As early as 1981, while a Bible college and ministry student, Francis Juma Ogeke (Pastor Juma) started to organize rural pastors for Bible studies and for leadership training. In November 1980, he planted a church at Kingandole (now the AFMI Kingandole Church). The following year he participated in another church plant in a nearby urban centre, Busia Town. These two churches became Pastor Juma’s converging centres for his continued ministry to pastors in form of Bible studies and leadership training. Francis used all he learned at Bible College as his ready curriculum in educating and equipping the rural pastors.
In 1984, Pastor Juma founded the Village Evangelism & Development Enterprise (VEDE), which he described as a forum for evangelism, leadership training and community development in Western Kenya. In 1987, at Pastor Juma‘s invitation, the Oversees Crusade missionaries in charge of their Nairobi office registered as Africa Ministry Resources (AMR) under the leadership of Missionary Rick Cruse, joined him to assist in the training of pastors in Western Kenya. Hence, in the years 1987 through 1990, AMR and VEDE held joint three to four day leadership seminars, twice or thrice a year. Even after the AMR-VEDE partnership ended, Pastor Juma (by then an ordained minister) carried on his ministry to pastors in Western Kenya through the VEDE leadership seminars, until 1997 when he founded the Africa Faith Ministries International (AFMI). However, AFMI quickly became a church planting ministry and could not effectively carry on the vision of training pastors and community leaders inter-denominationally.
In 2000, Rev. Juma (who was now living and doing missionary work in Canada) got opportunity to travel through the region of Western Kenya and Nairobi. During this trip, Rev. Juma held a teaching and preaching itinerary that enabled him to share his long held burden and vision of establishing an affordable leadership and discipleship training centre in Western Kenya. He thus held leadership conferences in several locations in Busia District, in Ugenya location, Nyanza, in Bungoma town, in Kakamega town, in Kimilili town, in Kitale town, in Moi’s Bridge town, and lastly in Nairobi. Realizing that his frequent travel from Canada to Kenya to hold such itineraries and similar leadership conferences would be almost impossible due to financial setbacks, and realizing also that many pastors, church workers and youths in the region were untrained and unequipped for ministry, and could not afford the costly theological education in distant and high cost Christian colleges and universities concentrated in Nairobi, Rev. Juma urged leaders and Christians to join him in prayers for the urgent establishment of a leadership and discipleship training centre in the region, one that is accessible to and affordable for all.
Many pastors, church members and some leaders in the community, promised to pray for this need, and encouraged Rev. Juma to pursue the vision to its fulfillment. Several pastors in the region who had participated in the VEDE/AMR and AFMI leadership seminars since the early eighties, shared how they had been / and continue to be blessed by Rev. Juma’s teaching and leadership training ministry. They all agreed with him on the vision, and urged him to establish an inter-denominational leadership training centre to continue the vision and ministry of VEDE and AMR, which were quite successful in providing training for pastors of all churches. At the culmination of his itinerary, Rev. Juma invited some key leaders in church and community to join him in forming a steering committee to spearhead the establishment of the desired leadership centre. A steering committee was formed. The committee agreed that the new leadership centre be named, Jumaogeke Bible Institute (JOBI) in recognition of Pastor Juma’s founding initiatives and his more than twenty five years of active involvement with leadership training in the region .
We are thus trusting God for funds to construct the Bible Institute. However, JOBI is already operational since 2004. We train pastors in rented church halls and in homes as we wait for God to provide funds for construction of our own facility.
Just recently in 2010, JOBI has managed to purchase a total of two acres of land at Kingandole in Busia District, Western Kenya. By God's grace the construction of a JOBI campus will commence soon, hopefully by the beginning of July 2011.