Video about Kenya Trip...with TLI

I know I have not posted much since I have gotten back from Kenya, however, this video sums up my trip very well...I will hopefully post some final thoughts soon...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IsCnskmgYho&feature=player_embedded

This is a video put together by Church Army Africa...

God Forgive Me...

As I have been in Nairobi my team with TLI has been able to teach over 50 lay leaders from the Anglican Church in the City. The city is about 5.5 million people and the Anglican Church one of the better churches doctrinally in Nairobi (Reformed in Confession), seems to be dying rapidly, with only 107,000 estimated members in the city. There are other Reformed churches in the city but the Anglican church is struggling. Many of the Lay Leaders would blame such things on Bishops and Priests, however, they were all challenged by the National Leader of Church Army Africa, that they were the problem. They were not the ones preaching the Gospel, they are the ones who run the church, because they cannot be transferred or anything, they are the leaders of the Anglican Church, for they do the majority of the ministry. I want us to be praying for the Church.

Many of the reasons these leaders are not able to preach with authority and boldness, is because they are not trained. Many of them have not had training in 20 years of more. They know the Bible when it comes to knowing where things are and memorization better than I do, however they are not strong in theology (how the bible works as a continual story of God revealing himself), expository preaching, or how to apply the Scriptures to life today. These are key things that most Reformed churches in America have as their foundation. Therefore, I am guilty as many of us in the U.S. of not doing ministry when we have all the head knowledge. And the Church in Africa is guilty of doing ridiculous amounts of ministry with no foundation, in alot of ways. I pray and hope that this will change in me. God has convicted me of this.

Another great conviction of mine that created an excitement in me is the opportunity to teach and preach against the Prosperity Gospel (Joel Osteen, T.D. Jakes, Joyce Meyer, Benny Hinn, etc.) that has run a muck here in Africa and all over the world. This message that God will bless you materially and relieve our suffering because we are God's people. This Gospel is false and is a heresy of the American Church that we have exported to the World and greatly in Africa. It is sad that as many of these lay leaders we have worked with have had a great lack of training they have fallen victim to this prosperity Gospel. Many of these pastors know that it is wrong but were not sure how to refute these teachings. One of the areas we touched on within our theological training is that of how do we deal with money and suffering in God-Centered Living. This were great topics for them and many have now seen that they do not have to struggle to appease God or have more faith for God to love them more. They now see that the Gospel is something to rest in, that God is our provider, protector, and reconciler. I praise God for this opportunity.

I have been over joyed with the love that has been shown among these leaders to want to see the church reach out to the community and see their city transformed by the Gospel. I pray that our teachings can start a revival here in Nairobi to see the true gospel message proclaimed and that God may be glorified with seeing many who have gone astray come back to bow at His feet, and not the feet of lying heretics and money.

Praise be to God, the God over All, and the joy of my life...

This may just be random thoughts and I am sorry for the lack of structure for this blog but these are just things on my mind and I do not have time to at this moment to edit my thoughts and structure this.

For some Video on the Prosperity Gospel and to see it exposed please follow the next to links to hear how this false gospel is being spread around the world...my God have mercy on us...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTc_FoELt8s (John Piper on the Prosperity Gospel)

http://vodpod.com/watch/2456148-the-prosperity-gospel-in-africa-justin-taylor (a documentary)

Let’s see…

Today has been one busy day. Melisa and her dad took me to the airport in Charlotte at 5am, caught a flight from CLT to ATL and then a connecting flight from ATL to MSP. Once I got to Minneapolis we headed to Chipotle after all the team got there and had a great time as we drove to Bethlehem Baptist Church (John Piper’s Church). We met at Bethlehem and introduced ourselves as well as, went over a few things for the trip, and had a great time of prayer together.

After that, we headed to Darren (our team leader’s house) after “paying homage” (just kidding), as we drove past Piper’s House, and had dinner and time together. We also had a great time of looking over the first few days of teaching material that will be covered with our brethren of lay leaders of Church Army Africa. Please be praying for us as we are striving to decide what specific things are important within our teaching material. We hope that we are humble and open to what ever and how ever the Spirit leads. Also be praying for us as we begin to head out tomorrow and have a safe trip across the pond and above the Nile to Nairobi, Kenya. Thank you for your support and prayers.

Grace and Peace,

Josh

Heading out in the morn...

Hello Supporters and Blog Followers,

I am overwhelmed right now the way God has provided through many of you. God has been so gracious to me as I have been preparing for this trip. God has provided greatly through many brothers and sisters in Christ and I praise him for that. I am so grateful for your support of the furtherance of the Gospel. I especially want to thank my Ekklesia church family that have helped me grow spiritually and helped much through prayer and financial support. I have never been part of a church that has been so mission-centered, which helps me to see greatly that we are Gospel-centered as a church family. But, I want to thank everyone for their support with prayer and financial support. Thank you for joining me on this trip.

This trip is really, where my heart is when it comes to the mission field. I am hoping that this will be the first of many trips that are made to help in supporting the church around the world through teaching and growing leaders. There are many churches in the States that are growing disciples and helping people grow in Christ and become church leaders, but this is not as easy in the majority of the world, especially with the majority of the church being non-westerners. Many of the resources we have here in the States are easy to get our hands on with excess money and bookstores on every corner. Training Leaders International has a heart to see this change in that leaders all over the world are able to have the resources and teachers needed to help grow Gospel-centered church leaders.

Therefore, how you can continue to help support this mission and work of the Gospel is to continue to pray for me as I head to MN tomorrow morning and then to Kenya Friday. Pray that God helps all of us to teach boldly but with great humility, the topics at hand, and to remember all that is to be covered. Pray that at any opportunity we have that we can also evangelize many and see people come to know Christ as more than their savior but their treasure. Pray also that traveling goes well and that the team works great together.

I am hoping to update you all as much as possible, so keep your eye on my blog and if you have skype, message me on their if the Lord leads you. Thank you again and I will see you all soon.

Grace and Peace,

Josh

Kenya Update...

Hello Blog Followers,

I have not updated as much as I would like to about my upcoming trip to Kenya. However, I have decided it is much needed. I am currently almost half way to where I need to be in raising my funds for the trip. I have also been studying a good deal in preparation for the classes/sessions we will be teaching in. It is somewhat overwhelming but very exciting at the same time. We are going to be teaching on topics like the Trinity, Faith, God’s grace, Man’s Sinfulness, as well as working on hermeneutics (studying/interpreting Scripture) with some of the pastors and lay leaders in Nairobi. As I continue to get closer and closer to this trip I am fully relying on God to help in bringing in the funds needed for this trip. We are less than three weeks out and I am praying that everything will come in, in time. What it comes down to is some prayer requests.

First, I would like prayer that God calms me and helps to rest in Him with the many issues going on in life in general and with this trip. Second, that God shows me grace and helps me in prioritizing time to study. Third prayer that the support promised and maybe even more support will be given as I am about $2000 dollars short at the moment which figures up to the plane tickets alone. As well as, prayer that everything just comes together, and that God will be glorified through the work that is going to be done with training pastors in Kenya as well as, they are open and their hearts are ready to dig into God’s word.

Thank you for your time,

Josh

If you would like to check out the program I am going with their site is www.trainingleadersinternational.com and/or if you would like to donate, towards this trip you can do so through the latter site and a reference should be made to Joshua Keith so that the money will go into my account through them.

Upcoming Kenya Missions Trip with TLI...

Friends and Family,

Some of you may know I have been planning over the past few months to go overseas again this summer to join an organization for a short-term missions trip. The organization I am going with is based out of Minneapolis, MN, and is called Training Leaders International. This new group has been started to help train church leaders overseas. The statistic that is breath-taking for me is that for every 1 trained leader outside of the United States there are 450,000 people. This statistic is staggering. As I was in Central/Eastern Europe last summer, something that God laid on my heart is the need for leaders to be trained overseas. With even, more modernized countries like Czech, Slovakia, Croatia, and Hungary, they are still in need of help with training leaders. Many of the seminaries are struggling to even keep their doors open, so let us think about what it is like in Africa, Asia, and other third-world countries. What this organization is doing is sending seminary students who have a wealth of knowledge already in comparison to these pastors and church leaders who have been in ministry for years and some decades, and help train them.

So where, does this put me? Well many of you know that it took some time for me to choose a trip. I chose three trips, and was placed in one to Naples, Italy and Vienna, Austria. One of the key reasons it seemed that I was placed in this trip was because of my time already in Europe, and my heart for the church there. However, within a few weeks of being placed in that trip the second week we were to be in Austria at a conference, this conference had been cancelled. Therefore, we were stuck to one week in Naples. Once this happened the other people who had planned for this trip chose other trips and it was down to the team leader and me. After some time, and looking at the idea of going for a week with only two of us it seemed not the best route with using our resources. Therefore, I have been lead to take the final position on a trip to Kenya in late July. This has not been finalized yet but while it was on my mind, I wanted to post this and share my heart with you. On this trip, we will get to spend almost a week and a half with native pastors and church leaders. We will get to help in teaching and being mentored ourselves through this process. This will help in training me as well as cross-cultural teaching and things of the sort.

I know this is very short notice and I should have posted something before now of me going on a trip but I wanted to get some of the things padded out before I posted anything and shared in a larger mass. What can you be doing for me during this time. We are heading out mid-July and returning at the end of July. Firstly, you can pray for me: spiritually, physically, mentally, and financially. During times like this, God really reveals Himself to us, as we surrender ourselves to Him and His will. I know that many times I try to do everything myself and not rely on Him, but I know that if this is part of His plan for my life, then He will prepare me in every facet. Secondly, you can help as I have already begun to save and prepare to give in support financially. If you are interested in doing so, please contact me through email (jdkeith2@liberty.edu), or by phone (5406167035). I will begin to talk to many people about these issues but if you could mainly pray for me, I would greatly appreciate it during this time of my life.

Thank you and blessings,

Joshua D. Keith

Religious Moralism vs. the Gospel

I attended a conference this past week called “Advance the Church 2010: Contextualizing the Gospel in the New South.” This conference was put together to help the church in the south stay gospel-centered and not be religious, as many “Christian” churches have swayed toward in the south. There was a great deal of emphasis on how the church in the southern states has become more caught up in “quaint moralism” instead of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It seems that many times as I have attended church in my life there has been an emphasis on people turning over a new leaf and living for God, but the funny thing is that Jesus doesn’t call us to turn over a new leaf he calls us to fall in love with Him. There is such an emphasis in the church today to live a good life, be successful, and love your family as well as others. However, it is funny how this is not what we are called to when the Gospel of Jesus Christ is presented. For instance if we look at the book of Romans we see that he first eleven chapters in a deep way define and explain the gospel. Then the following five are a time of intense application. It seems that the apostle seeks to explain what happens and then show his readers what happens after that transformation. There are so many idols in the Church today that it really saddens me. (When I say idols, I mean things that are made ultimate in someone’s life).

Many times, we make living a good life, living out the American Dream, changing our lifestyles, being secure, pleasing our urges, or anything else, as ultimate in our lives. The Church is not called out to live a comfortable or “good” life. We are called by God to live for Him, by Him, and through Him. The gospel lets this happen. Through the Gospel, we can do anything for the glory of God. Now I am not pulling one of those Philippians 4:13 out of context moments, but I am saying we are transformed by the gospel, we how the power of the name of Jesus Christ to proclaim to the world. As J.D. Greear shared “The gospel is not just the diving board into the pool but it is the pool itself. It is a continuing transformation and renewing of our minds.

We are to press into the gospel and should want to seek God. We should be so caught up in what God has done for us and doing for us we should not want or need for anything. I have been heavily convicted of not sharing this good news with many around me because I have felt I would be forcing something on people, but it is just an invitation to them. I praise God for what He has done for me and I want other people to know who God is and be able to come back into the right relationship with God that He created us for.

I know many will not read this blog but I want to challenge the readers to press into the Gospel if you are a Christian. We don’t have to appease God to find favor with Him, we are free because we already have favor with him because of the work of Jesus Christ. Tullian Tchividjian put it well in saying, “make people wish the gospel was true and let them see that it is. As well, we are not to seek to please God through obedience from guilt and fear, but through what He has done for us with the Gospel. As Christians we do not have to prove or protect anything because of our security that is found in the cross and resurrection of Jesus our Savior.

Thank you for your time of reading, I hope this has encouraged and convicted you; I have been convicted greatly over the past few days. I know I have not exhausted this issue but these are some brief thoughts I wanted to put up.

All the sermons from Advance the Church should be up in the next few days. www.advancethechurch.com