American Evangelist Denied Permission to Preach at Two Adventist Venues in Kenya
23 August, 2018 | Randy Skeete, a high-profile Ann Arbor, Michigan-based Adventist evangelist was recently denied permission to speak at two Adventist venues in Kenya.
The pastor was scheduled to be the guest speaker at a camp meeting at Newlife SDA Church in Kenya’s Kisii County this weekend but was blocked by the South Kenya Conference of the Adventist denomination despite the fact that the congregation had paid his airfare and he had already made the trip to Kenya.
Skeete then decided to speak at a one-week mission service at Gloryland SDA Church in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi but that speaking appointment was also blocked, this time by the Central Kenya Conference.
Various Kenyan outlets that reported the story have named political infighting within local denominational leadership as the reason for Skeete’s rejection from both churches.
The Standard Digital cited an unnamed source that claimed South Kenya Conference leadership was upset that Skeete was scheduled to preach at the Newlife camp and not at the Kisii Central Church Camp meeting, adding that the latter venue is said to include community VIPs.
After the news of the Kisii cancellation, Skeete tweeted on August 17, “My friends, setbacks are part of life. Let us take this one as Jesus would: with Christian dignity. In a few months we should look back and not regret our actions. The “Glory of God” must always be our highest motive. God bless you and make you a blessing.”
The Standard Digital reported that Skeete was blocked from the Nairobi speaking engagement because, “it emerged that some officials were not comfortable with his presence, claiming that the church leadership was not consulted.”
On August 22, Skeete announced alternative plans via a tweet saying, “I will be at Mt Olives SDA Church, Kampala, Uganda, this weekend. I look forward to it.”
According to the denomination’s Office of Archives, Statistics and Research, there are 190,480 Adventists in the South Kenya Conference and 120,340 members in the Central Kenya Conference.
