Tumsifu Yesu Kristo
Rev Dr Jeffrey Khoo
Tumsifu Yesu Kristo in Swahili means “May Jesus Christ be praised.” I praise and thank the Lord for granting me another meaningful and fruitful trip—my 9th—to East Africa (May 15-June 9, 2007), this time with Jemima and our two daughters (Ann and Lynn), and True Lifers Deborah and Judith with their guitars and fervent heart to sing for the Lord. More travelers this time meant more luggage space. This was well used to bring in 15 boxes of Bibles and books, a projector, and a couple of laptops for the Bible College of East Africa (BCEA).
Since 2001, FEBC has been cooperating with BCEA to offer the Bachelor of Ministry (BMin) degree programme. Annually, lecturers from FEBC would visit BCEA to teach 4 intensive residential courses to senior students and graduates of BCEA who are working towards their BMin degree. This time, I taught 2 courses: Charismatism and Biblical Separation. At the 4th BMin convocation, 14 were conferred the BMin degree. I spoke on “The History of Mankind from Creation to Judgement” to the students of BCEA Tanzania, and youth leaders of the African Missions and Evangelism Church (AMEC).
Rev Mark Kim, an FEBC alumnus who holds a Master’s degree from Pensacola Christian College (USA), is Principal of BCEA Kenya and Tanzania. He is currently working on a dissertation in the area of theological education to present to FEBC for his Doctor of Education (EdD) degree. The full-time faculty of BCEA comprises mainly FEBC graduates. At BCEA Kenya, we have Rev Stephen Masila (MDiv), Rev Eben Yoon (MDiv), Mr Richard Tiu (BTh), Rev Ibrahim Kiarie (BMin), Rev Bernard Akhwale (BMin), Rev Lazarus Ngige (BMin), and Mrs Violet Onyango (BRE). At BCEA Tanzania, there is Rev Peter Elibariki (MDiv) who is the academic dean. Judah Pallangyo, an MDiv student at FEBC, will complete his studies and return to Tanzania next year to strengthen the faculty there. Miss Bai Eun Young (MRE) seeks to serve in Kenya as a missionary by the end of the year. Pray for Eld Tan Nee Keng (Berean BPC) who has a year to go before he completes his MDiv and is preparing to be a missionary to Tanzania. Pray for a strong faculty of faithful servants to teach the forever infallible and inerrant Scriptures to faithful students at BCEA.
By the grace of God, True Life BPC has been the main contributor to the building of BCEA Tanzania. The 7-acre piece of property was bought for US$20,000, and US$180,000 has thus far been spent to put up 6 buildings (Main office/classroom block, chapel, boys’ dormitories, dining hall, guest house, and principal’s quarters). The college opened for classes last year in September with 17 new students. More students will enrol when the new semester begins in July. As God provides, faculty/staff quarters, girls’ dormitories, and library will have to be built and a well dug for the growing college.
Let us continue to pray and give to the Bible College movement so that more faithful men and women might be trained to preach the good news of Jesus Christ and teach the whole counsel of God in fulfilment of the Great Commission (Matt 28:18-20, Acts 1:8) especially in these last days of apostasy and compromise (2 Tim 2:2, 3:14-17, 4:2-5). Let us pray, let us preach, let us give, let us go ….
Trip to Kenya (23 May–3 Jun 07)
By Judith & Deborah
EK 719 touched down in Nairobi’s international airport at about 2.15 pm on Wednesday 23 May 07, and soon we were breezing through Immigration and Customs with guitars slung over our shoulders and 50 kgs of Bibles and FEBC materials loaded on the pushcarts. Probably because African women rarely, if not never, play the guitar, we were always greeted with smiles of surprise and the question “Oh, you are in a band?” or “Oh, you play music?” And so it was with the female Customs officer who was interested more in the guitars than the five boxes and smilingly waved Deborah through with the exhortation “play away!” I followed quickly behind while the officer got distracted by some other passenger. Relieved and grateful to God for preparing such a smooth and pleasant welcome, we were happy to see Rev Eben Yoon with Rev Mark Kim waiting to take us to the Bible College of East Africa.
As soon as we arrived there, Mrs Kim asked Deborah to sing at the 5 pm evening service. Tired after a long journey and with less than an hour away from the service, we were nevertheless glad to render two praise items. God had been so good to us. And this was only the beginning. We were to experience more of His grace and mercies in the days to come. On a trip to the Giraffe Centre the following day, Eben’s car blew a flat tyre. The roads in Kenya are full of potholes and worn out bitumen, and are very punishing to both vehicles and passengers. This must have taken a toll on Eben’s car that had taken him many times into Tanzania and back. Eben was so apologetic, but for us it was a Kodak moment. Not just to take a picture of two men trying to replace a tyre, but also to capture the wonder of God’s amazing grace. We were just minutes away from the Centre, and not far from several petrol stations. Moreover, Brother Richard Tiu had come along in his pickup van, on a last minute request by Rev Kim earlier that morning. Surely this was the work of our all-knowing God. How else could we have proceeded to feed the giraffes, with May Ann and May Lynn gleefully tumbling into the back of the pickup, while the tyre was sent for repair at the nearest petrol station? Praise God. “The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore” (Ps 121:8).
I am also sure that God blessed the Africans with unique vocal chords and a special in-built rhythm box. There is hardly a need for musical accompaniment or mikes. Singing in small groups or as solos, in Swahili or English, their voices fill the sanctuary with unrestrained ease. At the evening service on Wednesday, we were struck by the intensity and simplicity of their worship in song. Especially moving was the plaintive strains of a young female student who sang about the multitude of her sins, flowing like a river, washed away by the blood of Jesus whose grace was as high as the mountains. She held up a small drawing pad in which she had sketched some illustrations to accompany her song. Her child-like faith touched our hearts. Indeed, Jesus said, “Verily I say unto you,Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein” (Mark 10:15).
He also said, “Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God” (Mark 10:14). We thank God for the children we saw in the two kindergartens we visited on Friday, one run by the college and located within the college grounds, and the other run by former FEBC students Francis and Violet and located in the slum area of Ngomongo. In both places, we saw children who seemed curious but excited about their visitors, who giggled and laughed, who sang and clapped along, who did not have much byway of material possessions and comforts, but who knew Jesus and who had the “joy, joy, joy, joy, down in my heart”. This was one of the songs Deborah sang at the college kindergarten, where the kids with their stunning red socks and black shoes were seated in neat rows of chairs outdoors. Over at the Ngomongo kindergarten, where the children were more tightly squeezed in a classroom that was as bright as whatever daylight was able to enter through the windows, they listened quietly as Jemima told them the story of Jesus and shared the gospel of salvation, interpreted by Francis. They then enjoyed a singing session with Deborah who reminded them through song that “Jesus loves me, this I know”, after which May Ann and May Lynn, assisted by Jemima, distributed soft toys and sweets to them. We came away so blessed by them.
At 11 am on Saturday, without much fanfare, Rev Kim led the procession of college academic staff and graduates into the sanctuary. We felt a tinge of pride to see our FEBC-trained students now serving as lecturers and taking their positions on the stage along with Rev Kim, Rev JeffreyKhoo and other college academic leaders. Eben is now Academic Dean of the BCEA and Richard Tiu is there assisting in the teaching. Nelson Were, who made a trip to attend the graduation with wife Christine who was three months into the family way, delivered the Invocation prayer. What a gathering! Fourteen students graduated with the BMin degree and three were ordained as well. The BCEA choir led by Eben sang “In the New Jerusalem” and Deborah ministered to the students with “O Jesus I Have Promised” and “May The Lord Find Us Faithful”. It was a short, simple and yet solemn service with a serious message preached by Rev Jeffrey Khoo on the importance of theology in missions.
Worship on Sunday morning saw the sanctuary filled. We were favoured with two songs from the BCEA choir as well as the church choir who sang a very catchy song in Swahili. The Africans waste no time – as soon as they arise from the pews, they are already singing a tune as they move in rhythm to the front. Reading from Matt 13:1-9, 18-23, the familiar passage on the seed sown on stony, thorny and good ground, Rev Jeffrey Khoo preached on the three types of faith – no faith, false faith and true faith. Deborah ended the service reading from Ps 95:1-6 and singing “Saved Saved” and “How Great Thou Art”. We knew at once that it was the Holy Spirit that prompted us to sing this hymn when Rev Kim opened the service with the same passage from Ps 95.
The refrain of this hymn echoed in our hearts over and over as we joined my sister the following week on a safari trip to Masai Mara and Lake Nakuru and saw the “wonders of it all”! When you take in the expanse of the savannah stretching out before you to meet the rolling hills in the distance, when you behold the great rift valley green with its lush, fertile plains, when you see all the different creatures up close and observe the intricate details of their behaviour, and when a rainbow appears in all its vibrant hues as you drive through the game reserve, you cannot but exclaim “How Great Thou Art”. Indeed, God never let us out of His sight and care. Even as we were negotiating a very treacherous stretch of dirt track, God brought us through it safely without getting stuck in the mud (as some other vans did). We prayed hard each time our driver encountered a really tough, slippery and muddy patch, and as he skillfully and slowly steered the van through, we thanked God and heaved huge sighs of relief. He who “visitest the earth, and waterest it” kept the rain away until our safari ended and we were on our way back to Nairobi.
Truly, “the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods. In his hand are the deep places of the earth: the strength of the hills is his also. The sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry land. O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker” (Ps 95:3-6).
