Like we said, this is our passion project. This is something where we are really excited about with trim the wick, because our heart is to connect the church here with the work that's being done there.
That's right. Because, as one body across the world. Right. We are one body of Christ.
Yes.
All the way across the world. And we have resources that our church family over there needs.
Right.
And they have resources that we need. There is something in Stephen Mary's heart and passion and willingness to live out the gospel to their own detriment and to their own discomfort that we here need to see and be partnered with so that we can learn from.
Well, hello again, and welcome back to the Trim the Wick podcast. I'm, Dan.
And I'm Becky.
And we are with you again this week. Thank you so much for hanging out with us this week. We've got something we want to share with you that is kind of our passion project.
Yeah, we get to talk about people we love and stuff they're doing that, we are privileged to partner with them in.
Yes. And so some of you might know that Becky and I, about seven years ago, got to go to Kenya on that trip, we met some wonderful people, amazing people. Pastor Steve and Pastor Mary. And they work in the slums of Nairobi. Listen, when we talk about the harsh conditions of the slums, that's exactly where they are.
You know, when you picture the dirt streets and the tin shacks and the things that are homes and businesses even, that are cobbled together from whatever scrap wood and scrap building material they can find, that's exactly what we're talking about. We're talking about no running water. We're talking about no facilities. It's the slum.
Yeah, I remember we did something a couple years ago. I don't know if, I think it was either Amnesty International or, what was the organization?
It was Compassion International.
Yeah, it was compassion International. We went to this thing where they were showing different areas of the world that compassion works. And they had actually a little mockup.
They had a walkthrough trailer. It was really a cool presentation. Yeah.
Of Kenya. And it was a kenyan slum. And it was very accurate representation. The only thing that was not correct, Washington. The, smell. You can't reproduce that smell, that you get when you're there. And also the heat, the intense heat when you're inside these little tin shacks is just incredible. That's what Steve and Mary do, is that they are from that area. They actually grew up in the corgocho slums and God called them out dramatically and saved Steve's life.
Right.
And then later he got married to Mary. Mary got saved. And it's just an incredible story of just their transformation of who they were living in the slums to who they are now.
Right.
And now God has called them to go back into the slums to work.
Right. And to bring light into that dark place. And, you know, I love talking to them. You know, people that you meet that you go there is just, they're almost literally glowing from the inside out.
Right.
That is Steve and Mary. They just, it doesn't matter. You can be in the middle of the worst slum with them, speaking to the hardest person in that slum with them and praying over them. And the light of Jesus just radiates from their faces.
Yeah.
And because of the transformation in their lives and because the people that they minister to know that this isn't just somebody coming in from the outside and saying, oh, you know, we've got this bill of goods that we want to sell you. Right, right. These are people that have lived there, have, known that life and whom Jesus has radically changed and who are now going back in to offer life and hope. It is an absolute privilege to be invited alongside them every time we're there.
Right. So when we met them, we did not know who they were. We were introduced by another friend. And so we're in a foreign country on the other side of the world. We have no idea who these people are. They don't know who we are. And we meet up and it was immediately like family.
Right.
And had a wonderful time just hanging out with them. it was a Sunday morning, so we did church services. And just to be able to be there and to get to meet them and to meet some of the people, the church. And we went into the Kaiole slum, right, where they had started a church. And in this slum there was only about, well, actually not about, there was only twelve that were there.
Yeah.
And we, ministered to there. And as the week went on, more would come. But one of the things that they were doing in this slum is every week they were feeding children and they had made it their mission that on Saturdays they were going to feed the children.
Right. And at that time they were feeding about five to 600 every single week.
Right. And I want to kind of, we set you up by saying those conditions of the slums, the conditions where the church was, was the same way it was ah, just a tin building, basically. And they had an open kitchen with, just some pots and pans out back. And they actually had to go down across the street to get the water.
Right. They would get water in containers to cook the beans and the rice in the. And when we say that there was a kitchen, we're talking open flame. This is not stoves and ovens like western us is used to. We're talking about either over a propane tank or over a wood fire, open flame, heating up enough water in these large cook pans to feed five to 600 kids.
Yeah. And the thing was, is that it was only at that time, it was only about three or four people that were helping him. And so they're feeding all these kids. And as you just walked around the slums. And actually, we didn't get to walk around on that trip. Not on that trip, because the security pastor, Steve was like, it's not safe for you guys to be walking around. So we kind of drove around and it was amazing to me to see how many children
were living in that condition. A year later, we did get to go back and actually participate in the feeding program.
Right.
And in that situation, it was such a wonderful celebration time. It was fun because the music was playing. Everyone was having a good time by that time. Now he had about ten. Now, remember when we went a year earlier, there was only twelve in the church. Now he had at least ten that were helping as volunteers.
Right. Well, and that's one of the beautiful things about this feeding program, is that it's not just feeding the children.
Right.
When they can, they send food home with the children because they know that there is probably a, ah, mama or a daddy or more siblings that are at home waiting to be fed. And also Pastor Steve and Mary, one of their big missions is to provide job opportunity and job training for people that are in the slums. And prostitution is in a lot of cases, the only avenue that a lot of these women see as available to them for earning a living.
Yes.
And so there are so many in the area that turn to prostitution just so that they can feed their families. In this feeding program, Pastor Steve and Mary employ and pay the women who cook and the people who carry the water. So there is opportunity at every level of this to bring life and hope into the slums.
Right. One of the things that Pastor Steve and Pastor Mary said to us on our first trip there was that we don't want to raise up people to leave the slums. We want to transform the slums and change it from the inside out. And he told us that what is happening is because Kenya, in that area of the world, Kenya is one of the most stable countries, in that area. And Nairobi was the biggest town, the capital city.
And people would come from all over the world and they would try to get a job because that's where the money was as a Nairobi. And they realized very quickly there's not as much work as they thought there was. Especially, if you didn't have any skills except for just being a laborer. And you end up the only place to live is in the slums because that's the only place you can afford.
Right.
And the next thing you know, you just spiral into this thing of alcoholism, drugs, sex crime. Yeah.
It just where your quote unquote opportunity is.
Exactly. And what was happening, and the thing that he was seeing was that a lot of organizations were coming into the slums and they were finding the best and the brightest, right. And then they would pull them out.
Right. Go give them an education and set them up somewhere else outside of the slums. And look, we rescued you.
Yes. And then they would have these great stories of how they rescued people from the slums. But the slums kept perpetuating the same thing. It kept becoming, ah, a place of destitute, a place of drugs, a place of drunkenness, of place of prostitution, because there was no change happening actually in the slums. And so one of the missions that God placed on Steve and Mary's heart was that we're not going to steal the good
people away. We're going to transform the slum and turn this into a place where they can live safely, where it's a place where children can grow up, where it. It has facilities, it has all these things. But, you know, that's a lot of hard work.
Right.
especially when the government's not helping you out a whole lot and, you know, you're fighting a lot of the culture that, you know, keep the slums, the slums. A lot of people want to, want to keep it that way, but God has just been blessing them and encouraging them. So as they've been doing this feeding program, they hire workers.
Hm.
They have been able to basically rebuild the church multiple times. I think we're on our fifth, expansion of the church.
Right. They keep purchasing property that's adjacent and that is used for all this illicit activity in the slums. And they're turning it into, apartments for their church members. They're turning it into, their big hope right now is there is a piece of property. There are actually two pieces of property that they're looking at. One is directly adjacent to the Kaiole church.
Yes.
And they are looking to purchase that lot and turn it into an education center.
Yes.
and build a school there. the other piece of property that they're looking at that we're really excited about and had the opportunity to tour, in our most recent visit, back in December of 2023, we were privileged to walk through Choragojo slum.
Yes.
And their goal is to purchase a large plot of land there in Choragocho and begin a sister program to what's happening in Coyote, and Kaiole. We mentioned that when we were there, what, seven years ago, they were feeding about 600 kids a week. It is now over a thousand children.
Yes.
Are receiving food through their program every single week. M they have also been given inroads because of those fed children. They've been given inroads to help provide medical care for families that are in need of medical care. They have provided, mattresses and furnishings in some of these homes where people were literally sleeping on dirt. Again, they're providing job training and opportunity for the women and the men of the church.
Yes.
and they are looking to expand now into a full blown education center there in Kaiole. And then a sister program feeding kids in Coragocho. Can you tell we're excited about that?
Yes. Well, and here's the thing. You know, when we get. When we went to the slums, you know, seven years ago, it was from the car to the church. From the church to the car and out.
Okay. And guys, let me. Let me word picture here. We were in pastor Steve and Mary's minivan. And in order to protect us, you know, minivans have the dual sliding doors. They got sliding doors on both sides. And in order to protect us, we drove into the little dirt alleyway next to the church. And the church is of the same tin and found materials, construction as the rest of the slum. And he parked that vehicle like an inch away from the wall so that nobody could get into the side doors
on that side. And there was only access on the side that we were getting out of. We got out. We got into the church quickly.
Yep.
That was what the environment was at the time.
Yeah, we need to look at that and then go. What we looked at or what we dealt with just this past December when.
We were there was incredible.
Where literally we got out and walked the streets.
Right.
With a group of church members and prayed for people on, the street. We went into homes, we went into businesses. You know, this was unheard of seven years ago.
Right.
But because there is a transformation that is happening in the slums of. Because these people are seeing what Stephen Mary is all about, what the gospel of Jesus is all about, where it's more than just preaching the gospel, but it's about taking care of needs and ministering to people and loving on, people.
Right. It's not just a gospel that gives you hope in some future after you die time. Right. It gives you life and life more abundantly here and now.
Yeah. And so we got to walk the streets and got to pray with people, and it was just an amazing time. And we're seeing how all of this is expanding and growing. And again, this is our passion project.
I tried it. Yeah.
As you go to our website, you can see on our page, fan the flames we have where you can partner with us. And, not to become an infomercial or anything, but I want to just tell you guys that you can partner with us and send money through us that goes directly to them. We know that the money is not going off into some crazy bank account or some crazy thing and being used. We, have walked the streets. We've gone and bought the rice
and handed out the rice ourselves. We know that the money is being taken care of and is being used and just wanted to throw that out there. But if you want to be a part of joining with us in our passion project, you can do that on our website. And just. It's something that's just amazing.
Know that it is somebody that is trustworthy. And we have had a long term and hope to continue to have a long term relationship with and the things that they do and the heart that Steve and Mary have, because this is their home.
Right.
They look at this and they go, you know what? Jesus Christ brought us up and out of this completely changed our lives and gave us a future and a hope that we did not believe we would ever have. And we want people to know.
Yeah.
That we love them with the same love that we have been loved with. And we see for them a future and a hope that they cannot even conceive of yet.
Yes. One of the things that I also want to throw out to you is that if you want to go to Kenya, you know, let us know.
Yeah. We would love to talk with you.
On that, more than love to sit down and talk with you. It's not for everybody. We understand, but if it's something in your heart and it's a passion in your heart that you would want to go and to help out and to be there on the ground, just let us know in all of this, we wanted to give an opportunity from you to hear from Pastor Steve himself. Right this week we have an interview with Pastor Steve. Now, I've done, I did this interview a while back and it was over the telephone, so
it's not the greatest of quality. I'm gonna throw that out there right now. but you'll be able to hear his passion, his encouragement that he has for the people and for what God's doing in his life and in the slums of Kaiole at this time. So what we want to do is we want to take a few minutes here and let you listen to Pastor Steve. And this is an interview that I did a while back, and we're going to just kind of let that interview roll here. And Pastor Steve, I'm so glad and happy that you are
with me today. And I would love, just for a brief moment for you to share a little bit of how this ministry started and how God has called you to this, this ministry.
Okay, thank you very much and thank you for opportunity to share. I was born in slums of Korogosho. And when I was born there in Korogosho, I was born in, poor family. I raised myself. When I was a child, I used to go to dubside, for the food. And then when I was growing up, I, will reach 16 years. I became, a dancer time. I met with a woman of God, who preached to me, the good news of Jesus Christ. And I got saved. And when I got saved, there is where I was given the prophecy.
I, will be reaching out to those people who are in street. I will be giving hope slams and today, thank God, because that is what I'm doing. And, God grace. Now I have reached so many young men who came from drugs, some of them came from prostitution, others came from crime. And then now they are transformed and we are changing them together. Nairobi, preaching the good news of Jesus Christ. And also we are, ah, doing feeding programs, where we are feeding children a lot
of meat. And we are touching so many children. We are feeding many children in the slums because, I'm preaching in the slums. And as this time, there is a lot of need food, even one meal per day. And now we have taken the step of faith. we used to feed 400, but now we are feeding the whole community. many children, they are coming to us and they are coming very early because they know when they come there, they will be feeded and we are feeding them. We thank God because
God has been faithful. Although there is a lot of challenges that we are passing through because, we need more food, we need more support. So to continue to feed them, because sometimes there is a challenge to get this food, there is a challenge to get finances to support the feeding program. And, children, they are adding their self day by day. And, it is my prayer that, God will remember us and, raise people to support us so that we can continue with this good work
that we are doing in slums. M we have changed our slums because, some of the places that I greet, they used to have a bad name. they used to know those places. They are a place where leaves. but we have transformed so many places in slums in Nairobi, and we have given them a new name where now people gather together, ah, to receive the good news from the word of God.
That is amazing. Pastor Steve and I've had the pleasure, and Becky, my wife, has had the pleasure to walk with you on some of those streets. And, that was one of the things that jumped out to us was the amount of children that are living in those areas. I know that the first time we went, we, because of the flight and everything, we weren't able to help with the feeding program. but the second time we went, we did get to
participate. It was amazing to see the smiles on the faces and that we were serving hot food and giving everyone who was there, and there was no one who walked away hungry. Everyone got something.
First of all, I thank you for the, time that you have. You have come and visit us, and I share the word of God, because, every time you came, there are so many souls that transformed and changed. And even now they are standing, and they are preaching good news. So we thank God for that. As I told you, in slums is a place where there is a lot of challenges and there is a lot of families that they cannot afford their meal. There are some family who speak,
who sleep angry. So, when those children, they come there and they get that one meal is like some of them, they survive without one meal a day.
That's amazing. and if you want to see what Pastor Steve is doing, I'm going to put a link in the show notes. So when you're listening to this and you want to go to the show notes and there'll be a link to his Facebook page so that you can join his Facebook page and see the photos of the ministry. That's actually happening day by day, and you post pictures every day, which is amazing.
Another challenge is, you know, we are in places where there is a lot of things that is going on. There's a lot of people who are in alcohol, there are some people who are in drugs, there are people who are in crime. And, you know, that make us even to get another challenge. But we try our level best at reaching them out a time like this that we cannot together, we just pray for them and believe in God that, ah, will transform them and become a new creature.
Amen.
I don't know if there is another question.
Yes, well, and I know that when we were there, we spoke a lot about that. Not only are we feeding the stomachs, but the goal is to feed the soul. And, is to not leave people where they are, but that the power of Christ can change
them dramatically. I think of the ministry that you're doing with the young women who have come there and they have no work and they've turned to prostitution, and you've been able, you and your wife Mary have ministered to them to turn them and even help them find work and things like that. And it's just an amazing thing.
It's like there are those who come from, the street, those who are coming from prostitution, and they come and they transform through our ministry. So what we do, we try to know what they can do, and then we try our level best. And there are some, some of them, we have empowered them through small businesses. some of them, we have taken them back to the
school. And, there are some young people come and they are transformed from alcohol, drugs, and we try to give them even small businesses so that they can continue to work and they can have something that, they can feed their self and their family. So there is a lot of challenges comes, maybe is to empower them. M because, you know, God has given us grace and favor to reach out to these young people. And, you know, our ministry is a ministry that is like, everybody
have a testimony. If it is, it doesn't come from drugs. He came from alcohol, he came from prostitution, he came from, crime. And we thank God because we have seen a lot of transformation and, we have seen a lot of change for those young people until some of them have become a little more than their community, where now people look at them and they know that, drugs is not the way, crime is not the way, prostration is not the way, and
alcohol is not the way. And they can know that, jesus is only way, six. So we thank God for that. What we are trying to do is to, to get more partners who can empower us so that we can continue to empower our communities. Because, there is a lot of vision that we have. We have a vision to build, a good training center. We have a good vision to have a good fitting center, where people can become empowered.
We'll see what God is doing with us, with me and my wife, Pastor Mary, and stand with us and support us so that we can continue to more souls for Jesus.
That's right. And that's the thing. I love your vision. you've shared with me that you, envision to not just have the church there, but to eventually build a learning center to help empower them and to teach them. And I love, and I know in our last conversation when we were there, you were talking about how you don't want to run away from the slum. You want to change it. You want it
to change. And the way to do that is not by so much just changing my programs, but you got to change the hearts and the minds and let God, the ministry of God, to do his work in repentance and, restoration, which he's been doing on a grand scale there, which is just amazing. Just want you to know that, we love you guys here. Becky, and I and Pastor Mary and yourself. Pastor Steve, we just, we are, just so excited to call you our friends and to be able to stand with you and just in a little way
to minister with you. Pastor Steve, thank you so much for this time that you shared with us today. I'm just amazed that the work that you're doing, I know your heart and I know that every morning you, get up with just the joy of the Lord to go out and serve. And, it's just, it's. Again, it's an honor to call you a friend and to minister beside you.
Thank you very much. As, we are praying for you and, we are praying for America and we know God will give you another chance to come and visit us again. May God bless you so much. my prayer is like, let us pray for one another and we are believing that God come through for us. Thank you very much. God bless you.
Pastor, amen. Thank you, Pastor Steve, and I do appreciate you so much. So, God bless you, brother. Wow. That is an amazing testimony of what God's doing there in Kaiole. And hearing it from him is also awesome.
It is. I love hearing Pastor Steve speak. Anyway, he's just got that gentleness about his voice, which is just. If you understand his history and his background, to hear the gentleness of Christ in his voice is just astounding. Well, that's a little teaser. We'll tell you more of his testimony later, but, yeah, to hear his heart and to have walked with him for so many years.
Yes.
And to see that that is truly his heart, it's not a front that he's putting on. It's not a part time. I'll kind of do this a little bit halfway. This is his life, y'all.
Yes. You know, the full picture is he's got four children.
Yeah.
And he's actually got a brand new baby in the house who's only a couple years old now. And he's also got, teenagers as well. So, you know, he's a family man and he is just, loves the people. And it's such an amazing thing. Like we said, this is our passion project. This is something where we are really excited about with trim the wick, because our heart is to connect the church here with the work that's being done there.
That's right. Because as one body across the world. Right. We are one body of Christ all the way across the world. And we have resources that our church family over there needs.
Right.
and they have resources that we need. There is something in Stephen Mary's heart and passion and willingness to live out the gospel to their own detriment and to their own discomfort that we here need to see and be partnered with so that we can learn from.
Yes, there is a heart from them and also us. And we've talked about it and we're praying about that. They would love to come to the states and share what God has done in their life, and that is an amazing thing. And this feeding program, it's a, thing that is just kind of by faith. They do this each week by faith. They do not have any corporate sponsors. They do not have any people who are. They're not connected to any organization that provides for them every
week. And they kind of just raise this.
On their own, as the Lord provides every week. They spend every week. And guys, when we say as, ah, the Lord provides, they spend. We're not talking huge sums of money, in the grand scheme of things, to feed a the 1000 children per week. In order to provide that amount of food, they're spending about 250 USD, which is an insane sum in their world. But over here in our world, $250 is seen as kind of a small amount.
Yeah. And that's the thing is that we're looking at, you know, you go to the movie with a family of four, you're gonna drop $150 just in the movie and popcorn and drinks and all the other stuff, dinner out and stuff. And for $250 you're feeding 1000 children.
Right.
And it's just an incredible thing what they're doing.
It is. And so like we mentioned before on our website, www. Dot Matthew two five seven.com, if you go to our webpage, you can sponsor a week of feeding in the Kaiole slum, you can sponsor assisting with the purchase of that educational center, that property. we've talked to Pastor Steve and in order to secure that property, in grand total, they're going to need about 30,000 USD.
Right?
That's just over 3 million kenyan shillings. Okay. So if that, that tells you that's a big investment, for them. And like we said, they do everything that they do, they do on faith. And so if you can give towards that, that would be huge. The sister feeding program over in Choragocho, I think the last time we spoke to him, it was about 10,000 USD, that they needed to get that property secured and up and running. There's a lot of need.
And you know, Jesus told us that the poor we would always have with us.
Yes.
And that is true. We may not be able to do everything. It's part of why Dan and I are coming to y'all now and letting you know about what we know about and what we care about, because we want you to care. we want you to know that even though you may not be able to do everything, you may be able to do something.
Yes.
And we would love to connect the body of Christ together to do some big things that we can't do on our own.
Yes. One of the things with trim the wick and what Becky and I have been called to was this beautifying of the church. And we know as we walk through the slums, the, outside of the church building might not be too pretty and the smell might not be too appealing, but the people are beautiful.
Yes, they are.
And the church, which is the people, Are beautiful. And we want to invest in the people. We want to help them and encourage them. And, if you want to be a part of that, please, go to our website. But also if there's something on our website that you want to see, that's not the you want to give, more or less, whatever, just message us.
Yeah.
And we would love to talk with you. Plus, we'd love to talk to you anyways. And we can share more with you. We could come to your church and share with the entire church body.
Listen, if you want to see pictures and hear stories, we got pictures and stories, and we love telling them. Yes.
And we'll come to your house, we'll come to your church, we'll come to your missions meeting. we love telling m the story of what's going on in the Kiole slums in Nairobi, Kenya. Well, guys, thank you so much for hanging out with us this week and allowing us to share with you a little bit of our passion. And we hope that the flame that we have ignited on us lights, your wick there a little bit and gets you excited and get you, lit up about helping in Kiola or.
In Nairobi or in your neighborhood.
Yes. So thank you guys, again, so much. We love you, and we'll talk to you guys next week. Love you. Bye.