I want to
begin by saying thank you so much to each of you who have faithfully supported
our family over the past 15 years of mission ministry. God has done amazing
things as we have labored together in preaching the gospel both here in the
United States and in Kenya. Some of you have been with us from the beginning of
our missionary journey back in 2000 and others more recently. We have never
felt alone on the mission field knowing that there were faithful supporters praying
and laboring on our behalf before the throne of grace.
We returned
to the States the end of July this past year to begin our regularly scheduled
furlough. Our intentions were to set up housing here in Monticello near our
sending church Pauline Baptist Church then to visit churches to say thank you,
put our children in public school for a year, and for me to do the classroom
work for my Masters in Theology at the Missionary Baptist Seminary. We began
visiting churches and started school in the fall as planned.
In September our pastor Brother
Chad Graves resigned as the pastor of Pauline BC. As a church we began the process of seeking a
new pastor. A selection committee was formed, a process approved, and names
were submitted for consideration. Just before Thanksgiving the selection
committee approached Kenya and me and asked us if we would consider the
pastorate at our church. We took a week to pray about it and consider where we
were in ministry, where we are as a family, and the possibility of serving in
this capacity. We sought council from several of our mentors and men that we
respected about even being considered. We could not discern in our prayers a
yes or a no so we decided to submit to the church and ask God to help us along
with our church to discern His will.
Over the past six weeks we have
been in process with our church praying and proceeding through the church’s
selection process for calling a pastor. There were multiple votes,
conversations, and times of prayer. The church had the final vote on January 24
as to whether of not they believed we should serve as pastor or return to Kenya
as missionaries. They voted to call me as pastor believing that it was the
Lord’s will and knowing that it meant leaving the mission field. We believe that God has worked all the
details and the timing out for this decision. I have accepted the pastorate of
Pauline Baptist Church and our family will begin to make the transition into
this position.
East Kenya Missions will continue
on with Brother John Strader and his family sent out by Creekmont MBC, La Porte
TX. Brother John and others that God is raising up will continue to work with
the churches and the Bible Institute. I
have the utmost confidence that they will do a great work. The pastors and churches on the coast will
continue to grow in the Lord and I believe will do a great work. We will be
returning to Kenya for a few weeks in June to say good-bye to the churches and
to collect our personal belongings.
Please pray for our family during
this transition into stateside ministry. We believe God has big plans for
Pauline BC and what she can do for the cause of Christ locally and
globally. If you have any questions or
would like to speak with us our phone number is (870) 723-7640. Please feel
free to call and leave a voice mail if I do not answer and I will call back as
soon as possible.
James Taylor
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