Update For StoneHouse Ministries 2018

2018 Update 

Please do not take this as an infomercial or any vain boasting about StoneHouse Ministries. The intent of this post is to present a concise and accurate report to our partners, revealing the scope and focus of the work accomplished by our Father, through the StoneHouse Family during the year of 2018.

To our friends and family, who have stood with us during the year 2018:

First and foremost … we bless and thank you all, for your fellowship, prayers and financial support. 2018 was one of our busiest years we have ever experienced in Kenya, there were so many opportunities to advance the Kingdom. Yet, it was also one of the most challenging and emotional years we have ever faced. But we came out smiling.

Consequently, we have had people leave us, but they primarily consisted of those who refused to be discipled.

They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us; but they went out that they might be made manifest, that none of them were of us.  (1John 2:19).

The year was full of tribulations and struggles, but through them all and by His wondrous grace… we prevailed. The battles were fierce and not without setbacks or losses. Yet, with our Father’s help and the love of our faith family, we have emerged unscathed, victorious, and with just a few scars.

We had two men find out the hard way, we will not tolerate unrepentant sin. After much confrontation and their repeated refusal to repent, we ended up putting them out of fellowship. Total alienation. Yet, within six months, each had repented with tears from the heart and have been since restored to fellowship and doing well. 

We want to emphasize, these are not the victories and accomplishments of Cynthia and I. These are the victories of our faithful heavenly Father, all the StoneHouse Fellowship Church Families, our partner missionary ministries and everyone of you that contributed to the spiritual, emotional and financial support of StoneHouse Ministries International.

 Among the victories this year, were…       

Spreading the Kingdom;

We baptized 28 people last in 2018.

We began two new churches, that are currently growing and demonstrating the power of Spirit led Christian family gatherings and kingdom living.

We have taught multiple ASA (African Shepherds Alliance) leadership meetings, bishops and pastors attending from churches other than the StoneHouse Fellowships.

For over a year, five days a week, we have held daily discipleship training sessions. They last from eight o’clock till 9 or 9:30. It begins early in the morning, before Windy Hill work begins and consist of all the people working or living at Windy Hill attend and sometimes neighbors and visitors.

As a result, all our workers have begun functioning in their respective StoneHouse Fellowship churches. When attending their Gatherings, they no longer wait for someone to tell them what to do  … they listen to the Holy Spirit and begin ministering their gifts of grace. It’s pretty amazing to witness. 

Kingdom  Life;

We are making disciples who are making disciples. We are so encouraged to see both men and women training new converts.

In December of last year, we held a non-traditional christian wedding, for two of our favorite people. It was truly a spiritual experience for everyone there. Most everyone attending, said it was the most edifying wedding they had ever experienced. Many, many of our members are now asking to be married in the church. They desire to have both the amen and the blessings of their brothers and sisters. There were well over 200 people attending. 

We held training seminars in most of our churches, teaching them to abandon Kenyan, tribal, cultural and religious traditions that are in conflict with the teachings of Christ. We are teaching them to walk in scriptural traditions and Kingdom practices. This is having a profound effect on the daily life of our members.

Angie had a busy year… She officially joined our Kenya team, officially became a resident of Kenya and officially married a Kenyan named Justo.

We had special women’s meetings for all the StoneHouse women. The last one was phenomenal. Many of our local women taught and almost everyone ministered the love feast and in washing each others feet. It went on all day. No one wanted to go home.

Most of our churches, now meet two to three times a week and eat together once a month or more. 

We ministered to scores of people with marital problems, family problems, tribal problems, spiritual problems and all were impressed with the amazing healing wisdom of our God.

We are distributing, to those among us, who are unable to read, audio bibles from ‘In Touch Ministries’. We have given away forty units, that make available the bible in both Kiswahili and Masai. These hand held, solar powered audio bible readers, have brought much joy to their users.

We invited all the twelve church families to come together, for a two day celebration of our Life together. We dance, sing, do dramas and in general have a great time. Our unity and fellowship are not limited to just where you fellowship, but to all our local churches in different locations. They are learning to come together for mutual edification.

We were able to feed over 50 families, Christmas dinner throughout the Miti Mingi area, hand delivering their food stuffs, door to door. We were delivering for almost four hours.

Expanding our opportunities; 

A couple of months ago, we finally got our title deed, for the three and a half acres, that make up Windy Hill Christian Community. This took almost 4 years of more red tape and spiritual battles than anyone can imagine… but we won. We’ve also completed the legal process of obtaining our Trust Deed and are now incorporated in Kenya! This enables us to conduct non-profit  businesses, schools, training centers, orphanages, health clinics, etc. . Since 2013, we have related to  the Kenyan government, as a Registered Society, but we realized this was an inadequate document, to keep up with the growth and vision of StoneHouse Ministries. Through this Trust Deed … we are now legally equipped to do just about anything.

We hosted many American visitors to Kenya this year, some 3 days, some 3 months, including, friends and partner ministry workers. It was our joy to host our family and friends who came to see us and the ministry we work in. Some people out to be a great help in our ministries. They were a great help in ministering to our people. We have been told by many of those who visited us… that they returned to their own country, with greater desires to serve the Kingdom in new ways. Some… really learned to enjoy goat meat.

 

We traveled to visit our families and friends in America and were given opportunities to speak at three different church meetings in Tennessee, Alabama, and Florida about what our King is doing in Kenya. 

We were able to share with our family in Rose Creek Village about what we are doing in Kenya.

Construction; … We did a lot of building in 2018. 

We finished a beautiful, forty foot diameter, twelve sided stone pavilion on Windy Hill, to accommodate seminars, conferences, weddings, youth rallies, baptisms and a host of other things. The church in Miti Mingi is now using this as a gathering place on Sunday, because they outgrew the place where they were previously re-located just two months ago.

We finished the inside of the men’s/women’s bathroom/shower rooms needed for people attending these functions.  

We built a carport for our car to protect it from the African sun and to slow down the leaks when it rains.

We also, are one third of the way to finishing a twenty foot diameter kitchen, for our pavilion, that will enable us to feed large groups of people. It is positioned only fifty feet from the pavilion, but still needs funds for the roof. 

 

Our future plans, are to build a dormitory (one side for women and the other for men) for training young, indigenous missionaries and accommodating pastors and their wives, for weekend training seminars. We are laying out (by faith) the dormitories foundations this month.

 We built a twenty four foot by twenty four foot roof for our church in Namanga, Kenya, to shelter our Masai brothers and sisters from the rain and  hot sun. They (by themselves) raised the funds to build the rest of their enclosed gathering place. We are very proud of them. 

 

We constructed two raised foundations for more water tanks, next to the barn to handle the growing need for water on Windy Hill. The underside of the stone tanks support, will be used as a shelter for our milking goats. 

We completed a thirty by twenty foot chicken pen, supplying Windy Hill Disciples with eggs.

We helped Justo and Angie with building their house. The newly married couple are doing well and are actively helping the Miti Mingi Church family grow in grace.

We have helped the Baruti, Miti Mingi and the Langa Langa (formerly the Nakuru meeting place that burned to ground in 2017) churches to move to bigger locations to accommodate their growth in 2018. Miti Mingi has already outgrown the two room meeting place we created for them.

Medical assistance; 

Last year we were able to assist many people with medical needs, including children with cerebral palsy, S.M.A., surgery, high blood pressure, eye glasses, pregnancy and birth. This is Joyce who is now recovering from scoliosis surgery. 

We raised the money for surgery to save a brother’s leg, that was close to being amputated. For the first time in seven years, Macharia is now able to sleep through the night without pain and can hold a job. He has become a fruitful worker in the StoneHouse Baruti church. 

We lost three of our most beloved StoneHouse Fellowship church members, from three different StoneHouse churches in 2018. We assisted them with medical care before their passing and then helped with their burials.

Josephine of StoneHouse Njoro (Piave)

And our little Winnie of Nakuru.

All of them now, are safely now in His hands of our Father and waiting for us, to be reunited together in His Kingdom… and as sure as He lives … we will be. 

We were asked by their family members to participate and preach at their funerals. Each funeral gave us the opportunity to share the gospel of the Kingdom with hundreds of Kenyans. Josephine’s funeral in Njoro Piave, changed an entire village’s opinion of StoneHouse (from bad to very good) with over three hundred people present. Jane’s funeral in Miti Mingi, allowed us to share the Kingdom with over five hundred people, with government officials attending. The officials stated they admired what we’re doing in their community and were glad we were there.

Educational Assistance…

We helped 33 church families with school expenses, through L.E.A.R.N. sponsorship. Four of these children graduated from high school at the end of the school year 2018.

In between the things mentioned above, there were scores of other ministering activities that happened… but because they have become everyday occurrences, we no longer consider them ministering… it’s just life. Again… thanks to all our supporting friends, family and our fellow ministries. Special blessings to Heaven’s Family, Soaring Eagles, In Touch Ministries, Christian Aid, and others.

We have found, the only training you really need to advance His Kingdom, here in Kenya, is the same training the early disciples had. Walk with Christ, be willing to share his heart and love with others. Consider taking a short term or even long term mission trip. We could use the help. Pray for us…. we are getting older, I’m 72 and Cynthia is 66. This year… we started to feel it. 

Again… we thank all of you for the help and support you have already given.

Two thousand and nineteen has already taken off running and we’re already trying to catch up. There are a few things we would like to see happen this year…

• Helping our widows by building them places to live and helping to meet their daily needs.
• Finish constructing Windy Hill kitchen and dorms
• We need more sponsors for LEARN students
• Establishing community wells for the Piave and Miti Mingi church and surrounding communities,
• Assisting orphans living with relatives
• Finally, financial support for indigenous missionaries and church leaders.
• And above all, an increase in our ability to disciple men, women, and young people in the Way of Christ.

Blessings ….

StoneHouse