“These people have next to nothing compared to our churches, but they live as if they have everything in Jesus,” says Kepler, pastor of Kalamazoo Covenant Church in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
Kepler traveled to the African nation with two other Covenant pastors, Brad Bergfalk of Newport Covenant Church in Bellevue, Washington, and Brian Haight of Mission Covenant Church in Sugar Grove, Pennsylvania. The trio taught as part of an annual Kenya Covenant pastor’s gathering in Mombasa that included pastors, spouses and lay leaders.
The event was held November 25-28 at the YWCA in Mombasa. It originally was scheduled for March, but was postponed due to an increase in violence in the country. The Americans taught on leadership, pastors and their marriages, and Covenant affirmations.
“I was humbled when one of the Council leaders expressed his gratitude for our coming and then said, ‘All we have to offer you is our prayers,’ ” Kepler recalls. “You have offered much more – your faithfulness, your commitment to serve our Lord, your vision for mission,” Kepler replied.
Kepler says he also was impressed by “the remarkable desire for these leaders to be a Covenant Church, to be part of our Evangelical Covenant Church community in a responsible, productive way. They understand the importance of coming together, being together, and serving together in mission.”
The trip was a return visit for Bergfalk. He taught at Daystar University in Nairobi two years ago while on sabbatical. During that time, he also participated in a special service during which three of the first five Kenya Covenant pastors received their licenses. Click here to read an account of that visit.
The Kenyans asked Bergfalk to return, and he agreed to do so with the understanding that he could bring two other pastors with him.
“My interest was two-fold,” Bergfalk says: “To introduce two additional pastors to the fledgling Kenya Covenant Church and to see this as a potential model for mission in those regions of the world where the Covenant doesn’t have missionaries on the ground.”
The trip also gave Bergfalk and Haight the opportunity for experiences that took them to new heights in their own personal journeys – literally. They climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro.
“I have wanted to see Mt. Kilimanjaro every time I’ve been to Kenya,” Bergfalk says. “On each occasion that I was close enough, it was always cloud-covered. So we decided that we would attempt to see it up close.
“Climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro was the most difficult challenge I’ve ever attempted,” Bergfalk says. “I came back to my church and told them that pastoring a church was easy after that.”
Kepler didn’t make the trip up the mountain, simply stating, “I am old enough to know my limitations.”
Editor’s note: The top photo shows Bergfalk preaching, while Kepler (center photo) meets with two of the Kenyan pastors and Haight chats with yet another in the lower photo.
