David and Dennis, founder of E.A Radio-U.S & aspiring candidate for Teso MP at D.C Diaspora Conference.

David Bawks who recently graduated from Africa International University in Karen, Kenya and worked as “associate pastor” at the Life in Christ Outreach Ministries church in Kibera is looking to go back to Kenya and work there. When I met him in the Kenya Diaspora Meeting D.C, as we covered the event, he informed us he was there to interact with Kenyans and find ways to achieve the goal of going back to Kenya to do God’s work. He needs to raise some funds to get him back there and started. Below an open letter from David to you and your church. If you or your church support David goals do contact David and get him back to Kenya via the info he has offered in the letter below.

Letter from David Bawks to you

Greetings!

My name is David, and I would love to share with you a little bit about my time in Kenya! For the last three years, I have been a graduate student at the Africa International University in Karen, Nairobi. Looking back, it’s hard to even imagine how I was when I first arrived at the Jomo Kenyatta airport that August evening in 2008.  Each year I’ve been here seems like a whole different experience, mostly due meeting new friends and continually expanding my horizons.

I learned a great deal from my classes in theology, missions and the Bible. Most of what I have learned, however, took place outside of the classroom.  I will always remember those who welcomed me when I first came to Kenya, when I came alone without knowing anyone within 12,000 kilometers!  Spending time with friends is a wonderful memory—ah the discussions until late in the evening, on school policies, classes, theology, politics, culture, African traditions, and being a mzungu in Kenya.  I loved having the experience of living in student housing, hanging out with my friends and finding out a bit of what life is like in other parts of Africa and the world.  My friends at school were from all over Africa—Ethiopia, Malawi, Zambia, Uganda, Nigeria, Liberia, Sudan, and more.
As far as experiences at school, one of my most meaningful experiences was being on student council.  I enjoyed working with the two distinct teams over the two years I served on student council, one as secretary and the next as treasurer.  Being on Senate, the deliberative body composed of the faculty heads of departments, IT director, finance, library, etc., was a fascinating look at the inside story of the way a Kenyan school operates.  I especially learned about cross-cultural communication, diplomacy, how to structure a message for difference audiences (the importance of adapting to a new context), and how to deal with really hard situations, such as when so many babies on campus were dying.  And some random things that you wouldn’t expect from graduate theological studies—numerous discussions of asbestos, the fluoride content of water, food production on campus, GPA policy, scholarship procedures, needs of extension students, dairy farming and how to run a Tuck Shop. 

Being involved in various churches here also gave me some meaningful ministry experience. Being an “associate pastor” at the Life in Christ Outreach Ministries church in Kibera gave me an entirely different perspective on the prosperity gospel.  Suddenly theology had distinct relational implications, it wasn’t just an argument in a paper.  Until recently, I had little experience as far as youth ministry, but for the last couple of years that’s what I’ve been doing at Nairobi Chapel.

Of course I must mention some of my African adventures—taking the bus straight through to Kigali, Rwanda (27 hours straight), wandering into DRC, white water rafting on the Nile in Uganda, exploring Mwanza, Tanzania, camping in Amboseli, watching the animals underneath the views of Kilimanjaro, reaching the bottom of the crater of Longonot, driving overnight in a motorbike from Nairobi to Mombasa, swimming for a few hours and then back, overnight again! Good times.

Now I am raising support so I can return as a missionary to serve in Nairobi (at Carlile College), to teach theology and work at the college.  I am not paid a salary, so have to raise all my funds before I can return to minster. I would love to hear more from you, please contact me at david.bawks@gmail.com. Follow my adventures at davidbawks.wordpress.com, and to give online, please visit www.cten.org/bawks. God bless!

-David Bawks