Kenya Baptist Theological College / Logistics Coordinator

KBTC

As we have been reporting lately, the KBTC is having some major difficulties. While we were able to teach the August session this year and graduate two students from Class 409 in July, the outlook for the school is not good. There are several reasons, financial being only one of them, that it has come to this point. At this time it is not certain that we will continue to teach there. The overall future of the school is undetermined as well. Please pray for God's Will to be done in this situation! While it is so hard to leave this ministry and not be able to commit to teaching the students over the next year, we know that we have been praying, and asking you to pray, for God to do whatever He desires. As these next few months unfold, we ask you to continue that prayer....and pray for all of us involved to accept whatever that may be and seek His Guidance on how to move on from there.

As Logistics Coordinator (LC) for Kenya in the Baptist Mission Office, Jeff stays busy attending to all the logistical needs of our 31 units stationed in Kenya and South Sudan. A ‘unit’ is the term for either a family or a single person - or each missionary assigned to work here. This is a total of almost 90 people, children and all! The Mission Office provides housing, and in some cases furnishings, transportation, maintenance and upkeep on houses and cars, documentation in the way of visas and work permits, travel to and from the field, takes care of crates that are shipped, and any other logistical need that may come up. The issues of security are also taken up by the LC Office. As you can imagine, this is a busy job! Thankfully, Tim Terrazas and family have come in this past year and he has taken on the role of the Assistant LC. There are also Kenyans employed by the office to help with all of the details, handle money, contracts for renting, office management, etc.

The money to operate this support office and services comes directly from the offerings and gifts given to IMB through the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering, the Cooperative Program, and any other gifts and offerings given in support of missionaries. With the economy downturn, the offerings have been lower year after year, yet the cost of living here in Kenya continues to go up. That means that year after year the budget for operating the office goes down. This translates into long-term Kenyan employees losing their jobs and services that ‘have always been available’ from the mission office being cut as well. Please pray for the LCs across the world who are the ones who have to make these cuts and then deliver the news to the people they live and work with. This is difficult! It is hard to make these changes, trying to figure out how to function on less. But that, most likely, is the theme across the globe these days.