August 2005 Newsletter

Greetings Family, Friends and CMO Supporters!

The last two months have been very exciting for CMBCI! In July, Principal Kisoso attended the ordination ceremony of two of our Bible College graduates in western Kenya then in August another of our graduates was ordained in Mombasa. CMBCI was also blessed to get a visit from one of its first graduates from Sudan last month. Hopefully next month you will hear more about what God’s doing in the lives of our graduates from Principal Kisoso. Our three classes have continued to grow and this month’s English class has reached twenty students! As CMBCI classes grow in number, we are joyful to see that our students continue to exhibit a solid commitment to ministry. Often the students will organize open air preaching sessions on the weekends or will visit neighboring church plants to assist in Sunday services.

Books are currently being collected for Roberts Library which is one of the College’s greatest ministry needs. Some of you have asked whether or not to send books now or wait until we come home this winter. If you have questions about the kinds of books you’re collecting, feel free to wait until we can sort through them with you. Otherwise please contact us and we will connect you with someone who is helping with shipping. The cost of shipping is approx. $1 per pound (cheapest way via mail) so please also raise the cost of shipping if possible.

Prayer continues to be needed, as the decision on a second full-time teacher has not been reached. CMBCI is also yet in the midst of some administrative transitioning for which your prayers will be appreciated. Ministry administration becomes like our own personal relationship with Christ, which must also be “refined as silver is refined (Psa. 66:10)” a process which is often painful but necessary.

Student sponsorship is an important way that CMBCI is funded. If all of you could actually come visit and see what goes on at the school or in the lives and ministries of CMBCI graduates you’d leap at the chance to be part of what God’s doing at CMBCI. Since most of you probably won’t be able to make that trip, we are grateful that you choose to make a commitment to sponsor a student anyway. Part of the blessing of student sponsorship is knowing that you are impacting lives on the other side of the globe (seriously, pull out your old globe and look where Kenya is located!) in a real life, personal, individual kind of way- the Body of Christ in action!

Eight weeks into language school, we are approaching our second test with slight trepidation as grammar becomes more tedious and vocabulary more voluminous. Lakini tunaendelea vizuri! But we are progressing well! Bwana asifiwe! Praise the Lord! We both made good grades on our first test and are really enjoying the learning process both in and outside of the classroom. Our Kenyan partners and friends in ministry continue to encourage us and are merciless in their drilling and correction of our Kiswahili, for which we are grateful! Each of you makes it possible for us to attend language school through your prayers and financial support- thank you.

Being in school had kept us confined to a fairly remote compound of missionaries for a number of weeks so an offer to go out with a new friend Aug. 13-14 for ministry we accepted eagerly. We spent two days teaching local congregations, specifically youth (14-35 yrs. old & unmarried) on HIV/AIDS and God’s plan for sex between a husband and wife. God continues to cultivate in us a desire to teach solid Biblical truths where the church seems to have compromised or the Gospel has become watered down. The following weekend we visited the P.E.F.A. Emali church plant with the same burden to share the basic Biblical teaching that so often can be lost in a desire to imitate an image of church seen on TV or heard on the radio. Please pray with us that God will bring these Kenyan brothers and sisters to an understanding of true worship and a burning desire for His Word and fellowship. Solid leadership is essential to the new Emali church plant if its new believers are going to mature in their faith so please also pray with us that a full-time local pastor will be called to serve Jesus among the congregation.

Praise Jesus for answered prayers! The harvest in our area of Kenya seems to have been sufficient and people are enjoying the fruits of their labors and God’s provision. Thank you for all your prayers and financial support during this last year’s drought. During October and November, Kenya’s time of short rains, we appreciate your continued prayers for people’s harvests. Please also pray for the provision of basic life necessities and for the government of Kenya currently rewriting its Constitution, which has the ability to unify or divide this relatively young nation.

As December rapidly approaches we’re beginning to schedule times of sharing with those of you interested in hearing and seeing what God has been doing in Kenya. If your church, small group or fellowship would like to meet with us, please send an email to clouds2kenya@yahoo.com so we can begin to know how to plan. We plan to be in the U.S. from the first part of December through mid-late February.

Last month we asked you to pray for the possibility that we might attend a Kenyan Christian university next year. That door seems to have firmly closed for now and we value your continued prayers for clear answers and direction for future ministry. Even closed doors are an answer to our prayers so thank you for praying with us!

Our CMOI ministry team would appreciate your special prayers for all our family members who are suffering physically and spiritually. Specifically please pray for the health of Pastor Gene’s daughter Tama, Brian’s mother, Rhonda Cloud, as the first anniversary of her motorcycle accident that killed Brian’s father approaches, Stacy’s two pregnant sisters (both due while we’re in the States), and Principal Kisoso’s mother-in-law suffering from cancer.

In addition to news from Kenya, good things are happening in all areas of CMOI ministries. Fresh Hope Missions Church, which formed over three years ago in Bloomington In., is in the process of purchasing the building they have been renting because the church is literally busting at its seams! Praise God the Spirit is moving at Victory Worship Center where Christian education outreach to local area schools is resuming for the new school year. The McClure’s outreach to Romania is thriving and you’re encouraged to visit our website for their latest news: www.cmointernational.org.

Just before sitting down to finish this letter, a classmate from South Korea reminded us that as Christians our hope should be that we decrease so that Christ might increase- that we be willing to be nothing so that He might be everything. As you read about all the happenings of CMOI we hope you’ll join us in that simple prayer. Mungu awabarikeni sana! God bless you all very much!

Brian & Stacy