Though Lions Roar - CLC Expands in Kenya
What a year 2011 has been for the CLC team in Kenya! And through it all, God has been faithful.
The CLC work in Nairobi began in 2007 with the simple idea that Christian books needed to be more widely available in Kenya. Most local Christian bookstores had to order their products from the USA and UK and wait months for them to arrive. Rather than start a new bookstore initially, CLC opened a distribution center to supply the local needs by carrying larger numbers of popular and important titles. Right away, the availability and accessibility of key titles improved and the demand continued to grow.
Based on this initial success, CLC started supplying local churches and ministries as well as Christian bookstores in Kenya and surrounding countries. One local church appreciated the work of CLC so much that they invited us to establish a bookstore on their campus. As a result, our first Bookshop-In-A-Box project was launched and a bookstore was opened on the church campus in what used to be a shipping container. This refurbished container was a great way to make books available in a strategic location at a reasonable cost. CLC is now looking at launching several more Bookshops-In-A-Box projects in other parts of Africa.
Early in 2011, our warehouse street sign was removed by the local city council officers with no advance warning because they claimed it was causing some sort of obstruction. For some time before this incident, the CLC Kenya team had been praying that “the presence of God would saturate CLC Kenya so much that people passing by the property would be drawn in with a desire to know God.” The week after the sign was taken down, a man walked in and said that he wanted to know Jesus. This was particularly amazing because there was no sign even on the building to indicate that CLC was a Christian organization at that moment. The man became a Christian and the team was delighted to share the truths of the gospel with him.
Late in the year, a group of men armed with spears and pangas (a type of machete) cut through the fence around the CLC property in Nairobi in the middle of the night. They tied up Gideon, the watchman who lives on the premises, and then tried to enter the building. Despite their sharp weapons, they were unable to break the grills over the windows or the padlock on the door. They also tried to break into Gideon’s home but they couldn’t open the door. A few personal items were taken from him, but he was unharmed.
Despite these challenges, the team continues to advance, and two new stores were opened at the end of the year. One is located in the university town of Kakamega and the other is a town called Eldoret. Interestingly, while our team was interviewing potential candidates to manage the store in Kakamega, a person who applied was actually led to the Lord during the interview. Please pray for God’s continued protection of our team and for the success of these two new literature outlets.
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