Dear Friends, 

I hope you are having a good Easter. I was talking with my kids this morning about how Jesus was “raised for our justification” (Rom 4:24). I think we often struggle with this verse because we see the resurrection as merely proof that his death actually worked. The New Testament, however, invests the resurrection with far more significance. In the resurrection Jesus became everything that we need for salvation—including justification—and we have this salvation by becoming united to him. He shares all his blessings with us. May God bless you with a renewed sense of awe at your salvation as you reflect on the resurrection today. 

I’ve delayed sending out an update because I’ve been thinking we would receive news of accreditation any day now, and I wanted to let all of you know. However, we still have not gotten word of our accreditation, which was promised the end of December 2020. This past week brought a positive development: the minister of education visited, and he seemed supportive. He thought we would get accreditation very soon. 

In God’s providence, the delay in starting the master’s program has been helpful. It’s allowed me to invest some time developing the Nairobi hub and recruiting professors. 

My visit to Nairobi last month was useful and eye opening. The reason East Africa lacks a strong seminary is not because no one has tried—still less because no money has gone to the project. But—to make a long sad story short—it's because western organizations have come over to Africa and set up shop without much sensitivity or understanding of the local churches. Sadly, there’s a good bit of colonialism. Westerners who don’t have much theological education themselves or many resources to offer might believe that their program is “good enough for Africa.” But I believe we should strive to provide an education that isn’t just “good enough.” When resources are scarce and the need is great it is tempting for us to think that anything is better than nothing, but pastors here are asking for more.They’ve had enough exposure to solid theological resources—through blogs, a few books, and free online classes—to know what kind of education they want even though there are many obstacles to their getting it.    

Our goal is to find people we trust and listen very closely to what they say that they need.

Overall our family is doing well, except for a little health hiccup that we are praying stays little. Matthew—who had a headache throughout most of last fall—got a headache again. We treated it with the same regimen we did last time, and so far, it seems to have gotten better. School is on midterm break, and we are taking a short vacation with a family from our church. We are going to a game park and staying at “bush camp.” I’ll try to send some pictures next time. 

Prayer requests: 

• Pray that we would receive accreditation or our master’s program, and that we could get started soon. 
• Pray that we would listen well to the African church, that we can form mutually beneficial partnerships. 
• Pray for a restful and enjoyable time away this week. 
• Pray for clarity in an article I’m writing. I’ve been asked to contribute an article to a journal on pastoral theology. I’m writing on the relationship between definitive sanctification and preaching. The article has already taken more time that I had budgeted, and I still don’t have the clarity that I’m hoping for. 
• Pray that Matthew’s health would continue to improve and he would be headache free. 
• Pray for the students in the biblical Hebrew class many of whom are finding the class particularly challenging.
• Pray for clarity and insight as I develop a class on the book of Phillipians that I will teach in Nairobi in June.