Ellis Baptist Church plans mission trip to Kenya

By CRISTINA JANNEY

Hays Post

Michael Pritchett, his mother, Tricia Pritchett, and Julia Cox all of Ellis Baptist Church pose for a picture during a fundraiser at Arthur’s Pizza in Ellis.

A group from Ellis Baptist Church is about half way to its fundraising goal to send nine church members to Kenya next summer.

The trip has already been in the planning stages for more than a year.

The church has sent members on mission trips before, but in 2018 they will be joining missionaries Josh and Bethany Wormley, who the church is sponsoring, in Eldoret, Kenya, a city of about 290,000 people.

Youth and adults will assist the missionaries with work at a local orphanage and school as well as tasks at a newly formed Bible institute that is training Kenyans to be local ministers.

Although the city does have modern conveniences, such as electricity and common American fast food chains like KFC, it also has much poverty, Chad Pritchett, Ellis Baptist Church pastor, said.

Pritchett is an Army veteran who served in both the Gulf and Iraq wars and has also taken mission trips abroad.

“I have seen the impact of missions on our own children,” he said. “They get to see truly what other countries have, and they are never the same.”

Lauren Pritchett, 19, traveled to Livingstone, Zambia, Africa, about four years ago on a similar mission trip.

“We take a lot of things for granted. They love the Lord and will do whatever He wants them to do,” she said.

Residents in this rural area, which they call the bush, lived in stick huts with leaf roofs with no running water and no electricity. Lauren’s group conducted revivals in the area, and some faithful walked seven miles to come to church.

Lauren was so inspired by her trip she plans to go into the ministry and is considering foreign missions.

“I realized how much God has blessed me and my family. I could see the love God has, and how it could translate over here too,” she said.

Lauren’s mom, Tricia, is also going on the Kenya trip along with Lauren’s brother Michael.

Tricia has never been out of the country. She hopes to share some of Lauren’s experiences.

“This will be my daughter’s third mission trip,” she said. “ Every time she comes back, she is so excited about what she has done and seen. She is changed in her heart and her ministry toward other people.”

Tricia said she is most looking forward to working in the Eldoret orphanage. Their own family adopted one of their children, who is now grown.

Kelly Hansen, 35, a teacher at Ellis’ Washington Elementary School, has been to Africa on multiple mission trips. She has taught in schools and done in-services for local teachers in Africa. After first-grade, most teaching in Kenya is done in English, and most children know both English and local tribal languages.

Leading Bible study for a small group of teen girls has been among her most rewarding activities, she said.

“I have always had joy in my heart for helping someone else grow and change,” she said.

Hansen said the Kenyan people are very hospitable and usually offer tea or food when guests visits. They appreciative when westerners can help with money or physical things, but Hansen learned there were problems she could not solve.

“The Gospel is more than that,” she said. “There were times I couldn’t fix things financially for them. It really laid on my heart that the Gospel was so much more than that, that eternal salvation is so much more than anything I could give or bring with me.”

Those who wish to give to the mission trip can send checks to Kenya Team, Ellis Baptist Church, PO Box 204, Ellis, KS 67637.

A member of Ellis Baptist Church dressed as a piece of pizza stands outside Arthur’s Pizza in Ellis during a fundraiser for the group’s trip to Kenya.

The church is a 501(c)3, and contributions are tax deductible. The group is selling T-shirts as a fundraiser, will have a soccer camp and plans a fundraising night at Arthur’s Pizza in Ellis on Aug. 31.