Story of Pastor Simeon Lenarum, DPTC Class of 2012

Winner of Dr. Mike Long Following the Call Award

Pastor Simeon, wife Stella and daughter Siteya Nalari

Pastor Simeon enrolled at Divine Providence Training in 2011. He comes from the Samburu tribe and ministers with Laitabarok Evangelistic Ministries.  When you encounter him for the first time you are not likely to learn much from this quiet mannered, soft spoken Pastor. In the course of his studies at DPTC I (Paul) got the privilege of interacting with him and he became such great blessing to me. Simeon is a brilliant young man and has a great testimony of his faith and service to our Lord Jesus Christ.

On his graduation at DPTC in 2012, he won the Dr. Mike Long Following the Call Award and his classmates were all in agreement it should go to him. His humility and faithfulness in following the call of our Lord was evident to all. This is despite his coming from a hardship area of Kenya without many amenities and a tribe that has not been reached with the great news of our savior Jesus Christ.

In August of 2014, Pastor Simeon attended the launch of DPTC Alumni at Camp Chemi Chemi.  As I ran up and down coordinating the events of this function, I saw Pastor Simeon following me around so I stopped to have a word with him. He quickly shared with me how DPTC was a blessing to him and to his ministry and that he was forever grateful for the ministry training he received from us. He also told me that he had put into very good use the monetary award that came with Dr. Mike Long Following the Call Award. He decided to purchase a couple of goats and he was very excited the Lord had multiplied them.

Part of Pastor Simeon’s goats

He further told me since he had heard that the DPTC 2014 class was going to do their internship in Samburu among his people group, he wanted to tell me that I must visit his family and pick a goat to be eaten by the class in the course of their mission in Samburu, and so I promised to visit his family.

When the time came to visit, I took with me Pastor Meshack, a fellow tribesman and classmate of Simeon’s DPTC class of 2012.  Meshack’s church had been hosting the internship of the most recent class of 2014 in Samburu Land. On the way to Simeon’s house Pastor Meshack shared with me something I did not know about Simeon. He told me that when Simeon got saved he was opposed to his tribe’s traditions that he felt were not in line with the scriptures… which were many.  Due to this, his extended family isolated him.

When Simeon’s younger brother passed on, they wanted Simeon to shave his head clean for some ritual according to the Samburu traditions so that the spirits of his dead brother would not return to haunt him. Simeon stood his ground and said he could not do that since he was now a believer and he believed Jesus will protect him. His family became hard on him and told him if he did not participate in the ritual, then he would be chased away from his clan homestead (village) to live on his own… and that is what happened. So when I visited Pastor Simeon and family and saw him on his own homestead I knew what had happened.

In addition to casting Simeon out of his village, his people went to the family from which Simeon was to marry and told them not to give their daughter to Simeon in marriage since he had become an outcast. Through it all, Pastor Simeon persevered for the sake of Christ and the Lord later blessed him with another beautiful lady to marry. The Lord has also prospered Simeon with many, many goats from the first two he purchased with the monetary gift that accompanied the Dr. Mike Long Following the Call Award.

Simeon’s ministry has also been greatly blessed as he continues to reach out to his tribesmen for Christ.  They see his faithfulness to his God, and they also see that their rejection of Simeon has not brought evil upon him.  On the contrary, he has become a prosperous man as evidenced by all his goats. They have taken note of all these things, and are now listening to the gospel of Christ.

Keeping his promise, Simeon took us to his flock and selected the best goat to share with DPTC class of 2014.  He said it was given as a thanksgiving to the Lord for what He had done for him through DPTC.  Praise be to our God!

Pastor Simeon selecting the best goat to give to DPTC 2014