Recently, I feel that God has been asking me this question, "Do you believe it?"  Do I believe the words of Scripture in such a way that they truly influence my life and the way that I live?  And the question has been posed to me through several different avenues, such as Bible study, Imago Dei (the discipleship and outreach team that I help lead), reading biographies about men and women of the faith (YWAM Publishers has an amazing set of thirty-four of them that are super easy to read, I highly recommend them to you), and through various blogs that I’ve looked into and perused.  And everywhere I look, I am asked that question, "Do you believe it?"  In fact, I listened to a sermon by David Platt on a talk that he gave during the Campus Crusade for Christ conference in Atlanta, GA this past New Year’s, and not even twenty seconds into the talk, he asked that very question, "Do you believe the words of this book (Scripture)?"  And I have to ask myself, if I truly, deep down really did, how would that change the way I am ordering my life right now?

According to recent statistics, there are 147 million plus orphans in the world today.  There are a little over 6 billion people in the world, and approximately 4 billion of them profess Christ as Lord and Savior.  If that truly is the case, that there are 4 billion Christians, why are there 147 million children without anyone to care for them?  God’s Word clearly states in James 1:27 "Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of God our father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being unstained by the world." NASB  There are many instances in God’s Word that state His heart for fatherless children.  In the book of Deuteronomy alone, a book that indicates how His chosen people, the Jews, are to live, He references orphans eleven times.  The Bible also tells us in Hebrews 13:8 that Jesus Christ (God) is the same yesterday, today, and forever, therefore we can rightly assume that His heart does not change either.  God’s heart is for His people to stand up for the rights of and care for those who are the weakest and most down trodden.  If I believe God’s Word is true, then how is this command changing the way that I pursue the work of CTM?  Am I willing to put everything I have into it, in order to fulfill my King’s desires?

But It goes beyond just what we do, because Christianity is not something that we do, it’s a way of life, it’s who we are.  The word "Christian" itself literally means "Christ follower", but if we turn Christianity into a series of disconnected events in our lives, we are only Christ followers sometimes.  What does God say about those who only want to follow Him sometimes?  "I know your works: that you are neither cold nor hot.  Would that you either cold or hot!  So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, i will spit you out of my mouth." Revelation 3:15-16 ESV.  And I know that is is not new information, for those who attend church regularly and do Bible studies, you’ve heard this before, but I’m asking, do you believe it?  Read that verse again, and think about how your life would look different if you truly did believe it with your heart.  God is telling us that He wants us to either be on fire for Him one hundred percent or to reject Him completely, none of this fence-riding, "i’ll follow you sometimes, in some areas of my life" mindset.  And if I believe that, am I living it out?  Is my life one of whole-hearted passionate devotion to my God, or a lukewarm, lackluster belief in something that I think is probably true?

And that brings me to the real crux of the matter because this is what I’ve been wrestling with the most: what stops us from truly abandoning everything for God’s work (which takes several forms, I know that you lead a life of devotion here in the States as well as anywhere else because I’ve seen it)?  What keeps us from giving everything to Him?  And I think that there are two very serious reasons.  One, we wonder, deep down, if perhaps this life on this earth really is all that we get.  That maybe Christianity is not entirely true, and if that’s the case, we want to hold onto something so that we don’t lose out completely when we die.  And secondly, there is the fear that maybe God won’t provide, that we will jump out for Him to catch us and He will let us fall (which He absolutely won’t, His Word promises us that, but for the sake of argument, what if He did?) and we fall flat on our face.  Now please understand that I am asking these questions of myself, these are the questions that I’ve been wrestling with on my own for the past month or so.  But the crux of the matter is in the most memorized of all verses, John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish, but have everlasting life." NIV  If that is true, and you truly believe it with your heart, then you are saved the Bible says, and that proof of your salvation will begin to grow in your life.  But I want to ask you how much that sacrifice is worth.  Is it enough that Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins, granting you a place in His eternal kingdom giving glory to Him with all the saints and angels forever, that you would give everything back to Him even if you never received another blessing from Him?  Is His sacrifice for your sins of great enough value that if it was all you got out of giving Him everything, you would still do it?  Do I place that kind of value on it?

As I’ve wrestled with that thought, and prayed over it, I can honestly say "Yes, it is."  Christ’s sacrifice is valuable enough to me that if it was all I got, I would still give Him everything I am.  But I have His great and precious promises that it isn’t all that I get, now that I am one of His children, He will never fail to provide for me and care for me, and that is something worth trusting in.  My prayer is that you begin to look at Scripture with a fresh perspective, asking yourself these questions, "Do I believe it?  If I do, how is that belief shaping and changing my life?"  and "How much do I value Christ’s sacrifice on the cross?"  because I guarantee that if you ask questions like this every time you read the Bible and pray over the answers, God will radically transform your heart and mind.

~Eli

Here’s for those who haven’t been able to receive my newsletter.  The PDF file is too big to email so I figured I would post it here.

Eli

CTM Newsletter-Eli

"The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.  Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it." Matthew 13:44-46

I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about this verse and what it means, what it looks like practically.  And I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s like a grubby homeless man.  Let me show you how I arrive at that conclusion.  There is a merchant who is and has been seeking fine pearls, assuming he’s been doing this for a while, he probably has a decent collection of nice pearls, costly gemstones, other things of value.  He is a merchant after all.  But one day, he finds a pearl that is more valuable than anything else he owns and in his desire to obtain that pearl, he sells EVERYTHING.  He sells his collection of other pearls and precious items, his merchant stand, his house, his camel, everything just so that he can have this pearl.  But once he does this, he has this pearl and nothing else which makes him homeless.  To me, that conjures up the image of a grubby homeless man sleeping behind a dumpster and when asked "Why are you homeless?" he holds our his hand and responds with a twinkle in his eye, "Because I gave everything in order to have this pearl.  It is more precious to me than anything else in this world."  A grubby homeless man who gave everything in order to have a pearl.

Jesus says that the kingdom of heaven is like that, something so valuable that a person would give everything in order to obtain it.  Which to me begs the question, do we have that mindset?  Are we willing to give everything in order to obtain this pearl of great value?  Or rather are we like a man who finds a pearl of great value, gives as little as possible to obtain it, then takes it around hoping that it will get him more to add to his collection?  All too often I fall into that second category, and I see the Christians around me doing the same.  Not wanting to give everything for the sake of knowing Christ, but rather claiming Christ in the hopes that it will get them to heaven, get them material wealth and prosperity, health, etc.  And I can’t help but know that that breaks Gods heart and is a slap in the face of the crucified Christ.  And that just kills me to know that I do that…what about you?

I’ve been reading lately about a young woman named Katie Davis who understands that preciousness of knowing Christ and has willingly sacrificed a great deal in order to care for "the least of these" in Uganda (you can read her blog by clicking on "The passionate pursuit of God continues…").  Her story challenges and encourages me immensely.  I’m challenged because her example causes me to examine where my heart is in the work I am doing in Kenya.  Am I just doing it just to do it?  Or am I doing it because it was a command of Christ and by trusting Him for the work I am being drawn closer to Him?  I am encouraged because as i think about my generation, I have to ask myself how many girls like Katie I know.  Or even how many guys who have a similar mindset.  And to be entirely honest, the lists are very short…  We have a great cloud of witnesses in those who have gone before, like Peter, Paul, the other disciples, Hudson Taylor, George Meuller, Brother Andrew,  Jim Elliot, and so many more.  But who in my generation is going to say, "I count ALL things as loss for the sake of knowing Christ!" (Philippians 3:7-11)?  Who?!

I’ve thought a lot about a verse in the song "Hosanna" by Hillsong United that says, "I see a generation/ rising up to take their place/ with selfless faith/ with selfless faith/ I see a near revival/ stirring as we pray and seek/ we’re on our knees/ we’re on our knees" and I want to know that it’s not just a cry of longing from the songwriter, but that it’s a tangible reality.  And I know that it has to start with someone, somewhere.  God, make me a vessel that you can use!  One that you can use to pout out on others your grace and love.  Break my heart for what breaks yours, and then use me to do something about those things.  I can’t live with mediocrity and complacency any longer, ignite an unquenchable fire in my heart and soul for these children and for the people around them.  Use me, use CTM in any way you choose.  Not my will, but yours.

~Eli

To listen to "Hosanna" click here Hosanna-Hillsong United.

 Before I even say anything about my trip to Kenya this year, I have to glorify God for the work that He has done.  Prior to leaving God visibly answered my prayers by providing my visa for entry into the country on a week before I left on the specific day that I prayed for, which was cool.  Additionally, two weeks before I left, I had been blessed with a total amount of $7500 that had been given for the orphanage which was half of my total goal for the children’s home.  One week before I left, I found a check on my desk from several anonymous donors that amounted to another $7500!  Which brought my total to $15,000 the target goal needed for building the orphanage!!  Praise God!  So my goal was reached, but it didn’t feel like it was the end of something, more like the beginning of something big…

Then I left for Kenya, and was thoroughly blessed by my time there.  I spent the first few days in awe of the changes that God had brought about in the previous eleven months.  We had the start of the children’s home, we had six sheep that we didn’t haven’t the year before, a small two-room nursery school, chickens, and our cows (Montana and Gift) were healthy and growing.  It was great.  I was introduced to our fundi (carpenter or expert) Joseph Omuse (another Christian brother), and we went to work continuing the building.  Additionally,  during my time there, I had multiple opportunities to preach in churches and for a couple of youth retreats.  Unfortunately, we had a little trouble transferring the funds over for building and our work was halted for a short while, but we found some other projects to do, like building desks for our school house and building a chicken coop and proper sheep corral with some other money that had been transferred over.  So I praise God for the work that I was able to help accomplish.

So, what’s next for this work and CTM in general?  Well, in Africa, my goal this year is to purchase an adjacent piece of land in order to farm and grow maize and beans and vegetables and so that we have a place to graze our cattle.  The target goal for that is $10,000 which is a bit on the steep side I will admit, but it gives us a platform to be able start ministry in that community.  Additionally, in the future, we would like to be able to expand our school to be able to teach all the children grades K-8, and then set them up with a sponsor who can help pay the school fees for secondary school (high school).  Stateside, though our goals are to establish Certain Truth Ministry as a legitimate non-profit organization to be able to give tax-deductible receipts for the donations that I receive and for financial accountability.  I am currently working on the paperwork part of that, and getting the official language down and then submitting it all.  However, there is a cost involved with starting an organization like this and I am looking a need of about $1000.  But I know that if this is something that God wants to work out, we will do the work of it and make it happen.

Please partner with me in prayer as I continue this adventure and consider the possibility of financial support of this ministry either for a project or on a monthly basis.  Thank you and may God bless you!

Here is the video presentation that I put together upon returning to the states.  A fuller report will follow soon.

The pictures that go along with this post show what God has already begun to do in Kenya. The money that I was able to send in September has already yielded fruit in the partial construction of the orphanage building. And very shortly, I will be joining the effort in person, helping to build and encouraging Pastor David in the ministry that he is called to.

My previous plans have changed regarding when I am going to leave for Kenya and who is going to go with me. After presenting the trip to my church this year, it was made abundantly clear that right now is not the right time to take others with me, not because it’s not necessarily what God wants, but because we are not set up for it yet on the Kenyan side. However, I am still planning on going over and will be leaving at the end of this month, November 29th. I will be gone for the whole month of December arriving back in the states on December 30th.

My goals for this trip are fairly simple and I am still open to whatever God has in store for me this year, but what I would like to see happen while I am there is:

-being a physical part of the building process.

-preaching.

-collecting information regarding the cost of furnishing the building when it is completed, the total running cost of food, clothing, and school supplies for the children, and what needs to be in place logistically to be able to bring others over to be a physical part of the work that CTM is doing.

-I am also hoping to become more adept at speaking Swahili so that I can translate when I have the opportunity to take others over with me.

-encouraging the brothers and sisters that I met and developed relationships with last year.

-whatever other works God has prepared in advance for me to do…(Ephesians 2:10)

When I return, God willing, I will have more pictures to share, which I will do here and on Facebook, and hopefully I will have a short video presentation of the work that God is doing in that area. Continue to keep me in your prayers for strength and provision. On that note, one last thing, I’ve kept track of all the funds that God has brought in for the building project and to date, He has provided $7280 USD for the building. That’s almost half of the total cost of the project!! The estimated total cost for materials and labor was $15,000 USD and God has already provided half of that! I am so thankful and awestruck by what He is doing in Kenya. Praise be to Him!!

It’s getting later in the year and I am beginning to plan my trip to Kenya for this winter.

I’m looking forward to hearing from Pastor David about how the building is going, last he told me, he had been running around trying to find building materials. I look forward to hearing from him soon.

What I’m really excited about for this year is the opportunity to take a few people with me. God willing, my plan is to take two to three young men from my church in Montana over to Kenya to participate in the building process.

I’m sure that we will have the opportunity to share the gospel as well and interact with the people in the area where Pastor David lives. I think that it will be a great opportunity for these young men to see another part of the world, to experience some of the culture, and to put their faith to the test to challenge it and see it grow. This is also going to be a wonderful growing experience for me as well, this being the first mission trip that I’ve led. I have been on many trips and traveled pretty extensively by myself, but I haven’t taken others with me before, so this will be a good challenge.

As I am preparing for this trip, I simply ask for your continued prayers and tell other people about this venture so that they may be praying for it as well.

On the financial end of things, we are also trusting God to provide the finances for our travel. Airline tickets for each person will cost between 2000 and 2500 dollars, along with a little extra money to cover transportation costs while we are in country, the total cost will be roughly 3000 dollars per person.

I would simply ask that as you pray for this trip, you would also pray about the possibility of providing part of that cost, everything helps. Just continue to keep us in your prayers as we head out. May God bless you in what you do. ~Eli

"Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!" 2 Corinthians 9:15

It’s been a while since I’ve put anything up on here, but I wanted to share what God is doing with the orphanage project right now. I am continuing to raise support to fund the building of a new orphanage for Pastor David and the children. To date, I’ve raised about a third of what I need to do all the building. At the beginning of the month (September) I sent a large chunk of that to the pastor so that he could begin the building process. I praise God that He is providing the money for the building, it’s cool to see the process. Additionally, I am planning to return in December to assist with the building and to travel around and share the gospel with people as I am given the opportunity. I’m hoping to take a small team with me from my home church in Augusta, Montana, so I request prayers regarding that, especially for the logistics of it. However I am looking forward to the challenge that God is presenting me with. As the time to leave draws nearer, I will surely be posting more about what is going on. Thanks for all the support, especially the prayers! ~Eli

This is a short letter from Pastor David sharing his heart for children and God’s work. The spelling and grammar are his, obviously Kiswahili is his first language. It does my heart good to hear this all again from the source. Also to note, last I knew, the exchange rate was about Ksh (Kenyan shillings) 70 to 1 USD.

~Eli 

Receive our greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Here is my news. My names are David Mutei. I have one wife called Ruth and Daughter Blessing Anita. Lookimg After Orphanage.Living in Kitale village called marura I have been in the ministry for last fifteen years. God gave me passion and compassion for the suffering children. Whenever I went to various places to preach, when I saw children suffering in the villages, I always had compassion for them. There was a deep cry in my heart. My prayer to God was to bless me financially to enable me help the children. I remember one day I went to preach in a certain village. A young girl aged 10 yrs came to me and asked fr money from me to enable her go and buy food for her brothers. In my pocket I only had Ksh.50. I took the little money and gave to the young girl. Her mother had separate with the father and left the young without any help. This one of the instances in our society. There are many children who are suffering because of one reason or another. I therefore give my gratitude’s to God Almighty who brought the solution for some of the suffering children. He brought my way. God has you and the entire family in Alaska to bring this to come to pass. May God bless you richly.. In future, I am optimistic that our Heavenly father will bless me financially to enable build a primary school. This will help the suffering children learn hence have good future. I know our fatifhul father will bring this to come to pass. Warm love to all, in Christ. Pst. David.

Dear friends and family,

What an amazing year 2008 turned out to be in my life. In August of ’07 I began attending Montana Wilderness School of the Bible (www.mwsb.org) in the mountains of western Montana.

On our break between semesters last school year I spent three and a half weeks in Liberia, West Africa working with some missionary friends who are doing a well ministry in and around the capital city of Monrovia. The time that I had there cemented a love for Africa and it’s people in my heart and when I left, I knew that I would return to the continent at some point to do more ministry there. But I had to finish school first, and at the end of the year I was asked by the director to join the staff of the school to be their go-to guy for anything and everything. I began working that summer and began fulfilling my role as assistant maintenance man, drama leader, sound tech, dorm R.A. and whatever else came to mind as needed.

When the school year began again in August of ’08 I threw myself into the ministry of the school. And since then it has been an awesome year of work and ministry. In the middle of November, we ended the first semester and the students left for their six week winter break, and by God’s provision, I headed off to Africa again, but this time to the other side of the continent and the country of Kenya.

I need to back up now and explain what brought me to fly across the world with a verse in my heart, hope on my tongue, but nary a plan in my mind. In May, I was back in Fairbanks, Alaska for my best friends’ wedding and while I was there established contact with a woman in North Pole named Tanya, who along with her husband, were trying to raise support for a native Kenyan pastor, named David, who was trying to raise his family and about twenty orphans with no steady income. He had had a nice plot of land in a village that he cultivated to grow their food, and nice home with all the furnishings that the orphans needed, and many more children to care for.

However, in December ‘07 and January ‘08, the country was thrown into an uproar with rioting and violence over the election results, and the pastor and his family had to run for their lives. Their house was burned down, the crops destroyed, and everything lost. Many of the orphans had to be left in the care of the Red Cross and other aid organizations, but the pastor (whose name is David) was able to take twenty of the children and relocate to a small rented plot outside of Kitale, a city in the northwest corner of Kenya to begin starting over.

Through Tanya (the woman in North Pole) I was able to help financially support this pastor and his family, but I felt a strong urge to do more. The first chapter of the book of James exhorts Christians to “care for orphans and widows in their distress” (James 1:27). In the book of 1 John, we are called to love through deeds done in truth rather than simply through our words and with our tongue (1 John 3:18. And as I studied at MWSB, verses like these really began to take hold in my heart, and when I learned of Pastor David’s situation I felt that I had to do something more than just send money, I had to see it and experience it for myself.

So during winter break for four weeks, I did. Right off the bat, I was fully reliant on God to work out the details because I accidentally told Pastor David that I was arriving a day earlier than I actually was. But thankfully, when I arrived on December 2nd, he and his friend Joseph were waiting and trip began unfolding the way it was supposed to. I spent most of my first week in Kitale at Pastor David’s house, learning Kiswahili (also known simply as Swahili) and getting acclimated and adjusted to the country.

Later in the week we traveled to Mosoriot, where the pastor and children had lived before the violence. We stayed for several days, I was given the opportunity to preach in the church that he planted in that town, and I began to pray about how I could help the pastor re-establish what had been lost. When we headed back to Kitale, I made up my mind that I would do all that was in my power to start providing something, anything for them, thus began my second week in Kenya.

Most of this week was spent building, starting with a better and more proper gate for the compound and culminating with a brand new cow shed/corral in preparation for a dairy cow. The pastor, his family, and the children used about five liters of milk each day, costing fifty shillings a day, which adds up quickly (exchange rate: 73 shillings to 1 US dollar). With the purchase of a cow to milk, they would always have a ready supply of milk, and wouldn’t have to pay for it, saving them money to put toward other things. I was praying that God would provide a good cow for me to buy them. Next we traveled to Nakuru (near southern-central Kenya), the home of Pastor Joseph, and I preached in his church, held an evening crusade meeting, and visited his family.

Week three began by traveling back to Kitale to rest briefly for the crusade that I would be leading later in the week in yet another small town. But during that time I was able to buy not just one, but two cows! A cow that had just given birth to be exact, to a female calf, hopefully providing longer term sustainability. The pastor was extremely thankful.

My last week was a wind-down time, celebrating Christmas and preparing to return home, but before I left, there was one last thing I felt had to be done, someone had to climb down their 80-foot well and clean junk out of it. So I tied a rope harness around my waist, donned my headlamp, tied myself off and had the pastors prepped to arrest my fall and help me out when I was done. It was awesome!

So what did I accomplish during my time in Kenya? Well, I preached a LOT, which was cool, I also was able to purchase for the pastor and children cows to provide them with a source of milk that they wouldn’t have to pay for, and since returning home, I’ve been blessed with a gift of $3000 which I have wired to Pastor David so that he would be able to buy the plot of land that they have been renting, thus relieving him of yet another financial burden.

But the question that has been on my mind is what to do next. They still need food, which they must buy, and the children don’t have proper housing, just a small room in a small mud house. Now, I don’t make New Year’s resolutions, but this year, I made a New Year’s goal, I want to raise $15,000 to begin building a house for the children.

While I was in Kenya I did some research and found that that was the approximate cost of the materials and labor for a fairly simple 36’ by 47’ brick house. In addition, I’ve committed part of my own finances each month to Tanya in Alaska to make sure that the pastor and children always have food until they are in a more sustainable position to do that themselves.

I greatly covet your prayers of support as I seek to make this orphanage a reality. I am hoping for and seeking opportunities to be able to share with churches and other people as much as I am able with my current work schedule. And I also encourage you to contact me through

Eli’s email 

Facebook

if you have any questions or just want to know more about what I’m doing don’t hesitate to let me know. Here’s hoping that 2009 is off to a good start for you!! In Christ, Eli