thursday’s Bottom Line:
Our two U.S. missionaries have wrapped up their various separate seminars and summits, and all have gone well, praise God! Now Mark and Scott are both back at Hillary’s house near Nairobi, where they are resting and gathering steam for leading the Better Together marriage seminar on Saturday. Scott is not feeling well and is looking forward to some extra sleep and better health.
Thursday’s Prayer Requests:
Restorative rest and great health for both Mark and Scott, as well as for James and Hillary.
Many existing DM leaders – and especially those eager to start leading – to “take the challenge” to organize and begin their new groups by August 9th.
Absolutely nothing (spiritual, logistical, financial, relational, etc.) to keep the ministry couples God wants at Saturday’s Better Together marriage seminar from coming; the Holy Spirit to clearly direct our team’s specific preparations for that event.
Thursday’s Details:
Here’s Scott at his DM summit at Hillary’s church in Juja…
What a happy preacher!
… Scott said, “36 people currently in DM groups who are not DM Coaches signed up to become coaches today. Only two came who are not in a DM group. Here are the ones requesting to start groups.”
He continued, “Notice the one(s) with the white turban(s). They are called Akurinu. The one [on the left of the screen] is a pastor. According to their tradition, they are not to fellowship with any outside their church, but through the DM process, they have found many new friends in the family of God. Hillary will be holding a vision-casting in one of their churches a few weeks after our mission. God is bringing His body together!”
Scott also sent us some kitchen-ish pictures.
Crockpot in the carport
And here’s a close-up of the features and controls of such an appliance.
“African crockpot”
Whether or not it’s been simmering in your garage, may your dinner tonight be as tasty as theirs was, and may God bless you and your family bigtime as you keep praying for Our Heroes during this mission trip!
Surprisingly, the pastor at the church where Scott preached Sunday morning took up an offering for him! That, plus the registrations paid by the DM group members at Monday’s DM summit in Kirinyaga covered 20% of the cost of the summit. That may not sound like a big deal, but trust me, it was. Following that powerful Monday summit led by Hillary and Scott, those who attended are now strategizing about how they can start new groups to “pay forward” what they have experienced through the disciple-making process. What encouraging news!
Mark and James flew (and did not drive six hours!) to Eldoret to hold a DM seminar there on Monday (great), and a wonderful DM summit the following day in Niavasha.
Tuesday’s Prayer Requests:
God to bring healing and significant change to ministry marriages through the upcoming Better Together marriage seminar on Saturday.
Grace and insight as our team plans for the three DM summits next week.
Our leaders (at all levels) to thrive in the midst of the growing pains associated with setting things in order.
Plenty of restful sleep for our team members; healing for Scott’s sore throat.
Recent and Upcoming Details:
The word God gave Scott for TTC in 2025 is “sustainability,” and Scott, the TTC board, and a number of our wonderful partners have been laser-focused on making the ministry sustainable in many ways. This includes adding personnel, establishing reproducible procedures, improving communication and documentation, upgrading and expanding TTC’s website and social media presence, and strengthening its financial foundation.
That latter one is why Scott was so pleased to see so many people register and pay to come to the DM summit in Kirinyaga (“kee-rin-YAH-guh”). Although the financial cost of that summit far outweighed the monies that came in, the fact that monies did come in(!!!) represents a mental shift among many of those who are being discipled. Scott said, “… it is a great start. In all my years ministering in Kenya (and India), we have never had registration like this. Hillary also shared about the need for Kenyans to support this Kenya DM movement. He spoke in their native vernacular and then it was translated to Swahili. I couldn’t understand it at all.” = )
Hillary speaking the truth in love
But Hillary’s words obviously made an impact. Scott said, “There were 90 attendees, and 14 signed up to join DM groups. Many of those currently in groups set a goal to start new groups by Dec 31, 2025. They understood that although they have received freely of the DM process, it wasn’t truly free. Their coach had to pay the cost. Now it is their turn to fall to the ground and die like a seed, so they can multiply.”
Planning how they can start new groups
While Hillary and Mark were leading this DM summit, James and Mark were leading a DM seminar some 200 miles away in Eldoret. Mark said, “James and I flew on Monday from Nairobi to Eldoret at around 6:00 AM and then had our disciple-makers seminar starting at 9:00 AM that same day. About 43 attended, and over 20 of them are eager to join DM groups.”
James telling it like it is
All these folks were at the Eldoret Disciple-Makers seminar!
Mark continued, “Then we had a disciple-makers summit today in Niavasha (“nee-uh-VAH-shuh”), and that took a 5-hour matatu ride, and that was exciting. [The summit] ended very well with all 70 that came being very energized and focused on wanting to start and raise more disciples out of the groups that they’ve already created.” (In this picture, James is grinning third from the left on the front row, and Mark is grinning on the back row.)
What a great crowd at the Niavasha summit!
James and Mark and Hillary and Scott will all wrap up their various regional seminars and summits on Wednesday. Then the four of them will have some down time together (down time? what is that?!?) back in Nairobi on Thursday and Friday to rest and plan before Saturday’s “Better Together” marriage seminar and next week’s much-anticipated summits.
For clarification, here’s a friendly review of terms: Unlike our DM seminars that introduce new pastors and church leaders to the disciple-making process, DM summits are special all-day meetings designed to encourage and further train people who are already involved in disciple-making at some level. The first summit next week will be for the many coaches who are leading groups. The next summit will host our regional “pillars” (leaders) who are discipling numerous coaches in a given area, and the third summit will minister to our national “pillars” who are spearheading the expansion of disciple-making throughout all of Kenya and in the surrounding nations.
In TTC’s organizational framework, we have many coaches, fewer regional pillars, and an even smaller handful of national pillars; I like to think of TTC’s levels of servant-leadership kind of like Jesus, who had his 70, his 12, and his 3. = )
Let’s close today with an exciting testimony Scott shared. Since we all know DM summits are designed for anybody who is “already involved in disciple-making at some level,” that could include any member of a disciple-makers group, a coach, a regional pillar, or a national pillar, right?
Well, two 20-something young men came to Hilary and Scott’s summit yesterday. They have each had rough lives, including alienation from their families, addictions, and living for years on the streets. A local church member has provided them a place to stay and got them involved in a disciple-makers group. Scott said, “Alex, in red, lived on the streets from age 9 to 25.” Can you believe that?!? “He has been greatly changed by the DM group, which he started attending 2 months ago. He said he has learned so much through the DM process, including forgiving his mom, and getting free from drugs. The other man, Edwin, has experienced similar growth.”
Edwin and Alex with Scott
Edwin and Alex were coming to a DM group and didn’t even have Bibles, but thanks to Hillary they do now. They are both so glad to be involved and are asking all kinds of questions as they grow in their faith. Praise God!
These are the kinds of results God is doing as YOU pray for our TTC team. Thank you for once again taking time to bring today’s prayer requests to him in faith!
I’m writing this on Sunday afternoon, and relative to Sunday, here’s a three-day version of Before, During, and After.
Saturday was a travel/tourist day for Mark and Hillary and a DM seminar day for Scott and James, at the end of which they all convened at Hillary and Joyce’s home near Nairobi, Kenya for a birthday party.
Sunday’s schedule had Scott preaching at a church an hour or so away in Kirinyaga, while Mark preached at Hillary’s church in Nairobi.
On Monday, Mark will drive with James to Eldoret to hold a DM seminar there, while Scott drives back to Kirinyaga with Hillary to hold a DM summit for group members and coaches in that region.
Sunday’s Prayer Requests:
Safe travel for all our missionaries.
Folks who heard Mark’s and Scott’s Sunday morning messages to remember and apply what the Holy Spirit spoke them in those services.
Receptive hearts and minds at the Eldoret DM seminar on Monday; no strife or distractions.
Refreshing, rejoicing, and refinement of processes at the Monday DM summit in Kirinyaga.
Sunday’s Details:
This trip is involving many hours of “ground transportation” which can be draining both physically and mentally, and all the moving of people and supplies from place to place can increase opportunities for things to be misplaced or forgotten. Thanks to God, our guys’ good planning, and your prayers, so far, so good. = )
Scott said his and James’ DM seminar in Mtito Andei “went really well” with 95 attending and a total of 44 registering to join disciple-makers groups!
[NOTE: Any believer in the U.S. or overseas can join a DM group and be trained in several months to lead his or her own group, but our preference is for church leaders and especially pastors to join DM groups because the pastor sets the direction and pattern for the whole church. Raising disciple-makers happens most effectively when the pastor has the vision for it and has personally experienced the process. That’s why Scott is always so jazzed to see how many pastors are registering to join DM groups.]
Scott said, “All of these [pictured below] are pastors, and they committed to join DM groups. Pastor Steve [of Disciple-Maker Indeed fame a few days ago] will travel with 3 of his coaches the 1.25 hours every week to lead these pastors in in-person groups.”
Many pastors who want to experience the disciple-making process
This weekend, our missionaries are trading partners, much like what happens in a square dance: you dance with one partner for a while and then you swing to a different partner. Last week, Mark and Hillary were working (dancing?!?) together to lead DM seminars for new people in Uganda and Rwanda, while Scott and James were doing their DM summit “dance” for DM group members and coaches in Kenya.
This coming week, all our folks will be in one country: Kenya. Mark will be partnered with James, both in Eldoret (some six hours from Nairobi) and other locations, and Scott will be traveling with Hillary to several additional places, generally closer to Nairobi.
I do realize all this travel information can be hard to follow and keep up with, and I/we very much appreciate your reading these updates and praying for these four missionary men and the many others who are helping them do so much ministry work. But thankfully it’s not all work and no play. = )
Saturday was Mark’s birthday, and his wish came true.
He got to tour a coffee plantation!
That evening, everyone gathered at Hillary and Joyce’s home to celebrate Mark’s birthday. (Hillary is taking the picture, and his wife, Joyce, is on the left in red.)
Birthday boy with cake and happy friends!
A good time was had by all, and Scott captioned the following two pictures, “Birthday celebration, African style!”
The cake has been cut…
And Mark is “serving” Hillary
Happy birthday, Mark!
And happy Sunday, praying TTC partners. We really appreciate you!
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
