Urgent Prayer Needs & Exciting Updates from Kenya 🙏✨

 

Thank you for your prayers as we returned to the field. Despite mechanical delays on our flights from Little Rock, Atlanta, and New York, totaling 4 days of travel, we are grateful to be home. Please pray for Tonya's acclimation to the elevation here in Kisumu, Kenya. She has been improving a lot over the last two weeks.

Here are some specific prayer requests and updates from our ministries for 2024.

Church Planting: 

1. The Lord has opened the door for Ezekiel, a 2023 graduate, to start a Bible Study in Buyangu under a tree. I will be visiting there this weekend.
2. We have begun meeting with a group for a Bible Study in the village of Mibasi on Saturdays and some Sundays. Over 20 individuals have been saved in the last month in this village!
3. I will be visiting the new Bible Study started last year in Ilikerin Maasai village this month, staying for about a week. It's about 10 hours from home, and I'll be visiting 2 other churches along the way. Land has been donated to build a church building in Ilikerin.
4. We are discussing with the 2 other Bible Studies in Sigoti and Nyamiobo villages about when those churches will be started.

SOUTH NYANZA BAPTIST COLLEGE

We have started up our Pastoral Classes in 3 locations with 12 students who have graduated and are pastoring or looking for a place to start a church. This is a 2-year course that will ready them for any challenges they would face in the ministry.

Internship Program: We will not be able to start our internship program this year due to the prep work that needs to take place. We had two young people seriously interested in coming this year, but unfortunately, it was not possible. We are taking applications for next year. We ask those who are available to start preparing 6 months in advance. This program is geared for Bible college students who have been called to the mission field.

KENYA LEGACY FUND #501: We have received the money for the 1st phase of our College Dorm building and have started the site planning for this project. Thank you so much. Please use the account #501 for these projects. Thank you.

!!!ORPHANAGE URGENT PRAYER REQUEST!!!

During our furlough, the 5-acre property given by the village community has been taken control of by the County Government for rice processing. The church and orphanage will need to move, so we have been dismantling buildings and storing materials at church members' homes while we look for a new place. We are considering a plot that had a nursery school that is now closed. We would need at least $3,000 to buy the land and start using it. PLEASE PRAY!!

For Souls in Kenya,

Luke & Tonya Shelby

Missionaries in Kenya

Building Legacies, Transforming Lives: Our Vision for Kenya 🌍✨

 

Dear Prayer Supporters and Friends, February 2024

We are already blessed with the New Year and new plans for our ministries in Kenya. This letter looks forward to those plans in the years to come, broadening our focus in the work that He has called us to do in Kenya. We will be heading back to Kenya on February 13th as empty nesters and covet your prayers for our family and continuing ministry.

Here are some specific prayer requests as we begin on the next phase of our work in Kenya:

1. CHURCH PLANTING: Initiating the establishment of 3 new churches that have been in the planning stages during our time in the states.

2. EDUCATIONAL EXPANSION: Expanding our Bible College classes for young people and pastoral classes, welcoming around 20 more students into our programs.

3. INTERNSHIP PROGRAM: We desire to influence, train, and develop young people into the next generation of missionaries in Africa. Over our 25 years in Kenya, we have witnessed the population more than double, and there's a projection that most African countries will double again by 2050. Recognizing this, we feel a responsibility to play our part in preparing missionaries for the next generations of lost souls. The growing need for missionaries in the harvest fields of Africa encourages us to launch an Internship Program for Bible College Missions students. This program aims to integrate a student's internship with their home church alongside a 1-3 month internship in Kenya, to enhance their success on deputation and in their initial years on the field.

4. KENYA LEGACY FUND #501: The need to acquire land and build church buildings for our ministries in Kenya is becoming more pressing as our ministry is starting new churches at an accelerated pace. Approximately 12 projects require attention and focus over the next several years. Drawing inspiration from Joshua 22, where tribes on the eastern side of Jordan built an altar as a witness of unity between them and the other tribes so that the generations to come would know that they were one people, and due to the amount of money that is used during land purchase and building church buildings, we have been advised to establish the KENYA LEGACY FUND #501 at BMI for these endeavors. If your church wishes to contribute to these building projects, kindly use this account to help us avoid personal tax accounting issues.

Here are a few initial projects that we will address upon returning to the field, with most costs becoming clear as we assess the situation:

1. Bible College Dormitory Building (1st phase $5,000)

2. Temporary buildings or rent for the new churches.

3. Purchasing or leasing land for churches where needed.

For those interested in contributing more than $1,000 towards a project, please use the new account number (#501). Any questions about the projects can be directed to me via email, and I'll provide an updated list and address any inquiries. Thank you for your unwavering love for the Lord, our family, and for your dedication to serving Him.

For Souls in Kenya,

Luke & Tonya Shelby Missionaries in Kenya 

Celebrating Milestones and Spreading Joy: Our Missionary Adventures in Kenya 🌍✨

Dear Prayer Supporters and Friends,                                                  January 2024

Happy New Year to all of you! We pray that God will fill this year with His goodness in your lives.

We are so thankful for all the incredible experiences that God has blessed us to be part of in 2023, especially the moments spent with our family during the Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year holiday. Your support and prayers have been a source of strength for us.

Exciting updates include our son-in-law, Robert Cepec, daughter, Abigail, and our first grandson moving to the field of Guyana this week to start their ministry.  Your prayers for them mean the world to us, and we appreciate you for the adding them to your missionary families for support.  

In December, I had privilege of returning to Kenya, reconnecting with our pastors, students, and church members. We celebrated the graduation of 29 studunts during the 4 graduation ceremonies, and we are excited for what the Lord has in store for 2024.  Already, 26 new students are starting classes this month, with more expected to join by the end of January.  

Several men from our ministry are moving into new areas to begin new ministries, and recent graduates are now stepping into leadership roles.  Please join us in praying for Edward, now ministering in his home area, and Samuel, who moved to the Maasai villages to help the church and the Bible Studies that have been started recently.

Heartfelt thanks for the generous Christmas gifts that we have received. God has faithfully met every need mentioned in our letters and prayers. We are grateful for additional churches commiting to support us and our ministries in Kenya.  Your contributions remind us of Paul’s words, “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”  God is abundantly good, surpassing our expectations!  Thank you so much for everything that you do for Him!

During our time in the USA, God has continued to work in Kenya with 1,843 souls accepting Christ and 207 baptized, according to reports from our pastors and their ministries.

Please lift up prayers for the planning and setup of the new Internship Program, aiming to guide USA Bible college students and those called to preach the Gospel in Africa.  Our desire and vision is to influence the next generation of laborers for the harvest fields in Africa.

Thank you sincerely for the love you have shown to our family during this furlough, and for your Christmas offerings.

For Souls in Kenya,

Luke & Tonya Shelby

Missionaries in Kenya

 

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

 October - November 2023

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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

February-March 2018 Prayer Letter

February-March 2018 Prayer Letter

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Dear Prayer Supporters and Friends,

Happy New Year 2018 from the Shelby Family. This year has started off very busy, and there has been a lot that we have wanted to share with you. But we have been waiting for the development of these things to be fully understood before writing about them. We sent out an e-Prayer Letter in January; if you did not get it, please use this link to download it: http://bit.ly/November-January2018.

Politics: This year has started much like 2017 ended, with the Opposition party still not recognizing the results of the elections that were re-done in October. They have caused more protesting on the roads in areas where we have churches, but not in the Kisii region. At the end of January the Opposition party leader inaugurated himself as the “People’s President,” and has now called for fresh elections to take place in August this year. Please pray that the two parties can work through their disagreements peaceably and soon; so that peace would reign in the country, and also so that the work of the Lord can continue in all areas of the country.

Bible College: We have 15 new students this year, giving us a total of 47 students! God has given us 8 Pastors who are helping teach in the Bible College this year, and this is a blessing to see.

Funerals: Just since the beginning of the year we have had several funerals in some of our churches. James Ochieng was a deacon in our church in Kisii, and he passed away after being sick with tuberculosis for just a few weeks. There were nearly 1,000 people at his funeral and several hundred prayed during the invitation for God to save them. The mother of Pastor George Okoth (pastor of Bible Baptist Church of Rongo) passed away after a tragic car accident. Another lady in Rongo, that was in bad health for several months, also passed away. Just one week before she died, I was able to visit her with Pastor Okoth, and she gave her heart to the Lord. There is so little time to reach people, and we thank you for your prayers as we try to reach as many as possible before it is too late.

Orphans: We were able to purchase all of the children new uniforms to start the year, but we have not received pictures yet from all of the pastors. We will include those in the orphan letter that we send out to those that are supporting this ministry.

SMART Trip: Thank you to those of you who have sent money in order to help Abigail and Breanne prepare for their mission trip through BIMI this summer. Each of them have raised around 25% of the amount that is needed (total needed is $3,900) so far.

Building Projects: We have finished the fencing at our church and orphanage in Sidundo, and we have started the foundation work on our church in Rongo. We need to raise approximately $5,000 for building projects. The projects include the church building in Rongo, plus an extension to our church building in Kisii. The Kisii building extension will include baptistry rooms and a prophet’s chamber for visiting Kenyan Pastors and missionaries that this church supports in East Africa. We have a team scheduled to come at the end of the summer to finish these projects.

We are very thankful for your prayers for our family and ministries in Kenya!

For Souls in Kenya,



Luke and Tonya Shelby
Missionaries in Kenya

Quick update!

Forgot to mention that this is our Pastors’ Classes week at our Bible College! Arrival day was Monday, so everyone made it in safely before today’s turmoil & insecurity on our he roads. The Pastors will head back to their churches on Saturday, so be in prayer with them for traveling safety.

We also have a funeral on Thursday & Friday this week for one of the deacons in our church here in Kisii. So please pray for his wife & son & our entire church family during this time.

We are so thankful for each & every one of you who pray for us & our ministries here in Kenya. We couldn’t be here without you!

November 2017 - January 2018 Update

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Thank you for your prayers for the country of Kenya and our family during these past few months.  We are writing to you today with a quick update since we have been delayed in getting a regular Prayer Letter sent out to everyone. We do apologize for being late on our normal communication with you, your family, and your church.  This is not a regular Prayer Letter, but more of a personal update until we can get our Prayer Letter completed and ready for both regular mail service and email.

For those of you who follow our family and ministry closely on social media, then you know that there have been some unstable conditions within Kenya (especially in the region where a majority of our churches are located).  Even though the political situation has been unstable, the work of the Lord has continued.  Of course when politics are unstable, then the basic services of electricity, internet, water, and food supplies are also affected; making each daily task either more difficult to accomplish or sometimes even impossible to get accomplish.  Since August (when the original elections took place), we have only had electricity for about 2 weeks per month, water 1-2 days per month, and internet only part of the 2 weeks that we have had electricity!  As far as food...sugar, maize meal (corn meal), dairy products, and many other items have either been rationed or non-exisistent in our area up until this month.  But we thank the Lord for His protection and for His provision for our family!

Since October, we have had a re-run of the Kenyan Presidential elections; with the opposition once again losing and continuing to demand to be put into positions of power.  They have boycotted various services across the country (one being the major cellular network in our area, of which they destroyed many cell towers causing communication issues), continued to hold public demonstrations whenever they feel like it (causing road closures in many areas).  Thankfully, these things are getting better now!  But it seems that they are better just in time for the opposition to cause more trouble.  The opposition party plans to swear in their own leader as President of the People's Republic of Kenya on Tuesday, the 30th of this month.  This ceremony is supposed to take place about 1 1/2 hours from us, and we are already seeing an influx of military and extra police officers in our area.  Prior to this ceremony, the opposition party plans to hold a major rally right here in Kisii Town on Sunday!  We are praying that things stay safe for us and all of our church family here.  We would appreciate your prayers as well.

During the months of October and November, our regular weeks of Bible College classes and Pastoral Classes had to continually be shifted around in order to allow all of our students traveling safety.  All of this shifting around of schedules can cause things to pile up rather quickly!

In November, Tonya was in the USA for her regular medical tests.  During this visit, she was officially diagnosed with Lupus.  Her doctors are working with her and allowing us to try natural options first.  They are giving her six months to try diet, supplementation with as many natural options as we can find for her.  If her blood work is not better at the six month mark (April), then they will insist on traditional medication and treatment plans.  Rest is very important, but the past few months have not been very conductive for the rest needed.  So, we ask for your prayers for her health.

December started off with College Days at our Calvary Baptist Church branch of our Bible College.  We had over 50 students and prospective students in attendance for a week of preaching, fellowship, and fun!  The second week of December is always a fun week here; as we had an amazing week of Youth Camp at Calvary BC in Kisii Town. Our theme was Fear Factor...Fear not, Only BELIEVE!  We had 92 teens in attendance, and 9 were saved!  We also had 10 young people commit to joining our Bible College for 2018!  Exciting things are happening among our youth, and we praise the Lord for the work He is doing here.  Then finishing up our first semester of homeschool for Caleb and Kay-Leigh right before Christmas.  We enjoyed a couple of days of rest, time with family, and church family over the holidays.  We were able to close the year with a Western Kenya Pastors' Fellowship at our church in Rongo (Bible Baptist Church of Rongo) on December 28-31st.  And a wonderful in the Lord's house at Calvary Baptist Church in Kisii Town on Sunday the 31st.  We had a wonderful day with our church family with dinner on the grounds, fellowship, games, preaching, singing, testimonies and more as we stayed all night to usher in the New Year together as a church family.  We had 75 in attendance at midnight!  And started our New Year off right with one baptized at our sunrise service on the 1st!  God is so good!

And in January...is January really almost over already?!?  My, oh, my!  How fast the time is going by.  The first week of January we were out in the village of Sidundo with our church and orphan home there.  We enjoyed our fellowship with this church family, and are excited about the goals of this ministry for 2018.   January has also been a time of sorrow for our ministry, as we have seen 3 precious people go on to be with the Lord in Heaven.  Three people from 3 different churches; but even in this, we are thankful that we will see them again one day when we meet in heaven.  One funeral is taking place today; please pray for souls to be saved.  We ask that you pray specifically for a young lady in our church in Kisii Town, who lost her husband suddenly, and now has 2 boys to raise on her own.  Please keep these three families in your prayers.  

Our Bible College got off to a wonderful start this month with almost 50 enrolled for this year!  This week Luke, Caleb, and several men from a few of our churches worked on the building site at Bible Baptist Church in Rongo.  This project has taken a long time to get off the ground, but it is exciting to see this church growing and working together!  Monday (29th) begins Pastoral Classes for the new year, and we have 16 enrolled in these classes!

We appreciate your love, prayers, encouragement, and support; we could not be here without YOU!  Thank you! 

Serving Him in Kenya,

Luke and Tonya Shelby
(Written from the perspective of a missionary wife.)

October Prayer Letter

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Dear Prayer Partners,

Thank you for your prayers for the country of Kenya during this year of elections; it seems that the politics will just never go away. The elections were nullified by the Supreme Court on September 1st, on a technicality, with no recount of any of the votes. They are rescheduled for October 26th, with the opposition saying that they may boycott the elections, because the ruling party is trying to change election laws before the elections. We have been writing other updates and will continue to do so; keep Kenya in your prayers, and know that we (personally) have not been in any danger, but there have been riots country wide over the past 6 weeks and will continue for the foreseeable future. Thank you for your prayers.

God is blessing the ministry, and nothing had to be postponed because of insecurity of our pastors and Bible College students getting to classes. The Bible College is doing well and will have a “College Days” at the end of November, where all of the students will be together for preaching and preparation for the new year. We will close the meeting with graduation for one student on December 2nd. We have 40 students total this year in 4 different locations and schedules. We are Seeing God bless in the new church plants in the villages of Kegogi, Sibuoche, and Og’eng’a with souls being saved. We had an Family/Leadership camp with 40 men and women from about 7 churches that were able to come. It was a good time of fellowship and refreshment. And the orphanage now has solar lights, and all of the orphans are doing well.

We have prayed that God will send us laborers to help us in the work, and God is doing just that. Matthew Rose and his family started deputation in January this year, and he is doing well. They are on full time deputation, and they need your support. They will be coming to work with us for a short time as they learn the language and culture before choosing a place to start their work. Also, a young lady named Erica Bohman, who is an MK from here in Kenya has the desire to come and work with us in children ministries here in Kenya. She just started having meetings about a month ago, and she needs your prayers and support for her to be able to come to the field to assist us. We are excited about what the Lord is doing and plans to do!

Our girls, Abigail and Breanne, are also looking for the direction that God has for their lives and will be taking a missions trip to the Amazon Jungle with CAMP BIMI ’s S.M.A.R.T. Trip on May 14 - June 8, 2018. They will also need to raise their support to make this trip possible. They will be writing letters and calling churches as if they are on deputation. If you would like to assist them in any way, we know they would appreciate it. Feel free to email us if you would like more details.

For Souls in Kenya

Luke and Tonya Shelby

January-February 2017 Prayer Letter

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Dear Supporters and Friends, January - February 2017

JAMBO!!! From the Shelby Family in Kisii, Kenya. 2017 has kicked off with lots of things happening; it’s been VERY busy. We thank the Lord for the opportunity to serve Him another year, and also thank you for helping to make that possible. Thank you for your prayers, offerings, support, and your letters and words of encouragement to our family. Thank you for your prayers and gifts to our two college girls, Abigail and Breanne. Abigail will be graduating in May with a bachelor from Providence Baptist College in Elgin, IL, and Breanne is on track to graduate in 2018. We will be heading to the USA during May for Abigail’s graduation and to take care of Tonya's medical appointments. Then both of our girls will be returning to Kenya to for about a month this summer to visit with friends and work in the ministries here.

Church planting:
We are excited to be a part of the great ministry of church planting here; as we train the Kenyans to spread the Gospel to the regions beyond them. The fellowship of pastors here is working on a way of visiting and evangelizing in all of these areas as a group to encourage these new pastors. We have started the New Year off with three new church plants already!
1. Kegogi village started January 22
2. Og'eng'a Village started February 5 (by 2016 graduate Tom Onguku)
3. Sibuoche village started February 19 (by 2016 graduate Nikolas Mwenyane)

We also have at least four more Bible Studies that will become churches this year!
1. Ondome village - Peter Ochieng
2. Isebania town - Paul Isedia
3. Nyangera village - Joshua Omondi
4. Nyamiobo village - Enoch Nyakundi

We were also able to help another missionary, Robert Mickey, for a couple of days; as he was getting a church planted in the town of Kiligoris. I was able to personally lead 14 people to the Lord on those two days.

South Nyanza Bible College has opened up more branches with local church pastors training their church members in our Bible College curriculum. We have three other branches of our college in addition to the ones coming to Kisii town from other churches. We have also begun a Pastoral Degree program this year for pastors and graduates. We have a total of 45 students to begin the year in classes, and we expect that number to grow.

Thank you again for your prayers and support for our family and ministry, for Tonya's health, and for our girls in the States. God bless you!

Serving Him in Kenya,

Luke and Tonya Shelby
Your missionaries to Kenya

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!