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Dear Maranatha Chapel,
After a long process of seeking the Lord, my wife and I have just recently accepted the position of senior pastor at Calvary Chapel of Santee. The church tragically lost their pastor and as we endeavored to help the body in Santee, the Lord connected our hearts with theirs and made it clear that He was calling us to pastor this flock. Pastor Ray and the senior staff sense God’s leading as well and wholeheartedly endorse our decision.
Let me say, that serving here under Pastor Ray at Maranatha for the last twelve years has been an unbelievable privilege. Ray has been a good friend, a mentor and faithful shepherd and it has been an unusual honor to stand next to him in the ministry as one of his assistants. I have enjoyed a great partnership and friendship with the pastors and staff as well, I will miss the daily interaction of serving together.
The greatest blessing was being connected to our amazing church family! I will forever treasure the time spent together worshipping, serving and friendship. It was my honor to teach the Word, dedicate your children, baptize some, officiate at weddings and even grieve with you at your sad moments of loss….I am a better man and pastor for having spent twelve years growing closer to the Lord together.
I was also privileged to oversee the Missions Ministry and to be a small part of the lives of our church family serving abroad. I have tremendous respect for God’s call on their lives, the sacrifices they have made and the determination to share His Word. They are the real heroes in a world that is sorely lacking them! Only heaven will reveal the rewards of their labor and work, I have been humbled every time I had the privilege to visit the mission field personally and to see them serving God passionately. Keep going, your commitment proves everyday that our God is worthy to be worshipped and served.
We believe our time at Maranatha has been preparing us for this next season. We go with full and grateful hearts for all God has allowed us to experience in His work here. Our desire is to go forward and implement much of what we have seen God do here. Thanks Maranatha Chapel for your example, patience and encouragement! God used you mightily in our lives.
Until Jesus comes,
Gary and Meef Lawton
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Praise God! We arrived in Entebbe on Tuesday morning and have settled in. We are all doing well. Tomorrow, we will go on a medical outreach to an island in Lake Victoria. On Saturday, Joseph, Benjamin and Gabby will help with worship songs during a Youth Outreach to the community. John will be supervising construction work at the church’s school during the week.
The weather here has been nice and not too hot. Last night and during the day today, we had some thunderstorms. It’s the beginning of the rainy season. We dry our clothes on the clothes line and so it’s a good thing Lily did the laundry two days ago.
Thank you all for praying for us. We will keep you updated as often as we can. Internet is expensive and the connection is spotty. If you are on Facebook, you can get more updates and see our photos.
Much Love,
John, Lily, Joseph, Benjamin, and Gabby
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We staggered off the train in Nairobi today at nearly noon… it took longer than expected and bumped harder than we remembered. That’s Africa… it moves slower that the US… they say “American’s keep time and Kenyans keep sheep” in other words… the clock isn’t very important to them. Anything within a few hours is on time… so we arrived “on time” in Nairobi but nearly missed our appointment at the Nairobi Islam Conf. While Daniel Messiah started over and taught the same sessions on understanding Islam… the team was assigned Home Visits. We broke up into 3 teams and a translator and guide and made our way into the slum to bring food and encouragement to the needy church members. It is such a blessing to do this… although in such contradictory conditions. Each home is so small and screams poverty… it’s sound is almost deafening to western eyes and senses… but joy and the presence of God always overpowers it. It is hard to explain how full of joy you are when we emerge from a humble “Room-house” in this deplorable slum… only God could make this happen. I’m reminded that some of life’s greatest gifts often come in a plain paper wrapping. The other emotion we feel is jealousy, how can they have such joy without technology and toys? The one word answer is Jesus, his name is just as sweet there as any place I have ever been.
Pastor Gary
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Day two of the Conference on Islam picked up with Daniel sharing on the Quran and it’s problems. We all learned a lot and felt better equipped to share with a Muslim friend or encounter in just about any setting. That was a perfect prelude to our afternoon highlight… we had been invited to the largest Mosque in Mombasa for a friendly exchange with the lead Imam. I have to admit, we are a little tense going in, they ushered us into a large fellowship hall style room and gave a very friendly welcome. But it became quickly obvious that they were hoping to convert us… and though they were friendly, they opened with a prayer to Allah in Arabic (Daniel speaks fluent Arabic) when translated “allah give us victory over the infidels” which was not what he told us it meant. We asked questions about some of the major problems with Islam and the Quran, their faces couldn’t hide their surprise. Especially when Daniel quoted the Quran in Arabic… you should have seen them squirm and bold-faced lie around the questions. Modern day Islam has been packaged for western consumption… but the Quran is clear in it’s bold teachings about Infidels, women and a host of contradictions that have produced many tragic events around the world. It became a lively exchange, one that I must admit I was glad when it was over. We kept looking over our shoulders in case we were being followed… but the traffic in Mombasa would have made that impossible anyway… funny how we were grateful for crazy traffic.
The next morning would be our ½ day off… we made our way to a local beach and relaxed at a beach resort until 2pm. We all took a dip in the Indian ocean and had lunch before making our way back to the train station and the 12 hour return ride to Nairobi.
Pastor Gary
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Mombasa is Hawaii-like, a humid tropical 80 degrees or so, but it’s still very Africa with crowded potholed streets and 3rd world conditions. Honestly, the poverty grinds on you, as an American you have a “we can fix this attitude” but here it’s real hard to get your head around slums that number more than a million residents. Bottom line- we can’t fix this… and we aren’t here to fix it anyway, we are here to share the message of salvation from this world through Jesus Christ. One thing is true, Africans aren’t fooled by promises of heaven on earth as we can be in the U.S., here it is graphically obvious this world isn’t heaven.
Our conference started this morning at Jesus Evangelical Baptist Church with most of the local Pastors in attendance. After a rousing worship time (with a worship leader who could not sing in key, really… it was awful, even the piano player was trying to find the key she shrieked in) Daniel Messiah among other speakers were there to share what Muslims teach and how to effectively reach them. Daniel had them rolling in the aisles with his thick Egyptian accent and funny stories of his imprisonment in Egypt (which when you think of it – wasn’t funny for him when he was there). He did a masterful job of teaching the basics of Islam so that the believers can better communicate Jesus to the locals.
When we returned to the guest house, we had to cross the local ocean channel by ferry (3/4 mile wide), the only way to our accommodations. Three boats ferry cars, trucks, motorcycles, bikes and hundreds of people on foot to the other side 24 hours a day. We arrive at 6 pm, the height of rush hour, which takes on new meaning… no rush hour in San Diego or LA even comes close to this--- trust me. We were part of a sea of people in a waiting area with close to a thousand people or more. As they prepared to load the ferry… the crowd of foot passengers broke loose like a flood and we got swept with them to the waters edge and were literally carried with the tide onto the already OVERLOADED ferry amid sick cheers from the people. It was like the “Running of the Bulls in Italy” or the wildabeast migration complete with water but with people running like beasts! It was like being in a Mosh pit at a concert you didn’t pay for and music you didn’t like. We got separated into groups of 2 or three in the flow… the ferry limped across the channel, and we all had images seen on CNN with Ferry boats capsizing in our minds. Well, we did make it--- gratefully, but we made other arrangements for our next 2 days of necessary crossings to remove any repeat scenarios!
Pastor Gary
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