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We have just gone through about the most amazing prayer day ever. The air was sizzling as over 200 pastors prayed together and confessed the sins of the city of Mombasa. I stood briefly in a corner, watching, and could feel the hair on the back of my neck rise with excitement! The passion, the excitement, the tears, the cries of prayer. It was overwhelming.

The busses left Nairobi for Mombasa yesterday evening, to arrive in Mombasa around 9 am in the morning. We had 130 pastors registered for the Msafara, and 165 volunteers and intercessors. When the busses arrived in Mombasa the pastors gathered with about 100 pastors from Mombasa, and after some light refreshment, got down to the business of worship & prayer. One of the key points in the prayer was confessing the sins of Mombasa after the example of Daniel 9. If Mombasa stands judged before God it would be for the 3 sins of idolatry, witchcraft and promiscuity. Mombasa is known in Kenya for being the most active center of witchcraft in the country. It is also known for it’s sex trade, now mainly sex tourism.

As we prayed together the story of the coming of the gospel to Kenya was told. The first missionaries to Kenya were a small team of Catholics who set up a chapel in Malindi in the 1500’s. Though they tried they were however unable to penetrate the interior. Finally they gave up and left. The next attempt was 350 yrs later in late 1800’s. This time it was an Anglican mission. They landed in the Miji-Kenda land (Miji-Kenda (9 homes) are a tribe made up of 9 clans, who have a different dialects, but common traditions. They occupy much of the coastal strip). As the story goes (and this is folklore — happened 150 yrs ago), the Anglican missionaries met the elders of the tribe and requested permission to build a church. The Elders then met together and discussed the matter, recognizing the missionaries were about to introduce a new god to them. This they did not want.

But they also recognized they could not say no. So they slaughtered a goat as a sacrifice to their gods, and made a spiritual covenant that the territory of the new god would be limited to the size of that goat skin. They buried the skin in the ground and then gave that piece of property to the missionaries to build their church on. This is the Anglican church at Rabai. To this day the gospel has not penetrated the Miji-Kenda tribe even though it has been there for over 150 yrs, and only a handful have become Christians over that time. Most churches at the coast are full of inland people, but not Miji-Kenda.

Today as we prayed, one of the pastors leading the worship felt led to call upon all the Miji-Kenda pastors there to come forward and confess that even though they were the first people in Kenya to receive the gospel, they not only rejected it, but also denied the inland people a chance to receive it from them. In the fashion of Daniel 9 the pastors confessed the sin of their forefathers, and then an elderly missionary lady came forward and (re)gave them the Word. This time round they received it for themselves, and then symbolically passed it onto the inland tribes represented at the meeting. It was POWERFUL symbolism!

The intercessors then prayed for the work of the gospel among the Miji-Kenda. And called on God to call forth his children from among these tribes. The air was pregnant with passion and petition. I was overwhelmed by an overflow of joy and could not help but burst out in song and laughter. It was a truly powerful time of prayer. We prayed this way for 4 hrs.

For our devotion we were trying to facilitate the pastors to confess that something went terribly wrong with the church during the elections when it divided into 3 mutually exclusive streams supporting the 3 main political parties. I spoke from the life of Daniel & his friends, who lived in the midst of a tense political situation, and yet never compromised. 6 traits in them that I called the “6 pillars of Leadership Integrity ”. First was their intentional commitment to walk together (accountability) (1:6); second was their access to a different source of wisdom (God) 2:17 - 19; third was their non-negotiable values (3:17, 18), fourth was their/Daniel’s commitment to tell the truth even at the risk of his life (4:19); fifth was his refusal to accept incentives in the administration of his calling (5:17); and finally was his untainted honesty & integrity (6:5).

In the afternoon we went on a prayer march around the town. We had a police on a motorbike escort us, stopping traffic as we marched down the street — really snarled up traffic. Many in the town came out to see us. At the front of the procession was Bishop Dena of the Anglican Church (and a Miji-Kenda himself). We stopped at several key points along the way, and prayed

It’s been a great day of prayer, and I sense spiritual release because of the unity of the pastors, and the passion of their prayers. Thank you all for joining us by praying where you are even if you could not be in Mombasa with us.