“Speed the Light” is Helping Every Young Person Reach Every People Group

Jeff Nelson, 1 February 2013

Over the past 4 years we have had the opportunity of taking the good news to an unreached people group in Kenya called the Rendille. Using vehicles provided by Speed the Light we have been able to travel in this desert with students from East Africa School of Theology (EAST) and teams from the United States. The roads that exist are very rough and in some places we have been stuck in dry river beds and had to pull vehicles out. Without the STL vehicles we would not have been able to reach the Rendille as we have been able to do.

The Rendille are the only camel herding people in Kenya that are not Muslim. They are Jewish. Even though they did not have a written language, they have celebrated the Passover for centuries. They slaughter a lamb, put its blood on the doorposts of their homes and eat the Passover feast together. Hundreds of years ago when Muslims came across North and East Africa they distributed the Koran and tried to convert the Rendille. The Rendille rejected Islam and burned the Koran on Mount Moille. If you look at a religious map of Africa today, the line between Muslim North and East Africa and animist and Christian Africa cuts through the Rendille land. God seems to have used the Rendille to stop the advance of Islam into Africa.

With the help of STL our EAST mission teams have planted four churches and witnessed 4772 Rendille coming to the Lord in four years. Through the efforts of these missionaries and other organizations the Rendille have been moved off the unreached people group list (see joshuaproject.net).

Recently 50 Rendille were invited to EAST for a celebration of God’s grace among them. They rode on the EAST STL bus. Many had never seen a paved road, a river that wasn’t seasonal, electricity, skyscrapers, or beds. When we offered them the dorm beds to sleep on, some asked if they could put the mattresses on the floor as they were afraid they would fall out.

There is rejoicing in heaven over each of the Rendille who comes to the Lord. God loves people of every people group and promises that people of every ethnic group will be around the throne in heaven (Rev. 5:9). Today there are Rendille pastors leading Rendille churches. This was possible because young people gave to Speed the Light so missonaries can take the good news to people who have never heard. I believe in Apostolic Function: Every person in every parish doing everything possible to reach every people group. Speed the Light is one way every young person is involved in reaching every people group.

6J’s