August 8, 2007 : We landed in Nairobi last night at about 9:00 PM – 1:00 P.M. Chicago time – cleared customs, picked up our luggage and made it to NEGST (Nairobi Evangelical Graduate School of Theology) by 11:00 P.M.

Evan and Becky had already arrived – via South Africa . Tite had come in day earlier. Brian and Linda Prinn were on the same BA flight with us so we hooked up with them at the tail end of the line going through customs.

The trip was uneventful. I worked on a couple sermons on the plane and read Reveal, the new book by Greg Hawkins on spiritual formation. (It uses data gathered from six churches - one of them being Christ Church – to argue that our growth as a believer has less to do with involvement in church programs than it does with our personal commitment to Christ). I was hoping to get a bit more done. I should have known better. At some point in a 24 hour plane ride you just shut down.

Linda Prinn dolled out the melatonin – which I had forgotten but dearly needed.

This is my third trip to NEGST. I was here with Austin in 1998 for a consultation (and the dedication of their library) and was here with Ben in 2004 for one stop on CISF's board African tour. Now it's Jason's turn. I somewhat unwittingly started a rite of passage for 12 year old Woodruff males. (I keep telling Jason that we are going to leave him with the Maasai so they can cut his bottom two teeth out and send him out to cut off a lion's tale, but he's not buying it).

This consultation is designed to gather people from across Africa and the West to discuss doctoral level theological education in Africa . To that end it is the very first conference of its type. It's a small gathering, open to only forty people. Evan is the CISF rep., Becky, Brian and Linda Prinn, Chuck Orstead (the new CISF President) and I are just observers. We are involved in parts but not the whole consultation.

So far I've been pleased to bump into a few friends:

• Jacob Kibor, President of Scott College . He and his wife Esther were CISF scholars involved at Christ Church during their time in the US .
• Douglas Carew, who attended Christ Church during his PhD studies at TEDS.
• Steven and Josephine Sessi, CISF scholars from Kenya who studied at Fuller
• Moussa Bongoyak, CISF scholar from Cameroon who did his PhD at Fuller
• Meritt Sawyer from JSM
• Steve Hardy, formerly of OCI, now living in South Africa
• Dr. Habtu, an early CISF Scholar.

I got into an interesting discussion with Tite Tienou about preaching in a Postmodern world. I asked for his opinion on an article I read in Leadership Magazine, which basically said:

• The post-Christian / post-modern West is more visual and less literate than in the past.
• The last time this was true was in the Middle Ages. Back then the focus was on Jesus and the Gospels – which contain more stories / parables / et al - than the rest of the New Testament – got more play time than they do today. Paul, whose writing is complicated, because you cannot develop complex ideas with pictures (or with people who are not trained to think in a logical sequence) was downplayed.
• Thus, today's Western preachers need to adjust: 1) More Gospels, less Paul; 2) More stories less didactic teaching; 3) More visuals – such as clips from movies.

I don't like the trend. Tite's response was that: 1) Augustine held people's attention with dialogical preaching. 2) Calvin – as complex as anyone – made adjustments but kept people's attention. 3) Medieval iconography is quite different than modern movie clips.

11:00 A.M. Douglas Carew opened the consultation by stating that it is a given that African Christianity will impact both the Western and the global church. Of this there can be no doubt, especially given the church in Africa 's size. The question is, how will they impact it? He called for: 1) A Christianity of the mind not just the heart; 2) A church that is mission driven; 3) one that understands its context.

He made two memorable statements:

• A young boy asked his father why, if philosophers were so smart, they didn't rule the world. The father thought about it for a minute and then said, “They do rule the world. But they do so about 200 years after their death.”

• Many ask why, given the struggles Africa faces with AIDS, war, poverty, et al – that it needs a PhD program. They suggest that this is the last thing Africa needs. We agree! This is the last thing we need. So help Africa develop the last thing she will need to go forward.

The main remarks were given by Andrew Walls. What a treat! I've read several things by him and was always struck by his global perspective but did not realize he'd be here. Phillip Jenkins has recently informed the world that the church is no longer a Western or a Northern phenomenon, but a Southern one. But it was Andrew Walls who told Jenkins years ago.

I hope to secure a transcript of Walls' remarks, but here are my notes. He set this up by offering views of the world based on four perspectives: The Geopolitical Situation, ¹ The Demographic situation; The Academic Situation and the Theological Situation

In terms of the Geopolitical:

•  Walls noted that the 20th century represented a transition between the Great European Migration – which ran from 1500 to 1950 – and the Great European Collapse, which began around 1900 and was in full implosion mode by 1950. During the Great European Migration Europeans created empires, formed countries (some as large as the US and Russia ) and carved up the land to create different ones – such as Iraq . Millions of people were moved around the globe.

•  We are currently living in the twilight of the West, watching the dissolution of the world order as we knew it. Asia is on the rise. (The Swiss Army knife is now made in China ). Globalization no longer reveals the power of the West.

•  We are currently watching the great reverse migration of Europe . Europeans (and Americans to a lesser extent) are leaving the West in much smaller numbers, but African, Asian and Latin American immigrants are entering the West in record numbers. This trend is unlikely to stop soon.

•  We are also seeing the decline of the church in the West. To quote N.T. Wright on this point, who is less careful but more memorable on this point, “The majority of the people living in the West are no longer Christians and the majority of Christians are no longer in the West.” The church in the US is declining slightly, but is largely propped up by Hispanic immigrants.

•  This means that interfaith dialogue is no longer those living in the West talking about with those living in Africa or Asia, but it is those living in the West talking with those living in the West.

•  Walls argued that: 1) It would be very unwise for African (or those seeking to partner with them) theologians to build structures that rely on Western power. Exploit it while it is around, but Africa needs to move from bi-lateral talks with the West to multi-lateral conversations with Asia, West, et al – including South / South dialogue; 2) We need to find ways to use the African Christians who are living in the West to help build theological education in Africa .

The Religio – Demographic Situation:

•  The religious effects of the Great European Migration were mixed: the church spread throughout the world but it grew weak in the West. Among other things that happened as a result of the way the West played its hand was: 1) We produced Hinduism; 2) We allowed the peaceful spread of Islam while ensuring that Muslims felt offended at the same time.

•  The result of what happened in the past is that the 20th century has seen the biggest swings in the church since the first century – the largest recession of Christianity in Europe and the most rapid ascension of Christianity outside of it. Christianity is becoming what it once was - a nonwestern religion.

•  The Anglican community is a microcosm of what is happening globally. African Anglicans have – for better or worse – started to play a larger and larger role in the church, much to the surprise of many in the West.

•  The US is becoming multi-religious and secular

•  As a result of this Walls argues that: 1) It is unthinkable not to have African leadership (and Latin American, Asian, et al) present in the church at the highest levels; 2) This must not be limited to prayer, worship, et al. But must include theological leadership: Xn thinking. Africa must pull its full theological weight

The Academic Situation

•  Walls is in his eighties and has held academic positions for over 56 years. Sadly, he is in despair over the Academy.

•  It should not surprise us that it is in crisis. Institutions rise and fall. The Greek Academy did. It started with ultimate wisdom as its goal. (Socrates – living before Christ – spoke about the need for the philosopher to forsake all other things, especially money, pleasure and power, in order to pursue wisdom and virtue). But by the first century Luke reports that the philosophers in Athens were lazy and by the second century Justyn Martyr found that philosophers viewed their pursuit of wisdom as a career not a passion. They were miles from what Socrates had suggested. By the 3rd century it was really in trouble. But then it was taken over by the church and saved. Philosophy became theology and philosophers ramped back up to giving their entire life to the pursuit of the ultimate good (God). Christianity – which was against Greek philosophy – saved it.

•  Western higher education is another movement. When Rome fell Xns borrowed the structure of the monastery (communities of learning and devotion all in service to a mission) and turned them into higher education. The motto of Oxford was, “The Lord is my lamp.” The motto of Aberdeen was, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” But, the university in the West today is now highly secular.

•  Universities changed as they became secular. They became places of power that challenged and undermined other sources of power. Then they were overtaken by the pursuit of mammon. (The corporate world is taking over higher education). Scholarship is no longer a vocation but a career. We pursue knowledge in competition to others so that our careers will ascend, not as part of a community that has wisdom as its goal and where information is shared willingly.

•  As a result Walls argues that we need new structures for Africa – not the ones of the West

•  We need scholarly communities with a life of worship and Christian mission under-girding them.

The Theological Situation

•  The Western theological academy (seminaries) are not equipped to give the 21st century global church the leadership it needs because they are too focused on the West. Not only do we not teach our own history very well and ignore the historical influence of nonwestern countries on the formation of the church, but we do not even know what those other influences were. As a result when we do teach church history we focus on our traditions.

•  This is extremely problematic because Western seminaries are affected by and react to the Enlightenment ² - but Africa didn't go through the Enlightenment. We (those of us in the West) recognize sharp divisions between the sacred and the secular. Most of Western Higher Education doesn't believe in the supernatural at all. Western Christians make very little room in our lives for the supernatural – it is relegated to the frontiers. It occurs “at the crossing points, such as the incarnation, revelation, prayer, miracles, healing et al.

•  Many Western theologians spend their time policing the frontiers. Keeping it in check. Explaining it away or explaining how it happened in a different age. That is not the life of Africans. They did not go through the Enlightenment. They are not surprised or embarrassed by the supernatural. Their frontier is wide open. They see crossings between the natural and supernatural happening all the time.

•  We exported our theology to them and it is way to small. We offer no advice to African pastors about how to deal with supernatural events, witchdoctors, exorcisms, et al. We lumped witchcraft, sorcery and other realities under the heading of “superstition” and didn't comment on it.

•  Additionally, stuck in our own efforts to explain how the Holocaust (our big evil) could happen in Europe – the heart of Christianity – we've done little to focus on the big evils they are facing: AIDS, War, corruption. ( Rwanda was most Christian of African countries and recently had a huge massacre).

•  Western theology is too small for Africa

Walls apologized for his comments in advance because he feared that they may appear to be, “the rant of an old man out of time,” and because he believes that humility and charity are both scholarly and Christian virtues – and perhaps are both lacking in his comments. I don't think any apologies were needed.

Final Walls quote: “Theology is not safe. It is an act of adoration fraught with the risk of blasphemy.”

6:00 PM:

The afternoon started with a brief response from Zac Nirigiyie, a CISF Scholar, former student of Walls and currently a Bishop in Uganda . He opened by saying, “I have done many foolish things in my life. Agreeing to be the first to respond to Professor Walls remarks is one of them.”

He:

• Suggested that we read The Cross Cultural Process in Western History by Walls.

• Noted that it is easy to listen to the ethos of the church and confuse it with the voice of God. (In his work as a bishop he said that the most difficult thing he does is try to determine the voice of God.)

We had a break this afternoon so we headed towards Nairobi to go to Bomas – a Kenyan cultural center featuring different tribes dressed in native garb dancing and singing and then a park where there were about nine different types of villages set up. After a while one mud hut with a thatched roof starts to look like the next, though some were very small and others much larger. It was a bit shocking to see the huts labeled: hut for wife #1, hut for wife #2, hut for wife #3. After all, we Americans take our polygamy in serial fashion, not in parallel.

We stopped for coffee on the way home at a new shopping center. (We did so to stay awake (jet lag) and to warm up. It's winter here - about 65 degrees and drizzling. Being on the equator doesn't matter when you are at 5,000 feet above sea level).

We found some Stoney Tangeweze – a ginger soft drink that Austin took a liking to when he was here six years ago – and bought some for the team.

Karen (the district of Nairobi where NEGST is located) – it named after Karen Blixen, the British woman famous for her role in Out of Africa . Her estate, which was (and perhaps still is) a coffee estate, has been remade into a hotel, restaurant and museum. Karen is a higher rent area with some large homes and some new, very Western, shopping areas.

The first time I was here I was overwhelmed by how many people there were, how vibrant (and yet fractured) the church was, and how agonizingly difficult it was to get anything done. (You can't really count on anything - the banks, electrical power supply, roads, etc.). The second time I was here I was most taken by the visible rise of Islam.

So far on this trip I'm taken by the traffic. It's bad. The roads are horrible. The upside is that this forces us to drive slowly and means that the most dangerous thing we do – get in a car in a third world country – is less dangerous.

I am also aware that cell phones make a difference. Now you can call people within the country. Before the land line phones were very spotty.

August 9 – 5:45 AM : I slept…but not well. I woke up ready to go at 11:30 PM – about an hour and a half after I went to bed.

I've been asking people how Kenya is doing but no consensus is emerging. Some – such as the career missionaries I spoke with on the first night - believe that it is in decline. They believe that South Africa and Ghana are on the rise and Kenya is slipping – mostly due to corruption. Others say that the economy is growing and their politics are maturing. For instance, there is a presidential election coming up in a few months and this is the first time people are not running simply to throw out the current president. (Are US politics maturing?)

I guess that if you ask enough people you'd get every opinion about the US as well.

A few random insights, observations or comments picked up yesterday:

• South Africa remains two worlds – good for whites and much less so for blacks. Some argue that if SA treated blacks as well as it treated whites (i.e. complied with their own laws) that the number of refugees it would receive from other African countries would sink them. Evan heard that the South African government is in denial of the AIDS problem, even though as many as forty-five percent of the University students are HIV positive. ( Uganda remains the success story on this. They have really knocked down infection rates by their aggressive response).

• There are 42 different tribes in Kenya . Kenyans can not always immediately figure out what tribe someone is from, but they can narrow it down via some physical characteristics (height, skin tone, facial structure) and other factors, such as name, accent.

• The Mutatos – the small vans that serve as the informal bus network, ferrying everything from people and luggage to goats and chickens – are much improved over six years ago. However car jackings of Mutatos riders remains an issue. We've been encouraged to avoid them. (We are).

I was in an interesting discussion last night with Bill Houston, a South African who served as the President of a Bible College there before retiring and taking on a continental role for Overseas Council. I asked how Kenya was doing and we ended up in a discussion about why things have gotten worse in Africa over the last 25 years while they've gotten better in the rest of the world (e.g. Africa and Asia were tied for GDP 25 years ago, Asia has exploded and Africa has gone down from 3 % of the world's GDP to 1.2%. Life spans are now shorter in some countries. Per capita income is less).

He recommended three books: Fate of Africa : Fifty Years of Postcolonial Rule, A Continent for the Taking and The Blair Report (or at least the Executive summary) from the African Commission.

Among the factors Bill thinks play in are the following:

• The ravages of Colonialism: The West divided Africa into countries in ways that made sense to us but not to the people living here. This set up long term problems. We also established government models that were very top heavy and very self-serving those in power.

• Climate: Not only are tropical diseases something to worry about, but the high heat that makes people lethargic. (Apparently the most prosperous countries are from temperate climates).

• Corruption: A report done by a Nigerian commission a few years ago suggested that Nigeria officials had pilfered the equivalent of 6 Marshall Plans worth of aid.

• Tribalism: We are aware of white on black racism (and visa versa) but do not appreciate how often people do what is best for their tribe and not for their country. In Kenya many people simply vote for whoever is the leader in their tribe. It is a vote in pursuit of raw power, not based on any ideological convictions.

• WTO: Apparently the US gives more subsidies to our farmers than we do foreign aid. African farmers complain that this makes it impossible for them to sell their stuff on the open market. Their cry is: No Aid, Just Fair Trade.

We ended our conversation with Bill asking me, “What is patriotism?” I offered no guesses. His response: History without guilt.

6:00 PM: We left at 6:15 this AM for our two hour trip southeast to the city of Muchakos , home of Scott Theological College . (I was thankful we found a Java House ³ open on the way).

In route we saw some gazelles – but no zebras, ostriches or giraffes. We also saw some Acaia trees – the ones so distinctly African.

We arrived at Scott about 9:00 and almost immediately found Esther (Kibor) and Rhoda (Mbandi). Sheri and Rhoda are friends and used to spend time together when her husband, Paul, was doing his PhD at TEDS. They have three boys who are home from break and so Jason took off to visit them. (He ended up spending the day with Joshua, their 15 year old).

Scott is thriving. They have more students, more buildings and offer more degrees in place than when I was here a few years ago. It was very impressive.

Esther (CISF Scholar) and Greg (AIC Missionary) were our tour guides. Greg was Becky Hunter's RD and Evan's Lacrosse coach when they were at Wheaton . He and his wife spent two years in the remotest parts of Tanzania – being dropped off with their new born beyond the reach of electricity, running water or phones in a Muslim village of 150 people. They did not speak more than three words of the language. No one spoke English. The nearest colleague was a two hour walk away. They got meat three times a year. Their main diet was rice and beans (he lost 40 pounds). It was, he reported, the most amazingly challenging and overwhelming thing you can imagine. He is now the Deputy Vice Principal of the school and a PhD student via extension in the UK .

Esther is very busy. In addition to teaching she is:

• The Editor of the African Journal of Evangelical Theology , a prestigious publication that ends up covering the theological scene for the entire continent. (Harvard, Yale, Princeton and other libraries of note subscribe to it).

• Heading up the Department of Church Ministry and Missions

• Serving as director of the Institute of Church Renewal , which holds quarterly continuing education seminars for pastors and lay leaders on topics such as: parenting, sexuality, biblical preaching, youth culture, et al.

One of the interesting new ventures Scott is undertaking – and appears to be way out ahead of most everyone in Africa – is distance learning via the Internet. They currently pay $600 per month for an undedicated 64K modem, but were being hooked up to a satellite later this afternoon. That would take them to 256K and in several months a fiber optic link – paid for largely by the government – was going to take them to 512K. (They will be able to sell some of their additional capacity to other schools in the area). Esther is heading up the program, which will eventually offer an MA in CE on line. (They have 5 applications already accepted into the program with ten others talking to them. They will start the program with 10 total). Greg believes it will position them at the forefront of theological education by extension in Africa .

Scott has fifty acres of land (the minimum a school must have to be recognized by the government) and is using about 20. They hope to buy more land in town for a community center that would include: a book center, a classroom for teaching computers, a health clinic (with focus on AIDS), an internet café, et al.

They have several building projects going on: a tripling of their library (which is desperately needed and underway but lacks about $300K and married students housing (underway and lacking only $40K to finish) are the most prominent. There are two other new buildings on the campus since I was last here. Their major dorm is a wonderful building with a capacity of 250. (The rain water collected off of its roof and used to water their farm. Some of it is heated by the sun giving Scott students hot showers – something virtually no college student in the country has).

Remarkably, not only does 70 percent of the operations funding for Scott come from within the country, but one quarter of their capital projects have been funded within country as well. That is very high. Jacob is doing a wonderful job. It's hard to imagine how he could be doing better.

Among the pressing next steps they hope to undertake are: raising faculty salaries which are apparently quite low (and they have lost some key people because of that); expand their income producing projects (their book center made $10K last year, their computer training classes paid for the cost of faculty and computers).

Like NEGST – which has planted a garden over the place where the cow barn used to be and now has a lush area growing bananas and other cash crops – they want to do more farming. They also hope to build a retreat center for pastors (who often pastor 6 or 7 churches for little money) where they could stay for a week, use the library, audit a class, etc. And they want to build the community center. (The road between Nairobi and Muchakos is horrible. But they are repaving it. When it is done Muchakos will become a suburb of Nairobi . Already land prices are going up so they are feeling a bit anxious about getting some land in place).

A few other random observations about Scott:

• It was founded by Peter Cameron Scott, an American who founded African Inland Missions back in 1895. (Before Scott's work most missionary ventures in Africa had been costal. His was the first that went inland to the heart of the country). Scott felt it was necessary to plant a series of mission stations both to spread the Gospel inland and to stop the southern spread of Islam. He planted nine outposts in one year before he died. These outposts continue to serve as a dividing line between Christianity and Islam.

• Scott just held graduation. Twenty some students graduated. But they have 54 who just completed their first year and expect close to 80 to begin in the fall. That is huge growth!

• Although their plans when I was last here was to start a Masters degree, they decided to offer a certificate instead. (This meant they offered a program “below” their BA instead of above it. Starting a MA program would have been more prestigious for them, but they realized that most pastors will not have that opportunity. The need facing the church was the certificate more than the MA).

• They now have two satellite campuses.

• Scott is the denominational school of the African Inland Church (AIC), which is the largest church in the country, with about five million members. (There are about 32 million people in Kenya ). The AIC denomination is close to the Eve Free Church in the US . In fact, the services are much the same.

• The chairman of their African board – called the Governing Council – is a retired Lieutenant General from the army. He is the one who negotiated peace in the Sudan . He's a prominent member of the AIC denomination.

Jason showed back up around 11:00 with a huge stick of sugar cane in his mouth asking if he could go with Joshua to a coffee farm off campus. I was a little skittish about them heading off campus alone but was willing to leave the adults talking shop and join them. The farm is just off campus, though you have to go out the front gate and around to the back, so it takes 10 minutes to walk there.

The coffee farm was not operating because it is out of season, but we saw coffee plants and the place where the berries are dumped into a huge little retention pond. We also could see into some vats where they soak them.

We then wandered a bit further to the stream where about a dozen women were washing clothes by dipping them in the water and then slapping them on the rocks. Others were gathering here – women and small children - to collect water in little jugs to carry back to their huts. (I really wanted to take some pictures but thought that might seem invasive).

Joshua wanted to show us the stream because sometimes you can find big lizards in it.

He is doing well and seems glad to be back in Kenya . His first year back he was in the local school but struggled because he was behind in Swahili. His parents have since transferred him to the Rift Valley Academy, an international boarding school with 600 students from 64 different countries. He's doing much better.

When I asked him what he liked about Africa he said he really enjoyed the pace of life. Nairobi – or at least Nairobi traffic – gives him a headache. When I asked him what he missed about Chicago he said, “convenience.”

Scott is at the base of a large hill dotted with farms. It is gorgeous, though because it is hard to get up the hill, those at the top with the best views are actually the poorest.

Given the coffee that grows on this hill – and the coffee plant at the foot of it, right outside the door from Scott – we encouraged Greg to form a small company to sell Scott College Coffee. He said that he's thought about it but lacks the time to develop the idea. Brian suggested that this would be a brilliant business internship opportunity for some MBA student.

Random observations:

• Several years ago I heard almost nothing about AIDS. I kept asking people about it because the reports of the numbers dying were so staggering. But almost no one admitted that they even knew anyone who had it. (I eventually realized that it was simply not something they were going to talk about with me – or perhaps with each other). This trip is different. It is more openly discussed. Greg said that his domestic helper often reports that her brother or neighbor or friend has just died of AIDS.

• We drove past the airport and there were many signs about not stopping. Brian reminded us that they had shoulder mounted rocket launchers fired at airplanes at this airport.

• The Hunter's friends have a cockroach problem. Her solution – taken right out of the pages of the Wycliffe Cook Book – is to take the food out of the cupboards and let several geckos run free for a week.

• The average Kenyan has a life expectancy of 47. More are killed by both Malaria and cancer than by AIDS. Seventy-five percent of the population is under the age of 30. Sixty percent are under the age of 25.

• The economy is growing at 4 percent a year. Major export is coffee and tea. Tourism is not insignificant. NGO money is also big.

• Because Africa missed (or avoided) the Enlightenment (sometimes I'm not sure which to think it is) there is no division between the sacred and the secular. This makes them even more susceptible to a health and wealth theology, that promises God's material blessings in exchange for faith. Many report friends who are talked out of their life savings as a “faith offering” that will be returned 1000 fold. Pentecostal pastors here have enormous power over their congregations.

• Greg's doctoral studies focus on power and self. He was trying to explain the different ways Africans think about who they are and how, because it is so tied to power, they hesitate to give it up. He believes that this is the reason so few African presidents step down from office, and actually believes Mandella did so because by doing so he gained power in the eyes of the international community. I'm not sure I grasp the nuances of Greg's argument. It seems to me that people in the West also cling to power, though perhaps some of our poorly formed soul is propped up by more money. (There is a Nouwen quote about this somewhere. Something about the fact that because we do not find our fullness in a relationship with God we seek worth through affluence and influence).

• These trips are invaluable. They are challenging. They are not cheap. They are not without risk. But, I not only understand what CISF is doing (and gain some energy around that). And I not only get to see what the broader church is doing – which is very encouraging stuff. (I do not have the same sense of accomplishment from the church in the west as I do here). But, I also see Lake Forest so much more clearly. It's odd that I have to come to Nairobi to see Chicago . But it happens.

On the way back we stopped at the giraffe park. Jason doesn't remember ever seeing a giraffe before (I bet he has in a zoo). But he has never been kissed by one before. This park was set up to help rescue the Rothschild giraffe – which Ida Amin had virtually wiped out by having his army use them for target practice. There were 120 left and the area in which they were living was under development. Today there are 300 in the 18,000 acre park they have set up. They have to be among the most photographed beings on the planet. (See www.giraffecenter.org).

10:10 PM. We had a CISF dinner tonight at the Rusty Nail restaurant. About forty people gathered, including six CISF alumni and another 6 CISF students and their spouses. It was a first for us. We've had gatherings this large in the US but never overseas. And we've never had gatherings that have included so many alumni.

I sat with Jason, Steven and Josephine Sesi (who have both focused on Islam and are teaching at NEGST), Jackie, a pastor from one of the seven Nairobi Chapel plants who is doing her PhD at NEGST and Andy Aloe, a Congolese who is doing his PhD in Biblical translation at NEGST. Andy's wife is in Congo trying to finish up a degree, which has left Andy watching his three kids and the two he adopted – ages 7 and 9 – when his brother was killed in the civil war. (I didn't find out what happened to their mom).

August 10, 2007 – 5:30 PM : Another busy day with more to come.

After B-fast we headed over to Oasis Christian Counseling / LIKA to meet with Gladys and Gershon Mwiti. Both are CISF scholars.

Gladys:

• Has a PhD in Clinical Psych from Fuller – one of three we have ever funded
• Has written a number of books around counseling issues, youth and HIV/ AIDS
• Founded Oasis Christian Counseling Center , which is involved in training counselors in Christian counseling.
• Was instrumental in training and mobilizing counselors to provide trauma counseling after the massacre in Rwanda and after the US Embassy was bombed in Nairobi (about 200 + killed and 5000 injured).
• Is one of three in Kenya right now with this degree and is working for the government to help write the guidelines for counseling for the country.

She explained that care and counseling – even for the psychotic – tended to be handled by the tribes. But as people have moved into the city and tribal support waned, many were left without the care they need. When the AIDS crisis hit many were traumatized. The government stepped in and provided some training for those they asked to run the VCT (Volunteer counseling and testing centers for AIDS) centers, but it was inadequate. As a result, when the Mwitis returned from completing their PhDs they found the situation a mess. They decided not to criticize what was in place or warn people to avoid what was being offered, but instead to hold to the highest ethical and professional standards. The result is proving out. They are now quite highly respected and have been invited to provide further training to those the government initially trained.

Gershon has a PhD in Leadership Studies, was (is?) a noted evangelist and author and the founder of LIKA – the Leadership Institute for Kenya, a group that is now doing training for business and government leaders, including some work for the government ranging up to deputy secretaries of ministry. He is currently running for Parliament in the elections that will be held in December. (He explained that after years of telling Christians to stay out of politics because it was dirty, the church is now reversing its strategy. Even to the extent that some of the Anglican leaders have told people that if they do not vote they cannot take communion. He said that the first wave following their liberation from Britain Parliament was filled with farmers – because land issues had been so frustrating for them. Teachers, the most educated people in society, make up the second wave. Lawyers made up the third wave, “and that has become unacceptable,” he said.

Among the many things they have going is a school in Kibera – a slum that was formed in the 1940s by Sudanese refugees displaced after WW II. There are somewhere between 800K and 1 million people living there. The school was started with four kids back in 2002. It grew to 150 by 2005 and now has just shy of 600. One in five is HIV positive. One in six is a “double” orphan – having lost both of their parents.

We hiked through a field to St. Johns , the school they operate, so as to avoid walking through much of the slum.
Upon crossing a dirty stream and hiking into the slum itself we were greeted by hundreds of young children, all seemingly eager to touch us. All with big smiles. We got a tour of the school and were then treated to a performance by their choir, which ended with them recruiting us to dance along side them. (We couldn't sing with them because the song was in Kiswahili. I offer no excuses for not being able to dance well enough to avoid their laughter).

The Mwitis provide the kids with one meal a day and – they feel – a pretty solid education, despite the fact that there are over 80 kids per teacher and no lighting in the small mud floor rooms. They plan to expand the school both in terms of numbers of kids and the grades they offer, hoping eventually to include a high school, vocational school and micro-loan program. Much of the funding comes from Australia . Many of the moms work in a bead shop they run for which they are paid a small amount. They pay $1.25 per child per month for school. (A day worker – which is the kind of work that most of the men living in the slums do – makes about $2.00 per day. Rent for the simplest housing outside of the slum is $65 / per month. Although, to my surprise they do pay rent in the slums. In fact, though there are no titles to property the school does rent their space. They could buy it for about $50K – which I can not believe anyone would pay).

I'd like to come back here with a video camera and make some sort of documentary – though even that will not pick up on the smells. It simply overwhelms you to see these conditions. I have a bit of compassion fatigue right now.

After the school we went to the Oasis / LIKA training center and were given a presentation on all they are up to.

We then ate lunch while asking Gershon questions about his campaign. (I'd love to see him elected. Given the fact that the Mwitis are great organizers, he is a noted person, all the great work they are doing for the poor and the fact that there are 25 people running, he might have a chance).

Our next stop was Nairobi International School of Theology (NIST) – Campus Crusade's seminary in Africa . Emmanuel Bellon just returned here in December with his PhD in leadership studies from Fuller. David and Annie are about to finish up at TEDS and return here next year.

This is a good school that is talking about buying more land to expand. Emmanuel is doing well, though just beginning to work on his role in leading The Bright Leadership Center and the Training Center for the International Leadership Foundation.

Random Observations and Insights:

• Gladys believes that Kenya is doing well. For evidence she points out that people continue to invest in the country just four months before the election. This didn't happen in the past because of fear of social unrest. She listed this as the biggest difference she noted when she returned. The two other things she mentioned were: 1) the fact that with a healthy economy many people are working harder and consequently are stressed; 2) everyone has cell phones. She is hopeful that Kibake, the current president, is reelected. She thinks he has done a good job and cites, along with many social programs and a strong economy, two things he deserves credit for: 1) They have enough positive cash flow to start paying back some of their debts to the World Bank; 2) He is willing to be criticized in the press, something Moi was not willing to do.

• A child infected with HIV can be symptom free for up to five years if they receive good nutrition.

• Given that Gershon is regularly training government employees – and doing so as a Christian – I asked how the Muslims were responding. He said that as long as they are in a minority they lay quite low. (They do not complain and may even change their name to be unrecognizable as a Muslim). But they are currently working hard to gain in numbers. And when they have power they are often completely intolerant of anything non-Muslim. Gershon reported that in one village the well was off limits to anyone who did not worship Allah. Jacob Kibor doesn't see them growing in leaps and bounds, but he has noted that they are using Saudi money to buy the allegiance of many top athletes. Some now run for Saudi Arabia and not Kenya .

• There are 130 parties in Kenyan politics. For the most part they do not have different political philosophies. They are just different alliances – mostly tribal – in search of power.

• Gershon implied that he was having a bit of trouble getting anyone to pay for the leadership training he wanted to do because Saddleback church offers training – and materials – for free. It reminded me of Abdella's comment that during the drought back in the 1980s the farmers who had survived eventually went under because food was free. Helping people is a complicated endeavor. We are often not aware of the unintended consequences of our actions.

• I'm starting to think I should plan a Christ Church trip here. We could visit a number of those who are connected with Christ Church , including the Kibors, Carews and Harberts. Tour the slum, kiss giraffe's, eat at Carnivores, et al.

• I talked with Jerry Camery-Hoggatt today. He is the new JSM scholar rep. He said that when he was 17 he spent a week with a man who was 105 and fully alive and alert. The man was born during the civil war and was forty when the Wright Brothers flew. When they spoke man had walked on the moon. It was not much of a stretch, Jerry said, to believe that he had witnessed more change than had been previously recorded in history. The man said to Jerry, “I've seen a lot of change in my life. You will see more. The difference is, I understood the changes facing me. You will not understand what is happening in your world. It will happen too quickly.”

Tonight is the closing banquet for the conference.

Jason is doing well. He is a joy to be with. This trip includes more time in traffic than you'd like, irregular meals and – at least for Jason – some boring meetings. But he has been nothing other than chipper.

August 11, 2007 – 6:21 AM: Yesterday we played.

After B-fast we said good-bye to the Prinns, who were heading to Tanzania for a safari and then headed to Java Hut for a cup of coffee. Then it was time to face the Maasai market. This is an open air tourist trap where you barter for stuff you don't need with people who are hoping you'll pay 10X the value of the stuff you are buying. Seven years ago when I was here I had divided my money into four pockets before heading into the gate and had one of them picked. We made a plan to walk through the entire market once ignoring every entreaty so that we had a sense for the level of “sales aggression” we were going to face.

On the first pass through we picked up an “agent” and new “best friend and brother” named Thomas. He told us that we could trust no one else, that his father was the chief of the market, that he would watch out for us, etc. etc. I didn't trust Thomas but realized that someone – or someones – were going to attach themselves to us. It might as well be Thomas.

Jason did great. He realized that if you showed interest in anything that five people would shove one in your face. And that you had to be willing to say, “over and over,” that is too much money for that.

In the end I bought four pairs of carved salad utensils for $3.50 each and Jason bought two Maasai spears and one shield – so he could make the Kenyan emblem – a rungu (Maasai club) and two bracelets for $40.00. Thomas, “our friend and our brother” tried to sell us the package for about three times what we paid. Once we all gathered in the van it seems that we all ended up paying about the same amount for the things we bought. But only after haggling. I do not enjoy the experience. I don't want to be taken – or insulted by a con man – but I also don't want to argue over $5.00 with someone for whom it means a good deal when it means nothing to me.

After lunch we took Evan and Becky over to visit some friends from Wheaton who run a ministry called ROPES – which stands for Rights of Passage. They try to rescue some of the cultural transition points and infuse them with Christian symbolism. Then Chuck and Jason and I went to the Village Market – an upscale Western shopping mall and art gallery.

For dinner we headed over to Christine and Daniel Matuas home. They are CISF scholars from Kenya studying in extension programs out of South Africa . He is a regional leader for World Vision, overseeing 24 countries and reporting to Tim Dearborn . His research is trying to understand why poverty is growing even as the church is growing. Shouldn't the opposite be true? She is a professor at NEGST writing on the forces (theological, economic, cultural, et al) that shape what the church teaches in its missions courses. They have three young children and are both delightful.

Today we pack, head to church at Nairobi Chapel and drop the others off at the airport before heading to the animal orphanage and Carnivores. Our flight is at 11:25 PM.

Jason just walked out, picked up one of his spears and said he was going out to catch breakfast.

I've started to pack and realized how much I have not worn – mostly because it's been 65 – 70 degrees and damp the whole time. Who thought we'd come to the equator in August and be cold.

8:45 AM: Just bumped into Dr. Perry Downs, who is here to teach a week long course. It was a fun surprise to run into someone from Gurnee. When I introduced him to Jason he asked:

How old are you Jason

Jason: 12.

Perry: Are you married?

Jason. No. Just engaged.

That was pretty quick.

11:50 PM. Kenyatta Airport : Our flight is two hours late. But that is a minor wrinkle in an otherwise wonderful trip.

We started the AM at Java House where, to my surprise and Jason's utter amusement, I was recognized by one of the workers as someone who had been there before several times this week. As we were leaving she singled me out from the group and said, “Have a good day. I'm sure I will see you again tomorrow.”

We went to Nairobi Chapel this AM for their unique blend of English and Swahili worship. They are finally about to move into the new property they were about to move into seven years ago when I was first here. One regulation after the next, compounded by a change of government that sent them back to the beginning with their permitting – kept them away. But as of today they are set for a Sept. 2 nd kick off in the new tent.

Property is Kenya is remarkably expensive. 15 acres – which is all they secured – was over 40 million Kenya shillings. (At 67 KS to a dollar that is over 6 million US dollars).

Oscar – their dynamic, young founding pastor – was gone this AM. He is always gone. I've been to Nairobi Chapel three times and he's never there. At least this time he was in the country.

At church I had time to reflect on worship. Here we were in a tent – which is all they will build for their new facility – in plastic chairs and a bad sound system. The bathrooms are at least ¼ mile away. The visual display was very spotty. But….there was a sense of God's presence and a call to holiness that transcended all of that.

I got a chance to see Marta Bennet – an old friend who recently moved from DayStar to NIST. I also ran into Dr. Walls, who I just bumped into in the terminal.

After church we dropped Evan, Becky and Chuck off for their trip to South Africa and then Jason and I went to the Animal Orphanage. Before we even bought our ticket Jason got within six feet of a baboon that was running loose. We started with the safari walk – which was wonderful. (It was a long stroll through a big park. We saw a lion way, way, way up in a tree (60'?). We saw a tortoise, zebra, ostrich, lots of birds, pygmy hippo and lots of baboons. (We watched about ten jump back into their cage by climbing a small tree and jumping over an electrical fence). They fell about ten feet and rolled. Two of them had very small babies clinging to their stomachs. How they held on is anyone guess.

After we came out of the safari walk we discovered that we had not even been into the animal orphanage yet. So, another $15 bucks got us into what we had thought we were in. (We almost didn't go because we were unsure what else we might see. When I asked one of the tour guides she arranged for us to get a chance to pet a cheetah.

What that amounted to was a guided tour by a Kenyan who I later learned wasn't even on staff with the orphanage. He has come every day after work (3:30 on week days) and earlier on Sunday – to hang out with the animals. He unlocked the cheetah cage and brought Jason and me in to pet one of the three cheetahs. (He was a bit on edge because the baboons were running loose close by and that might spook the cheetahs). As soon as we got a picture of Jason petting and brushing the first cheetah I got us out of the cage.

From there he jumped the fence and called the warthog over, which he had hand raised. He massaged this huge animals and got it to lay down right in front of us.

Then it was some of the monkeys, who he threw peanuts to and they put on some minor tricks. (He explained how the dominant female was keeping all of the others in the cage in line. And would distract her by throwing a peanut across the cage and then call the second one over by saying “Come here Kira while she's not looking. While she's not looking. Oh no here she comes.” At which point number one would take after number two in a high speed chase complete with screams and remarkable acrobatics.

Then it was over to the Hyena cage where he engaged this old male in a duet of grunts that gradually got the animal over to the fence right next to us. He was a regular Dr. Doolittle.

From the orphanage we went to Carnivore for dinner. Tonight's menu featured all the chicken, pork and beef they could fill you up on, followed by lamb and ostrich. We had to leave before we got any crocodile or any of the other exotic meats that might have come our way. Of course now I realize that we didn't. But I didn't have a cell phone to check on the flight.

At dinner I asked Jason what his biggest surprises were about Africa :

• The size of Kibara – the slum. (He said that going there was the best part of the trip).
• How bad the roads are.
• How similar the food is to what we eat.

Both Carnivore and the airport terminal back home are filled with Christians here on missions. As Nicholas Kristof – the NY Times correspondent – has begrudgingly acknowledged, evangelicals are the “new internationalists.” They (we) are the ones staffing the relief groups, orphanages, schools, et al.

All of which brings us back to the British Airways lounge and the long trip home.

Footnotes

1. He starts here b/c scholarship is often determined by geo-political pressures beyond scholarly control.

2. Walls called the Enlightenment the greatest threat to Christianity since Islam.

3. Several years ago a Kenyan and a Brit, frustrated that all of the good coffee beans were being sent outside the country, opened a Western style coffee shop. Think Starbucks. It's the best coffee you can get in the country.