Leadership is the Key to the Kingdom

Matthew 16:19

I will give you the Keys to the Kingdom of Heaven.

I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

Vitaly from Siberia,Russia & the Ukraine.  Linus, Mike & Pat Heiser

I woke up this morning with this thought, "Leadership is the Key to unlocking the Kingdom of Heaven." Leaders have been given certain keys to unlock their spheres of influence. But you must put the key in the lock and open the doors of heaven for others to come in.

If we look at the scriptures ahead of Matthew 16:19 you will see who Jesus was talking to. It was Peter, who was Jesus main disciple. He was the oldest, but not the smartest.  Peter had something the rest of the disciples didn't, the revelation, Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God and he wasn't afraid to say it.

In Matthew 16:17 Jesus said, "Jesus answered and said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you but My Father who is in heaven and I say to you that you are Peter and on this rock (THE REVELATION) I will build my church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it."

Leadership and their revelation are the keys to any ministry. Leaders need to reproduce leaders. Every seed produces after its own kind. Mike & Pat have done an excellent job of reproducing leaders in their ministry. It is time for their leaders to reproduce so we can have more keys to the kingdom.

Meru Bible School, 2018

I have a key ring, it has my car key, my house key, my Gathering Place key, my blessing box key and a few more.  Some I don't know what too, but they all open a door to something. If you ever lose you key ring, you can't open any doors, you can't start the car, you can't go to work, you can't get in the house or your work and you can't open your blessing box.

Leaders if they are not discovered, may have the key to open the windows of heaven.  Most leaders are not charismatic, they are down to earth people, who can roll up their selves and get the job done. Actually, they are common down to earth people who said yes to something God wanted done. They are not qualified to do it, but they are willing to step out in faith and see what Jesus wants to do.

Pat Heiser has a great saying and I've used many times: We are just ordinary people, doing extra ordinary things for God, Supernatural things which we are not qualified to do. Do you realize God does not have anybody qualified working for Him.  It is Him, who qualifies us, when he calls us to do something, our hands should shoot up in the air and say, "Look no further, I'm your man or women to do the job through you."

Russia - first graduate class.

What are we looking for when we go to Kenya in February? We are looking for people who are not qualified but willing to be used by God. I've already seen many of them in the spirit.

When we went to Russia, not qualified, we just went.  The students who showed up not qualified but willing to be used.  In 2007 a bishop told me out of the bible school in Jelgava, Latvia in 1991-92, over 25,000 churches have been planted. With unqualified people who wanted to be used by God. These my friends are the keys to unlock the doors to heaven.

I see that same hunger in the eyes of students in Kenya, they want to change a nation for God, they have their hands raised and are saying, "Look no further I'm your man".

The Blessing Box - Our Partners in Ministry

Philippians 4:19

 And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

As many of you know, we went to Kenya last year - 2018. On the trip home,  I felt ready to go back in a month!  I was just a little ahead of God's plan for Kenya. There is a scripture which is perfect for the situation Kent & I were in when we returned. In James 1:3-4 it says; "Knowing the testing of your faith produces patience.  But let patience have its perfect work, so you may be perfect and complete lacking nothing."

Kent pointing the way~

After about two months of being back from Kenya, I realized, patience is not a Christian swear word. Christians hate the word patience.  We think we can get it all done by ourselves, which is a total lie from the pit of hell. We need patience, to be complete entire and lacking nothing.

For the last nine months God has been working with me on this word, patience. There are three things that have happened in our ministry in those nine months.

#1 Preparation:  I have been working on a leadership manual. I'm old school and my manual isn't fancy, it is a yellow tablet written in pencil.  It's been used just about every day for the last nine months.  It is a leadership manual & will probably work into something fancy.  For right now it's more of a discussion book for leaders in Kenya.

#2 Relationships: I am finding out you can't do a project like Kenya by yourself. I have Kent for a traveling Companion.  Mike & Pat Heiser, are the leaders in Kenya.  Regional Directors; Obed, Victor, Stanley and of course my guide Dennis.  I've grown to love Dennis as my own kids.  Of course our partners here in the United States play an important part too.  Facebook has kept us all connected.

Pat, Mike & Linus~

Many of you don't know Connie Hoge but she is the one who has built this blog, which gives me another avenue of getting my words out to everyone.  I just write and she puts it into a blog for all of you to read. She and her husband Butch, along with many other partners want us to succeed in Kenya.

#3 Finances:  If I would have gone back to Kenya in two months I wouldn't have had the MONEY. Over the past few months our bank account has been increasing daily more and more.  We have a Blessing Box over at the post office;  P.O. Box 228, Glenwood, Iowa 51534. We have several partners who send MONEY to our Blessing Box. We believe our Blessing Box is full in Jesus Name.

Yesterday, the blessing box was full of blessings, over $1,100 came in to our Ministry! Sometimes when our work at the Gathering Place is not very busy, our blessing box is very busy! God, knows what our NEED is, not our wants.  I wanted to go back right away, God wanted a perfect work, complete, entire, and lacking nothing. Thanks be to God for meeting our needs not our wants.

Just by reading the blog you have become Partners with us and our relationship becomes stronger by reading the daily news of Acts 29 Ministry and the Gathering Place.  If you come into the Gathering Place you have become a partners with us.  Whether it is once or every day, you are a partner with our ministry and we want to thank you for your relationship with us!  You may be one of the many volunteers who help us while I'm in Kenya, our partners.

We are a month out and our big need for the trip right now - is a computer for me to take to Kenya. I don't want a big one, just one I can type on and not have to use my big fingers and thumbs on to keep in contact with our partners during the trip.

Thanks for being a partner!!

Linus

Prepairing to go Back to Kenya!

Only six more weeks till we leave.

Africa Team - September 2008

Now that the Holidays are over, we are back to making plans for the trip in February. I have spent the entire year writing lessons for the return to Kenya, to help Mike and Pat.

In December, Mike and Pat visited here in Glenwood, for about an hour. We spent the time making plans for our trip in February. The plan is to minister to the graduates from Mike & Pat's schools. Over the past year Mike and Pat have been planting more schools & working with their Directors. It's time to take the next step in preparing leaders in Kenya.

Today, Mike wanted a schedule for a proposed direction. I sent Mike that proposal this morning. He will review it & make suggestions but we are on the same page about training leaders. The next six weeks will be a refining the work we've done over the last year.

Review: In 2008 Lonnie Dillard and I went to help Mike & Pat plant their 2nd school. It was a very successful Bible School Plant.

Lonnie & Linus, at Kitale Bible School

In 2018, Mike and Pat had Kent Coates and I, return to Kenya. Since 2008, they've planted 27 schools, 26 Churches and have over 1,000 graduates.

Chigoria Bible School - with Pat, Mike, Linus & Kent

In 2019, more schools will be planted, with more Bible school Graduates. Mike and Pat have been busy in the states and are about to return to Kenya. They are making preparations for Kent and Linus' return trip in February.

Neema Bible College, Meru

One thing is for sure, God is going to make our time in Kenya a very exciting time. We have been making our plans & we will see what God has planned for us when we get there. It so wonderful when God gives you something to share and you have not even thinking about it. It always truly works out for the better.

Isiolo, Bible School

If you want to be part of the trip you can donate on line - or send your donation to Acts 29 Ministry P.O. 228, Glenwood, Iowa 51534.

Buffalo Springs Safari Park - A Day I will never Forget!

Up early and ready by 4:00 A.M. February 23, 2018

After early coffee and armed with a thermos of coffee, (The roads are so rough, you can only drink a quarter of a cup at a time.) we began our four-wheel adventure of 40-miles, to the Safari Park.  Charles, our professional guide, said that he would find a lion for us!

We got to the park about 8 a.m. & put the top up, so we could take pictures without getting out of the van.  That started the most incredible 10-hours of taking pictures of things and animals I could not imagine.

Our guide Charles & Pastor Kent

The above picture is of Kent and Charles laughing at something that happened on the trip. Charles is a professional guide for the Safari Park in Buffalo Springs Safari Park, Kenya. Charles used to be a mailman, now retired to be a guide for us.
Charles was so much like me. The first thing Charles did was get off the main road, there was a sign that said, "Stay on the main road".  I've found out in the guiding business you have to get OFF THE MAIN ROAD!

I was watching Charles drive and the scripture came to mine about the Ethiopian in Acts who Phillip ran down and asked him, "Do you know what you are reading in the scripture?" Acts 8:21-31

He replied, "How can I unless I have a guide?" We had a reenactment of this scripture today with Charles, Kent and I. Kent and I had no clue to where we were or what we were going to see today but Charles, our guide knew exactly where he was going.

Like everyone else our #1 goal on our list, was to see a lion. Every time we wanted to see something we just asked and in a short time we would see what we asked for.  As the day went on we still didn't see the lion.

 I started to realize a guide loves doing what he is doing - a lot more than the people he is guiding. When I guide students who are hungry for the Word, the guide always gets more than the people he is guiding.  It's even better when the people you guide get the best picture or catch the biggest fish, or  go out and do what you have instructed them to do and are successful!  You are so proud of them.

Charles, our guide

Charles was the same way, as my camera was getting full, battery was getting low, and we still had not seen a Lion. I was down to five pictures on the memory card in my camera.  The battery light was about to turn red. Charles, just kept driving. I could tell he had taken us to all his favorite spots - but still no Lion.

4 P.M.

After being in the park all day & seeing everything we asked for - we found the Lion! Charles put us within ten-feet of a full grown female Lion. I took my last five pictures just ten-feet from the most ferocious hunter on the Kenya plains. My memory card was full and my battery was flashing red.  Not another picture could be taken - we were finished. Charles turned to us and said, "Can we go home now?" He had finished his quest for the day a happy man.  You can see it on his face in the picture.

Lion with a blue eye!

Some scriptures come to mind, well done good and faithful servant.  Another - through faith and patience we inherit the promises. As a servant of God and a guide to my students in Kenya I'm so proud when they tell me; "You told me something ten-years ago, and it set me on a course that changed my life forever."

Bull Elephant~

Thanks for reading this post.  It was a fun write for me & I hope you get something out of it.  The trip was awesome, the friends were awesome but the look on the guide's face when he found the Lion was priceless!