A simple man named Joseph really impressed me the other day. I promised him that I would share his story with you. He said, “Please do, people need to know that Jesus changes everything.” I liked how he said that. Jesus changes everything.
Joseph lives in Nakuru, Kenya. By his own admission he was this city’s most successful drunk. He led a gang of guys, mostly young guys, who had nothing going on - no jobs, no real future, only a death on the streets would probably be their fate. Their collective purpose was to live in order to drink, smoke weed and laugh away their pain. It was a simple existence that precluded following any hopes or dreams one may have - an empty useless life. Then one day a young man, named Geofrey Masika, had a few moments as he was passing through town. He slowed down and stopped to share a simple message that had changed his life with those people he passed as he walked through the streets. Jeff, as we call him, saw Joseph and a few other young men, so he shared. Honestly Jeff didn’t expect much from sharing this message with Joseph. Joseph was drunk, but as we do in the IMFC - we don’t walk past - we share anyway. Just as Jeff thought, Joseph didn’t make any decision that day, so he left a little booklet with his contact information with Joseph and walked on. The thing that Jeff couldn’t see was that the Holy Spirit was working its way through a haze filled mind of this man named Joseph.
This message reached Joseph in his normal drunken state, but something about it kept gnawing at the reaches of his conscience that was not yet dulled by the massive intake of the local street brew. Eventually he called Jeff, and told him that he wanted to know more about this life changing Jesus, so Jeff left Nairobi and traveled back to Nakuru not really remembering who he might find. You see Jeff shares this same message daily and with hundreds of people, and quite often connecting the names with all those faces is a hard thing to do - especially when that face is just another drink encountered while on the streets. What Jeff found was a changed man. He found a sober man needing a Savior, and Joseph knew that Jesus was the only one who could save/change him. Jeff continued to disciple Joseph, and Joseph now runs with the Gospel. He laughs now because at first no one believed him, and they wanted nothing to do with him. “Who is this drunken fool here ranting about Jesus. Go and find your drink elsewhere”, they chimed. But Joseph was nothing if not passionate about a Saviour who changed him and he was consistent in his method. Over time one young man named Vincent was convinced that Jesus had in fact changed Joseph, and he too believed. Then they began walking together, and then another named James — believed. Those three began reaching and producing more and more disciples.. Now there is a movement of producers in Nakuru. There are over 1000 of them running and sharing the Gospel, baptizing and planting house churches. The faithful are gathering together to praise and worship wherever they are: the side of the trash dump, on a hill, in one home after another. Lives are changing, and it’s an amazing thing to watch.
Why is this happening here in Nakuru, Kenya:
1. God saw his children, weak and hurting, and loved them so He sent His only Son to die as the punishment for their sins.
2. A man named Jeff heard a message from a man named Julius who heard a message from a man named Peter who heard a message from a man named Michael in the streets of Mbale, Uganda. Michael was a drunk in the streets of Kampala who heard a message from a man named Jimmy Barry, and then he ran to his hometown in Mbale to share it there.
3. Jimmy heard a message that goes all the way back to a few unnamed people in the Bible who were running for their lives. They had nothing (they were refugees), but a message that changed their lives, about a Saviour that forgives and changes. Acts 11:19-21.
When will this simple message stop? Only when no one shares it, but as long as there are men like Jeff, Julius, Peter, Winono, Joseph, a lady named Regina, another named Pamela. . . . . It will never stop until we ALL gather together in a scene that is described in Revelation 19:1.
Why is it not happening in your town, USA?
Well, I suspect its because you’re not on the street sharing.
