I woke up to the sound of rain pounding on the tin roof of my house. Usually it makes me smile and think of home, but in the early hours of this morning, I was pondering the implications of the planned trek to a church 1.2 miles away. Two hundred members of our campus community were planning to make the journey on foot.

At 5:56 a.m. an email was sent out asking everyone to wear a raincoat, but by 7:34 a.m. the update had changed: All hands on deck! Cars rumbling, we’re running a shuttle system.

As I turned the key of “The Beast” I said a prayer for the kids in Michigan who through a coin drive at VBS helped me buy my car so many years ago. The engine purred to life and I moved to the parking lot where we’d be met by half the student body and staff. Some adults were brainstorming the best way to organize ourselves; others stood beside their cars, waiting for instructions. Students were clumped by gender and grade, having walked to the parking lot with their dormmates. One of the organizers loaded up his land cruiser and headed out so he could come back for a second group later, the other was fielding questions from curious adults. I’d heard the plan as they chatted, so I offered to help, grabbed her extra attendance list, and started marking students off one group at a time. These 32 were loaded into a bus, these 7 into a Prado, another 6 into the Nissan and so on. “W, how many can you take? 6? Great. This group of boys is 7, who is staying behind? Can’t decide? Okay, lucky duck, I know your name… it’s you. Go stand over there please!”

After all the cars were loaded and a batch of brave hikers who didn’t care about mud had set out, I jumped into my car and hit the gas to catch up with the driver in front of me. I KIND of knew where we were going. Middle school boys giggled as they bumped in the back seats over top-speed bumps and I asked if they knew what today was about and why we were going to this church.

They did, but you don’t, so please, let me share…

A couple of years ago, my friends M and R (both RVA staff) somehow birthed an idea. M is a go-getter! Just a month ago, when I informed her of what an amazing person she is, her response was, “It’s actually our privilege to partner with those who are already doing incredible ministry all over Kenya! We’re actually humbled that we get to play a tiny role in how God is building His kingdom in Kenya. This project was His idea from the start, and we trust His plans for these are going to be greater than we can imagine!”

So what are “these”?

Ten THOUSAND, yes, THOUSAND copies of the Jesus Storybook Bible translated into Swahili. M spearheaded the fundraising for these Bibles, coordinated the printing for them, the shipping, and the finding of homes for TEN THOUSAND Bibles into the hands of children. The Jesus Storybook Bible is a Bible with beautiful illustrations and stories from scripture, where each story is followed by an explanation of how it points to Jesus.

Since June our RVA community has been getting shipping updates:

June 24- departed Alexandria, Egypt
June 29- arrived in Djibouti
July 23- departed Djibouti
Aug. 2- arrived in Mundra, India
Aug. 25- departed Mundra, India
Sep. 1- arrived in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania
Sep. 9- arrived in Mombasa, Kenya

Even the shipping journey was an answer to prayer. Tumultuous political tensions in the Middle East disrupted the planned route, and the Bibles were expected to travel all the way around the western coast of Africa. Instead, by what felt like a miracle, a single ship from this company was able to make the journey east.

The Bibles then sat in the port of Mombasa working to clear customs for a month until October 6th, when they finally arrived here on campus. The wildest part? M and her family are currently in Michigan for a home assignment/furlough and aren’t able to be here for this part of the project she’s been working on for years.

The church service that morning was planned for, hoped for and longed for. It was a morning set aside to dedicate these Bibles for the service of God’s kingdom. This was not a huge church, so they could only accommodate 200 from the RVA community to join. We arrived and I settled into a chair set up as overflow behind the last row of pews. I smiled as I listened to the music, then grinned HUGE. The man at the piano was the head of security here on campus. I recognized the voice of the vocalist, one of my favorite guys to call to pick me up from the airport, and our instrument repair man. The service continued and an elder opened the main service in prayer once the room had filled up: one of our faithful janitors who has cared for this campus and the kids who run around on it alike for years.

The man who runs our student store read the scripture passage for the sermon, John 1:1-14

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

A pastor I didn’t recognize stood up to speak and within thirty seconds tears flooded my eyes. “We are not here to dedicate a Bible,” he began.

I was confused.

“We are here to dedicate ourselves to Jesus.”

For the rest of his sermon he returned again and again to this passage in John, reminding us that Jesus IS the Word of life, and that with each Bible, JESUS is found in its pages. Dedicating a book does nothing, but committing ourselves to sharing about Jesus is how true transformation happens.

“It doesn’t matter how much money you give, or how big your church building is… you don’t need a huge congregation. You just need to disciple those around you well.” he shared as his sermon drew to a close. “These Bibles are going out into our communities as a tool for discipleship. May the children who receive them grow up in His Word, may each home that receives one of these be a place of discipleship. May JESUS be found in these pages as HE is the WORD of life.”

I was blown away. This man’s faith was contagious! His fervor for the Lord and his excitement at the opportunity for thousands of children to be given the Word of God in their own heart language made it abundantly clear why this building was the one chosen as the location of the dedication service. Our school chaplain T who has been working closely to coordinate with M on this project stepped forward and a beautiful symbolic passing of the Bibles took place. A stack passed from his hand to the hands of the pastor, who accepted them humbly.

To my complete shock and delight, the men on the other side of T began to introduce themselves. “I am a pastor in this area and represent these churches…” the microphone moved further and further down the line. Eight different churches within an hours drive accepted with gratitude the symbolic handing over of God’s word, each with a stack of their own waiting in a dorm on Campus to be taken to their community.

Ten thousand Bibles. Missionaries and Pastors all over Kenya are receiving these Bibles. One community in particular is special to me, the community I visited in July in Northern Kenya where the pastor there is partnered with a Compassion International project. There are 206 children in his program, each from a different family in one of the seven surrounding villages scattered across the dry, barren landscape. In a place that desperately needs the Word of God, each child will get one. TMany of these children’s parents cannot read, and their first language is Rendille, which has only a partial Bible translation. But the children are learning Swahili in school. They’re learning to read, and through the Compassion project, they’re being taught both literacy and God’s Word. Each child will be able to bring God’s Word into their home, reaching not just the children but their parents, too. Parents who may not yet know about Jesus, who spend their days gathering firewood and trying to get a meal on the table, may find themselves encountering the Gospel through the words their children bring home.

I started my drive in the morning remembering the faith of children in Michigan, and I ended it thinking of these children and the faith that can be planted in their hearts. I continued to ponder as I drove six more children, each of whom comes from a family of missionaries themselves, back to campus. Each of these children have their own supporting community in the countries their parents come from, each has a community their parents are working to reach for Christ. Evangelism is happening! Discipleship is happening! The Great Commission is being fulfilled in the hands and hearts of children.

“Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”
Matthew 19:14

Prayer Point:

Please pray for all those receiving the Bibles, that the message of JESUS would be heard, received, and bring salvation to those receiving these! You’ll see a map below of some of the many places that will be getting these Bibles: