Please help us welcome the Paynes for this month’s Mission Sunday!
We a thrilled to have been officially appointed as NTD missionaries to Kenya for a 36-month term.
We are excited to train future African leaders and model Jesus’ compassion to Kenya and East Africa. We have been educating ourselves and preparing for this journey for a long time. Our prayer is that we will be useful for the building of God’s kingdom.

A Bit of Background
The African church is growing as fast as it’s ever grown in its 2000 year history! People on the African continent are turning to Christ in unprecedented numbers. On average there are about 18 new churches planted every day. But tremendous growth also presents the church’s greatest challenge. There are simply not enough trained pastors and Christian leaders to minister to the needs of all the new Christ-followers and their communities. Many men and women are willing to step up and fill leadership roles, but most have very limited or no access to biblical training. The potential benefits that could come from a minister’s zeal are often left unrealized because of his or her lack of training.

What will Tessa be doing during our 36-month term?
When John the Baptist was in prison in Matthew 11, he seems to have had some doubts about whether or not Jesus was really the messiah. So he sent his disciples to ask Jesus a question:
“Are you the one who is to come or should we wait for another?” Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news announced to them!”
The arrival of God’s kingdom and his king is marked out by healing for the poor and infirm. Historically the church has found ways to care for the poor and sick. Tessa will be working in compassion ministries where her role will be to identify healthcare needs and empower the local church and its leaders to meet some of those physical needs in the name of Jesus. God moves in acts of compassion!1

What will Randy be doing during our 36-month term?
For the East African church to take hold of its calling and fulfill the task of gospel proclamation, church planting and disciple making, hundreds of newly trained leaders are needed. Randy will be teaching biblical studies at EAST University and other East African Bible schools helping to train future pastors and Christian leaders. We believe that EAST University will be the place where future leaders are trained to become competent in the Scriptures, understand what the Spirit is doing in the world, and go out in the power of the Spirit to disciple the next generation of leaders in Kenya, East Africa and beyond.2

1 Tessa holds a Doctorate of Nursing Practice from Duke University, where her doctoral project empowered a community in Honduras to develop a culturally sustainable pediatric asthma clinic alongside a local Christian hospital. She has been a pediatric nurse practitioner for the last 13 years and currently works for Children’s Medical Center in Dallas/Plano. Tessa mentors teenage girls in Girls’ Ministry and has taught a new -believers class at Christ Church Fort Worth. She also serves on the church’s missions committee.

2 Randy holds will graduate in December with his Ph.D. in Old Testament and Archaeology from Southwestern Seminary in Fort Worth. He has experience in Bible backgrounds and has enjoyed being a team leader on Southwestern’s archaeological survey team in Israel for five summers. He has also been teaching Wednesday night adult Bible classes at Christ Church Fort Worth and serves on the church’s missions committee.