The Remarkable Accomplishments of a Life-long Church Planter in Kenya

Note from Jon Nelms

There is absolutely nothing I know of that is more effective in helping national preachers plant churches and train pastors than the Great Commission Fund. Some would argue that direct, full support is better than a ministry subsidy; however, my thirty-eight years of experience have convinced me that providing a high level of support has the potential to have several adverse effects:

• It can cause the recipient to live above the level of those he pastors and works with. This is a death blow to a third-world ministry.
• They can become dependent on outside sources rather than “living off the ministry,” as Paul taught. When the source is removed, the ministry perishes. This is why many churches started by foreigners tend to fail when they leave unless another funded foreigner replaces them.
• It removes the necessity for the local congregation to take care of its own pastors and makes them employees of the sponsor rather than leaders of the ministry.
• It promotes the idea that a pastor should and must be full-time in ministry rather than a tentmaker like Paul

There are other reasons, but that is not the purpose of this article. Instead, we want to illustrate, using one man’s life, how our ministry subsidy for experienced church planters is more effective than full support in fulfilling the Great Commission. It gives the preachers a subsidy they cannot live on but allows them to expand the ministries that THEY, not WE, have started. “To better do what they were already doing.”

In 2023, our preachers, funded by their subsidies, planted 78,622 new house churches at an average cost of only $4. How many churches would you like to fund for us this year?

Now, let me introduce you to a remarkable national preacher.

Reverend David Shikambi Luvai was born in 1920 in a PAG household (Pentecostal Assemblies of God). Due to school, he was not a staunch Christian, and his parents were not strict about church attendance. After completing his teacher training in 1959, he was first posted to the school at Kakamega and later returned home, where he changed his denomination and joined a Southern Baptist church after meeting a missionary to Kenya named Weaver.

Pastor David Shikambi Luvai and his wife, Methabel, attending a church event. Methabel was a strong support in the ministry and a women’s leader until her passing in 2019.

Pastor David married his wife, Methabel, in 1968, who was in a different denomination but later joined the Baptist church. They have four children: Geoffrey, Kennedy, Helen, who is since deceased, and Emmanuel, and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren. David was saved in 1966 in a Southern Baptist church under a missionary named Weaver after hearing him declare the Word of God. In 1969, he moved to Nandi, where they were able to plant Kechire Baptist Church. They did not have a pastor in the church, and various men, some of whom were not qualified, began to teach, so the church became weak.

At that time, his teaching responsibilities in a different area made it difficult for him to attend the church faithfully. In 1974, Missionary Jerry Daniels (Baptist Bible Fellowship) and a local preacher from Nairobi, George Kungu, came to Nandi for evangelism. With the aid of the two men, Kechire Baptist revived and started again. George Kungu pastored the church under Missionary Daniels, who also evangelized the town of Eldoret. Their teaching doctrines laid a strong foundation for this young church.

Missionary Jerry Daniels and Pastor David Luvai hold a grand opening for a new church facility.

In 1976, another missionary, Tommy Moore, joined the ministry but was more involved in the Eldoret Ministry, and missionary Jerry Daniels left for Nanyuki to plant more churches there. David became the first church secretary in 1976 and, in 1977, became the first Deacon of the church with the late J. Savatia and joined the newly formed Bible School the same year. At that time, the only Bible College was Grace Baptist in Thika town, but it was hard to attend there; hence, David attended a crash program in Soy, which was later moved to Langas Eldoret. In 1976, Tommy left, and Missionary Randall Stirewalt (Baptist Bible Fellowship) took over the ministry expansion in the region.

Rev. David graduated from Bible College in 1979, together with Rev. James Muthama, Rev. James Kupsang, and others. That same year, Pastor George Kungu left the church to plant more works, and Rev. David took on the leadership role as the Pastor of Kechire Baptist Bible Church. He was later ordained in the year 1981. A conflict arose with a missionary called Simpson, who broke up the group of preachers into two fellowships, and missionary Randall almost left the Kenyan ministry in discouragement. Reverend David was among the five national preachers (Rev. Muthama, Rev. Alute, Rev. Thumbi, and the late Rev. Ambani) who encouraged Missionary Randall, stood by him through the trying times, and convinced him to stay. They are called “the Big Five” to this day. (These five church planters were among the first twelve Final Frontiers began supporting around 1992.)

David Shikambi Luvai graduated from Bible College in 1979, along with Rev. James Muthama, Rev. James Kupsang, and others.

Pastor David’s work with missionary Randall Stirewalt led to the planting of his first church in 1986. It was called Kapkangani Baptist Bible Church. He planted a house church, Kimatika Baptist, in 1996. In 2005, they bought land and built a facility. He planted three other churches in Samo, Chemoru, and Sicho that year. These are among the 103 churches he has started and others that he has greatly assisted in planting throughout Nandi. Pastor David has also trained a lot of Timothies to date; among them are preachers in the Nandi Fellowship, such as Haron Musonye, Elias Boit, and Amos Kizengwe, among others who are still in the ministry and have planted more churches on their own. Many of whom we have today as reverends and pastors were trained by him since he assisted in the Bible school as a teacher for 11 years from 1997-2008. Among the women he has trained who are pastor’s wives are Sarah, Pastor Edward Masingu’s wife; Nancy, Pastor Jason Ambani’s wife; Cherop, Pastor Silas Lugongo’s wife; and many more.

The main challenges he has had in ministry are illness, including diabetes and “tropical ulcers” that eat away the flesh and meat on his foot. This condition started in the year 1983 and led to him having high blood pressure. He has had this condition for 41 years, and it is still ongoing. He has undergone skin grafting twice, but it wasn’t successful. The condition has no suitable treatments; hence, they dress the wounds twice a week. He has to visit the hospital that is far away from his home twice a week, and to date, his medical insurance has been exhausted, and they have to rely on church donations and good Samaritans.

Pastor David Shikambi Luvai’s legs and feet show the impact of tropical ulcers, a condition he has battled since 1983.

His medical condition made him retire as a teacher in 1994, as a Bible school teacher in 2008, and as a church pastor in 2015. He oversees church functions and helps in counseling and advising on the pastor’s direction for the church. He cannot walk long distances or stand for long, making it hard to do ministry work. His wife was always a great support in the ministry and his life, but unfortunately, they lost her in 2019 due to a heart condition. She was primarily a women’s leader in the church and assisted in many ministry activities.

Pastor David started 103 churches and assisted in planting many others throughout Nandi. This is one of those churches.

Pastor Elias Boit has been a blessing in his life. He was given the leadership of Kechire Baptist Bible Church as Pastor David moved on gracefully. He even assists Reverend David with his daily needs in his home, accompanies him, and takes him to the hospital. Pastor Elias is like a son to Rev David. David and his wife adopted him as an abandoned child, and now, with Christian gratitude, he is taking care of David. Though their houses are built in the same compound, he says he can’t remember the last time he slept in his own home. He has to be with Rev. David all day and all night since Rev. needs attention due to pains, especially at night. Other challenges that he has faced in the ministry include:

• Conflict between neighboring churches and people from different denominations. The Baptist church was nicknamed “the childish church.” Since we do not practice forms of worship that other denominations use, they believe our doctrine is immature.
• When missionaries in the area left, we did not have monetary and spiritual support for the new churches being planted and preachers being trained. (This illustrates the need for the Great Commission Fund to give us help to serve rather than a salary to be dependent upon.)
• Finding land to build churches; hence, they have been forced to have home churches and worship under trees.
• In his secular life, he had to quit his job as a school principal to focus entirely on the ever-expanding ministry.

From left: Missionary Jerry Daniels, Pastor David Luvai, and Missionary Randall Stirewalt.

God has rewarded Pastor David with years of faithful stewardship of His Lord’s work. He is so happy that he has been blessed with the 84 years he has lived. Doctors tell him they have no idea how he is still alive despite the medical conditions that he has. He currently lives at his home with Pastor Boit and one of the ladies they have employed to help prepare meals for him. A few great-grandchildren also help by caring for the house and maintaining general cleanliness. He has been blessed to see his grandchildren’s children, and God’s grace has been sufficient in his life and ministry. In his final years, he continues to mentor the young preachers in the area, and his history inspires many as he teaches his church planting principles, peppered with tales of the 103 churches he started. His prayer is for more people to be reached with the Gospel of Christ and for more churches to be planted in Nandi.

Pastor David requires some supplies to help improve his condition, including:

• A high blood pressure kit – $80
• Antibiotics – $40 a month
• Dressing supplies such as gauze, gloves, etc. – $40 a month
• Strips for the diabetes kit – $10 a month
• Special diet – $100 in a month
• Means of transport to the hospital and helping aid – $100 a month.

Pastor Boit also suggests that getting a motorbike would eliminate most of the expenses of taking Rev. David to the hospital. The one-time cost is $1350 compared to an ongoing monthly expense of $100.

Please pray with him over these needs.

About Missionary Randall Stirewalt

We first began supporting Randall’s team around 1992. At that time, he had twelve church planters and twelve churches but did not have funds to feed them. He came home on furlough, tempted not to return because he considered himself “a failure,” having started ONLY twelve churches. I assured him that his record was exemplary, that he could go back and continue his work, and that Final Frontiers would take the burden of their support from him. Since that time, we have grown from personally supporting twelve men with twelve churches to supporting 230 men who have started 8,172 churches with 564,641 salvation decisions. This number does not include what they have led and helped their thousands of timothies to accomplish. Currently, and throughout the years, each of our supported men, in every location, has between two and fifteen timothies being trained. They, in turn, have timothies of their own, and so forth.

Randall also started seven Bible colleges, six in Kenya and one in Uganda. He also referred us to other missionaries who were doing great work but needed similar help for their national church planters’ support. One of them is Jerry Daniels, who is also in Kenya.

Randall Stirewalt passed away in April 2020, and his wife Phyllis now lives in the United States and is cared for by family. Randall and Phyllis were both from the Kansas/Missouri area and came to Christ as children through the bus ministry. We were honored to serve him.