Almost Finished in Kenya

sorry i didn't get to write yesterday, the internet was down. anyway, the last two days have been completely epic! i spoke in 10, yes 10 schools to a couple thousand students and hundreds if not over a thousand confessed that they are turning from their sins and giving their lives to Christ!!! this was expected and exactly what we were praying for, so i want to talk about something that was unexpected. i spent the day with an amazing kenyan man named pastor samuel. he had a very tough and poor upbringing. he had tuburculosis growing up and his family didn't have money to pay for care. he was abused by family members that said they would help take care of him. but when he was 12 years old, he gave his life to Christ and he was healed miraculously from his disease and he decided he would dedicate his life to serving the Lord! he went through school while serving in the church and eventually started his own church that he still pastors. this church also operates a orphanage/primary school that has about 150 kids. samuel pastored for 10 years until 4 years ago when God called him into evangelism as well as pastoring his church. he has been doing all he could to get into schools and prisons along with doing as much street corner evangelism as possible. he struggled for several years and his family went to bed hungry many nights, but he persevered in his convictions that God wanted him doing evangelism. this man is now going to be on dsea staff and we will begin helping to fund him as he goes around africa sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ! he will now be able to take advantage of the tremendous amount of open doors that my dad's ministry provides. i believe there are currently 4 men on the dsea staff that reach over 100,000 people for Christ per year, but i believe samuel will be the fifth! as long as we can continue to get him a couple hundred bucks a month... one day when samuel was doing street evangelism, a drunk man with one arm began to cuss at him and tell him that god is either worthless or doesn't exist. but samuel began to minister this man and found out that he was formerly the head of a gang that bough and sold firearms and drugs but got kicked out when he lost his arm after a fight. after several meetings and much counseling, he gave his life to Christ and overcame his alcoholism and many other problems. he now runs an orphenage in the heart of a slum that has thousands of kids running wild because they are orphans. i visited this orphanage after speaking to my last school of the day and my heart was completely broken for them. they have 90 kids they are feeding, housing, and putting through school 100% on outsider funding. they have virtually nothing but the clothes on their backs and these kids sometimes go multiple days without getting an actual meal when the funding is low. but this man still teaches them about Jesus no matter circumstances they are in. i broke down in tears when we left this place thinking about all the money i've spent on frivilous, meaningless things in my life and wish i could give all of it to this man so he could better take care of these orphans. i'm making a call to both my small group bible studies to make a small sacrifice and pledge a few dollars to this orphanage a month. this will help more than words can say to get these children out of the deplorable circumstances they are in right now and at least insure that they have enough food to survive. i know times are tough in america, but it is less than nothing compared to what these orphans face every day. i know you don't like being asked for money, but please find it in your hearts to give up going out to eat once a month so that these kids can have something to eat at all. thanks so much for taking the time to read this. i really hope everybody can find it in their hearts to give a few bucks to this great ministry. money goes so far when buying rice or cornmeal overseas.

anyway, we have one more day of schools and the first two crusades are tomorrow. i will be giving the main message at one of them, so please continue to pray for me to let God's word to flow through me and that i can just get my flesh out of the way and let this happen. thanks again for all the support~stocky

P.S. i got filmed while speaking to a high school today, so i hope to be able to post it eventually. it probably won't happen til i get back to texas though.

Ministry Getting Better

today was amazing! i spoke in 4 schools that had about 1200 students. the response today seemed better than yesterday but still not quite as good as i pray they will be in the next few days. only God knows but i would guess 350-400 students gave their lives to Christ today, i could really feel the holy spirit working through me and everything came out very clearly while i was speaking. the first school we were supposed to speak in had to cancel because a government person called all the teachers into a meeting, but God is amazing and much bigger than that! we noticed a school next door that wasn't scheduled this week and it turns out it is an elementary school with 600 students and a high school with 150. we asked to speak to the high school and they agreed to let us. it went so well they begged us to try to find time later this week to speak to the elementary school students as well! we also were able to reschedule the school that was canceled today for when we were supposed to have lunch tomorrow. who needs lunch when there are people that need to hear about Christ? margaret will be doing 5 schools tomorrow, i have no idea how many students this will be, but we needs lots of prayers for strength because we will be leaving at 6:30 in the morning and will be out til after 6:30 at night and probably won't have a chance to get a meal all day. i know that God is amazing and he will provide above and beyond all the strength we could ever need! thanks once again for all the prayers, you guys are awesome!

In Christ,
Steve Stockwell

First day in Schools

day one of school ministry down, four more to go! beka and i spoke to 3 schools and the group spoke to 9 total. several groups were majorly late arriving to schools but praise God none of the schools decided to cancel :-) this was a good first day and good practice for the rest of the week. the first two schools we spoke at were Christian schools and one was an elementary school, so we didn't really hit the Hell-fire and brimstone part of the message i usually get so into lol. the third school was great though, it was a public high school with about 300 students who all listened incredibly intently to the gospel, even the 10-15 muslims who were there! however, i am noticing a few things about this culture that are very different than other places that i've ministered. it is usually almost impossible to keep people from raising their hand at the end of the message that they want to receive Christ as their lord and savior, but here in Nairobi only about 10-15% of the people have been raising their hand at the end. the entire crowd is listening just as intently and you can see in their faces that they know they have sinned against God and deserve to go to Hell. but for some reason they just seem hesitant to make a public profession of faith. we would all much rather see 30 people genuinely give their lives to Christ than 300 just raise their hands and not mean anything by it. but we will continue to pray for guidance as to how we can better reach these people. we need to hammer Mark 8:38 "if you are ashamed of me on earth, i will be ashamed of you when i get back" and hope it speaks to their hearts... i am going to 4 schools tomorrow in the same neighborhood that i will be leading a crusade on friday. these schools sound like they are significantly larger than the schools we spoke in today. i should be giving the gospel to almost 2000 people tomorrow! so please continue to pray that God will open up doors and hearts to the gospel. and also pray that we can more effectively show these people that eternal salvation doesn't rest on merely being a "Christian," but rather on a deep personal relationship with Jesus Christ and the decision to turn from your sin and to give your life, trust, and faith to Christ alone. thanks!

In Christ,
Steve Stockwell

Training Conference Report

today was great, we finished up our training conference. i gave the 30 minute presentation on preparing for evangelistic ministry i have been working on for weeks. i also gave another 30 minute presentation on how to do 1 on 1 evangelism and how to do specific evangelism for catholics and muslims that i found out i would be doing earlier that morning lol. i think they both went pretty well and many pastors told me they were blessed to hear the presentations and asked if they could have copies of the powerpoints and note sheets i used. i also found out tonight that i will be giving the sermon tomorrow at a church in the middle of Kibera, which is the largest slum in Africa and has over a million people. i have no idea if this church will have 15 or 500 people. i will be preaching on luke 7:36-50 and 2 corinthians 1-5 to show that we should rejoice because our many sins have been forgiven, and how a church that is poor physically can give as much or more spiritually.

please pray that i can be sensitive to the horrible situation these people are in while clearly presenting the gospel to them. thanks so much for continuing to support me and the team!

In Christ,
Steve Stockwell

wow...just...wow

it amazes me how it's always the things that you don't expect that touch your heart and move you the very most, and humbles you beyond comprehension. today i experienced a deaf Kenyan leading praise and worship at our training conferrence. he signed and danced out the words to "nothing but the blood of Jesus" while some sung in english and the rest sung in swahili. this was truly one of the greatest experiences of my entire life! this man has never heard a spoken word, but he is as fired up and in love with Christ as anybody i've ever met. his actions and facial expressions alone were able to convey his passion and love for Christ as well or maybe even better than the best sermon or song i've ever heard. it's moments like this when you feel like punching yourself in the face for ever having doubts that God can use you with your limited experience and abilities and the many times we complain about the circumstances we find ourselves in. i felt the Holy Spirit sweep through the room like a mighty wind and i couldn't help but to dance passionately and cry like a baby for about 10 mnutes after the song ended. in fact, i'm crying now while writing and thinking about this again :-) i'm so glad that i didn't have to speak right after this because i'm pretty sure i wouldn't have been able to do it. often, traveling missionary/evangelists fall into the incorrect view that we are somehow better than the local Christians and that they need our help to do anything. but it's only when we put ourselves on the same level and get behind them and help support them in their work that the Holy Spirit really moves... today was an awesome day. the conferrence went pretty well despite numerous power outages and technical difficulties. we will be doing the same thing tomorrow and i will be giving my presentation then. please pray that God will continue to move and that everything i say will be straight from him and nothing of my own knowledge.

this should be a link to the video of the "nothing but the blood of Jesus" experience. i don't know how well the personal experience will translate to video, but here it is and i hope it moves you the way it moved me

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=520582167796

In Kenya... Somehow!

there's no explanation for us actually being here other than God's amazing grace and provision. it isn't supposed to be possible for a flight to be delayed, then cancelled, then proceed on time with absolutely no delays to its destination. a little volcano and some ash is no problem for the One Who created it all. the world says the volcano stopped erupting "by chance," and that the winds changed direction "mysteriously" to allow our flight, but we know better than that. thanks everybody for the prayers, i honestly believe we wouldn't be here in Kenya without them.

we arrived last night just as planned. today we are meeting with local leaders and preparing for the training conference tomorrow and saturday.please pray that we can effectively communicate God's word to these pastors and motivate them to even more fervently seek to save the lost. we are staying at the Biblica (formerly international bible society) guest rooms and they have internet access, so i should be able to give regular updates on our trip and what we need prayers for.

thanks so much for supporting us, i know God is going to do great things these next two weeks!

In Christ,
Steve Stockwell

Going to Kenya!

looks like its time for another mission trip on the fly lol. my dad's organization has been planning a project in Kenya for several months. the DSEA has never led a major project in Kenya before, so my dad was anticipating a project that was smaller than ones he usually does in other countries. God apparently has bigger plans. the DSEA is already scheduled to speak in assemblies in over 30 schools and that number should go up to 40-50 or maybe more in the upcoming weeks. one of the three staff evangelists won't be able to make it due to a prior engagement, so my dad needed a third evangelist to go with the team. so it looks like i'll be heading to Nairobi, Kenya on May 18th for a couple weeks to share the gospel with several thousand students!!! i knew my dad was planning this trip, but i had absolutely no intentions of going on it.

most of you know that i've been out of work for about two months now. i've been looking for a new job since then, but it seems obvious to me now that God has had it planned the whole time for me to not have a job yet so i could have the opportunity and availability to go on this trip. isn't God amazing?!

the main thing i'm asking for from all of my friends is for prayer. pray that the Holy Spirit will go before us to Nairobi and prepare the way, pray that doors will be opened and that the hearts of the people we will speak to will be good soil, pray for guidance for all of us to know which schools we are supposed to speak to, pray that when we speak it will be God's own words flowing from us and not our own thoughts and wisdom, pray for protection for us against the enemy and all of his forces that are spiritual, mental, and physical, pray that God will move even more greatly than our wildest imaginations and that thousands and tens of thousands will give their lives to Christ as both their LORD and savior. HALLELUJAH!!!

of course the downside to being unemployed the past 2 months is that i don't have enough money to pay for this trip, so i'm stepping out on faith that God will provide what i need and i have no doubt that he will.

background on the David Stockwell Evangelistic Association: the focus of my dad's ministry is on evangelism and evangelism training. on a standard trip, the team will host a weekend training seminar for any local pastor, elder, or lay person that can attend. the seminar covers spiritual warfare, evangelism training, and usually several other aspects of christian life. then, the next couple school weeks are spent traveling around the area presenting the gospel in assemblies to as many schools as possible. however, this is just half the ministry. we equip the indigenous leaders to follow up with the schools after we leave, and to go out into other areas that we weren't able to get to. the DSEA helps support about 100 indigenous evangelists around the world spread the gospel. these people combine to share the gospel with about 2 MILLION people PER YEAR who have NEVER heard the gospel before!!! i choose the term "hear the gospel for the first time" as opposed to "saved" or "gave their life to Christ" because we can't know their hearts and its not up to us to decide who is saved. but i assure you at least 50-75% of the people who hear the gospel presentation make the initial commitment to repent from their sins and to follow Christ. breaking this down financially, the cost is approximately 25 cents per person to hear the gospel for the first time. i've never heard of any organization that could come close to this ratio.

please check out the DSEA website

http://www.davidstockwell.org/templates/System/default.asp?id=20289

please sign up for newsletters, prayer support, and donate to this great ministry. if you decide to make a donation, you can make checks out to dsea, you can donate online, or you can give straight to me.

thanks so much to everyone, we truly appreciate your support!

In Christ,
Steve Stockwell