Tom Houston was pastor of the Nairobi Baptist Church in 1961 when Michael Cassidy went through Nairobi at the end of his extended exploratory journey round Africa as the ministry was being launched. Tom, a great pastor and theologian with a razor sharp mind, gave Michael then and the whole team subsequently, great insight into the East African Revival, its strengths and weaknesses, along with counsel about how to relate to the wider African Church, as reflected in a city like Nairobi. In the course of time it would be Tom who opened Nairobi for African Enterprise’s first Pan-African city-wide mission in 1968/9. Later Tom became Director of the British Bible Society in London, then President of World Vision, and finally Executive of the Lausanne Movement. From within all these positions Tom kept up his interest in African Enterprise and his encouragement to Michael, especially at times when things were difficult in the ministry. He also strongly encouraged Michael with his writing and what he called Michael’s “new literary genre” of Biographical Theology where Michael tells of some of his personal journeys (e.g. Holy Spirit, or Socio-political Concern) and theologises around this journey as he goes along. To this day, as of writing (2014), Tom still takes interest in African Enterprise and encourages Michael.
Recommended Reading:
- Characters around the cradle
- Characters around the cross
- My story with governance (Regnum Resources in Mission)
- Public and private morality: Reflections on King David for today’s leaders