Sunday July 14th marked 25 years since Pastor Stanley and tr. Alice accepted the call from God and began the long journey of establishing Spring Valley school and church for the desperate, needy, poor, hungry children of Spring Valley. Pastor Stanley and tr. Alice felt that they should mark this 25th anniversary with a big thanksgiving celebration to testify of what the Lord has done and accomplished in Spring Valley and in the lives of the children. Most of the staff and children led by tr. Jesse had participated in cleaning, decorating and arranging the church and school compound the previous day in preparation for the 25year anniversary. Susan (tr. Jesse’s wife), tr. Isaac and tr. Shanice spent late hours on Friday and Saturday right here in Spring Valley baking and decorating the cakes that would be cut and enjoyed during the celebrations.
The celebratory church service began early at 9am in the morning with a lot of praise and worship led by tr. James, Susan (tr. Jesse’s wife) & our wonderful praise team — mostly former students of Spring Valley who are now the youth of the church, have successful careers serving right here at Spring Valley and are on fire for the Lord. The children also made the church service even more special as they raised their voices in singing, and danced jubilantly for the Lord.
The children who are our greatest evangelists at home and in the community invited their parents, relatives and guardians to join us during the celebration and the church was filled to capacity and some had to sit in the tent outside the pastor and tr. Alice had hired in anticipation of the church being full. During the church service a slide show with pictures showing the humble beginnings of Spring Valley to what God has been able to accomplish was shown.
Tr. Jesse and Pastor Stanley also took the time to give a short history of Spring Valley and to thank each and every partner and friend who has supported Spring Valley over the years. Tr. Jesse also introduced the 38 staff members and the important roles they play in transforming the lives of the children and the staff also sang a special thanksgiving song. We had local and visiting pastors and friends, some local Kenyan clergy and some government representatives who in one way or another assisted pastor with the legalities of establishing a school and church here in Spring Valley.
Tr. Alice led the choir which mostly compromises of our teens and youth in beautiful songs and hymns before our special visiting pastor preached the word. The service ended at 2pm and a delicious sumptuous celebratory lunch followed soon after. Pastor Stanley and tr. Alice wanted our cooks to enjoy the celebrations also so they hired a caterer who is also a member of the church and the grandmother of some our children here at the school to cater for the food for the event. Pastor Stanley and tr. Alice always want to empower the community and women of the church in all their endeavors and our wonderful cateress Joyce Mugo and her team of three women who are members of the church felt honored to be given the task of preparing a delicious meal of beef pilau, beef stew, salad, chapatti, cabbage & juice.
The ladies used our school kitchen to prepare the meals and spent the night here in Spring Valley cooking overnight so that all the meals would be ready on time for the celebrations. The ladies prepared more than enough for the children, church congregation, parents and visitors who were over 1000 in number. Everyone got to enjoy the meal and even go back for seconds and just like in the Bible when Jesus multiplied the two fish and five loaves of bread, the Lord multiplied the meal and children continued enjoying this delicious meal for supper and lunch the following day.
After lunch all the guests and parents were entertained by the children who had prepared songs and dances for them it was a fun time and everyone joined the children in the dancing and singing. Later in the afternoon all the pastors prayed for Pastor Stanley and tr. Alice for the Lord to continue renewing their strength as they accomplish the vision and mission God gave them for Spring Valley.
Shortly after there was a cake cutting ceremony which was led by Mrs. Esther Muthoni & Mrs. Grace Wangari who are some of the oldest members of Spring Valley Church and have been congregants since it was established. These wonderful ladies led Pastor Stanley, tr. Alice and visiting guests in the cake cutting and the female staff members and ladies of the church served everyone the delicious cakes. The ceremony ended at 4pm with prayer and we are so grateful to God for the success of the celebrations.
We want to express our heartfelt gratitude to you our wonderful friends and partners for standing with Pastor Stanley and tr. Alice for the last 25yrs and helping to transform and shape the lives of thousands of children who have passed through Spring Valley school. we are looking forward to the next 25yrs to see what more amazing plans the Lord has for the children and Spring Valley and our prayer is that we will continue to walk this journey together as we await our crowns in heaven for winning the souls of these little ones for Christ.