Camp singing 🎤!

Camp singing 🎤!

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Camp Singing Sidundo


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Camp Singing Sidundo 2

Youth Camp out in the Village Update!

We had over 55 teens, and were 7 saved out in the village, despite the devil's attempts to stop things!

So we praise the Lord for HIS goodness!

Prayer Request Update #2

Well…Evidently Luke & Caleb did get my arm back into place Sunday night (not a fun experience, but thankful they were brave enough to help try to relieve the pain!).

So, the doctor we saw on Monday gave me stronger pain meds & an anti-inflammatory for the smaller bones that are broken in my hand. The wrist was only dislocated & needs time to heal now that it is back in place.

I was given instructions to not use it at all for a week & use a good wrist brace to keep it in place. There is some tendon, ligament, and nerve damage; and he said those will just need time to heal. So it's like a VERY bad sprain. My pinky and ring finger are not moving at this point due to the damage.

Hoping prayer, rest, massage, & essential oils will get it back to working well again soon. So, We are taking it a day at a time right now. It is well wrapped in a sturdy brace for several weeks for sure, but I'm supposed to go back to the doctor on Friday to re-evaluate the situation.

Thank you for your continued prayers.

Water day fun!

Water day fun at Youth Camp & a practical joke!

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Water Fun Day

Prayer Request Update!

Update: I was able to get an x-ray taken of my wrist this evening after we left the church. Some members told us where we could go out here. It appears that my ulna is dislocated & I have a small hairline fracture in one of the smaller bones in my hand (the hamate bone?). The clinic out here cannot put it back in place. So we will go to the good hospital in Kisumu tomorrow to get it put back in place. We were told that this type of dislocation calls for an above the elbow cast for a minimum of 6 weeks! So your continued prayers are greatly appreciated!

Then we will head. Back out to the village to finish up the week of camp.

First Day of Youth Camp in Sidundo

Opening day of Youth Camp at Calvary BC in Sidundo village!

Choosing up some Teams for the week of Fun & Teaching/Preaching from God's Word.

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1st Day of Camp in Sidundo Village

Prayer Needed!

Could really use your prayers! We made it out to Siaya & the guesthouse that we will be staying in for this next week of Youth Camp. But while getting checked in & getting our stuff carried upstairs, fell on the stairs & we are pretty sure my left wrist is broken. We are hours from a good hospital, & we know the devil is really fighting us right now. We had 19 get saved last week & are looking forward to what our GOD is going to do out here in the village this week! Please pray for the pain to ease & our splint job to work, so that we can stay here & be a blessing to the Youth & church here! Thank you in advance for your prayers.

A time of singing at Camp!

A time of singing st Camp! This was the time of singing together before closing out the week of Camp.

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Camp singing

Last Day of Camp

Last Day of Youth Camp in Kisii. And the teens were getting up & giving testimonies about being thankful that the Lord allowed them to attend this week, and also about how the Lord had made some changes in their hearts & attitudes.

We ended up with over 90 in attendance for the week, and we have had 19 young people come to know the Lord as their Savior this week!


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Last Day of Camp

Camp Fun!

Youth Camp fun!

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Camp Fun

Youth Camp - Calvary BC Kisii

First day of Youth Camp is going GREAT! We started with about 70 this morning for our first sessions. We had 7 young ladies trust Christ as their Savior already! Continue to pray for lives to be changed this week!

Our 1st Service Back Home in Kisii

The series of blog post that you will see over the coming weeks will show a current date, but due to the FULL schedule that we have had since arriving back in Kenya; we have not had time to post regular blog updates. We do apologize for that! We will post the date at the top of each of these new posts showing when the event(s) took place.

June 5, 2016



Our first service back at Calvary Baptist Church in Kisii was such a blessing to our hearts. To see our people still being faithful in the work of the Lord.

The first picture is of Mrs. Peris playing our church's keyboard. Abigail spent her last year in Kenya teaching Mrs. Peris how to play, and so it was an extra special blessing to hear her playing in church and using her talent for the Lord.

The second picture is Pastor Tim Whitfield, who preached from the Word of God and challenged our hearts tremendously. We enjoyed our time with him and our church people on our first Sunday back in Kenya.

New Fridge!

The series of blog post that you will see over the coming weeks will show a current date, but due to the FULL schedule that we have had since arriving back in Kenya; we have not had time to post regular blog updates. We do apologize for that! We will post the date at the top of each of these new posts showing when the event(s) took place.

June 4, 2016



I want to say thank you to all who prayed and gave toward our new refrigerator! It was just delivered today, and I am already busy getting it filled up! We also want to thank the Lord for allowing us to find it at such a good price. We looked and looked, and were afraid that we might have to go with something much smaller or of lesser quality, but the Lord gave us something better than what we were looking for originally! Isn't HE good!

Spending Time with a Good Friend

The series of blog post that you will see over the coming weeks will show a current date, but due to the FULL schedule that we have had since arriving back in Kenya; we have not had time to post regular blog updates. We do apologize for that! We will post the date at the top of each of these new posts showing when the event(s) took place.

June 2, 2016




Our first night back in Kenya, we got to the guest house for the night and guess who we saw? Pastor Tim Whitfield! He was formerly a missionary in both Kenya and Tanzania, and both he and his wife have had a great impact on our lives through the years. It was good to see him and get to visit with him. He was on his way to Mwanza, Tanzania, so he traveled to our house and stayed through the weekend to preach for us at our church in Kisii Town before heading on to Mwanza. It was really good to see him again and talk about all that we have both been able to see the Lord do in the hearts and lives of the Kenyan and Tanzanian people.

What a mighty God we serve!

We Landed!

The series of blog post that you will see over the coming weeks will show a current date, but due to the FULL schedule that we have had since arriving back in Kenya; we have not had time to post regular blog updates. We do apologize for that! We will post the date at the top of each of these new posts showing when the event(s) took place.

June 2, 2016




Well, we made it back home to Kenya safely and with all of our luggage!

Thank you for your prayers!

Market Preaching in the Village of Kegogi

This week is Bible College week here at Calvary BC in Kisii Town. It is also exam week, and classes are usually finished a bit earlier than normal. So, Luke had been planning to have an evangelistic meeting out in the Village of Kegogi, where we have started a Bible study since returning to Kenya in June.

So this afternoon, Luke, 3 Pastors, & 3 of our current graduates went out to the village to preach at the open market. It has been raining all week, and we have been praying that it would NOT rain today; so that the Gospel could be preached to many people. Well...it was raining as all of the men loaded up in our vehicle & headed out to the village. Luke said that it rained all the way there. But when they got the vehicle parked & were ready to start getting the sound system & things setup, the rain stopped! God DOES answer prayers!

There were so MANY people at that market today, despite the rain. And all of those 1,000+ people heard a very clear presentation of the Gospel in their language! Now not all 1,000 were gathered around the preachers, but the sound system is powerful enough to cover that entire area clearly.

Of those that did gather close around the preaching, over 75 people raised their hands saying they wanted to accept Christ as their personal Savior!

What an AWESOME God we serve! Thank you to those of you who were praying for our ministry TODAY!

Back to Kenya

The series of blog post that you will see over the coming weeks will show a current date, but due to the FULL schedule that we have had since arriving back in Kenya; we have not had time to post regular blog updates. We do apologize for that! We will post the date at the top of each of these new posts showing when the event(s) took place.

June 1, 2016



Preparing to fly back to Kenya this morning, we all are having some mixed emotions. This was our longest time to stay in the USA on a furlough, so we all made new friends and renewed and friendships. And as you know, saying goodbye is never easy. Yet this time is very different for our family…we had to say goodbye to 2 of our own children! Abigail and Breanne both started Bible college during our year on furlough and are staying behind to finish the studies that the Lord has given them to do at this time in their lives. But this is definitely a new phase in all of our lives, and we are thankful that His grace is sufficient!

We would appreciate your prayers for our family during this time of transition.

Tragedy in Kisii

One week ago today, a 12-13 story building here in Kisii Town completely collapsed, covering a main road around town. There were people trapped inside for several days. The last survivor was rescued 5 days after the rescuers began going through the rubble. They called off further search & rescue efforts yesterday. We have heard some differing reports concerning the loss of life and injuries, but to the best of our knowledge 9 were killed and over 40 were injured during the collapse. Please keep the families of those involved in your prayers.

October-November 2016 Prayer Letter

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Dear Praying Friends and Faithful Supporters, October-November 2016

What an amazing God we serve!  We just want to Celebrate God’s Faithfulness! It is an exciting experience to serve the Lord on the mission field.  I would choose nothing else for mine and my family’s lives to have meaning as a Christian who wants to serve God.  There are so many doors and opportunities that God has opened for those who are willing to serve HIM.

This year there have been several milestones that we have seen and that are coming up in our ministries here in Kenya.  In September, we had the 5th Anniversary of Calvary Baptist Church and orphanage in Sidundo, Siaya.  We had 121 in attendance and 7 first time visitors. In October, we celebrated the 15th Anniversary of the first church that we started in Kenya, Bible Baptist Church in Rongo.  There were 65 in attendance, with 10 first time visitors, and 10 saved during visitation on Saturday and the service on Sunday. In December, South Nyanza Baptist College will be finishing its 15th year of training men and women to serve Him. We will have 7 graduating this year.  Next year we will be celebrating the 10th Anniversary of Calvary Baptist Church in Kisii town.  And it is so hard to believe that we will be celebrating 20 years as missionaries in Kenya in June of 2017!  In all of this, we can definitely say that God has blessed greatly, and HE HAS BEEN FAITHFUL.  It is a reminder to continually celebrate the faithfulness of God!

Not only has God been faithful in the things of the past that we look back on, but HE IS FAITHFUL now as we are continuing to see people saved, young men and women trained and called into the ministry.  There are 5 men right now that are getting ready to start churches in different villages.  We held our Annual Church Leaders’ Conference with 108 Men and women from 12+ churches for an entire week.  Pastor McConkey and two members from his church in Jacksonville, North Carolina came and preached for us during this great week.  God is Faithful!

In October, We held a Missions Conference at Calvary Baptist Church in Kisii Town and we included the pastors in our area and all of the college students that are wanting to be used of God.  We tried to open their eyes to Missions in all of Africa.  All of them committed to do something for missions in their churches.  Our church in Kisii promised to more than double the amount that was committed last year.  They promised to give nearly $1,500 to missions over this next year.  I have no doubt that God will use their faith to do so much for the glory of God.  God is FAITHFUL!

We were able to start a Bible study in the village of Kegogi shortly after returning to Kenya in June. And we have seen 50+ people saved since we started visiting the area 3 months ago.  We have had a high attendance of over 60 meeting under a tree out in the front yard of one of the member’s homes.  We meet for this Bible Study every Sunday afternoon, and there are about 15 Adults, 10 youth, and about 40 children that have been attending from the village.  We are hoping to begin the Sunday morning services in this village in the next month or so.  College students and the members of Calvary Baptist in Kisii have been helping with soul winning and holding the services in the village that is about 45 minutes away from Kisii town.  I was able to sit down and lead a family of 5 to the Lord in their home a couple of weeks ago.  There is so much potential here in this village. Please pray that God will raise up some of these new Christian men and women to be faithful to the Lord and to be pillars in this new church plant.  God will continue to be FAITHFUL!

We also had a funeral for a faithful pastor who graduated in 2015.  Pastor Habil was almost 70 years old, and he had several different health complications come up while we were in the USA for our furlough.  A missionary witnessed to him in the 60‘s, and he was saved as a young man. He had been a pastor for many years, but he came to us to get Bible training because he did not feel fully equipped.  He was mainly an “A” student, and all of the other Bible College students looked up to and respected him very much.  At his funeral, I preached on the “Cross of Christ” and over 50 raised their hands and accepted Christ as their personal Savior.  God continues to be Faithful!

Serving Him in Kenya,
Luke and Tonya Shelby

July 2016 Prayer Letter

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July 2016

Prayer Supporters and Friends,

We are excited to be back in Kenya with the people that God has called us to minister to with the Gospel of Christ. We have been very busy, and we will try to give you the highlights so that you can continue to pray for our ministries here. We left Abigail and Breanne behind in the USA, so that they can complete Bible College. They have had a busy summer, working at daycares and being able to attend Camp BIMI in Chattanooga for a week, as well as stay with Tonya’s parents. Please keep them in your prayers as they continue their studies in August.

On arriving in Kenya, we had a supporting pastor and former missionary to Kenya and Tanzania, Pastor Tim Whitfield, with us on our first weekend; and a young man, David Smith, who is just out of college, on a survey trip with us for the next two weeks. We had a good time with them while we were getting settled.

We visited one of our rural churches about 2 1/2 hours away from Kisii with David Smith; so that he could see a village ministry, and we held an evangelistic meeting there. 10 adults were saved, and it was a great time! David preached in English, which was translated to Swahili, and then on to the Dholuo language (the tribal language in the village). So there were languages going in all different directions. It was fun! Getting there was not so fun though. It was raining when we got close to the village, and the roads are not good when it rains. We were sliding around and almost slid down into the ditch. So we used the bumper jack to push the truck back up to the center of the road. At this point, we noticed that a leaf spring had broken and slid over putting a hole in the gas tank (with a pen size stream coming out of it). As we continued our journey, David and some of our college students were pushing the vehicle back to the center of the road as I drove to keep us from sliding down into the ditch. When we finally got there covered in mud, and we were able to slow down the leak by putting a screw in the hole until we could get back to Kisii and fix it. I think it was a good missionary experience for David. Please pray for him as he prepares to do deputation and to get to the field as soon as possible.

There have been several blessings over the last few months and we thank our new supporters for taking us on. We were able to increase our support considerably during our furlough, and we know it will help us do so much more in our ministries here in Kenya. Thank you! Also thank you to everyone who prayed for or gave toward the purchase of a dependable vehicle for our family. We were able to buy a newer vehicle (Toyota Prado) since our return. We have had approximately $5,000 come in to help with the cost of $23,500, and we would appreciate your continued prayers for the rest of the needed funds to come in. Please consider a gift from your church to help with this need.

God bless you and thank you for your prayers.

For Souls in Kenya,

Luke and Tonya Shelby

April 2016 Prayer Letter

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April 2016

Prayer Supporters and Friends,

We thank you for praying for our ministries while we are here in the States on furlough. On Easter Sunday Five Adults walked the aisle and invited the Lord Jesus to LIVE in their hearts. Those are souls that are added to your account. AMEN!!

We covet your prayers for all of the changes that Abigail and Breanne will be facing in less than two months. They are doing well as they are almost finished with their first year in college. The Lord is teaching them so many things in the local ministries of our home church like bus routes, nursery, choir, and junior churches as well as some American figures of speech that are still a mystery to them most of the time.

Please continue to pray for Tonya and her health. There are a few areas that have been understood since January, since she started seeing a natural doctor and getting chiropractic care along with her blood doctor. They are coming up with the same informal conclusion that she has Lupus, and they are working together and helping in several areas. Most of her levels have started improving since the change in her treatments, but there is still a ways to go.

Furlough is winding down, and we have purchased our tickets and will be leaving on May 31. I will be traveling in North Carolina and Virginia for the next three weeks. We will be in Arkansas through the month of May, as we get everything arranged for our girls before we return to the field. We will also be packing a crate and sending it before we go.

We have been able to raise $11,700 for building projects, and $2,500 for the vehicle that we had mentioned our last letter, but we are still needing to raise additional support. We are currently at 80% of our needed personal and ministry support. We have had several churches drop our support over our last term on the field due to finances and other things, and others have decreased the support they are sending. We must have additional support in order to continue to reach more people with the Gospel of salvation. These are the reasons why we need additional support.

1. Abigail (19) and Breanne (18) in Bible college
2. 5 churches that will start in the next year.
3. Opening 2 more Orphanages.
4. The need to add 10+ children every year in our Orphanages.
5. Starting 2 more branches of our Bible College over the next few years.

Please pray for these ministries to not be hindered, and that God will show Himself mighty through you and these opportunities that are wide open to reach souls for Christ.

For Souls in Kenya,

Luke and Tonya Shelby

January 2016 Prayer Letter

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Prayer Supporters and Friends, January 2016

Happy New Year 2016. It is a blessing to be a part of the work of the Lord in this present time. There are so many opportunities that have never been available before, as well as resources and co-laborers in the the Lord’s work to see souls saved and churches grounded in the truth. The Lord has given us a full schedule with over 40 churches to be in this year before we return to the field in May 2016. Please pray for traveling safety.

Thank you for your prayers for Abigail and Breanne as they have finished their first semester in Bible College. They are doing well, and we had a good time with them over the Christmas break. They were on a mission’s trip to the Dominican Republic for 10 days at the beginning of January. We feel that they have adjusted well with school, work, and church ministries here in the USA.

As we are preparing to finish our furlough, we are needing to raise the finances to purchase these things as soon as we get to the field:
1. Refrigerator $1,500
2. Photocopier $1,500
3. Vehicle $25,000

We also have the need for these church projects when we return to Kenya:
1. Calvary Baptist Church- Kisii (20'x35' extension) $5,000

1. Bible Baptist Church- Rongo (25'x50' church building) $5,000

2. Glory Bible Baptist Church- Kuresoi (25'x50' Church Building with rooms for 20 orphans in the back) $8,000

4. College/school building in Kisii (20'x50 three story building) $22,000

Using bricks to represent the above building projects, it brings the basic expenses to $1 per brick. So we are needing to raise money to buy 40,000 bricks! How many would you like to buy? We are depending on you to give towards these projects in order to help us accomplish these goals when we return to Kenya.

We are looking forward to the growth of the ministry in the next few years, as we have had over 25 graduates of our Bible College over the last two years; and we are excited about the places where God is using them and calling them to serve Him in the villages around us.

Thank you for being partners with us in the ministry,

For Souls in Kenya,
Luke and Tonya Shelby