During my last trip to Tanzania and Kenya, I asked some of the pastors I work with to share about their background, and then to reflect on the training we are doing, and their desire to take this training to others. I pass these on to you to give you a glimpse into the precious hearts of the men I work with, and the extraordinary ways God is working in and through them. Here were some of their responses:

Nathanael Chiwalo: “Some time ago I was working to reach out to people, and went to villages, but people turned against us and threw stones at us. We fled, but prayed and chose to return the next day, and so did the villagers. They were so amazed that we returned. They said, “We have never seen such love for us.” And they began following Christ. But then I listened to the preaching which as given to them and was so grieved by what I heard. I realized it was not biblical and the leaders there needed training. When I received training from Eric, it was so important to correct thinking. He brought unique training in how to study and teach God’s Word, which is desperately needed.”

Emmanuel Mhina: “Whenever we go to rural village churches, now we have some good teaching to take to them. This training helps me and also many other pastors.”

Enock Charles: “In my heart I had a call to teach Word of God and train leaders. For the past two years I have been receiving Eric’s trainings and taking them to more than 10 churches and 100 pastors who are training others so that over 500 leaders are now being trained.”

George Mbago: “I was drawn to this teaching because I saw the heart of Eric for God’s Word and how he wanted to train others, and I was drawn in to help him.”

Daniel Ikongo: “The desire of my heart was to train pastors. But how would I do this? Through meeting with Eric, this passion has been fulfilled and now I can train many leaders. My life personally has been changed. I had such a deep desire to know God better and God has used Eric to do this. My heart has been encouraged so very much in this. This training method has the possibility to overturn and change the entire nation of Tanzania.”

Dominik Gendi: “There is something burning in me to help my colleagues in their preaching. There are many ideas being taught in Africa, but they are not biblical. I know training in God’s Word is most important for them.”  

Joseph Riton: “I am a Kenyan Maasai, raised to be a Maasai Moran (warrior). But when I received Christ, my father kicked me out of the home, all my relatives turned away from me and would not take me in, and my village rejected me. So I asked God to be my Father. After two years of wandering, I got connected with a church, and now most of my family has been saved. I am very eager to take this training to many other village leaders.” 

Daniel Osoi: “I was saved after rebelling as a young man. I grew in my passion to preach, and became bothered by all the Muslims going to pray in the mosque at noon while the Christians waited for them. So I decided to start a lunchtime prayer and ministry time, and it quickly spread to many places. I decided to do a 40-day crusade tied with the lunchtime meetings, so in the afternoons I would preach at an open-air tent crusade, and in the evening we held revival meetings. God did amazing things and many came to Christ, were delivered from demons, and churches were started. Most of the believers in our area began to believe during this time.”

All praise and glory to God for the good work He is doing. I am blessed to participate in this ministry with these dear brothers and so many others. Pressing on, Eric