Nairobi Experience 'Humbling' - Razorplanet

May Missions TeaM {newsletter} vol.1 issue 10 5.16.13
Nairobi Experience ‘Humbling’
by Pastor Roy Fruits
Rockpoint church has the incredible privilege
to partner with several ministries in Nairobi,
Kenya. In order to further our partnership, I
led a team of 9 to Nairobi, Kenya from March
7 – 19. On behalf of the entire team, we want
to thank you for your prayers and financial support.
It was truly one of the most strategic trips
I have been on for several reasons.
First, we were exposed to several ministries
that are taking place in Nairobi. Our team
visited several slums while observing various
children’s ministries, taught at a school located
in the slum, visited a special needs school,
participated in teaching and preaching at two
churches, trained pastors, visited with various
Kenyan ministry leaders, spent an evening
with two of our missionaries (Dennis and Irene
Tongoi), and enjoyed the fellowship of Kenyan
Christians. One of our team members led a
student to receive Jesus as Savior and Lord,
and the stories abound as to how God worked
in our hearts. As we were walking through one
of the slums, we were invited into a home. It
was the home of a former student to the school.
He had become a follower of Jesus along with
his parents. What we learned as we sat in this
tiny little home, all nine of us, was that we were
the first white people to every set foot in their
house. It was truly humbling.
Second, we were able to strengthen our strategic
partnerships. Our church is involved at
several levels of ministry, including partnering
with a church, offering micro-loans, supporting
an African Leader who resides in Kenya, as
well as a growing involvement with the Brydges
Center.
Third, but most important, we spent time
at the Brydges Center. The Brydges Center,
which was founded by Rosemary Wafula, who
is currently the managing director. It was later
re-named after Bob and Nancy Brydges for the
support they have provided (Bob is our Executive
Pastor at Rockpoint). It is a children’s home
located just outside of Nairobi, Kenya. There
are currently about 85 children that are taken
care of at the Brydges Center, many with unimaginable
stories of abuse and abandonment.
It was truly an honor to love on these kids, play
games, provide gifts and support as well as
encourage the staff. It is a fantastic ministry
that is providing Jesus and a great education
to these children. Many of them have already
graduated at the tops of their classes and beginning
to become productive Kenyan leaders.
Our church has the unique opportunity as the
only church to partner with them. Many of you
know we already have built a windmill well for
the center, and it is now providing clean water for
the children as well as water for the crops they
raise. Our church will continue to expand our
child sponsorship through the Brydges Center,
and we are also looking into other opportunities
for involvement in the development of this home.
Our family has chosen to sponsor a child and I
hope many of you will join us.
I must confess it is very hard to put a trip like
this into a few paragraphs and do justice to
the multiple ways God changed our lives as a
team. We all came back with a sense of “awe”
at how God is working and how He worked in all
our hearts. God humbled us and encouraged
us to take steps of faith as He worked through
us on this trip. It was a joy to be the voice of
Rockpoint, and more important than anything
else, the hands and feet of Jesus. Rockpoint
now has a family in Nairobi, Kenya, and we
can’t wait to return.
Roy Fruits is the senior pastor of Rockpoint
Church.
Notes from Africa:
Brydges Center Update
As the Brydges Center kids sang “kubarikiwa” or ”be
blessed” and we left them for the last time this year, we were torn
emotionally. However, on this wintry Saturday morning with snow
on the ground we feel cozy inside; and snow or not, we feel blessed
to be back in the U.S.A. We don’t need guards to protect us, we
can once again open our mouths in the shower and are comforted
knowing that children aren’t locked out of school because they
don’t have money. We can attach a few more photos because of
good Internet service. As we drove to a funeral yesterday, I was
commenting on our wonderful roads, the good churches, the wonderful
signs, the cleanliness, the stores so neatly placed, the sanity
of driving; and I even went so far as to say how could anyone get
in an accident here.
We are so blessed, and we want to thank you for the blessings
of your prayers and support while we were in Kenya. Lord
willing, we will reassemble the pieces of our hearts that we left
behind at the BC when we return in 2014. Meanwhile our hearts
are full with our grandson, Zach, here for the weekend, and seeing
(or at least talking with) our entire family, including those wonderful
Canadians.
Each one of you has blessed us, and again we thank you
and say to you, kubarikiwa. -- Bob & Nancy Brydges
Missions Minute
Books for Africa
Eb and Janelle Flomo of Help Encourage
Liberia’s Little Ones (HELLO) would like help
selecting and packing books at the Books For
Africa warehouse the first and third Saturdays,
May through July, from 9-11am or 12-2pm. Your
service will benefit hundreds of children and
families in Liberia. For more information contact
Eb at 651-895-0118. Directions can be found at
www.booksforafrica.org
Upcoming at Rockpoint: Bring Books (text
books, Bibles, encyclopedias) And A Buck for
HELLO. Dates announced soon, stay tuned.
Upcoming Missions
Youth - Thunder Bay, June 30-July 6
Youth - Healing Haiti, July 1-8
Youth - New Orleans, July 20-27
2014
New Orleans, January 19-25
Nairobi - March
Women’s Healing Haiti, April 7-14
Applications will be posted on-line shortly for
missions trips.
This newsletter is brought to you courtesy of Rockpoint Church | 5825 Kelvin Ave N | Lake Elmo, MN 55042 | 651.770.3172
Questions or Comments missions@rockpoint-church.com

Women’s Ministry Travels to Haiti
by Gretchen Stevenson
Thank you to all who supported the first women’s
ministry trip to Haiti. It was an experience that all 16
women will never forget.
There were many different components to our trip
that made it so wonderful. We delivered fresh clean
water to the people in Cite Soleil and visited a new
orphanage that is home to 23 boys and girls. We
were able to outfit them with swimsuits and flip flops,
and we had an adventure to the ocean for the very
first time.
We also visited a home for infants and babies, as
well as a home for the sick and dying adults. Another
highlight was when we delivered hot meals to
elderly folks in Titanyen who are orphaned because
they have outlived their family members.
These visits were very special because it allowed
us to share the love of Christ through worship, touch,
scripture, and prayer. The joy and the gratefulness
EDGE
Excitement and anticipation is rising for another
group of Rockpoint EDGE students to serve
Jesus in Haiti this summer! A crew of 14 students
and 4 adult leaders have been gathering to pray,
train, raise support, and build a strong servant team
to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ! The team will
be serving in several ways: distribution of clean
drinking water in Cite Soleil, caring for orphans, caring
for sick and dying babies, and street evangelism
through music. It is our desire to be the hands and
feet of Jesus through sharing His love and Gospel
with everyone we encounter. Would you consider
joining our team as a prayer partner? We know
that apart from God, we can do nothing! Would
you commit to praying for us as one of Rockpoint’s
mission teams and for open hearts to receive the
Gospel? Our team departs for Haiti on July 1st and
returns on July 8th, but we invite you to begin praying
with us now! For more information on how you
might support the team financially, or if you would
like a team roster to pray through, please contact
Robb Ammermann at rammermann@rockpoint-church.com.
Junior High
We are excited to be going, only for the second
time, on a junior high missions trip! During the Summer
of 2013, a group of junior high students and
leaders will be venturing across the Canadian border
to the city of Thunder Bay, ON. Over the past 10
these individuals expressed was overwhelming.
The diversity of ministry that we were able to do
as a team allowed for each woman to step out of
her comfort zone and be used in incredible ways by
the Lord. I have been encouraged by the stories
and testimonies that the women continue to share
as they continue to process and unpack all that the
Lord allowed them to experience, see and do.
I am very grateful for the opportunity I had to lead
this first team over to Haiti and I look forward with
much excitement for all the other teams that will get
to experience such an incredible taste of God and
His power and love in action.
Thank you for your support and prayer. I am very
grateful.
Gretchen Stevenson is the Pastor of Spiritual
Development - to multi-generational women
at Rockpoint Church. She can be reached at
gstevenson@rockpoint-church.com
Rockpoint Students Serving Around the World
years, however, the city’s economy has struggled,
and hope for a quick turnaround is fading. Our team
will have opportunities to be the hands and feet of
Christ as we minister to local children, elderly residents,
and serve at homeless shelters and soup
kitchens in Thunder Bay. The dates for this trip are:
Sunday, June 30 - Saturday, July 6. We are well underway
in getting ready to go. Students are engaged
in raising funds and preparing mentally, emotionally,
and spiritually. Pray for our team as we prepare
and go to Thunder Bay, that we would be a good
representation of Rockpoint Church – but most importantly
– that we would be a good representation
of Jesus Christ! Contact Luke Garvey lgarvey@
rockpoint-church.com
Senior High
The Senior High is looking forward to continuing
our relationship with Urban Impact this summer as
we head back down to New Orleans. In the heat
of July our students will be running kids programs
at Castle Rock Church and then taking the popular
Challenge Circle outreach program to the neighborhood
parks in the evening. During this week-long
service and evangelism project, we hope to bring the
gospel message of Jesus Christ to many and learn
how to love like Jesus. Pray that God would transform
the lives of the kids we meet and the students
that go. Thank you, Rockpoint, for your prayers and
support! Contact Brad Madison, bmadison@
rockpoint-church.com
Chase Olson and his Thailand-
Cambodia missions team.
Overseas Rockpoint
Missionary Updates
Chase Olson: At just 21-years-old, I
work with YWAM (Youth With A Mission) and
am on staff with them in Australia. I work very
closely with students from all over the world
in a very intense Discipleship Training School.
My job is to help equip, disciple and lead students
on over seas trips for a couple of months,
several times a year. We work with many different
kinds of ministries; from Gospel Crusades
in Africa, Hill Tribes in India/Cambodia,
Freeing Prostitutes in Thailand, to local evangelism
in China.
Pictured above is my team that I am leading
to Thailand and Cambodia for two months
from April-June. We will be working with different
prostitution ministries in Phuket (Thailand)
and be traveling out to remote villages
in Cambodia that have never heard the Gospel
before. We will also be working with some orphanages.
Please keep praying for our team as
we travel and spread the good news of JESUS!
You can follow me by my blog at:
chase2thenations.tumblr.com
Tyler Heins: I applied and got accepted to
do a stint with CRU, which is a one-year mission
trip over seas. I will be traveling throughout
Eastern Europe to eight different major
cities. I will be bringing hope, restoration and
freedom in the Name of Jesus to lost students
on university campuses. The Good News of Jesus!
I’m really excited about it and would love
to connect with those that would like to hear
about it. Contact me at tjheins@cord.edu.