Why do we Kill our own?

Truth has become a hidden virtue in Christianity today. If you tell someone the truth, you get ridiculed, judged, mocked, or worse, rejected. When we see the truth, we retreat, why? Because the truth forces us to take a stand and taking a stand makes us stand out.

In John 8:31-32 Jesus was talking to the Jews; "If you abide in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."

If you know the truth, the truth will make you free. I love that because there is so much freedom in truth. And when truth is told in love, there is no judgment or rejection.

I’m talking about truth because I believe strongly that there are some topics in Christianity that need to be talked about, yet people seem to dance around them, never fully acknowledging the point. It is important, no, vital that we stop hiding from “conflict” and begin to recognize the truth.

This leads into my subject, “Why do we kill our own?”

During my last trip home to Reno, I went to the place where I coached gymnastics for 6 years during high-school and college. I was warmly welcomed by my previous employers and was even offered a job if I ever come back. I felt loved, accepted, appreciated. I got into the car to leave and realized that out of the three jobs I had while I lived in Reno; this was the only one that was neither a ministry, nor a Christian employer. Yet, it was the only place of the three where I felt I was welcomed to visit. Why is this? Why is that every time I’ve worked for a church or ministry or for a Christian man, I’ve left on bad terms, or been cussed out on the job and when I say the “truth” I’m forced to “be called to another ministry?” I don’t feel bitterness or anger and am so thankful for the examples set by some of these Christian men because it’s shown me what not to be.

When I stepped down from one ministry because of drastically different opinions on what the Bible says about ministry, I was told to tell the congregation that I was being “called” to another ministry. “But I’m not” I responded, “I know, but it will just look better,” the leadership said. I didn’t do it because I wasn’t going to lie and I wasn’t going to hide the truth. I’ve seen some good men, potentially Christian giants, shot right in the back by their “brother’s” because they stood up for truth and confronted a wrong situation. They were shot and then when they were down, bleeding, they got kicked. Most of these men left the ministry, discouraged to no end.

I think of a group of soldiers going to war. They are well trained, prepared, they move as one with their sights on the enemy. But we as Christians are so scattered, no focus, no aim. The enemy comes and we end up pointing our weapons at the backs of our fellow soldiers and shooting each other, killing some, wounding many.

It seems nowadays that there are so many wounded Christians, they don’t want to talk about the church, they don’t want to talk about a pastor or church leadership. Especially my generation, we as a whole have given up on the modern church assembly and traditional church hierarchy.

During the recent political unrest in Kenya, a fellow missionary in Kitale “escaped Kenya only by the grace of God.” This was posted on a public blog and a reader of this blog from the U.S.Kenya. The missionary began a barrage of e-mails attacking the sender of the e-mail. The sender, who wasn’t a Christian, confronted this missionary about their defensiveness and then asked if the missionary knew me and asked if it was known why I was still in Kenya. The missionary did know me but the writer didn’t, she had only read my blogs. I received an e-mail from this person from the U.S. who told me of the e-mail conversations with this missionary. When she asked the missionary if she knew me and why I didn’t leave, the missionary replied by saying “I can do way more good in the U.S. than Daniel will ever do in Kenya.” The e-mail to me went on to say state that she was very disappointed with this missionary’s response and based on their volley of e-mails, she will never become a Christian because if this is how Christians act, she wants nothing to do with them. e-mailed the missionary and asked why God didn’t have grace on the rest of

This broke my heart because it’s true. If I was outside looking into the Christian world, I’d want nothing to do with it either. What a sad testimony to us, the church, the body.

Shortly before my return to the U.S., another missionary in Kitale began a rumor that I was leaving for good, “abandoning” the children here, never to return. I don’t understand why someone would say that… well, never mind, I do understand. There is something that is sadly imbedded in ministry, not only in Kenya, but all over the world. Competition. I was a competitive gymnast for 4 years so I understand what it means to compete, to look at the rival team with distain, desiring so much to beat them, and not just beat them, but demolish them. Somehow this same mentality has creped into ministry. Most modern church’s measure the success on their Sunday service by the number of people in attendance. The church I was employed at for two years would call the head office every Monday morning and give the report of the number of attendees and the giving. Then these stats would be used to compare different churches. “What is pastor so and so doing, because his church is growing so fast?” Then there is the mind set of “Let’s do what they are doing so we too can have a lot of people.” Or “The church down the street had a record attendance last week and the Jones and Smiths left our church and are now going there. We need to make better programs so we can get them back and not risk losing more people.” I’m not making these scenarios up, I’ve heard them first hand, and at times, said it myself.

I’ve found this same ministry competition here, in Kenya. One ministry trying to one up the other and during fellowships, each leaders talks about how wonderful their ministry is doing and how much money they raised for a project and “we just bought a $50,000 car, when are you getting yours?” I guess I missed the point in my non missionary training, because I didn’t know that it was all about one upping each other and trying to see who has the nicest cell phone or most expensive car. Last year on several occasions I’ve said in the middle of conversations between fellow ministry leaders “I didn’t know we were competing.” This always catches people off guard and they start back pedaling saying that they are not competing, but that’s what it sounds like to me. I’ve also told people bluntly “If this is a competition to who has the most successful ministry, count me out, because I’m not here to compete.”

The task is big, astronomical in fact. We are in Kenya focusing on children, the orphans. There are 2.3 million of them in Kenya alone. We don’t need to compete over them, but rather join together, work together, combined resources and man power, that’s the only way that true ministry will succeed. It will succeed if we come together as one body, one church, one team, a well trained army, who aren’t going to shoot each other in the back. Then and only then, will we accomplish something.

If we find that we are competing, then we need to examine our own heart and motives for doing what we are doing.

The truth people, is that we as Christians, as ministries, as the body, are killing our own. We are shooting each other in the back, we are overrun by gossip. We are stuck in a sick cycle of ministry competition, and we need to stop. We need to begin to call out people who try to compete for the biggest church meeting or the most successful ministry. Despite what people think, we need to state the truth. Because if you know the truth, the truth will set you free.

A Monkey Named Timo

Sometimes I forget that I’m living in Kenya, until that odd day when a monkey wanders into our backyard. The monkey has been passing through the trees in our yard for the past month. I got my first up close glimpse last week and decided that I was going to try to feed the Monkey the next time I saw it. I got up early Friday morning and had a banana ready. At about 7:30am our dogs started going crazy, alerting that the monkey was there. I chased the dogs away and slowly moved closer to the monkey who sat in the trees lining our back fence. As I got closer, he didn’t move. I put the banana up and after a few minutes, he slowly made his way over and grabbed the banana right out of my hand.

Saturday morning I waited again, he didn’t come. Yesterday, Sunday, I waited for an hour while I read outside. He didn’t come. A few hours later, the dogs started going crazy and sure enough, the monkey was there and once again ate a banana out of my hand. My next goal is to hold him… not sure how that will go… I’m a bit nervous about his big teeth.

I named our monkey Timo after our good friend Timo who spent some time with us in Kenya last year. Two things that Timo our friend and Timo the monkey have in common, they both love to eat and both have an awesome gotee.

25,000 Villagers Face Starvation

In Wednesday’s Kenya Nation newspaper a story was featured about the food crisis in Kenya right now.

Speaking to the Nation at Bargoni, Mr Abuli warned that the villagers might start “succumbing to hunger very soon”. He said that the last time they received relief food from the Government was December last year.

“Lives here are hanging by a thread as the famine situation is almost getting out of hand. Unless they are urgently given relief food, the chance of their survival is slim,” he said.

This wave is not just in the are of Lamu talked about in this article, it is sweeping across Kenya.

I asked a business owner in town on Wednesday what will happen in a few months from now when the staple food is gone. He said that in the past, Kenya were able to import food from surrounding countries, but now, because of the rising gas price, it is not feasible to transport it into Kenya, he didn’t know what would happen.

The U.N.’s World Food Program (WFP) is trying to raise funds to be able to meet the demand for food in Kenya.

Kenya’s suffering right now was brought upon itself in a large way due to the clashes earlier this year. A huge percentage of maize fields lay unplanted this rainy season because the owners of these fields were chased away because they didn’t belong to the tribe of that community. Also the 300% rise in cost of fertilizer has rendered many farmers unable to afford to plant. And let’s not forget the years supply of maiz burned in Kisumu city, the maize that was to feed that city…

Today the TI Kenya staff is meeting to discuss how was can best prepare for this emerging crisis. We will be stocking up on staple food for the rest of this year for all our projects. That’s a start. Much of the extra funding coming into Kenya this year through TI will be spent on food. People can’t live if they don’t eat. The village of 25,000 knows that all too well.

National News article

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Lessons Learned from Vomit on my Foot

The past three days have been full of adventure as we traveled by public transportation from Kitale, to Eldoret and then to Kisii. The morning started off by leaving our house at 8:00am and getting on boda boda (bicycle taxis) to town. We then boarded a kangaroo (7 seat van) headed to Eldoret where we were to meet our friends from the Kisii tribe. In Eldoret, we met up with them and got on a matatu (14 seat van normally filled with 20+ people.) From there, it was about a 4 hour drive through Nandi hills, the tea capital of Kenya. Beautiful area. After arriving in Kisii town, we did some food shopping and then boarded the traditional matatu. A pickup truck with a box shell on the back with seats lining the sides. I think these are meant to seat 10 people, but I’ve never seen one with less than 18 to 20 people. That doesn’t count people hanging out the back and sitting on the roof. These trucks are used for reaching village locations. We had an hour drive, totally squished and driving on bumpy dirt roads. 9 hours from the beginning of our journey, we arrived at the village home of our friend.

I loved being out in the village, no power, no running water, no flush toilet, just the basics where life is so simple. The first morning I woke up to a rooster crowing and children laughing. What a pleasant way to wake up. The fist day in Kisii, we walked about 5 miles and visited the soapstone mines. The highlight of Kisii for me was the amazing food. In my opinion, the Kisii tribe is some of the best cooks in Kenya. Much against Kenyan traditions, I, as a guy, was allowed in the kitchen because I wanted to learn to cook matoka, a popular Kenyan dish of boiled bananas.

The next day we left the village early, back to Kisii town then to Kisumu. Kisumu was one of the hardest hit areas during the clashes in January of this year. It was the only area that was 100% cleansed of the Kikuyu tribe during that time. One of the town’s major supermarkets was burned along with many other businesses. The matatu trip from Kisii to Kisumu was the highlight of my entire trip. A passenger was sitting on the floor of the matatu so not to be seen by the police at the police checks. About an hour before reaching our destination, the man who was sitting near my feet vomited all over my exposed foot and pant leg. I felt something wet and thought he had fallen asleep and was drooling on my foot. I was grossed out at that thought and as I moved in to look, I saw vomit all over him, the floor and my foot. I don’t think I’ve ever been so grossed out before. Understand that this matatu was overloaded and I couldn’t even move my foot in any direction nor clean it off. Just as I saw what was covering my foot, the stench hit my nose and I held back my own vomit. I could feel the chunks between my toes and tried not to move my feet at all. I prayed a lot for that next hour, I prayed that I wouldn’t lose control as I wanted to just smack the guy on the head with my newspaper and tell him “you dummy, you could have asked for a bag or stood up and barfed out the window.” I didn’t do either, but I was a bit ticked off. Finally we reached Kisumu and I told everyone just to leave me alone while I cleaned off my foot. I got some wet wipes and did the best I could there in the middle of the crowded stage with people watching me. It was about an hour and a half later before I got to a shower and could really clean it off. To make the story more interesting, I didn’t have any clean pants and had to wear the pants with dried vomit on them the rest of that day and all the next.

When things like that happen to me, I ask God why, why He allowed that to happen and what lesson I’m supposed to learn from it. There are the practical lessons.

1. Always travel with an extra pair of pants
2. Don’t let anyone sit by my feet on a matatu, especially if they’ve been drinking and it’s a really bumpy road.
3. Just in case I’m on a matatu with someone sitting by my feet on a bumpy road and they’ve been drinking, carry an extra plastic bag and when they get in, hand it to them instructing them to kindly barf in the bag and not on my foot.

But the deeper lesson learned, having my foot barfed on and not being able to clean it for an hour, is that it’s not the end of the world and really not that big of a deal. It’s a part of the adventure, the grand story to tell, and a time to increase my faith saying “Lord, please don’t let me beat this guy over the head with my newspaper.”

Things like this can either build character or create anger. No mater how we respond to many, if not most, situations, the outcome is going to be the same. We can get angry and blow up, accomplishing nothing, or we can laugh at it, be calm and say “whatever doesn’t kill me will make for a good story.”

I’m now back in Kitale, in clean pants.

And The Love Grows

Sometimes we have to get out of our normal daily life to realize how much we love what we are doing. Being away for six weeks only increased my love and desire for Kenya. For me, there is nothing greater than hugging on an orphan child or sitting with the street kids… or being crammed on a 14 seat matatu with 28 people and the toothless drunk guy in the middle of all of it, thinking he’s the funnies thing that hit the face of this earth.

Life is meant to live and to be passionate about. Several times while home, I was tempted by the “normal” life. A life with money, a life with high speed internet, a life where water was plenty, the power didn’t go out for a day at a time and there was a fridge full of all the food I could ever want. It was strange to me to get in a car and drive everywhere, what an amazing luxury that we, the Americans, take for granted. I laid awake one night asking why I’m going back to a life in Kenya where I walk at least 5 miles a day to get from place to place, use public transportation, stuffing into a crowded van and daily the conductor tries to rip me off because of the color of my skin, where I don’t have a “real” job and literally hit my knees at the end of every month asking for God’s provision so I can eat the next week.

Then I snapped out of my delusional state and realized that these things are the very same things that I love about being here, in Kenya, where I come alive. I love walking everywhere, everyday, meeting new people, children who just want to walk down the road and hold my hand, and I keep in shape from walking everywhere. I love getting on the public transportation and knowing how to get wherever I want to go, and knowing the price of that trip and telling the conductor in Swahili “if I was a rich white person,” as they think I am, “I would not be using public transportation but would have my own car.” That makes since to him and he leaves me alone. I love the conversations I get in with Kenyans when I’m on a bus, traveling to Nairobi, hearing their pain, the truest of it. I love it that I get to go to God every month and say “Lord, I can’t do it without you, I need You.” And He always provides for my every need.

I’m encouraged by what Paul said in Philippians 4. Not that I speak from want; for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.

Some people say “You should get a car; you NEED a car there in Africa.” The truth is I don’t need a car. Sure, a car would make things more convenient, but I don’t need one. And if I had one, I might gain a few pounds and miss out of holding that child’s hand as we walk together, or meeting that poor grandmother on the train tracks who is caring for her orphaned grandchildren and just needs someone to say good morning to her. And I might be like the missionary who drives the nice car to town, gets his food from the market and drives away. And when I ask the street kids “who’s that?” they say “Some rich white guy who doesn’t like us very much, we don’t know his name because the only thing he says to us is ‘get away from my car.’” And I know that white guy has been in this town much longer than me. He doesn’t know the names of the street kids, but he knows intimately each new scratch on his car. I don’t want to be like that.

The point of all this rambling is to say; I never want to speak from want, I want to learn to be content in every circumstance. I want to know how to get along with humble means and how to know how to live in prosperity (thank you Lord for Starbucks and for the 20+ Java Chip Frappuccinos with a shot of peppermint I put down in the last 6 weeks). I want to learn the secret of being filled and going hungry. I want to say ‘thank you Lord if I don’t have a car and walk everywhere, or if You give me a car some day, thank you for the blessing of that car. Please teach me to use it wisely.’ I want to truly believe that I can do all things through Him. I’m not there yet, not even close, but I’m learning… one day at a time.

I never knew that life could be so enjoyable, no much fun, so rewarding. I walked by a group of orphans yesterday, 6 to 8 years of age. They are from a foster home near my house. “Wait a minute.” I told my dad as I saw these girls playing outside their house yesterday. “I can’t pass them without giving them a hug.” I walked over and as I got close, one by one, they walked over to me with their arms open, knowing I was coming just to give them a hug. Sandra was first in line and gave me the tightest hug I’ve ever gotten from a 6 year old. When she let go, she just looked me in the eyes as if to say “thank you.” I hugged all 4 of the girls and slapped hi five with the boys (they’re too cool for a hug). As I walked away, I realized that I needed that hug as much as they did. “That’s what it’s all about,” I told my dad. Being here, being with the orphans, hugging on the filthy dirty street kids, bringing sacks of corn to that old widow caring for her grandchildren, putting de-worming medication on the infected heads of the kids at the children’s home, riding in that crowded matatu and hugging little Sandra on my walk home, that’s what makes me come alive. Who will fight for these children, the orphans, little Bernard, 3 years old with HIV, the grandmother caring for her 35 orphans grandchildren, the voiceless? I will, I will fight for them, one person at a time, because that’s what I’m passionate about.

My purpose of this blog is not to say “look at me, look at what I’m doing.” Because I have no clue what I’m doing. I’m only living the life that was placed before me and living it one day at a time. My purpose is to encourage people, you, to find what brings you joy, the thing that brings you to life, the place you are when you say “this is what I was meant to do.” Because when you find that place, life just becomes so much more worth is. And the love, the love for life, for God, for people, the love grows. Just as each day I spend here in Kenya, the love for this place and for life grows.

My all time favorite quote comes from the book Wild at Heart. “Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and go and do that, because what the world needs is more people who are alive.”

The links:

www.transformedinternational.org. I posted a new update today

www.dlipparelli.blogspot.com I try to post several blogs a week

www.myspace.com/lipparelli not so cool since I’ve discovered facebook

www.facebook.com (search Daniel Lipparelli) has made myspace not so cool

Back in Kenya

The trip back to Kenya was good. I arrived in Nairobi at 9:00pm on Wednesday night. I spent the night at some friend’s house then went back to the airport at 6:30am to meet my parent’s who came in on another flight. We went from the airport to catch a shuttle (11 seat van) from Nairobi to Eldoret. We had to buy three extra seats for all our luggage. We left around 9:00am2:30pm. We then had to transfer all our bags from the shuttle to a 7 seat mini van called a kangaroo. I hired a guy with a hand made dolly that was able to carry all 6 of our 50lb bags. We got loaded up on the kangaroo in the midst of the busy transportation stage and arrived Kitale by 4:00pm. and reached Eldoret at

I’ve been blessed not to have any jet lag coming back. I jumped right back into a normal sleeping schedule.

Although the raining season has come and we have a few hours of rain every day, the sun is shining and it’s really hot out. I’m so thankful for this because it’s taken me a few days to un-thaw from my time in Canada. Yes, it was that bad. Sadly I forgot that my skin was once again really white and now have a sunburn.

It has been great to have my parent’s here seeing all the TI projects for the first time. Within the next week, we will be visiting almost every project and child TI supports. All 120 of them!

Best of all, it’s been great to be back with Meredith. I really missed her the last three months as she was in Canada the months before I left for the U.S. I am really blessed to be working beside her.

Yesterday we went to see the Kids at HBF children’s home. They about knocked me over when I got there. Being away from them for that past 6 weeks only grew my heart closer to them.

The underlining tone of political issues in Kenya right now is the realization of the results of the destruction from in January. Basically, there’s a huge lack of food in the country and all staple food prices have just about doubled. People are really suffering. I’m not sure what the solution is for this issue in Kenya right now. My prediction is by October, there’s not going to be much stable food left and Kenya will enter into a famine. Right now this greatly affects the orphans with TI because we buy all the food on a monthly basis and because the needed money is over our budget, the food we bring is not enough. I want to do a better assessment as we begin a week of food deliveries.

I will be posting another blog at the end of this week with some project updates as well as prayer items.

The biggest prayer for this week is that we don’t get overwhelmed with the work that needs to get done.

Back to Kenya

The past 6 weeks have been some of the fastest weeks of my life. Honestly, I’m tired and ready to be back in Kenya. But that’s what I wanted to be doing. I wanted to be busy.

My time in Canada was just awesome. God confirmed my love for the younger generation and the detriment they are to the future of this world. My heart hurts for them and excites for them, for they are the future leaders, the ones who will make amazing changes in this world. Well, I’m talking like I’m old, I’m not, but I recognize the fire in the generation that follows mine. Through whatever means possible, my hearts desire is to help usher them into the next stage of their lives and their leadership and their role in the body of Christ.

In the past 6 weeks the Lord has also confirmed the kind of leader He wants me to be and the kind of leaders I don’t want become myself.

The most important thing I’ve come to speak and believe is that Transformed International is not a ministry that belongs to any one person, or is led by anyone, but that it is under the authority of Christ and He is the head. Coming into my trip to the U.S., I was ready to begin setting goals and mile markers, but I see so clearly that those things will only divert TI from what the Lord desires it to be. “Lord don’t bless TI, but show us where you are and take us there…”

In the midst of my past 6 weeks, I’ve also discovered a treasure, an extraordinary gift, that I pray will develop into a lifetime. But once again, I’m submitted to the Lord’s will and timing.

Today I traveled from Canada to Dallas, tomorrow I fly back to Kenya. By Thursday afternoon I will be back in Kitale passing on all the hugs I got for Meredith from NAC.

My parents will be meeting me in Nairobi on Thursday and we will all travel together to Kitale. I’m overjoyed that they get to be with me for the next month.

I anticipate a crazy month as we will be looking for land for the street girl’s program, hiring some new staff, registering a children’s home, preparing a shipment, starting a micro business for 7 women, welcoming the first TI intern for the year, and traveling around a bit… and of course, hugging on all my kids.

As I end this year’s trip to North America, I leave overwhelmed with God, with TI, and with all that fills my heart. And in this place of feeling a weary, I rest assured that it’s not my burden to carry and not my task to run. I realize how much I don’t know what I’m doing in just about every area of my life and work and ministry. But I know here is right where the Lord wants me, in a place of saying “Lord, I can’t do it, I need you, take control.” And He will, He does.

Today in Kenya the main road from Nairobi to Kitale was blocked, some busses were burned and 7 people killed due to another rise of the Mungiki gang. My prayer is that we make it through ok as we will be traveling by road. Here is a link for more. http://africa.reuters.com/world/news/usnL14441956.html

Please keep an eye out for updates on my life and on TI and the lives of those being touched.