We have added a Facebook page for Sema Leatherworks. Please visit here to see what we’re up to!

“Much prayer confirms that I am called to disciple the lost”, says Morris. He continues, “I was not raised in a Christian home and was quite disobedient in my younger years,” Since accepting Christ as his Lord and Savior, Morris now has peace in his life. He is strongly committed to reaching the lost in the Kariobangi South area of Nairobi.

This area was a flashpoint in the post-election turmoil of early 2008.  One of Morris’ ministry points is a school located at the junction of two neighborhoods dominated by the tribes most heavily involved in civil unrest during that period.  The school was heavily damaged and remained closed for one term.  Even now, it is full of school children, but has no doors, windows or functioning toilets.  Several classrooms remain uncovered where the roof was torn away. Morris visits the school weekly to teach Bible stories to the children. This often gives him a chance to meet their parents and obtain an invitation to visit their homes for prayers and ministerial counseling.  Several people have prayed to receive Christ as a results of these visitations.

Morris has emerged as a leader amongst his teammates at Sema Leatherworks. With great respect for his wisdom, Morris has been elected to serve as their chairman.  He provides keen insights as the workers’ point person when we discuss strategic matters which affect the whole group.  Morris is married and has has two children. To obtain better schooling, his daughter is presently living with her grandmother and is not pictured here.

Romans 5:8 is Morris’ favorite verse: “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”  Please pray for Morris as he shares the love of Jesus in the Kariobangi South area of Nairobi, Kenya.

Jacktone is a man of great faith.  He says, “God called me to evangelism. God has a plan and His timing is right.”  Where God leads, Jacktone faithfully follows.

In March, 2009, Jacktone and his family felt God’s call to minister in Kibera, Nairobi’s largest slum.  At the time, neither Jacktone nor his wife had steady employment.  Trusting in God to provide for their needs, they boldly relocated into Kibera which has a population of over 1,000,000.  In this challenging environment, Jacktone and his wife began sharing their faith in Jesus Christ with their new neighbors, and providing hope in the midst of much despair.

Jacktone interviewed with the Nairobi Business as Mission team in April and started working four days per week at the team’s Sema Leatherworks business in May.  This modest income has allowed Jacktone to provide for his family’s needs and start several Bible Storying Groups in Kibera in his off-duty hours.

Jacktone did not grow up in a Christian family and his actions as a youth did not honor God. After meeting a Christian, Jacktone realized he was lost and accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior.  His life verse is 1 Thes. 5:21 – “Test everything. Hold on to the good.” 

Please pray for God’s continued blessings on Jacktone and his family as they live out their Christian witness in the Kibera slum of Nairobi, Kenya.

Patrick has started a new Baptist church in the Kiwanja area of Nairobi and shares the Gospel with families and youth struggling with the challenges of drugs and alcohol. He is pictured here in front of the church with his two young sons.

Employment is scarce in Patrick’s ministry area, so many families have turned selling home-brewed beer, called Changa, to make ends meet.  This is not small-scale brewing for personal consumption.  Rather, the beer is produced and sold to dozens of alcoholic men who have lost all hope of finding employment.  They waste what little money they have on beer instead of caring for their families.

Patrick loves to share the love of Jesus by going door-to-door in these neighborhoods.  One family has realized that their beer brewing business is destroying rather than helping their community.  Patrick is helping them start raising pigs and rabbits so they can stop selling beer.  He is also also conducting a weekly Bible Storying group with the family and many of their present customers.  This is a difficult, and potentially dangerous, environment, so please pray for Patrick to be bold and remain safe.

Patrick felt God’s call to share the word of Jesus when he was ten years old. Working at Sema Leatherworks gives him the peace of providing for his family while fulfilling God’s call on his life. One of Patrick’s favorite verses is: Romans 3:23 – “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

This is the second profile of one of our Kenyan teammates on the Nairobi Business as Mission team. It really encourages these guys to receive feedback, so please feel free to respond.

Names are important in Kenyan culture, so one of the first things Francis Ngare will tell you is that his last name means “leopard” in the Kikuyu language.

Francis is a deacon in his local Baptist church and also feels God has called him to be a trainer in evangelism and discipleship. He actively shares his faith in the Dandora area of Nairobi through personal testimony and Bible stories. His favorite Bible verse is 1 Peter 3:15: ”But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.”

Francis has learned many new leathercrafting skills at Sema Leatherworks. One of his favorites is painting leather inlays for Christmas ornaments the group is making. Francis says, “I’ve never been a painter before working with this group.” Francis enjoys meeting new people, especially visitors from America.

Working four days per week at Sema leatherworks provides a modest income for Francis and his family.  This helps him focus on evangelism, church planting and his responsibilities as a deacon in his time away from work.

Please pray that “Francis Leopard” will continue in boldness as he shares the love of Jesus in the neighborhoods of Dandora.

We’ll be publishing short profiles of the Kenyans on the Nairobi Business as Mission team. It really encourages these guys to receive feedback, so please feel free to respond.

 Charles Mwangi believes God has called him to engage lostness and disciple new Christians in the Dagoretti and Kikuyu areas of Nairobi. Charles has remained obedient to the Great Commission in spite of challenges he has encountered in ministry. His life verse is Isaiah 6:1 – “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple.

Charles has remained faithful in the face of intense persecution from a local gang. His house has been vandalized and one of his Bible Storying groups was recently attacked, resulting in the robbery of the attendees cell phones.

Charles kept his composure and prayed that he would have a chance to share the Gospel with those who treated him so badly.  When the opportunity arose, he did just that and two of the gang members repented and accepted Christ as Lord and Savior! They now regularly attend the very same weekly group they had previously robbed!

Charles is also becoming a skilled leathercrafter at Sema Leatherworks. He is very grateful for the opportunity to earn a modest income to provide for his family’s needs.

Please pray that Charles will continue in boldness to reach the lost in the areas God has called him to minister to in Nairobi.

I recently joked on Facebook that my entire Texas MBA class would question my sanity for starting Sema Leatherworks without having an expert to teach our workers the required skills. I noted, however, that I work for a different Boss than most of them do!

In Swahili, “fundi” is used to designate an expert in a particular skill or trade. Its plural (according to my Swahili dictionary) is “mafundi”. Leather is “ngozi”. The linking term “wa” means “of”. So collectively our fourteen young workers are striving to become “mafundi wa ngozi” or “experts of leather”.

Sema has been blessed by our Director of Operations, Chacha Boke, a gentle man of God with magnificent pastoral skills and many years of experience as a woodcraftsman. Chacha is one of the most patient people I have ever met. With assistance from a couple of our missionary colleagues and a pile of books on leathercrafting, Chacha is teaching himself and the other workers the building-block skills required to make small leather curios. Progress over the first month of operations has been phenomenal. 

From learning to make straight cuts (now, please try again and keep the waviness out), the guys have progressed to making cuts of particular lengths (so, next time let’s make it exactly 4”, not 3¾” or 4½”).

Instead of brushing a little water on a piece of leather before striking it 10 times (in “approximately” the same location) with a carving tool, the guys have learned to soak the leather in a bucket of water, allow it dry out to the appropriate texture, and then strike it once in a precise location with the carving tool.

Most importantly, the guys are making excellent progress in sharing their personal testimony and a set of evangelistic Bible Stories with their friends, families, and neighbors. Most have already led several people to faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.  Several have started “Bible Storying Groups” in which they continue to let the Truth of God’s Word work in the hearts of seekers and new Christians.

As you ponder these words from the writer of Hebrews, please enjoy the slideshow below.

May the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep,  equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. Hebrews 13:20-21

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Thanks to all who support us through prayer, encouragement and contributions through the Southern Baptist Cooperative Program, Lottie Moon Christmas Offering, and Baptist Global Response.

Blessings in our Savior, Jesus Christ!

Ron, Nancy and Erin Copeland
Nairobi Business as Mission Team Leaders

It didn’t seem possible, but week 2 of the Nairobi Business as Mission (BAM) Boot Camp was even better than the first!

The level of commitment and enthusiasm of the 14 young men increased daily. There was a real sense of bonding as they continued to learn and practice more of the Bible Stories they will share in small groups of new believers and “seekers” in their neighborhoods all around Nairobi. This group truly has the potential to make a difference for their Savior in the city of Nairobi!

Several missionary colleagues taught on topics of special interest, and Harold Putney, our dear friend from Carrollton, Texas, provided many great insights and much encouragement to the group. The guys referred to him as “Mzee”, a Swahili term of respect for a wise man with grey hair. Harold certainly fits that description!

Our last report focused on the “mission” side of our ministry. In this report we would like to share more on the “business” side. Jobs are extremely scarce in Nairobi, even for honest, capable and qualified workers. In addition to training these young men in evangelism and church planting techniques, the Nairobi BAM team is helping them earn a modest income to care for their families.

Sema Leatherworks Limited has been established to provide an opportunity for these young men to learn leathercrafting skills and manufacture a variety of objects that the company will sell on their behalf. Sema is the Swahili word for “to talk/speak”, which reflects Sema’s goal of selling leather products to enable the Gospel to be heard throughout Nairobi.

We are very blessed to have Rev. Chacha Zachariah Boke as our Director of Operations. Chacha is a seasoned pastor, as well as a expert craftsman. He is doing a great job of supervising Sema’s daily operations. The workers really respect him and eagerly learn the new skills he is teaching them.

After two weeks of “boot camp”, it was time to celebrate a great start to this new and exciting ministry. “Nyama choma” means “roasted meat” and it took four goats to feed this hungry crowd.

The BAM team and its trainees were blessed to fellowship with three of our partners from the Nairobi Baptist Association, as well as several missionary colleagues who served as guest lecturers during the boot camp. Pictured here is the Association’s Secretary, Rev. Boniface K. Rukaria.

Each BAM participant received a Certificate of Completion and several honored guests provided words of encouragement.  Then, it was time to eat! We provided a faithful witness to our Baptist heritage as we dined on local favorites such as roasted goat, ugali and sukuma wiki.

Finally, it was time to say goodnight and goodbye for a one week “resting period” before returning to begin the next phase of our journey together. But you can be sure this group will not sit around idly during their week away. As a team, they have agreed to hold each other accountable to share their faith regularly.

During our time together, Jerry McFerron shared Habakkuk 2:14: “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.” Only the Lord knows the eternal impact this committed and tightly knit group of Christian warriors will have for His kingdom.  Please continue to pray for them to be faithful to their commitments and blessed for their efforts.

Thanks to all who support us through prayer, encouragement and contributions through the Southern Baptist Cooperative Program, Lottie Moon Christmas Offering, and Baptist Global Response.

Blessings in our Savior, Jesus Christ!

Ron, Nancy and Erin Copeland
Nairobi Business as Mission Team Leaders

On Monday May 4, 2009, the Nairobi Business as Mission Team opened a two-week “boot camp” for its first 14 participants. This event is the culmination of more than a year of prayer, visioning and planning.

Each participant submitted an application, received a recommendation from their pastor, was screened by Nairobi Baptist Association leadership and was interviewed by our team’s Advisory Committee. The result is an incredible group of energetic young men who love the Lord and want to reach their city for Him.

Here’s a picture of the Wendani Baptist Training Centre.  The two levels that are visible serve as classrooms. The submerged level has sleeping facilities which allow the group to stay on-site for the entire two weeks.

In order to arrive by 9:00 Monday morning, some of the men had to board a matatu (14 passenger commuter van) as early as 6:00 a.m. to travel across town.

After a wonderful time of praise and worship and introductions, the guys got down to the business of learning and practicing how to share their faith with friends, family and neighbors for the purpose of starting new churches.

There’s no better place than the book of Acts to find a model for successful evangelism and church planting. Some of the time is spent in small groups “hunting for elephants”—the major points of a passage of Scripture. Every part of Nairobi is represented in this diverse group, so small group discussions are a great way to meet new friends and gain new perspectives.

Several of our missionary colleagues generously offered to teach sessions on a variety of topics. In this picture, Doug Lee is challenging the young men to allow themselves to be held accountable by their peers to share their faith weekly. We also had sessions on sharing personal testimony and the Biblical basis for reaching out to all “nations” or ethnic groups.

Please pray for this small but mighty band of Christian warriors. With the leading of the Holy Spirit they hope to reach out to many parts of Nairobi that have never heard the true Gospel message in a meaningful way. We’ll post more pictures soon so that you can continue to learn specifically how to pray for them. Thanks to all who support us through prayer, encouragement and contributions through the Southern Baptist Cooperative Program, Lottie Moon Christmas Offering, and Baptist Global Response.

Nancy and Ron had an adventurous day today. Shortly after Erin left for school at 7:30, we headed out to pick up our good friend, Annie, and our leathercrafting instructor, Elijah. Traffic was surprisingly light, so it only took about 45 minutes to drive through several residential sections of town (full of speed bumps and potholes).

At 8:30, we left Annie’s house and headed to the Alpharama leather factory to purchase leather for the “business side” of our new ministry effort. It took about 90 minutes to commute through downtown Nairobi, pass the airport, take several detours for road construction on Mombasa Road and find the factory.

As we pulled through the gate, we were greeted by a very nice guard and the odor of “fresh” cow, goat, sheep, and camel hides piled on wooden pallets in the open area in front of the factory buildings. After providing us with a parking pass, he asked that we move our Rav4 from the perfectly dry visitors’ parking area into the middle of a big mud puddle.  Then, we were escorted to the “reception area”.  The receptionist phoned the production manager, Simon, whom we had met on an earlier visit, and he promptly came (in 30 minutes) to escort us to the “showroom”. On the way, we were allowed to use a private restroom (thankfully), and saw many young men wearing elbow-length rubber gloves sorting more raw hides from more pallets into piles under signs marked “Red”, “Yellow”, “Blue”, and “Green”. We were afraid to ask what the color coding indicated, but can report, however, that the odors were so strong that WE were turning a shade of green!

In the “showroom”, Simon asked us exactly what types of leather we were interested in purchasing. We told him that we are starting out with simple products like keychains and bookmarks which will require “vegetable tanned” leather (which means that the leather is processed with vegetable-based solvents instead of chrome-based solvents).  When we told Simon that his “veg tan” samples were too thin, he politely replied “hakuna shida” (there is no problem) and bolted from the room. Forty-five minutes later he returned with a cart of thicker “veg tan” and we picked out three large 50 pound bundles. We picked out some additional rolls of leather for other items we are planning to make and said that we were ready to pay for our purchases.

Simon then called the sales manager who arrived about 30 minutes later. He was very kind and gave us a discount as he prepared our handwritten invoice. We were then escorted to another office and, 30 (more) minutes later, the chief accountant arrived to accept our cash payment. (First-time buyers must pay in cash, of course!) There’s more to the story, but we won’t bore you with it.

By 12:30 we were ready to depart. Unfortunately, we couldn’t quite leave behind the odors—the entire back of the Rav was stacked with the processed leather we had just purchased! None of us had a big appetite, so the bag of crackers Nancy passed around was sufficient for lunch.

As expected, return traffic was light until we got past the airport. Then, we got into a massive traffic jam—the worst we have experienced in our four years in Kenya. We bought sodas from one of the kajillion hawkers who make their living patrolling areas that are frequently congested. Once, we were stopped so long that a matatu driver (14 passenger minivan taxi) was able to completely change a flat tire while we watched!

Nancy called Erin when she got out of school at 3:30 and told her that she would arrive home before us. At 4:15 we finally arrived back at Annie’s house. We ran an errand on the way home and convinced ourselves that we were too tired to cook dinner. We quickly unloaded the leather and went to our favorite restaurant. Ron was the only one brave enough to eat beef!

At 7:30 we finally arrived home for the evening. As we got ready to take much-needed baths we realized that “the odor” was still with us—embedded in our clothes and skin. Erin was kind enough not to complain that her parents stunk very badly, and the baths helped a lot. But as we are preparing for bed tonight, we both can still smell that smell.

Ahhh….the adventurous lives of missionaries in Kenya. Bwana Asifiwe (Praise the Lord)!