Cowboy Hats for Kenyans

I got an opportunity to visit Houston, TX during the Fall break in October of ths year, thanks to Justin & Brandi Hyde and Dr. Jammie Johns of Hamoreh. Justin and I met in Kenya while I was there last Summer. He was preaching at my dad`s church in Utawala, Nairobi. He also taught a few classes at the Kenya Baptist Theological Seminary (KBTC-Brackenhurst) in Limuru during his visit to Kenya. I told him a little about the CRC and he seemed very excited about the idea of having a Resource Center which would cater for the needs of many pastors in Nairobi.

I got acquainted with Dr. Johns on the phone--we had never met. Little did I know that Justin and Dr. Johns were friends. He has been involved in training and equipping pastors in Kenya for a while now through Hamoreh Ministries. He has taught and continues to do so at Daystar University, Nairobi International School of Theology (NIST) and Nairobi Evangelical Graduate School of Theology (NEGST). They were both excited to hear about the CRC and how they can work together with the CRC in providing resources for pastors in Nairobi. Christ Community Church in Branham, the church plant which Justin is a pastor, is planning short-term mission trips to Kenya to try and be part of the training and equipping pastors and hopefully will work with the CRC in this endeavor.

A visit to the great state of Texas would not be complete for a Kenyan without a cowboy hat, so I think. So before the end of the trip Justin and I walked into a store and I purchased my first cowboy hat. When we got into the car and I put the hat on Justin took a picture and posted it on a blog with these words: “cowboy hats for Kenyans”. At that moment I thought about the analogy of cowboy hats and how it related to the vision of the CRC. The CRC intends to provide resources (hats) for pastors. For you to understand this analogy however, you`ll need to know a few things about my background…

I grew up in a small village, a dry and hot climate in Eastern Province of Kenya. I was a shepherd boy herding goats and cows in the dry heat. I quickly learned that to be a shepherd, three things were essential, (there maybe more, but I never became a good shepherd, so I wouldn’t know): water, a stick/rod and a hat. A hat, especially, if you were herding goats as they like to run wild and graze as fast as they can, not allowing you to get some much needed shade from the elements. So I know a little bit about hats and how important they are for a shepherd.

Pastors in the same way are shepherds of the flock with Jesus as the Chief and great Shepherd of all. Pastors are called to protect the flock from harm; from false teachings and from the divisive ways of the evil one. They are called to ‘wear hats’ if you will, to be ready and well equipped as the shepherds because the devil will not sit and wait for them to get some shade under a tree before he attacks the flock. Shepherds are to be ready at all times and willing to protect the sheep from false teachings and nurturing the flock to maturity. This is God`s calling for the ministers and pastors. The CRC intends to be part of this endeavor; to prepare and provide resources which will equip men and women of God to be better shepherds of the sheep. We seek to provide these ‘cowboy hats for the Kenyan pastors/shepherds’.

II Timothy 4:2-4 “…preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.”