New Church Plant in Ilikerin Maasai Village: Faith, Walks, and New Believers

Nkirukoto Baptist Church: A New Beginning in Ilikerin Maasai Village

This week has been a truly exciting and exhausting week of ministry here in Ilikerin Maasai village. We have spent countless hours walking—sometimes through the homesteads and sometimes across quiet roads, with the incredible sight of wildebeest grazing in the distance! Every day, we’ve walked, visited, and shared the Gospel with people eager to hear the good news of Christ.

So far, we have seen 63 individuals come to Christ. It’s amazing how the Lord is moving in this community, and we still have more outreach to complete tomorrow as we follow up with others we've met along the way. Market day tomorrow will be another opportunity to meet even more people, engage in conversations, and invite them into God's family.

One particularly special moment happened a few days ago when a young man came to the house where we are staying. After hearing the message, he accepted Christ and went back home to share the news with his family. Today, his mother and brother came to church and both accepted Christ as their Savior! We’ve been invited to visit them tomorrow morning and meet the rest of the family. Praise God for the power of one person's testimony!

In a beautiful show of unity, the people of Ilikerin have chosen the name Nkirukoto Baptist Church—Nkirukoto meaning "Faith" in the Maasai language. Today, we held the first official service for the church, and it was a beautiful day full of excitement and joy. We had four baptisms, many visitors, and even more souls saved.

The work in Ilikerin has only just begun, but already we are seeing the fruit of faithful laborers and eager hearts. Please continue to pray for the growth of Nkirukoto Baptist Church, for the new believers to grow in their faith, and for the ongoing outreach in the surrounding villages.

Thank you for your continued prayers and support. We are grateful for each of you who is walking this journey with us. God is doing incredible things here, and we are blessed to be a part of it!

Stay tuned for more updates from Ilikerin, and may God bless you abundantly.

#NkirukotoBaptistChurch #FaithInAction #MissionsInKenya #WalkingByFaith #NewBelievers #ChurchPlanting

Fruitful Furlough Update and Prayer Needs - October to November 2023 🙏

 October - November 2023

 Printable Version (PDF)

Dear Prayer Supporters and Friends,

We want to thank you for your prayers as we have been doing a lot of traveling, reporting to churches, and getting into new churches this furlough. Several more churches have voted to take us on for support, and we are praying that they will be able to start before the end of the year. Our daughter, Breanne, and her husband, Jeremy Martin, have arrived in the States for their first furlough after spending their first term in Mongolia. They need to raise more support for the ministries that they are getting started there. They are only here for a 7-month furlough, so please pray that they can visit churches and gain their needed support.

Many of the needs that we mentioned earlier have been met by the churches that we have been in the last couple of months. We thank the Lord for the generosity of the churches and individuals that is making all of this possible for our ministry in Kenya in the coming years.

Praise the Lord, these needs have been met: Oxygen Concentrator, Bibles for graduates, English Bibles, Songbooks, Shipping, Graduation expenses for December, Camping equipment for going into the villages, Ties, and Scarves for our Bible College Students.

Please pray for my two-week trip to Kenya in December, filled with visiting churches, holding 4 separate graduations, supplying training materials to start classes for 2024, and planning some of the new church plants that will take place next year.

Our ministry requires additional financial support to keep growing. We intend to establish a new area of training in our Bible College, focusing on young people who have recently graduated high school. Up until now, our main focus has been on working with families to establish churches in their home villages. As we move forward, we hope to expand our reach by training young people to spread the word of God to areas we have yet to reach. We pray that these young people will be instruments of God's work in new villages and towns.

One of our ministry goals has been to create an internship program that will provide training to the next generation of missionaries. During this furlough, we have had the opportunity to meet with young people in several churches and Bible Colleges who are interested in this type of internship. We are praying that this will help them serve the Lord and prepare themselves for a future in missionary work. If you're interested in learning more about this program, please let me know.

Please pray for these needs in Kenya:

• Return Airfare in February - $2,500

• Chairs for church in Narok 25@$4 each = $100

• Flooring resurface for BBC in Oltepesi - $100

• Solar power backup for our house - $800

• Swahili, Luo, and Maasai Bibles 100@$6 each = $600

Thank you very much for your love for the Lord and our family and your desire to serve the Lord.

For Souls in Kenya,

Luke & Tonya Shelby

Missionaries in Kenya

The Beginning of a New Church - Part 9

 I'm back with an update from Sunday...

The day started with rain & all the men were concerned that the rain would keep people from getting out & coming to the service, but God brought them in!  

They had a wonderful service & 10 precious people were saved in the village service! After the service, the people were so thankful for everything Luke & the team had done this week that they enjoyed a time of singing; and with the Maasai culture that means there was some jumping involved (I put a video of part of it at the end of this post, & it is all in the Maasai language, but the phrase they repeat a lot is "Nkai Nara" which means the God of Truth. They were celebrating being taught the Truth of the Word of God.

Our group loaded up & headed back to Narok town on the muddy trail/road.

Luke wrote the following: "We got back to town around 7:30. And it was amazing to watch both groups greet each other and tell each other the stories of the past few days. It was a great blessing and my heart is overflowing at God's goodness."

Berean Bible Baptist Church was started today with 19 baptized in Narok town. And the man that we asked you all to pray for specifically (the rastafarian man), DID come back, with a shaved head, & got baptized! God is still in the miracle business!

Once Luke gets back home, I will load some pictures of the new church.

Thank you so much to each & every one of you who took time to pray for us this past week, as none of this would have been possible without our prayer warriors holding us up in your prayers!

God is so very, very good!

The Beginning of a New Church - Part 7

Last night over 80 villagers came out to hear the preaching & watch the Jesus Film in their own language! Some people were still being dealt with around 10:30 PM. The phone connection was pretty bad last night, but I'm pretty sure Luke said 14 people trusted Christ as their Savior!

Then it rained all night out in the village & that meant that the path they travelled yesterday would be impassable until the sun was able to dry things up a LOT! So, they improvised & had more soul-winning out in the village.

Once they felt like the ground had dried enough to try to head out, Luke realized that there was some car trouble, which meant he & the men with him wouldn't be going anywhere today. So, they improvised again & decided to do more soul-winning, a service tonight & another one tomorrow (Sunday) morning. Even though this was not in our plans for the weekend, God knows & there is someone out there that needs to hear about God's gift of salvation. Please pray!

We are so thankful that they had planned ahead of time that only part of the team would travel out to the village, while the rest of the team stayed in Narok Town to continue visiting, preaching in the market areas, & preparing for the first service of the new church tomorrow! We haven't heard a report from those in town, but we are continuing to pray that many will be saved & invited to church services on Sunday!

Communication has been a little harder today in order to get messages back & forth, but everyone is safe & doing well.

The plan is for services to be held in the village & in town at the same time tomorrow morning. Then the men in the village will begin their travels back to Narok Town to meet up with the rest of the team, & hopefully they will be able to get in before the curfew hour that is still in place here. To give you a little idea about the conditions, he village is only about 40 miles from Narok, but it took them 8 1/2 - 9 hours to make the trip yesterday. So, please be in prayer for their travels tomorrow to go well & without any car trouble along the way.

And we will be praying that all of you have a wonderful day in your own local church!

The Beginning of a New Church - Part 6

They made it safely to the village and were greeted by a group of Maasai ladies who had been waiting patiently since early this morning. These sweet ladies prepared chai (Kenyan tea with milk) for the whole group who were traveling with Luke. 

They served them under a shade tree, so that they could all rest before entering the village. Then they were welcomed into the manyatta to begin to pass out tracts, preach, & prepare to show the Jesus Film in the Maasai language.

The film is still going at the time I'm writing this post. And we ask that you all pray that many will hear & accept the Lord tonight. For most of the people, this will be their first time they have had the opportunity to hear the Gospel message.

Please be in prayer for the meeting tonight & in the morning.

The Beginning of a New Church - Part 4

The morning got off to a great start with several coming for a service. Then we all filled our pockets with tracts & headed out for a full morning of soul-winning.

We stopped for a late lunch, then gathered everything needed for preaching in the market, got in the truck to head to towm, but we only got part way to the market area when we noticed the smoke & gunfire! We have been told that skirmishes broke out between the police & boda boda (motorcycle) drivers over not wearing masks! So we had to change our plans & head back towards the church area.

We held services again here instead of in town & continued passing out tracks nearby. There have continued to be running battles with teargas & bullets that we have been able to hear from our location at the church, but we are safe & we have been able to talk to many people today, because they weren't able to get to town either. It's after dark & we can still hear all the ruckus.

The Lord always knows what is going on & even when things looked bleak He was preparing the way. We saw 22 precious souls come to know Him as their Savior today! God is good.

Thank you for praying for your missionaries, we truly appreciate each & every one of your prayers!

ps. The one picture with the lady off to the side is an older Maasai grandmother named, Christine. She's one we were able to talk to since we couldn't get to town, & she asked Christ to save her & take her to heaven. It doesn't get any better than this, we love our life!

Please pray for us tomorrow (Friday), as we have been invited to a couple of Maasai Manyatta (homesteads/villages), and we would love to see many come to know the Lord while we are there.

#missionarylife

#shelbysinkenya

#Godisgood

#reachingthelost

The Beginning of a New Church - Part 3

Wednesday afternoon, we were able to hold a short service to open the meeting for the week with about 10 people who have been attending the Bible study over the past year. A few of our 3rd year students taught and played with more than 20 children who gathered after lunch, and they are all excited for more activities that are planned for tomorrow. We were even able to pass out some tracts close by where we are staying this week before the rain rolled in for the night.

Please be in prayer for all of us today, as we plan to canvas

the immediate area around the church & preach in the market since it will be the local market day & many people will be in town today.

#shelbysinkenya

#missions

#churchplanting

#letthechildrencome

The Beginning of a New Church - Part 1

We would appreciate your prayers all this week & through the weekend! Exciting things are happening & the Lord has opened the door for us to start a brand NEW church

The truck is loaded up with all the supplies for a week long evangelistic meeting, plus camping at the site of the new church plant. Please pray that the Lord will lead the way, prepare hearts to hear the message of salvation.

Please pray that all of our 3rd year students, teachers, and Pastors who are helping this week will stay safe during all the traveling over the next several days & that they will be able to see many souls saved!

#churchplanting

#telltheworldaboutJesus

#preachtheWord

#missions

#missionarylife

#shelbysinkenya

The Nile Monitor

This is similar to the critter that we found on our church property in Sidundo. A Nile Monitor Lizard at least 6-7 feet long. Not sure exactly because it is still there. Some of the students went after it with a machete and cut two feet of its tail off (so now I guess it would only be 4-5 feet long).


There are others that have been seen burrowing down under some of the ten or so termite mounds on our 5-acre property. They hatch their eggs in the termite mounds, and then the babies can eat the termites as soon as they hatch. And yes, our kids have already asked if they can keep one (a baby)!!

City Life & Village Life (By Abigail)

Living in a thriving, urban city compared to living in a remote village in Africa is probably considered as complete opposites; but there are a few similarities. for example, both living conditions have some kind of communication among themselves and with the surrounding cities or villages. The language may differ, or the communication system may vary; but communication is present. Another comparison to be made is transportation within a community. While a bustling city would have subways (although not in Kenya) and automobiles, a rural village's main mode for transportation is one's own feet or a bicycle. The last and perhaps the most important similarity is the fact that they all need the Gospel. Whether a person is a rich businessman or a Maasai warrior does not matter; they both have a choice of either to spend their eternity in burning flames or in glorious mansions in heaven. In conclusion, life in a large economic center or in a rural African village can be comparable in many ways.

Written by: Abigail Shelby