The Shelby Family in Kenya

Where do I even begin? God is so good! The church has been praying fir 200 in attendance for their 1st service in their new building & on their own property. The day started with people coming slowly by slowly, because of all the rain. But by the time preaching started, there were over 290 in attendance!! The building was completely full, and all of the children had to meet outside. We had 18 adults & 22 children (10-14 year olds) come forward for salvation!! Praise the Lord! The devil has been fighting us all week, but it is all worth when. God gives us an amazing victory with all these precious souls!

Dear Supporters and Friends,                                            May – July 2011

We thank you for your continued prayers and support for our family over the years and to several that were able to take us on for support during our last furlough.  It does help us in trying to fulfill the ministries here in Kenya and in assisting us to reaching the churches here that need encouragement.  God is blessing in many different areas, as we look for new opportunities to win the lost, to baptize them, and to edify believers in the churches that we are working with.

Short Term Missions

Over the last two months we had a single teacher, Miss Melissa Lapp (from Jacksonville Christian Academy and our home church), come to visit with us; and she was able to spend 6 weeks working in children’s and music ministries.  She had a great time of teaching Sunday School, VBS under trees, and in a local school, passing out tracts and John and Romans in three different areas where we have churches already.  She also helped Abigail learn a lot more on the piano, as well as one of our College Students who is leading the music in our church in Kisii.  We took her to the game reserve and saw several animals many of which we had never seen before like a monitor lizard, mongoose, dik dik deer, and a leopard with a kill.  It was a really great time.  Melissa was a real blessing to us, and the kids had a great time with her.

Orphan Ministry

The orphan ministry is picking up steam.  We are visiting 23 total orphans (from 2 churches) in their homes each month; and we are giving them a food care package, as well as getting better information on how to care for them medically, and also helping them with things that they need when they go to school.  These children have all of the documentation of proof of their situation, and we will begin with these children when we set up the orphanages in the local churches.  There are 61 other children scattered out in 3 other churches that we are helping through their church.  They are still trying to get their documents finalized. There are several that are HIV positive, and we are praying that God will help us with the wisdom and resources to minister to these children in every area of their life. Please pray with us.

Local Church Building Needs

Calvary Baptist Church in Sidundo is building their church building now on a 5-acre plot, and by the end of this month we will be putting the roof on it for them.  It will cost around $700, and if you would like to help with this ministry please send it to our home church or BIMI.  We are also trying to get the churches here to help with benches, so that they have a helping hand in this new ministry.  In September, a BIMI CLAIM Team will be coming to join hands with us in building our first orphanage on this church’s property.  We will send out another letter next week with all of the details about this wonderful opportunity to touch the lives of so many young lives!
 
God bless you and thank you for your prayers.
Luke and Tonya Shelby

Dear Supporters and Friends, March – April 2011

Greetings from a rainy Kisii. The rains have been here almost every day for a few weeks, and it is very refreshing after a day of hot sunshine and temperatures in the upper 90’s. It helps cool things down from the equatorial sun. We are so glad to be back here in Kisii.

Tonya and Miss Katie have started classes learning the Swahili language. We have a tutor that comes from Nairobi; and they are taking classes for 5 hours a day, for one week each month. Tonya’s class is more of a refresher course to give her more confidence in speaking to the ladies in our different churches. The kids are catching a lot more than they have in the past, and Kay-Leigh is trying to read Mama’s homework for her.

God has helped us to be able to visit some of our churches, to catch up with the faithful people that we have led to the Lord in the last several years, and to hear their stories of trusting the Lord during the time that we were on furlough.

During the months of March and April, we were evangelizing as much of the area around our church in Kisii town as possible. Kisii has a population of over 100,000 people, and we were able to get into the homes of about 3,000 people who live around the church. We passed out a total of around 10,000 John and Romans and 20,000 tracts to people all over town. It seems like just a small amount compared to the need that is so great. I have a vision for this church, that started 4 years ago, to give birth to many more churches that will one day reach all of Kisii’s population. On Easter Sunday, April 24th, we had 303 in attendance to break the record for the church’s attendance since its opening in 2007.

We also visited the last church that we started in Sidundo, Siaya; and we saw God’s hand on Pastor Charles and the members there, as they have continued to grow during our absence. There are over 30 that are ready for baptism. And since the rains are here, we will be doing this very soon. There is a 5 acre plot that has been donated to the church, and we have started fencing it. The church has been meeting in an old movie house for two years, and they have been filling it up. They have started gathering materials to build their own building; and when they are finished with the frame, then we will put the roof on it for them. If you would like to be a part of this project it will cost around $700 to put this roof on. We will also be building an orphanage later on in the year that will hold up to 25 children.

We have received a few large gifts to help in the orphan project that we desire to start in every place that we already have a church. Most of the offerings have been set aside for the building of the homes, when the land and church issues are finalized. But we only have about $200 that is designated for the orphan’s food care packages every month; and we definitely need more support in this area to consistently help these children with food, clothing, and sanitary needs. Please visit our website (www.shelbysinkenya.com or www.shelbysinkenya.org) and pray for these children; and as God touches your heart to be a blessing, please help us with small “handfuls of purpose” as we endeavor to reach these villages for Christ.

For Souls in Kenya

Luke and Tonya Shelby
Missionaries in Kenya

During the months of March and April, we were evangelizing as much of the area around our church in Kisii town as possible. Kisii has a population of over 100,000 people, and we were able to get into the homes of about 3,000 people who live around the church. We passed out a total of around 10,000 John and Romans and 20,000 tracts to people all over town. It seems like just a small amount compared to the need that is so great. I have a vision for this church, that started 4 years ago, to give birth to many more churches that will one day reach all of Kisii’s population. On Easter Sunday, April 24th, we had 303 in attendance to break the record for the church’s attendance since its opening in 2007.

We want to thank all of you who have been praying for our "Bring Them In" campaign. The Lord is truly blessing everyone’s efforts.

Today was Children’s Day. We gave out bags of popcorn to every person who came today. (We popped 5 kg. of popcorn yesterday evening!). And we had our Annual Baby Dedication Service too. We had 5 couples who came to dedicate their young children today. Please pray for these young families as they try to raise their children for the Lord.

Kay-Leigh and Caleb had 73 children in their class today. So they were both very excited to see 26 first time visitors (many of which they invited personally this week) in their class. Just 3 weeks ago this class was averaging around 20 children.

In total we had 153 in church this morning. Most of the visitors came due to the John & Romans and tracts that we passed out throughout the week. We are excited to see our people getting involved in visitation as well. We had 11 go out yesterday to knock doors. And today, you could see the excitement in their eyes when all of the visitors stood up! Thank you again for your prayers for this church and its Sunday school campaign, but we are only half way. So, please continue to be in prayer with us. Our goal is to have 300 on Easter Sunday!

Serving Him in Kenya,
Luke and Tonya Shelby Family
Missionaries in Kenya

Dear Supporters and Friends, January—February 2011

We are glad to be writing you from the warm highlands of Kisii, Kenya; where the temperatures are ranging from over 100 degrees down into the 80’s at night. Kay-Leigh got her answer to prayer for snow on Christmas Day, but she kept praying and wanting more snow. And it almost caused us to miss our flight to Kenya, because we woke up to 6 inches of snow the morning we were to fly out of Little Rock. We have been able to get settled back in here, and most of our things are unpacked. We are waiting for the shipment of our crates, which should be arriving in April, which have the things that we gathered during furlough to use here in the work.

We have been able to meet with all of the pastors and leaders of our churches, and Bible College classes began the last week of January. We just finished the second month of classes; we have six new students, and seven others who are expected to graduate the three year course in December. This week 11 souls were saved during College soul-winning. God is good! We have scheduled most of the activities for the year, and we are excited about what God has in store for us this term. We are glad to see the stability of many of these men who are being examples to their own people. Though we have not visited the churches yet, we are encouraged by the reports that we have received. Updates on each of our ministries will be available through our website as we visit them.

We have also been able to organize and set a plan to begin our “Orphan Care Ministry.” We spoke to the pastors and asked them to get the number of orphans that their church members are caring for as guardians. This week as I spoke to them the second time (this report is from only 9 of our churches), we have a number that has been narrowed down to 101 children. These 101 children are classified as “destitute double orphans;” This means that both of their parents have died, and the guardians are not able to adequately take care of these children. There are many more poor children in these areas that these pastors would like to help, but our resources are very limited. We need to have over $1,500 a month support just for the visitation program of these few children. This visitation program allows us to visit in each child’s home and deliver a small care package (food and toiletry items) to them each month. With us being here and seeing these children face to face, it is so much more personal. We feel that we need to help all that we can in this visitation process, even if it is just a small “handful of purpose.” And that purpose is to get the Word of God into each of these homes so that souls will come to know Christ as their Savior. Please help us with small “handfuls of purpose” as we endeavor to reach these villages for Christ.

We have identified three locations already to set up Local Church Children’s Facilities based on land, security, and the number of orphans. The pastors are helping us by getting the personal details of each child, and we will be looking at the most needy children that we will be able to raise in these Local Church Children’s Facilities. We still have several steps to complete before we start the facilities; and as we visit the orphans in their homes over the next few months, it will give us time to know the most pressing needs and to train those who will care for them at each of the churches. Please pray for us and for the local leaders in these churches to use Godly wisdom in making the needed decisions in the weeks and months ahead.

We will be updating the “Orphan Care Ministry” with pictures and details about the children on our website, when we receive the information. Please visit our website (www.shelbysinkenya.org or www.shelbysinkenya.com) and pray for these children to receive the help that they so desperately need. God bless you.

For Souls in Kenya
Luke and Tonya Shelby
Missionaries in Kenya

We are church planting missionaries; and we strive to plant indigenous Baptist churches that are self-supporting, self-governing, and self-propagating. God has allowed us and some of our College graduates to start 18 such churches since we arrived in Kenya in 1999.

We believe that the purpose that God has given us (as Christians) in the “Great Commission” is to witness and see souls saved by the grace of God, to baptize, to edify in the faith, and to grow in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. We also believe that it is the Local Church that was given this “Great Commission” as they were sent out “into all the world” to preach the Gospel of Christ. God has the purpose of the Local Church as His instrument on this earth to fulfill the “Great Commission.” So it is the Local Church that has the authority and responsibility of sending, preaching, winning souls, baptizing, discipling, and edifying the body of Christ.

God has called us to a place where souls need to be saved, a place where Satan has had a stronghold for a long time, and a place where false religions are very strong. Kenyans need the Lord. We have preached to many, and many have been saved (over 5,000 professions); but that is not the end of the “Great Commission.” They need to be discipled. They need to grow in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. They need a shepherd, a guide, a church and pastor.

That is why God has called us to plant churches in the different villages where people have gotten saved and are willing to be taught. We began to start churches in areas where other pastors needed some encouragement and training to equip them to do the work of the ministry. Our goal is to train the national men, who are called by God; and then to duplicate ourselves in them, so more can be accomplished in the work of God. Another truth is that no one can truly reach the Kenyan people like the Kenyan people themselves. We truly want to develop church planters that will continue this work in their own areas.

We start churches with a national man that has a desire to do the work of the ministry. We then train him in the Bible College as he holds a Bible Study in the area that he wants to minister. After he has finished his training and has begun developing mature believers, then we assist him in market revival meetings, passing out tracts, soul-winning; and when he has a place to meet, then we start a new church. The church is started with the national as the pastor, and we help in overseeing the work and assisting him in teaching and with materials.

In our ministry, God has now allowed us to have churches that are starting churches; and to have a mission program to assist those churches in the beginning stages. We are also seeing those that were saved in the earlier works, finishing Bible College, and going out to start churches also. Nothing is fool-proof, we have learned some lessons the hard way; but I do believe that God is helping us. And it is a just matter of time until we will have independent Baptist Churches covering every corner of our region.

Please take the time to look at what the Lord has done, and we hope that you will be encouraged by it. If you have any questions or comments please contact us.

II Timothy 2:2 exhorts us to “…teach men who shall be able to teach others also.” God has given us the desire to train men and women to be pastors, pastor’s wives, and various church leaders in their local churches. South Nyanza Baptist College was started in 2001, and on December 6, 2008, we held our 3rd Graduation.

South Nyanza Baptist College began in 2001 with two students. The purpose of the college is to prepare national pastors and church leaders in the areas of Bible study, sermon preparation, soul winning, and church planting. We have a goal of helping these men to be indigenous church planters. We also see the need to train men and women as teachers, youth ministers, music directors, and Christian lay leaders.
The college is the vehicle for the Shelby Family to train pastors and leaders to assist in evangelizing the lost and church planting. It has been financed and operated by missionary finances since the beginning, and the process has been started to gradually guide the college to be indigenous. There are now three teachers that are graduates (and former students themselves); and they are helping in teaching, organizing, and overseeing (at least a little bit) the student body and the schedule during the weeks of classes. We have a desire to encourage the churches that have benefitted from the college; and those that are sending students, to support the college. This will enable the nationals to take more of a central role in providing training for their own people. This will also ensure that the classes will continue to be under sound leadership even when the Shelby Family is on furlough.
South Nyanza Baptist College has scheduled its classes to fit with the majority of the farmers in our region. The pastors and students come to the college for classes one week per month to give them time to work their land during the remaining part of the month. Students meet 9 months out of the year, according to the schooling schedule in Kenya, for the three year program to receive a diploma of Graduate of Theology. The three year course includes 36 subjects on Bible Study and Christian growth, as well as instruction on general areas of service in the church. We opened “Swahili” classes for students in May of 2008.
Those who have graduated and other pastors meet in the three remaining months of the year for seminars in our Pastoral Program. These subjects include more in-depth studies in pastoral training, church planting and church growth.
Other programs for working with older teens as an introductory course to the Bible College, and programs for working with the Pastors’ wives are being organized and planned for use in the near future.
SNBC began with English classes only in 2001. Through the years, SNBC has met at several different locations; but is currently meeting at the Calvary Baptist Church property in Kisii Town. SNBC currently has 20 students enrolled in the English 3 Year Program.
SNBC began its Swahili classes in May 2008. The majority of the people here know English, but we wanted to make the classes understood by everyone. We are still in the process of translating some of the College curriculum into Swahili. SNBC currently has 10 students enrolled in the Swahili 6 Year Program.

In order to find out a good area to start a church and to help train students to be busy in teaching the Word of God; we hold Bible studies in homes near an area where we want to start a church. It produces mature Christians to help start a church at the right time and place.
God has allowed us to start Bible Studies in many key areas of our province. As these Bible Studies continue to grow, as a Kenyan man feels led of God to be a pastor to one of these locations, and as soon as we feel that it is in God’s timing; then we will eventually begin churches at each of the locations below.

Preaching in the prisons is a desire that was given to me through my father-in-law, Dr. Robert Keeton, who has been serving with the Rock of Ages Prison Ministry for more than twenty years. We were able to begin this ministry in 2001, and we have seen countless souls saved.
There are four towns in our region that we have access to enter into their prisons and preach the gospel every month.
Kisii Prison – 1400 men – 100 women. We are currently preaching to a group of 200 men and 100 women in separate services twice a month. These inmates are those that are already condemned with prison sentences. There is a small group of 11 that are currently involved in an intense Bible Study. This Bible study program is a “big brother” discipleship program that we pray will bring slow but great lasting results where the mature inmates can help the other inmates learn the Bible. We are able to preach to only about 1/3 of those that are condemned at a time because of their work schedule in the prison’s compound. Then there is a group of 800 remandees, that are still waiting for their offense to be mentioned or finished in court, that we are able to preach to in one big service a month.
God has allowed us to see 237 saved this year in the Kisii prison; and more programs to the officers and their families, who all live on the prison compound, are opening up to us. Pastor Charles Ogori from Imani Bible Baptist Church in Mosocho is assisting me with other men from our church at Calvary Baptist Church in town.
Migori – 300 inmates – all men. We have been in this prison several times in the past and we have seen many saved; but recently because of election violence, we have only been able to preach in this prison once. And 9 men came to know Christ as their personal savior. This is a smaller prison, and it is further from all of our churches; so we are only able to go in to preach to them once a month. We started in September 2008, and Pastor Walter Andere and Pastor Bismack Osee assist in the meetings. We pray that we can get some of the programs running like we do in Kisii. There are already other missionaries that are ministering in Migori, and there is also a big muslim influence that hinders some of the programming.
Homa Bay – 400 inmates – all men. We have been in this prison several times in the past, and we have seen many saved. But recently, because of election violence, we were not able to go there in 2008.
Kericho – We were recently given the opportunity to visit and preach in this prison; but since the election violence, we have not had the chance to preach there again..
They are in the process of building another prison in the town of Nyamira, and there is also a juvenile detention school near our area that I am trying to get into. Please keep these ministries in your prayers.