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About Our Pastor At the age of 12, in 1972, I was running my neighborhood streets in Springfield, Illinois. A man named Steve DeDoor told us he was starting a new bus route to Sunday School. He told us we could win a new ten speed bicycle. So, that Sunday morning four of us from my family boarded a 72 passenger bus affectionately known as (Goliath) due to its enormous size. We were the only four on the bus. We went 28 miles one way to Stonington, Illinois to the Landmark Baptist Church, Pastor Van Wye. I never did get the ten speed bicycle; however, I came face to face with my sins and my Savior that Sunday morning. That Thursday night I was out with Steve trying to fill up Goliath. The next Sunday I was Baptized. A few years later Steve went away to Bible School. Due to the distance and other circumstances they discontinued the bus route to our town. With no church and being a teenager surrounded with drugs, drink, and a free lifestyle, I began to conform to the circumstances around me. I even dropped out of school. When it seemed my fate was sealed, Pastor Van Wye came by and said he had just taken a church in Springfield. It was a hard climb back; however, with a good church and the opportunity of going to Christian School, I managed to graduate in 1978 from the Oak Hill Christian School. It was at that time that I heard about Fellowship Baptist College. Averyville had been a premier church among the youth ministries in Illinois as I finished high school. I enrolled in the first year that Fellowship started. It was at Fellowship that I began to really get involved in the ministry. I worked for Averyville and the College most of my college days. It was my Senior year that I met Kimberly A. Hurst from Bible Baptist Temple, Stonewood, WV. I received my Thg. and she received her Mrs. Degree in 1981. I immediately went to work here at B.B.T. Stonewood, which was started by Jack Gwinn in my wife's house when she was five years old. My wife had grown up in the home of committed Christian parents. Her father has been a Christian school teacher for many years. We worked there for 5 years under Pastor Ken Derrington during which time our first daughter, Nicole Marie, was born in 1984. We had tremendous opportunities in Sunday School administration, bus ministry, camps, and all aspects of the ministry. In 1985, we went to Mooresville, Indiana to work with Pastor Barnard of Good Shepherd Baptist Church. It seemed strange to us that God would move us from one associate position to another. However, we clearly see that the Lord had things for us to learn with Pastor Barnard that we would need later to be effective missionaries. In 1987, we were aggressively on deputation to come to Kenya, East Africa. Eighteen months later we were in Kenya beginning a very interesting adventure. After six months in la nguage school we went to Nanyuki, Kenya to work with Jerry Daniels. We immediately began to travel among some twenty villages surrounding the Nanyuki area. We saw seven new congregations started as well as building five new church buildings. We also saw several other churches expanded to handle the growth they had experienced. We were also able to start many new youth ministries among all the churches. In Nanyuki we saw new nursery and primary school buildings built. The Christian School for reaching and training Kenyan young people now has well over 400 students in all. We also saw the Bible Institute established with sleeping facilities for around 40 students. Our first term was a time of many buildings as a result of the many years the Daniel's had been planting and preparing the seed. It was during this first term in Kenya that our second daughter, Ashley Marie, was born. In 1993, we returned to the states for our first furlough. We were in about 90 churches in that year. This allowed us to save all the love offerings that we received and use the money to get a good four wheel drive for the next few terms. Upon returning to Kenya, we had a goal of starting a new church in the trading center of Timau. When we first arrived we were taken to a new church started by some of the African men while we were in the states. It was about ten kilometers from Timau. It was the Karukungu Baptist Church. So while we were waiting for doors to open up in Timau we helped them get land and helped them build a building. They are now under a national pastor and doing well. During that building program the doors flew open at Timau. We started cleaning and painting an old store room to have services. We have been meeting for about four month now and averaged 136 for the month of August. We have a good group of adults and now we are seeking ways to disciple those who are coming. Also, due to some of the people who have been coming to Timau, it appears there is another area twenty kilometers away that wants a church. Some of the people have been coming to the services at Timau, but it is too far for them to travel. Therefore they would like us to help them start a Baptist Church in their area. Though my goal was to give full attention to Timau it is difficult to leave these people to be deceived by any doctrine that will come their way. therefore, we will do what we can to help them establish a New Testament Baptist Church. We are still involved in training all the men through the Bible Institute. Brother Daniels is the real motivation behind the Bible Institute and now has two Kenyan men helping us to teach. I am also trying to write some Swahili discipleship material. It is hard to work in the office when there is so much going on outside. However, for long term success, we need some good study materials that they can use to train others. During all this, Kim is teaching the only Sunday School class we have in Timau. Due to space, all the children are in one class held outside each Sunday. She is also busy daily with home schooling our two daughters, Nicole Marie now ten, and Ashley Marie now four. Nicole was able to attend the Kenyan school we have in Nanyuki our entire first term, where she received a very good grasp of the language and culture. However, as she reached fourth grade, we realized she could not attend school all day and then keep up with her American schooling. So now she is home schooling exclusively. October 1998 we came home on furlough. God called us to stay and pastor Bible Baptist Temple. Timau continues on with 8 buildings on a five acre compound running 300 to 400 every Sunday. In May of 2000, I received my Bachelor's Degree in Theology from Mountaineer Bible College of West Virginia. I am now working on a Master's degree at Mountaineer Bible College. Projected graduation will be May of 2002. Click here to E-mail Pastor Chuck Madaus
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