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The Lord's calling into His service reached Rev. Tuimising, loud and clear.
His will was plain to him. He was calling him out of his stable job to serve Him, full time. It was not a simple decision
to make. As a rational being, he had to consider all pros and cons. However, the Lord was daring him to cross from
the known to the unknown. The risks were visibly clear, right before his eyes. he thought God could understand that he
was still young and needed to consolidate myself. But that did not bother God. He challenged him to dare trust in His
unfailing love. Finally, he made up his mind not to be disobedient to the heavenly call. At that point, he
tendered his resignation to his employer. That was 1st May, 1977. This was during the early days
of Deliverance Church ministry. The ministry was so young that no man of sound mind could have thought of relying on it for
survival.
Apostle Joe Kayo was the man with the Deliverance Church vision then. So he absorbed Tuimising
to be his assistant pastor. But he felt so humbled of God that he was not willing to be called an Assistant Pastor.
Tuimising felt that the title was just too big for him. He was okay being Apostle Joe Kayo's P.A. (Personal Assistant).
Doing ministry work wasn't easy in Tuimising's early days. He had no prior experience. He was previously
a professional accountant and a radical Bible believer. He had done evangelism, yes, but not pastoral work. And, he
had no theological training. But God supplied grace. He enabled him. Furthermore, he sent before him a very loving mentor,
Joe Kayo. He showed Tuimising the way to go. It took the grace of God for Tuimising to have come this far.
A time came and Apostle Joe Kayo had to leave Deliverance Church Ministry. That was in 1978. There were five
congregations only in the entire republic. So, as Apostle Joe Kayo formalized his departure, he came out strong about his
successor. The fact that, he was handing over the overall responsibility of Deliverance Church Kenya to Tuimising was
indeed a very tall order. Pastor Tuimising consulted the Lord God and God whispered a word of encouragement to
him, "Son, whosoever I send, I equip. Be strong and of good cheer. I am equipping you for the job." That
sufficed. Despite the fact that he felt unworthy, he slipped into the huge shoes of the Presiding Bishop of Deliverance
Church. As I took over office, I asked of the Lord, five things. Knowledge, understanding, physical and spiritual strength
and the annointing of the Holy Spirit and the Lord told me that he was more interested with my availability than my abilities.
In the year 2000, Bishop Tuimising handed over the office of the Presiding Bishop to Bishop Mark Kariuki.
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BISHOP MARK KARIUKI
....................................................................................................................... | Life Celebration Centre, Deliverance Church Nakuru is the fulfillment of the
vision that Bishop Mark Kariuki received form God over 20 years ago. It all started in July 1983, when he attended a conference
in Amsterdam, Netherlands, organized by the Billy Graham Ministry, for itinerant evangelists. At the end of the conference,
he was certain in his heart that God was calling him to full-time ministry. Before this he was performing quite well in his duties as a teacher and Deputy Headmaster
in Kenyatta Primary School but the interest in his profession died after receiving the call to ministry. He returned to Kenya
and shared with his wife about the certainty of God's call upon his life. In response, she said to him that if that was what
God had designed for him and his family, then she could by no means stand in God's way. Bishop Mark resigned from his teaching job to go full time. Upon his resignation, he
had two options. First, he was being offered an opportunity to study at the East African School of Theology; a missionary
friend had volunteered to meet his college fees. Secondly, he stood a chance of becoming an Assistant Pastor with the Assemblies
of God Church at Nakuru, where he had been for four years having moved to Nakuru from Mombasa in 1979. However, he purposed
to pray and seek God's guidance. It was then that God stirred in him the vision for Deliverance Church. He shared the conviction
with the pastor and elders at the Assemblies of God Church. Though they wanted to retain him, they discerned it to be God's will that he moves on. They prayed for him
and after dedicating him for God's service, Rev. Lihanda informed the members of the church that Bishop Mark was leaving to
start a branch of Deliverance Church in town. They took a love offering for him and released him into the new ministry. He
was joined by a group of six young brothers from Mogoon in Nakuru who had attended many Deliverance Conventions countrywide.
They rented the Nakuru Old Town Hall for Sunday services and the ministry began. That marked the birth of Deliverance Church
Nakuru. The miracle hall located in Bishop Mark's home served as the church office. Meetings such as choir practice were also
held there. The beginning of ministry was
marked by devotion and zeal from the brethren. They would meet every Friday in his house for prayer and every Wednesday evening
for Bible Study at Kenyatta Primary School. Bishop Mark took the bible study sessions very seriously. He gave notes to the
brethren, used the chalkboard in class to illustrate the bible lessons and used diagrams where necessary. As a result the
study lessons became increasingly popular and numbers continued to swell. Those who attended the bible study lessons were
eventually drawn to the Sunday service at the Town Hall. He taught the word over the lunch hour under a tree. The demand of
service in ministry was quite challenging those days. Bishop Mark would go to the Town Hall on Sunday morning to find the
place messed up due to discos held there the previous night. He cleaned up the hall in readiness for the Sunday service. The
membership varied from 25 to 50 at the time. In
1988, he challenged members to break the 500 members mark. For the first time, they stepped out in enthusiastic soul winning
and evangelism after a month of prayers. They were extensively involved in house-to-house, secondary school & college
evangelism and Christian film shows in the estates. By the end of the year, membership had doubled and the second and third
services were introduced. The stay at the
old town hall was not comfortable. Church activities were curtailed by evictions by council officials and key wrangles as
they tried to deny members access to the hall. However, ministry continued and as membership rose, it became evident that
more space was needed to accommodate the congregation then standing at 1,500. In 1990, efforts to get land started. The government
gave a 31/2-acre plot in Free - Hold area along Kariba Road where Life Celebration Centre now sits. A 1,500- seater tent was
bought and erected on the plot for the purpose of church meetings. The congregation moved from the Old Town Hall to the plot
in August 1991. As the numbers continued
to rise, there was need for a permanent spacious building. The plan to put up the now Multi - purpose Hall was conceived then
and after fifteen months, the Hall was completed having costed 2.6. million shillings. In 1992 the congregation moved into
the hall whose sitting capacity is about 2000. The growth in terms of membership called for the expansion of the church sitting
area. The church therefore embarked on putting up a 10,000-seater sanctuary where our services are currently held. Deliverance Church Nakuru is a ministry that believes
in ministry to the whole man, not just the spiritual man. The church has therefore sought to start projects that influence
the community around directly or indirectly. In 1994, the King's Medical Centre and King's Academy were established with an
aim of reaching out to the community. Over the years, more projects have been established which include Homologeo Detergent
Industries, Homologeo Poultry, Tailoring School and King's Boys Rehabilitation Centre. The church is also running a Child
of Destiny program in partnership with Compassion International. This is a program that assists needy children in the society.
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Bishop Gichana Ministered as a Pastor for thirty years, since 1974. He started his pastoral work in
Kisumu, Nairobi then moved to Mombasa then back to Nairobi before settling to Eldoret where he is currently serving.
In his pastoral work, The Bishop has raised men and women who are currently
serving in prominent positions in the Body of Christ, Government offices and in the private sector. He is the senior pastor
of Praise celebration center, a ministry of Deliverance Church, with a congregation of over 3000 members. The Bishop is the Overseer of Deliverance Church, North Rift Region, where there are five sub-regions and
a total of 76 fast growing congregations. The churches in the region are spread out to more than ten geographical districts.
The Bishop is a member of the Deliverance Church council,
the supreme organ of the ministry and the National Treasurer in the same ministry. In his ministry as an Evangelist, Bishop
Gichana has ministered in Uganda, Zambia, South Africa, Mauritius, Congo, Namibia Botswana and Tanzania in Africa and Romania,
Germany, Netherlands, Norway and Britain in Europe. He has also conducted his meetings in India, Pakistan and Singapore both
in Asia, Australia and in the U.S.A/Canada.
In meetings held especially in Africa, crowds of
hundreds of thousands have been turning up where signs, miracle and wonder have been evident. Bishop Gichana is fully involved in the fight against HIV/Aids through sensitization
and behavioral change programs.
The Bishop is involved in educating people on health and engaging
in several programs to empower the disadvantaged on a local perspective. Recently, he has been fully involved in the on going distribution of relief
food to Makueni, Mwingi, Thika, Meru, Mbeere, Turkana and West pokot.
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