 our dearest Heavenly Father in Heaven, we thank you for the gift of life, we thank you for the gift of the Sabbath. As we embark on this session of music, we ask that you may be with us, guide us, and bless us as we go through the songs, may these songs speak to us as we minister to others. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen. We're going to start with song number five to eight, a shelter in the time of stone. Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for those who are already here in church. We would also like to welcome our online congregation, wherever you may be across the world. We welcome you and before we start, we will have a word of prayer. Let us pray. Our kind and loving Father, we thank you for the opportunity that you've been, that you've given us to be here today, to be of service to you. We thank you for all those who are tuned in, those who are watching, and those who are here with us in church. We pray, Father, that as we start this afternoon program, that your Holy Spirit will be with us in everything that we do, and that your name may be praised, and that you may be with us in everything until we finish, for we ask in Jesus' name, amen. Thank you very much, and welcome once again. My name is Sam Agutu. I am the leader of the Adventist Men's Organization here at the Nairobi Central SDA Church. Today is the Adventist Men's Organization Sabbath, Amo Sabbath, and we have a very interesting program coming up this afternoon. The Nairobi Amo Department has a wide-ranging set of programs, but the key among them, or the biggest among them, is the prison's ministry. And therefore, we chose, as our theme for today, to highlight the work that Amo does in the prisons. Our work has been centered around committee prison. Committee prison is actually a set of four institutions. Many, usually, when they hear about committee, they think it's one prison, but there are actually four separate institutions. There's the committee maximum security prison, then there's the committee medium security prison, then there is the YCTC, which is the Youth Correctional Training Center, and then there's a hostel for girls. So we are active in all the four institutions. And so the way that we have structured our discussion, or our program this afternoon, is that we are going to have, first of all, the testimony of one of the, I will call him graduates of committee prison, just so that he can be able to give his experience. And in that way, that you can all be able to actually see what it is that Amo, and indeed the Evangelism Department and the whole of the church, is doing in terms of prison ministry. And after that, we will then have a panel discussion where members of the Amo Council are going to have some discussion together with the gentlemen who are going to introduce right now, to also give some further insights. Finally, we will have a brief presentation to show some of the infrastructural development that we are doing within the prison. And so without taking any more of your time, our guest today is Elder Godfrey Orwa. Rather, Godfrey Orwa will tell his story, his testimony. He is, he was in the prison for several years, joined the church, actually became a church elder. But I think I will not take any of the thunder from his discussion. I will wait for him to come and to tell his own story. He is here with his family. I would like to just invite Elder Orwa and the family to come and be introduced. So we have here, brother Elder Godfrey Orwa. Just say hello to the patient. The Lord is good church, by show of hands kindly. Thank you so much. You show family? Yes, my name is Godfrey Orwa, just as I have just said. And I'm a married man, as you can see. I've come here today with my family. Here at the left hand side is my wife, Frida Kalayu, and blessed with one daughter. She's right here. She's called Grace Auma. So yes, here is my family. Maybe you can say hi to the church. Happy Sabbath. Happy day. Thank you very much. So I would at this point then like to hand over to brother Godfrey, and you will give us your word. Thank you very much. Thank you so much. They can now get seated, right? So the Lord is good once more. I want to plead with you people not to get tired because it's a blessed Sabbath for me. It's a great day for me. And therefore, if I request for you to just give me this, I'll be happy. It's not a Sabbath that I'm going to take for granted. Thank you. I'm Elder Orwa, as I've introduced myself. And my brother, Mr. Edagutu, was here. And you've heard right from him. I was in jail, in prison. Just as he has said, he's not a lie. Maybe you can have a look at my physical appearance. And wonder, do this guy really look like somebody who was in jail? Yes, indeed I was in jail. And I served a very long term sentence for almost 10 years. I was arrested sometimes back in 2014. Yes, 2014, 2013 December there. So until June this year, is when now I left, I came out of prison. So it's true, I was in jail. And just to give a clue on what took me to prison, I was charged with the offense of robbery with violence. Because it is a day I'm going to testify before the Lord and before you as my brothers and sisters, allow me to say that yes, it is not for granted. I never knew that one day I would get an opportunity to stand before a congregation like this. And especially in Nairobi Central less than years, judge. So it's not just something I'm going to take for granted. And allow me to take the management, the management of the church, the board members and the ammo department for just struggling to see that somebody from jail can also get an opportunity to stand before a congregation like this. It's not something I'm going to take for granted. And I want to say thank you so much for the management of the church. May the Lord bless you so much for the good job that you have done and for the chance that you have given me today to just stand here to give my testimony. On my journey while I was in jail and till when now God opened a way for me and here I am now a free man, giving a testimony on what the Lord has done for me. Now, for the offense I've just said and it is an offense I never committed. I used to work with the security firm and now the tags came there and broke into where I was working. And they left after which the justice system had to take its course. So I was arrested and charged and taken to prison. I did my case and the justice system, the trial process, you just have to go through it. Once you have been arrested, you go through the entire trial process. Now after I closed my file at the lower court, I was found guilty as charged and therefore was sentenced to serve life imprisonment. This was sometimes back in 2021 January. Now after that, before then, just to take you back shortly, I'm brought up in a Catholic denomination. My family, my dad and my mom are Catholics. But I want to thank the Lord because of taking me to prison, because if I could not have gone to prison, probably I could not have met this faith, the Seventh Day Adventist faith, right? So while in prison, sometimes back in 2016, that is when I started listening to the preachings of the Seventh Day Adventist, especially the prophecy department. That is when I really got personally convicted with the teachings and I came to realize that the Catholic is not the right charge for people to fellowship together. So I decided to join the Seventh Day Adventist charge in 2016 after listening to the teachings, the programs, because they used to come there to visit us in prison. So I turned and joined this faith and got privileged to be baptized on 26th March, 2016. That is when I was baptized and now I became a full member of the Seventh Day Adventist charge. While at the Nairobi remand there, the mother charge there was a new life SDH charge. They used to come there and yes, they really served us well. So after that, I maintained the faith and worked hard. The Lord used me and I really worked for the Lord while at the remand prison to an extent of being ordained as the elder of the charge. That was in sometimes back in 2018. The pastors came and they ordained me to be the first elder of the charge there. So yes, after now I was convicted and sentenced. I was thrown now into main prison, committee main prison. I maintained the faith and proceeded on with serving the Lord in that capacity. And yes, of course, the Lord used me to bring so many close to him. Just like we were taught here in the morning by the pastor, the someone was quite awesome. It really touched me. That is good. We tell people the truth about Jesus Christ. So yes, I made my appeal. I did my appeal after I was sentenced to serve life imprisonment. And after that, my appeal went successful. I did it personally because while inside prison there, I just did not sleep there. Even in prison, let me tell you people that there are several things that people can do while inside there. So I really joined, I was privileged to join the Justice Defender's family is an organization, a London based organization. It works in prisons so much. It trains people, issues matter slow, paralegalism and all that, right? So yes, I joined the Justice Defender's and they really trained me. And through that knowledge, God used me to make appeals and to assist so many inmates of which I made, I did appeals to them and the appeals were successful. They were acquitted over 230 were acquitted on appeals. Some of their sentences were reduced just from the knowledge I got while in jail there. Therefore, even in prison, good things can come out. So yes, I have that knowledge. I was properly trained and I want to say that when I came out of prison, I shared with you that I go to hear some of the documents that I have to confirm and support that indeed, I never went inside there to sleep. I did something and of course, yes, here I am looking for an opportunity to at least sustain me and to let me move on, you know, as a free man and also as a Kenyan to be able to support my family. I want to say something also about the work that the church is doing in prison. You know, sometimes most of us, we stay here in the church. You might not know that Nairobi Central Estates Church is doing really a lot, especially in prison, in prison. The church, even in the job, this job that I was trained to do without the support of the church, you cannot be able to do it because before you do an appeal, you need to have a paper, right? You must have a printer, right? You must have a computer, right? Several issues, several, so many things. And imagine in the absence of this thing, this thing, somebody might end up rotting in prison. That's because a piece of paper, a rimo paper could not be found to draft an appeal to send to court, right? So Nairobi Central Estates Church through the Ammo Department allow me to say he has been doing this beyond our explanation because while in jail, they could come and come with papers, rimo papers. The printer that is being used inside there, I'm talking about commitment prison. It's from the church. I thought I would hear a man from the church, but the church is quiet. I thought I'm going to hear a bigger man from the church. I can only hear the sound of the man right here. I want to hear a bigger man. Correct, now I'm done, yes. So indeed, that is what they do inside there, right? The printing papers, they're really supported and so many inmates have gotten away out of jail just because of the support of Nairobi Central Estates Church. If somebody is here and you don't know actually, indeed, that is what they are doing inside there. Hallelujah. And so therefore, I'm not going to take too much time, but that was my journey in prison. Christ said that I was in jail, but you never visited me. If you are here and you have not gone to prison to visit those people there, I think you need to rethink about that verse. The pastor said in the morning, that is good to understand, not to just keep on reading the Bible. Do you understand what this word is saying? Amen? When Christ said I was in jail, but you never visited me. How do you understand that verse? Please, if you are here, I want to plead with you that people are inside there and your support there is going to bring a very, very, very big and awesome change. That is my journey. That was my journey and I was able, I was acquitted. My appeal was successful and I was acquitted on appeal. Pee was acquittal, not sentence reduced. It was life sentence, but on appeal, my case was acquitted. I was acquitted, amen? The judge said, judge Grace Zioka, she said that she did not understand why I was convicted and sentenced to serve life imprisonment. That is after listening to my appeal and keenly going through my file, right from the trial court, up to the level of the higher court there. Therefore, I'm a free man, able to be employed by anybody. Yes, so that is my testimony for today. And may the Lord bless you people all. I think I'm going to end it from there. The only thing I would like to say is that I'm still looking for a job. I'm looking for opportunities. If there's anybody who is willing and allow me to say this without fear that yes, the ammo department of this judge has really stood by me. Please allow me to just go to my youth stand, at the Burma youth stand, at the Kisukua if he's there. They really took me as their own child. And imagine they met me in jail. When it came to the integration process, at a good word to come from here, these two elders, they took me up, I come from Kisumu East. That is where my home is. They really organized, this church organized for my reintegration. I was taken home through the support of this church. If you might not have known, I have to speak it out so that open up my hand, my heart for the church to understand the kind of a job that the elders are doing here. They took me home and indeed it was quite awesome. Everything went well. They supported me, my reintegration. The people, the community welcomed me back just because they saw the support of the church. You know? Yes, so yeah. May the Lord bless you so much. My able elders and the entire church, may God be with you, stand by you. Bless you abundantly. How I pray for this church that the Lord may lift up Nairobi Central SDA church for the job that they are doing, especially in jail, in prisons, so that we can move on for the glory of his holy name. Amen. Thank you so much and may the Lord bless you. See you again. Allow me to say this elder, can I? Can I tell the church this? Can I tell them? Can't you see I have a tie here? Can't you see this? How is it written? Oh wow, yes indeed. I've been privileged to get this today, right? So I'm very much happy. Elder told me this is yours. And indeed, yes, so I'm happy. May the Lord bless you so much and see you again next time. Amen. Hallelujah. We're going to do song number 337, Redeemed How I Loved Proclaimed. The Proclaimed, Redeemed by the Redeemed through his infant, his challenge forever. This is so moving, because it can be so challenging, but today that Jesus saves and he's a redeemer through everything, so he saves. Amen. Amen. Thank you very much to the Choristers for that worship in music and we thank God for the testimony given to us by our elder, Elder Godfiorua. And we also thank God for blessing the members of this church with the resources and with the heart to give so that his work may be carried out in places, far flung places like committee prison. We would just like to have a conversation leading from the testimony given by our elder and we are members of this church. To my left, I'll invite him to say his name. Good afternoon. My name is Abu Rakadiani. Thank you. To my right, extreme right. Good afternoon. My name is Sam Agutu. He was one of the servants in this church. Thank you, Elder. And my immediate right is our guest. I'll also invite him to say his name again. Thank you so much. My name is Elder Godfiorua and may the Lord bless us all. Thank you. Perhaps I'll start with you, Abura. What activities does Ammo participate in or what interventions does Ammo lead or champion in committee to help inmates, especially with the transition process from being free to the space where there are now guests of the state for lack of a better term? All right, there are several activities that the church has been involved in as they help nature the saints. Actually, the reason why Ammo is linked to committee or links to most of the prisons, you find that most inmates are men. And so the men decided to take the responsibility of reaching out to their fellow men who are incarcerated in prison. And so that is one of the main reasons why Ammo is linked specifically to committee and to other prisons. Now, there are several other churches that are also involved in prison ministry. A new life is involved in industrial prisons. There is also another prison that is somewhere along Langata Road. So there are several other prisons where you find different churches that are involved, but specifically our church is involved in committee activities and there are many programs that we conduct within committee to help nature the inmates that are there. First, it's because it's the commission that we have been given. The Bible instructs us to go out to all the world and preach the gospel. And some of the things that we are supposed to do as we preach the gospel is also to reach out to the needs of the people. And so there are many needs that we identify within the prison. And I have solved in the prison department through the Ammo ministry for several years now, slightly over five years. And some of the activities that we have been doing, one is that we plan church services, normal services. We just have regular Sabbath services, like we are having here. So there's a normal Sabbath service that goes on in committee. And for the service to go on, then we need to supply each and every member of the Sabbath school with a lesson. So the lessons are provided from the church. So the church provides each and every member who joins our fellowship at committee with a lesson. So they get an opportunity to learn the lesson, just as we learn lessons here. Now, because we have, as Elder had mentioned in his introduction, there are several divisions within committee. There is a juvenile section. There is a medium section which deals with the people who have been incarcerated for, I think it is about 15 years. That is the medium then. The maximum section deals with people who are serving long-term sentences and life imprisonment. So in all these sections, we have services that are going on. And then we also facilitate for them while they are there. So we have members of the church who would be in the prisons and also participate in those lesson classes. And they will also be participating in the preaching of the world. Now the preaching of the world within committee, of course, based on the context of the challenges and what they're experiencing, then you know that you have to contextualize your preaching to be able to reach to the audience that you're speaking to. So those are some of the assignments that we have as members. Then we also provide for communion services. So the church makes sure that every quarter, those who have been baptized, participate in communion. The communion that is served at committee comes from Nairobi Central Church. So the deconestors department will prepare the communion and the bread and wine and the utensils which they need. And we will take them to committee when we have communion services. And we also have the elders who will join us within committee to help administer the communion service. Then we also have camp meeting. Camp meeting, we also run a camp meeting program. And during the entire camp meeting, we have the speakers for the various sections held. We have held challenges within committee. We have Bible study, we have prophecy. All those things are running in committee. Also we have weeks of prayer. So they are those weeks of prayer. And then the church also supplies to their physical needs. We regularly supply milk, bread, and toiletries to the prisoners. You know in prison, there are certain people whose families don't go to visit them. And then there are no material supplies like toiletries, something to take for granted. Then they're incarcerated in prison and they don't have tissue paper. And so sometimes when we visit there, the prisoners tell us we've run out of tissue. Things which we take for granted and we never think we can run out of such supplies. So you go to prison, somebody tells you, please next time you come bring tissue or bring a bar of soap, then you realize there are certain things which we don't see of value. But there are people who value them so greatly. So those things come from this church as we supply them to those inmates in committee. And as we interact with them, we become friends. That is why when my brother, Elder Ora, was released from prison, we ensured that myself and Elder Sam were able to take him all the way to Ahero. Somewhere past Kisumu. Towards Kisumu as you're going on your way towards Kisumu. We took him there, we met his family. And actually it's not the only one, there's a time we went to Muranga. There's another one who was released. Went to Muranga, met the family. And you know the interaction, people who have been separated from their families for 20 or so years, the reunion is so emotional. You just enjoy being part of that ministry. So there are many things that the church does in order to interact and help reform those people who have been taken in. Thank you. Elder Sam, how are these activities that Abura is talking about funded? How are these activities funded? And are the resources we have sufficient or is there room for improvement? Thank you. Thank you very much. I think I'd really like to appreciate, first of all, the support that the church provides to the department. The funds that we use come exclusively from church members, particularly or specifically through the evangelism department. It actually costs a lot to do the work that we're doing, but we have an annual program, we have an annual budget, and the church is able to provide the support. I'd just like to probably just expand a bit more, and I will even invite Brother Orua here to just give you the scope to expand on what Brother Abura said. Now, at committee maximum prison, we have a full church that has a membership of 350 members, active members, right? At the committee medium prison, the membership right now is about 150. At the juvenile prison, we have about 50 members. Now, these churches operate as fully functional churches. Maybe let me just ask Orua to just give us some insight into the committee maximum prison, the departments and how they are structured. I think the only department they don't have is the women's ministry and the children's ministry. But as Elder Orua is talking about that, perhaps Elder, you could also tell us what are some of the challenges that an inmate faces when you're transitioning from life on the outside to life inside there, and talking from experience, what kind of support do you think would be good for so that life is made easy for people during that transition phase? All right, thank you so much once again. Just like Elder just said, the in committee prison, that church is a full church with all departments. In fact, and indeed that is exactly what I wanted to say, the only two departments which are not there, the children's ministry and the women's ministry. Guess what? Because committee is only men who are there. So yeah, that is the reason as to why we don't have the women's ministry and the children's ministry. You know some of them don't, they only hear about prison. If you speak about committee, some just understand it's normal. No, in prison we have the women one is at Langata for those who don't know. And you know we have the committee one is only men, and men only, right? So yes, we have all the departments. And I want to say that what Elder said is true. Can you imagine with all these departments, we have the evangelism department just like in this church. Even in prison there, they do evangelism, they preach all blocks. That is a department that requires a lot of support from the church. And indeed I've seen Nairobi central church standing by this, you know this department, the evangelism department, because we have the microphones there. I remember I heard that before I was acquitted, the centralist, you came up there with a very big cable. We had gone short of a cable, electricity cable, you know? So we could not do the work, we could not work and you know do the evangelism. But with the support of the church and the leadership, when we got seated at the board members and raised it as an agenda, it was really captured and when you people came we forwarded the issue and immediately, you know, we got the cable. So yes, we also have all these other departments and they are moving smoothly just because of the support of the church, right? Yes, so that is all I can say and on your question, if I may say is that there are a lot of challenges, especially when somebody is acquitted. You know you have been in jail for like 10 years or so, like myself, now there's that spirit of rejection. It's not all who are, you know, accepted back home. That one, you must agree. And I've seen quite a number of us, you know, they come out of prison and in less than one month, some of them, I've been shot mysteriously there with the suspicion that, you know, there are still bad people. So I would like to plead with the congregation because you people are the parents. When you see people come out of prison, they are just people. You know, even inside there, the work that you people do inside there as a church, you know, I'm now like an example. When somebody decide to change and to change fully, please accept them back to the society. Some of us work with the government, I know. And you know, the government sometimes tends to be cruel a little bit, especially for those who are out of prison, right? So I want to plead that you please accept them back to the society. We've been like, in my case, when I came out of prison, the church really had to hold me tight. That's why I personally decided that I'm not making it alone home. Jesus Christ met me. I'm a reformed person. I'm a changed person. Even though I must say that I never committed the crime that took me to jail, but I must, I might have gone wrong somewhere. Now, when I got the big thing I came out of, I got Jesus Christ. He met me there and he really transformed me. So I said, I'm not making it alone. The church is there. The church has been supporting me so much. They must take me back home. And now when we go, we went home, I was really accepted back at home and the society, the ceremony was quite big to an extent that even the DCI was there, the OCS, the entire the chief, the assistant chief. So yes, please kindly, the challenges are there. Secondly, the issue of unemployment because guess what? Somebody has been in jail for over 10 years and you come outside here. Where are you going to start from? I want to confirm, I want to confess before this congregation that if it was not discharged through the leadership, I can't even explain where I could have been. You know, it is the support of the church because they received me and they saw a changed person and they now picked it from there. And even to date, you know, they are still by me to just make sure that at least I stand up and start moving on. Because without support, it is easy for somebody to go back into crime again. All right? It is very easy because you come out of jail, you are rejected by the society, you are rejected by your family. So you see, you find yourself in a dilemma. So please, I would plead with the government and you people as the parents because you are the parents of the people who are inside there. Please, please, please, please. Once they are out of prison, accept them the way they are because a changed person will always see. Make, let them get something to do to support them to move on with their life. That brings me back to what I just said. I still in this position need your support. If there's anybody who is, you know, I have something I learnt inside there and I'm standing here because of the support of the church. Is there anything you can support me with? Elder, I've been singing this song every now and then and saying I need, you know, because of the experience that I have, I cannot parade without my gadget that Elder has here. I need to have at least a laptop. So if somebody is able, you have something to donate, used to a laptop so that to make me at least catch up and move on because nowadays things are digitalized, right? Okay, so yes, that is my response for your question. Thank you. You have covered the integration well but I'll just take you back a bit. The point where transitioning from being a free person and getting into jail, what are some of the challenges that a Christian would face or someone of the faith or someone who wants to meet God will face during this moment of change because, you know, it comes with a total overhaul of the way things were. So just try to help us understand this face where you've been told now you're guilty, you've been sentenced to life imprisonment or to death or whatever it is. You've left the courtroom, you're now on transition to committee. Where is your headspace at? What is going through your mind and what kind of support would you, do you think would be good for people in that space so that they stay on the path of faith? My take would be for those people who are in that space because it's indeed, just like you have said, it's a very critical space because you see now the court has already declared, file is closed. Now you are life sentenced, you have been sentenced to some life imprisonment. For me and what I will tell those people who are passing through that situation is that first of all, first and foremost, because not all of them have made the right decision to choose to serve or to accept Jesus Christ as their personal savior. The key area, that is actually what made me feel like, even though I've been sentenced to serve life imprisonment, but there's this man here telling me that this is not imprisonment, that if I accept him, he makes me free. And he makes me indeed free, free free. So I had to get connected with that divine connection with the Lord. I would bleed with them. Those whose hearts are still hardened because I want to assure you without doubt that if Christ is going to descend today, for those brothers and sisters who are in jail and have accepted Christ, it would be easy for them to receive the kingdom of heaven. And now we might not say amen for that because we have that mentality that those people, they are just bad people, right? Hallelujah. Yes, in fact, that is how it is. So yes, the key issue is, let them accept Jesus Christ as their personal savior first and now do your appeal there, rest at the feet of Jesus Christ and everything shall be well. I cannot say anything outside accepting Jesus Christ as their personal savior. That is where victory is. Thank you. You have told us that there is a vibrant evangelism department in committee. On average, how frequently does the church in committee hold baptism services? And on average, how many people get baptized on every instance? Of course, yes, very good question. After every three months with the prison department, they always baptize people there and these are over 50, at least 50 over 50 people are baptized in every baptism, 50, 50 are baptized. That is for maximum only or the cumulative figure? For the, because it is after every three months, so is a cumulative after every three months in baptize. 50, 50, 50, so you see, yes, on a quarterly basis, 50, another quarter, 50, yeah. Yes, sir. Yes, I just wanted to point out that is for the maximum security prison, but simultaneously or about the same time, you have say a number of, something like about 30 from the medium security prison and usually about 10 to 15 from the juvenile prison. So we could say we have every quarter something like about 90 to 100 being baptized in every quarter. That is 100 souls coming in because of the effort that members of this church put in. Yes. Thank you. Abu, in your experience, what is the greatest area of need in the prison ministry? Because as Elder Sam and Elder Oroha have noted, we have a footprint in various areas. What is the greatest area of need and how have we as a church responded to this? I think one of the greatest area of need, the greatest need that we have is volunteers. First, we need to have people who are willing to go there and participate in the program. Much is not about how much do we need to take. First, accept to participate in the program. And as you participate you know, sometimes the needs are minimized by the acceptance they find from just regular people who go and have relationships, meaningful relationships with them and appreciate them as individuals. You know, as Elder Oroha has rightly mentioned, when these people, when the members of the society have been incarcerated in prisons and when they are being released, the society finds it hard to allow them back. And even when they go, the society finds it difficult. I'll give an instance. We normally have a high school platform. I was in high school not many years ago, but a few years ago I was in high school. And so we met together with my colleagues in high school. And so I keep posting on my updates some of the events that take place in prison. You went to committee. You met those people, you know. So they're wondering, how could you go to committee? Because they believe, in their minds, they believe that in committee the hard criminals, the hardened criminals are there. And so they keep telling me, actually, that next time you're going, we want to come. We want to meet those people. Last time, when they realized that some senior people have also been taken to committee, did you meet so-and-so? How was it, you know? So they don't know how the setup is. And the perception of many of us also don't appreciate that they are just human beings. The most important thing first is love and appreciation. Before we collect tissues and toothpaste and toothbrushes to take the first, we need to show them love and acceptance. So that is the most important. And one thing that we lack is volunteers who can help us always be present in those environments. Because there is also those who are not willing to reform. And so they are out there to influence and harden people more. So you may take somebody who had been picked up for petty theft, but when he leaves prison, he becomes a hardened criminal. So there is a competition. There is a pool. The devil is working hard to also increase his kingdom. And God's people are also working hard as evangelists and as people on the road from Jerusalem to Gaza to help them understand what the gospel is. So we need people first. And then while we are there, then we will know exactly what else can be added. Okay, thank you. Yeah, I understand. Yeah, let me just add to that. And this is an actual experience that we've had to emphasize on the fact that what we need is people. What we need is legs. And because the prison, just because it is men at both committee maximum and medium, does not mean that the support that we need is only from men. We need everybody. And it's important that one actually experiences going and spending the day with the prisoners as committee. One thing that we need to mention, like at committee maximum, they have a total of six squares, five or six church choirs. And the singing is absolutely amazing. Now, there is a certain amount of mentorship that is required also. We had an experience a few months ago when we went to the juvenile prison and we had just had a week of prayer and there were baptisms. Now, what happens is that we found that some of the people who had been baptized were having serious spiritual challenges and that when they now went back to the rest of the, to mix with the rest of their colleagues, they were challenged. They normally have debates with their Muslim brothers. And these debates got very, very tough. And what was said was that they are having a debate and if we win, you come to our side. And indeed, out of 11 youth who had been baptized, two were crossing now to the Muslim side because there were some questions that they were being asked and they couldn't fully answer. And so we had this situation where what we were being told by the prison chaplaincy is that we need to have, they don't have, they need support in terms of materials, in terms of regular visits, in terms of mentorship to be able to give support to these people. And therefore, one of the things that we have asked from our sabbat school department and they have promised they'll do it, is let's even make it a point that every single actual unit takes one sabbat to just go and spend time at committee or even at the Langata Women's Prison. And I can assure you, once you have been and spent time there, you will find it very difficult to spend time here in church because there's a lot of work and a lot of love out there in the prisons. Thank you. And Godfrey, how easy or hard is it? And I would appreciate it if you would give us a very vivid and real picture of life in the facility. How easy or hard is it for you to maintain your Christian work when you find yourself between those four walls? Wow, that's a very good question because indeed it is not easy to maintain faith while in prison. There, at committee, several things happen there. And one thing I would say is that, and I'll repeat this, there's power in Jesus Christ, right? There's power in the Lord. When you trust in the Lord always, despite the challenges that may come your way while in prison, definitely you will become a winner. In Christ there's victory. Now, why am I saying so? I said earlier that there are only men in prison, committee men. But allow me to say there are also women there. That is the biggest challenge. Men marry their own men there. And this is experience, I'm sorry to say so. At least you are going to forgive me because it is there. That is the biggest challenge. And it's a challenge that is so much critical to an extent, but you find some of them come to prison while still young. So there, there, there, there, there are men there. There are those who are ready to just you. That is the biggest challenge at committee men prison. People turn to be women there. And why? Because life there is not easy. Just like Elder mentioned earlier, there's a problem of a tissue. This same problem of a tissue will easily lure somebody into accepting to be a woman. Just because those crooks are there, he's telling him, I'm going to offer you a tissue paper for the whole month. Will you really accept me? I'm sorry, but that is the biggest challenge he said there. So needs put, or rather when people are deprived of certain needs, then they are put in a compromising situation. Of course, yes. That is the food problem. Right? That's why sometimes I see the church come with the milk. That milk sometimes I want to assure you that, you know, that, that small packet, somebody will really feel the impact of that, you know, small packet of a milk. Because this pack of a milk is what the other person will use. I'll give you a pack of milk and then now you accept me the way. Right? So please, such are the challenges. Somebody doesn't have a soap, you know? You want this, you don't have. So they take advantage and force you into, you know, doing all these bad, bad, bad things. So that is a very big challenge in jail. So your support, continuous support by, you know, supplying them with the tissue where necessary, just play your part will make it easy. Even if you go now to evangelize and Christ said, if you go while they're hungry and you go there empty handed, they will just listen to you and daughter, you know? But if you have something you go there and now you preach to him, he's a little bit comfortable because he had a soap, he took a bath in the morning, he's fresh now. We can listen to you and listen to what you are saying. You are saying, all right? Okay, thank you. So such are the challenges. Thank you. Elder Sam, could you just give a highlight of what the department has done in committee from January to date? Thank you. I think, as already mentioned, we have been supporting the programs in the church at committee, the weeks of prayer. We have had camp meetings in all the four institutions. But one of the really major things that we also need to mention is that we also supply the infrastructure in the committee. Several years ago, the church built, we built, you know, this church built a church at committee. This is outside of the prison, of the prison walls to take care of the warders and their families and the surrounding community. So there's the committee SDA church, which is now a fully fledged church. And then within committee prison itself, we put up, you know, a church, which is where our 350 members congregate every Sabbath. And then at committee medium, let me first of all go to the juvenile prison. We put up an office, you know, block there. By the way, even at committee, sorry, we put up an office, a block there. There's an office and there's a room where the youth come and that is where they also congregate. But so far, the largest infrastructure investment that we have is at the committee medium prison. We had previously supplied them just with a tent. And the tent has been, you know, really worn out. And the numbers have also increased. So a decision was made some time back by the then leadership to put up a multi-purpose hall, which would really serve as a worship center and also provide offices. I believe we are going to, you know, have a separate presentation on that, that we are putting up a structure that will be able to take in over 1,000 seated individuals. The current prison population at committee medium is about 1,100. And therefore, our aim is to have a structure where all the prisoners can actually congregate. And that really is one of our targets for, you know, next year and the following years that to increase the membership of the church, which is currently at about 150, and to be able to fill that church, you know, be able at any one time to have 800 to 1,000 people congregated in the church. Thank you. Very briefly, Abu, could you just give a highlight of our relations with the government officers, the prison officials, and people who are tasked with maintaining the welfare of the prisoners? Actually, we have a very good relationship with the departments, the government departments which are tasked with the nurture and reform work that is expected from such institutions. They appreciate the work that we do because the reason why they, why members of the community are incarcerated is that the government is determining to reform them, is to make them better people. Fast to pay for the perceived crime. I'd like also to mention that there are many innocent people who have been found on the wrong side of the law. Very innocent. And we interact with them and you feel so sorry that it is so easy for just a regular good citizen to find himself behind bars. And so the government appreciates, the government departments appreciates the leadership of committee, the leadership of the different sections of committee really support the work that we do and they give us the autonomy to be able to operate effectively. One is that they gave us land within the prison. The prison is a government facility. They told us here is space. You can build a worship center so that your people can assemble together and worship freely as you believe you have been guided by scripture. And so they gave us land in committee maximum. As Ella has rightfully mentioned, we built a structure and we also provide the communication equipment that is used within those facilities. So they gave us a piece of land again within the medium facility. They told us here is space. You guys want to have space? Here is space, you can build a structure where you can gather your people and guide them and teach them in the right doctrine. And so we utilize that space and we have put up a structure and as Ella has mentioned, we may have just a short presentation of what has been done so far from the year 2019 to date. Again, the relationship is so good such that last year there was a retiring officer, the head of committee medium. He was retiring and was going to settle back somewhere past Eldoret. I don't remember exactly, but I know we went with Pastor Tirope with us when we went to... not to reintegrate him, but help him settle back at home. And the church supported us, gave us a heifer, you know. So Amu didn't just walk empty handed. We went with a heifer. We went with a delegation, we went with a heifer and the retiring officer is the officer in charge of committee medium. That was the previous officer, not the one who is there currently. So we took him back to the village and he was very delighted. Gave us an opportunity to evangelize at his village and we got a chance to speak to his people and tell them. And there we got an opportunity to meet with the cabinet secretary who's under whose department the prisons fall. And she gave us an appointment and said, yes, you guys need to come to my office. You guys are doing an extremely great work. Come and see how we will be able to partner. We have been working with Pastor Tirope on a day to respond because you know these people get so busy. So we may go there one year later and they say, who are you guys? Because she's forgotten us. So we need to respond quickly to that because when she saw the work that we do and what we do, I was explained to her, she said, yeah, I need such people because we are tasked in the reform work of the people who come into these facilities. Okay, so we are working with us and so we need to see how we can team up together. Thank you. As we prepare to hear from Fred, what is the way forward for us in committee? And as you answer that briefly, I'll also loop in Elder Sam. What does AMO have in store for us for 2024 and beyond? So ABU goes first then Elder Sam. All right. Committee, we look at how we can expand. We have heard the statistics of the baptisms that are taking place in committee. How can we increase the number of baptismal candidates that they can appreciate the gospel? And as Elder Aura's rightfully mentioned, sometimes we need to use the Jesus method. When he saw the multitude hungry, he looked for two fish and five loaves and multiplied and fed them, met their needs and then bid them come follow me. So we need to see how best we can be able to reach to their needs because as Elder Aura's rightfully mentioned, there are many other counseling needs that are also required within the prisons. So we need to expand, have counselors on ground to be able to reach out to their emotional needs and then we also need to reach out to their material needs, something we never mentioned. When this will have been incarcerated for 20 years, they are given a striped uniform. That is what they stay with for over 20 years. When they are leaving, they don't have anything. You know? You can't say that... I used to have a black throats 20 years ago. Get it for me back in the village. I'm coming back. And sometimes the village also don't want them. We have instances where the church has to go and talk to the village and say that brother is coming. Just like Paul did to Philemon and Onesmas. Please accept him back. He's a good man now. And so we need that delegation. And then when they're coming out, there are those material needs. Clothing. Get them a nice suit so that when he goes back to the village, he doesn't look at it. You guys have told us, but you bring us a burden. The glory of God can be seen through him. Yeah. Elder. One other thing for Elder mentions is that we also... There are certain prisoners, former prisoners who have been forming coming together because they know the challenges. So they are forming a bridge in between. So they accept their fellow inmates who come from prison. They are accepted into that community. So it is almost like they are not in prison. They come to the society, but not fully integrated to the society. They come to the people who at least know them and can accept them. A community where they find acceptance. That community also has its needs because these people are now looking for employment, looking for empowerment and looking for how they can build back their lives. So those... I don't know, but there's a name they call them. That name is not coming back. It's not coming back to memory quickly. But some bridge in between, some bridging place. So that institution also needs... Maybe the church needs to come up with one so that we know how to nurture our own so that they don't go back to crime. Thank you. Thank you. To evil. That's some very good food for thought. All right. I think in answering your question, one of the things I need to really mention is the... the chaplaincy department and the role that it plays, particularly the chaplaincy structure within the prisons. It is a very, very strong structure, support structure for the prisons. For each of the prisons, there is a chaplain or there are chaplains and there is some very good coordination with the prison's headquarters and also with our own chaplaincy department. And so that is an institution that needs to be maintained to ensure that the support from this coordination from the prison's headquarters right down to the prison itself. The other thing that then I'd like to mention is that we have spent a lot of our energy and effort this year on committee. Whilst this will be going on, we will be looking to appeal to the members to continue supporting us in the... to finalize the construction that we are doing there and we are going to have a presentation on that. Next year, we plan to have one Sabbath to have members actually come to committee. We even want to have the whole church let people come to committee and to spend time in this big facility that we have put up and to actually experience the church at committee. However, going forward, as part of the department's strategic plan and in coordination with the evangelism department, we now also want to do some church planting and we will now be looking at identifying, over the next five years as part of the church strategic plan, we want to look at planting churches. It is something that has been done by Amo before to see how many churches we can actually plant in the next five and in the next ten years both within the Nairobi area or within CKC and even outside. We feel that we have spent a lot of time in committee but it is also time to go out and do some church planting. So as part of whatever we have in mind we will come through the evangelism department and it will then be coordinated through that department. Thank you. Thank you very much Fred. So at this point I would like to invite our brother Fred to come and just give a brief presentation on the infrastructure development that we are carrying out at the committee medium prison. Over to you brother Fred. Please serve us. Happy day. You are so quiet. It is because of the prison ministry issues that is making you so quiet. Please feel happy because what you are doing here is a very interesting work to do evangelism at the prison. And now I want to jump into one of the key areas that we talked about by the panelists and specifically want to talk about the multipurpose hall that we are constructing at the committee medium prison. And I want to take you how it started and where we are and where we actually expect you to be a very great support to us. So those who are here and those who are watching online we have so much to do within the prison ministry. And quickly as we are putting this up let me just take you through. It started way back in 2019 and I want to take you through how it has been going on up to where we are now. And sorry we still have some a bit of technical problem here but I hope it works. Thank you very much. So as you can see some of us maybe were not in this church but up to this stage there was so much happening within the prison ministry. And this particular project that is the committee medium prison multipurpose project started way back and those who have been instrumental in pushing it up to this level are actually the elders we have here our very own elders. And that's Eldon Bengi, Willis, and Pius Motayi and of course Abura here. Start moving. So basically we want to show you where we started from and where we are at this stage. So let me see. So if you look at that in 2018 this where we started the foundation of this project and you see our very own members actually were part of this process. So this is where we are. Remember you've been told here that we had a land that was donated and that is a land that we were given and this is where we started the construction. So in 2018 the foundation was being laid and you can see the beam being prepared the foundation dug and even the pillars being constructed. And this project it's a partnership venture whereby the prison has so much to do and of course the church has so much to do as well. And as you can see the committee prison were to provide the following as you can see labor, transport, what of course land they provided the storage of facilities and so on. So that is what the prison was to do and of course provide the foundation and so on. As a church we also had to provide so much and you can see is a bulk of it which needs a lot of money for us to reach where we are now. You could see the equipments which are very heavy the machines, the materials hiring of the equipments the welding things drilling and so on. All that had to be done by you as members of the church. But remember also down there as I mentioned by our brother Abu the prison were to provide labor so they made some of them a very experience in terms of scale labor or construction so they were to provide that labor. Now on our side we had to give them what you call the weekly facilitation whereby we are providing them with milk bread and so on and you can see you heard from Geofrey that those were very key to them they really look forward to this kind of token of position from us and anything that will be purchased really coming from this church. So you would see as it said if you cannot preach like Paul there is so much you can do and most of us are actually doing that and you are doing it at the prison ministry. Now you can see at 2019 we are at that level the foundation stone was already down the pillars were up and work was actually moving on because of this partnership so you can see so much was actually happening at that stage. Let me just jump again to the next one. Now you can see the beam was being laid that was now in 2019 as at August 2019 we are now actually laying the beams the foundation had been done and so on and you can see the labor from the ministry they are actually in me so they once are the ones doing this project so you can see how partnership works here for the glory of God. 2020 was a bit of a challenge and all of us can attest to that fact COVID-19 came in and nothing was actually happening so so much actually stalled so much is stopped and within that time again at the prison ministry there was some element of administrative issues that made it very difficult for us to continue working within the ministry so much of the construction actually stalled. That is 2020 but going 2022 things changed again now you see we moved a step further and you could see that now so much was actually happening and we have to up to this level where you can actually see that now the roofing was almost there. Here we are 2023 and you can see that it's fully roofed. Can you say amen? It's amen because of your work and because of partnership with CKC and that money actually came from this this church and CKC so remember as I said if you cannot picture Paul there's so much you have to do and you've done it there's still much more work to do so this is where we are at this year alright? and you can see so much is happening let me go back that what's happening there is now the structure is fully roofed and all that but within the structure we have so many partitions this way we're going to have the offices SDU fees will be we have the toilet facilities we have the stores and so on and those who have been involved in construction you know that this is where the most difficult part of it is am I right? It means that you now have to really preach a lot okay? So that means that let's be ready those who are watching online and those who are here men who are here we have so much to do for us to complete this work so inside you can see how it is very beautiful you can use it yes you can but this is the best way you can do it no I now come to figures because this is very important so from all that I've shown up to this stage October that is last month from 2018 to 2019 to date we've spent 4.1 million right? and that is where we are now do you want to leave it at that stage? Church I'm talking to you do you want to leave it at that stage? no the answer is no even me I wouldn't like it to be at that stage so that means we have to move a notch higher moving a notch higher means the area centre of church through ammo we have to do so much in terms of raising funds and having talked to or having had a conversation with our quantity surveyors the engineers here and our architectures what we are coming up with is now this we need about 1.4 million to make it much better than what we've just seen in the previous slides we want to make it a better place like this place that is habitable with all seats offices are well equipped facilities are working and so on so this means that within this short time and my chair elder as mentioned this that we have to raise this money we have to raise it to ensure that we actually put this to a better state so we are calling upon you in fact I'm just looking forward to see how when you bring your offerings you've been so much in terms of actually uplifting funds for us to reach this level we're also looking forward to so many activities and I want to go back to the panelist just to show you what we are actually thinking on how best we can get this money to ensure that we accomplish this project and I want to leave it at that because that is the end of my presentation amen I repeat if you cannot pick like Paul please you have so many ways on which you can also reach out to more people thank you and God bless you so for us in the plenary and those watching online their appeal is out there we need funds to complete the structure we need funds to maintain the operations I think one thing Abu and elder did not mention is that whenever there's a week of prayer we supply all inmates with books and pens whenever there's a baptism we supply all of them with bibles every single convert is given a Bible and a song book and a t-shirt courtesy of what we do as members of this church so we are already doing so much for the glory of God but there's still room for us to do so much more so let us not tire with these appeals let it not become business as usual let it not become a chorus that we keep singing and we don't put any emphasis on but please out of the abundance of our hearts and out of the abundance of our blessings let us continue raising our hands so that our brothers in this unfortunate space might also enjoy the blessing and the privilege of communion may God bless you abundantly for this ministry and this great noble work I would invite my brother Abura to end this for us with a closing prayer alright let us pray our Father with it in heaven Lord we come before your presence this afternoon delighted Father that you called us to your service Father not because of what we have not because of who we are but because of whose we are Lord you have assured us that those you call you equip and those you equip Lord you also sanctify them for this great and noble work that you have called us to do the Bible says that when you will come back again and when you will be seated on the throne of your glory you will say to the nations gathered before you I was sick and you visited me I was in prison and you came to see me Lord we have an opportunity to fulfill this which you have purposed for your church and I pray oh dear Lord that you may bless us with every spiritual gift that Father we may be able to do this great work to the honor and glory of your name Father souls are not just languishing in prisons there are souls in the children's homes there are those in the hospitals there are those in many other places who needs to be reached out to and so Father we pray that here we are Lord even as you send us Father what the world needs and we are grateful because the Bible says all the earth belongs to you all the silver and gold belong to you and so as your children prepare to go for Father I pray that you may equip them with every resource necessary to be able to fulfill this great mandate of preaching the gospel to all the world as a witness that you at the end may come and you may take us home to live with you forever and ever Father in heaven we also continue praying for those who are taking part in prisons ministry and for the souls that are being converted in those places Father I pray that through the ministry of the Holy Spirit they may be sealed that when you come back again they may be found souls prepared to meet you in the clouds of heaven as we come to the end of this Sabbath program we pray that Father may your spirit continue equipping us and helping us to understand what can we do that we may fulfill the calling that Christ has bid us this afternoon in Jesus name we pray Amen and the power of faith as we gather together let the second edition of symphony of praise inspire you to reach beyond all limits in your