Please allow me to introduce myself and my family. We are Roger (37), Julie (36), Emily (12), Amy (6), and Josiah (5) Tate. We currently live in Dayton, Ohio and minister at Emmanuel Baptist Church in Bellbrook, Ohio. I have been attending Emmanuel for the past 27 years and have been the Associate Pastor since 2002.
A few years after the Lord saved me he began directing my life by giving me a heart for missions. This constituted a big change for a young man who previously had no desire to leave the comforts and culture of the United States. However, what the Lord begins in us He always finishes and though my desire for missions started and grew slowly, God eventually brought me to submission to His will for missions in my life. At this point in my life, however, I did not know where the Lord was leading me. All I knew was that he was leading me to some cross cultural mission field.
While struggling with the questions of where, when, why, and how, God provided us an unbelievable gift - the opportunity to go on a short term missions trip. I had been praying for just such an opportunity for two years. This was definitely from God, as he provided all our expenses for the trip through the generosity of some dear friends of ours who are very mission minded. We would be going to Kitale, Kenya to visit the ministry of Mike & Pam Anderson.
I went to Kenya with one overall purpose in mind: To allow God to use the experience to solidify in my mind His will for us to go to the mission field. For me, it was a trial run. I was hoping God would use it to answer some of my questions, to help me with some of my fears, and to guide me into my future ministry. He did this and more. In fact, he did something surprising. He gave me a heart and a zeal...FOR KENYA AND THE KENYAN PEOPLE. This, I was not expecting. I had never really had thoughts toward Africa before. In fact, when I was a younger man I said I would never go to Africa as a missionary. God has a mysterious way of changing our hearts. Now, Kenya, Africa is my heart’s desire.
In August of 2006, after years of praying and seeking God’s will, my wife and I surrendered to follow our Lord Jesus Christ to this mission field. We expressed our desires and call from the Lord to our church, Emmanuel Baptist Church, and Pastor Darrell Messer. Our church agreed to recognize our calling from the Lord, and in November 2006, they set us apart to this ministry, commissioned us, and are sending us as their missionaries to Kenya.
We praise the Lord also that Baptist Faith Missions has agreed to administer our support funds with the assistance of other missions-giving churches and individuals. We are thrilled to be the thirteenth full-time missionary family to the nations of the world financed through Baptist Faith Missions. We are extremely thankful for this partnership and see the Lord’s hand in this blessing. We also thank God for Mike and Pam who we will be partnering with in Kitale. We love them and their ministry and pray continually for God’s blessings in their lives and work.
Our desire is to minister and serve in Kenya, to see native Kenyan people come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, to see indigenous Baptist churches being built and firmly established in the faith and in God’s word, and to see the glory of God shining on this far away dark continent.
We are currently traveling to as many churches as we can to present our work and burden for Kenya. If you would like us to present the work to your church, please feel free to call me at 937-293-9987. I can also be reached by email at the following address: rojuta@sbcglobal.net. Our tentative plans are to leave the United States for Africa in February 2008 to begin language school in Tanzania.
Please pray that God would use us mightily in his service to glorify His name and extend his kingdom in Africa.
In Christ name and for His glory,
Roger, Julie, Emily, Amy & Josiah Tate