First Day of Classes
I have a restless night for some reason, a bit of a backache through much of the night. Perhaps I am nervous about teaching today. I get up for the prayer time at 5:00. Pastor Eben Yoon gives a devotional on Proverbs 14:12 – There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. I am having a hard time getting used to all the noise during the prayer time, especially as it crescendos. I’m still not sure what to make of it. There is none of this at any of the services during the day. Richard brings me coffee and a continental breakfast again.
There is a faculty prayer meeting at 7:30 am. There I meet Rev. Masila and Christine Jebet, two other instructors. We read Psalms 82-83, every one taking a verse. Rev. Kim asks for prayer requests and then we go to prayer.
I preach at the morning chapel service at 8:00. I continue in James 1 (from last Wednesday afternoon), this time covering James 1:5-8, on Seeking the Wisdom of the Lord Single-mindedly. Dr. Howard Carlson is there and we arrange that he will pick me up at about 5:00 this evening.. He later sends a very encouraging report to the presbyterians-bpc email list.
At 8:40 my first class begins. I distribute the notes and cover an overview of the course, reading the seventh chapter of the Westminster Confession of Faith, On God’s Covenant with Man. We cover almost a third of the notes in the first two hours, up to the Noahic covenant in Genesis 8-9. I’m going to have to slow down! On the whole the class seems to be able to follow me. There are a number of good questions that show that many of them are listening well. There is a keen jealousy for the doctrine of God’s sovereignty and a number of the students want to be sure that this idea of covenant does not place God and man on an equal footing. I have a few quotes in the notes that I have handed out that assure them that the doctrine of predestination is not compromised by a Scriptural view of covenant.
I go to my room to prepare for another lecture later in the afternoon. At 12:30 pm I meet Judith Collins who is taking me to lunch with another lecturer, Philip. We go to Utalii, a training school for the service industry. It appears to be a full-fledged hotel with swimming pool and restaurants; we sit outside and order tilapia (fish) with chips. Philip, who comes from a small work northwest of Nairobi, near the city of Nakuru, tells of how the Lord brought him out of the charismatic movement and much about his ministry and how the Lord has blessed him, though it is a small, struggling work.
We return to BCEA campus with a few minutes for me to prepare my lecture on the Abrahamic covenant. This is the last hour of the day: 4:00 – 4:50. We experience something of a misunderstanding: when I mention that because of the late hour of the day and the heat, this time together will be a test for all of us; some misunderstand and think that I will be giving them a test. They are relieved when that is cleared up! The lecture goes well; I give a detailed explanation of how the Lord called Abram, entered into a covenant with him and gave him the covenant sign of circumcision.
Dr. Carlson comes to pick me up shortly after 5:00 pm. He takes me out to see the campus of Faith College of the Bible. I meet Joshua Musyoka, son of Solomon Muthukya; he and I were class mates at Western Reformed Seminary in Tacoma, WA in 1989. He is now principal of FCB. I get a general tour of the campus and meet some of the students. There is a dispute about property lines with one of the neighbours, who Howard thinks is just trying to bully them into capitulating. But they have done the survey work and the property lines are well documented.
We go to the Carlson’s house which is in a compound, not too far from BCEA campus. It is good to see Bonnie Carlson again. We have supper and Howard expresses a concern for greater unity amongst the Bible Presbyterians in Kenya. We read the Scriptures and pray, and then we get my laptop hooked up to the internet. The Carlsons have a fairly good connection, up to Kenyan broadband quality. I get my email and contact Keith Coleman at the Independent Board using Skype software. We have a fairly good connection, although it gets dropped periodically and we have to figure out the time delay. I give him a brief report. He is quite understanding when I tell him that I would rather be talking to my wife. So I disconnect and get Gini on a Skype connection. Michael and Stephen are there with her and we have a nice chat. We try a video connection and it’s good to see everyone again! But it seems to use a lot of bandwidth, so we discontinue it in favour of audio only.
There is a faculty prayer meeting at 7:30 am. There I meet Rev. Masila and Christine Jebet, two other instructors. We read Psalms 82-83, every one taking a verse. Rev. Kim asks for prayer requests and then we go to prayer.
I preach at the morning chapel service at 8:00. I continue in James 1 (from last Wednesday afternoon), this time covering James 1:5-8, on Seeking the Wisdom of the Lord Single-mindedly. Dr. Howard Carlson is there and we arrange that he will pick me up at about 5:00 this evening.. He later sends a very encouraging report to the presbyterians-bpc email list.
At 8:40 my first class begins. I distribute the notes and cover an overview of the course, reading the seventh chapter of the Westminster Confession of Faith, On God’s Covenant with Man. We cover almost a third of the notes in the first two hours, up to the Noahic covenant in Genesis 8-9. I’m going to have to slow down! On the whole the class seems to be able to follow me. There are a number of good questions that show that many of them are listening well. There is a keen jealousy for the doctrine of God’s sovereignty and a number of the students want to be sure that this idea of covenant does not place God and man on an equal footing. I have a few quotes in the notes that I have handed out that assure them that the doctrine of predestination is not compromised by a Scriptural view of covenant.
I go to my room to prepare for another lecture later in the afternoon. At 12:30 pm I meet Judith Collins who is taking me to lunch with another lecturer, Philip. We go to Utalii, a training school for the service industry. It appears to be a full-fledged hotel with swimming pool and restaurants; we sit outside and order tilapia (fish) with chips. Philip, who comes from a small work northwest of Nairobi, near the city of Nakuru, tells of how the Lord brought him out of the charismatic movement and much about his ministry and how the Lord has blessed him, though it is a small, struggling work.
We return to BCEA campus with a few minutes for me to prepare my lecture on the Abrahamic covenant. This is the last hour of the day: 4:00 – 4:50. We experience something of a misunderstanding: when I mention that because of the late hour of the day and the heat, this time together will be a test for all of us; some misunderstand and think that I will be giving them a test. They are relieved when that is cleared up! The lecture goes well; I give a detailed explanation of how the Lord called Abram, entered into a covenant with him and gave him the covenant sign of circumcision.
Dr. Carlson comes to pick me up shortly after 5:00 pm. He takes me out to see the campus of Faith College of the Bible. I meet Joshua Musyoka, son of Solomon Muthukya; he and I were class mates at Western Reformed Seminary in Tacoma, WA in 1989. He is now principal of FCB. I get a general tour of the campus and meet some of the students. There is a dispute about property lines with one of the neighbours, who Howard thinks is just trying to bully them into capitulating. But they have done the survey work and the property lines are well documented.
We go to the Carlson’s house which is in a compound, not too far from BCEA campus. It is good to see Bonnie Carlson again. We have supper and Howard expresses a concern for greater unity amongst the Bible Presbyterians in Kenya. We read the Scriptures and pray, and then we get my laptop hooked up to the internet. The Carlsons have a fairly good connection, up to Kenyan broadband quality. I get my email and contact Keith Coleman at the Independent Board using Skype software. We have a fairly good connection, although it gets dropped periodically and we have to figure out the time delay. I give him a brief report. He is quite understanding when I tell him that I would rather be talking to my wife. So I disconnect and get Gini on a Skype connection. Michael and Stephen are there with her and we have a nice chat. We try a video connection and it’s good to see everyone again! But it seems to use a lot of bandwidth, so we discontinue it in favour of audio only.
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