20 Mar 2025, 10:21Dr Mandela Thyoka
When God Moves: A Gripping Testimony of Lives Changed by Pathfinder Bible Experience
An interview with Jacynter Were, architect of the PBE programme in Kenya
I had not prepared myself for my encounter when I attended this year's Adventurer and Pathfinder Bible Experience (ABE & PBE) union-level testing at Newbold College on Sabbath, 8th March 2025. It is an event that proved to be pivotal to many young adventurers and pathfinders who were seeking to qualify for the Trans-European Division finals in Budapest, Hungary. This was a Sabbath when young people from the Irish, Scottish and Welsh missions and the South (SEC) and North England (NEC) conferences would test the limits of their Bible knowledge.
There were a total of 50 ABE teams in the BUC finals (SEC 18; NEC 21; SM 2; IM 7, and WM 2), with 39 (78%) achieving first place in the testing to proceed to the TED finals. Whereas there were a total of 59 teams PBE teams participating in the BUC finals (NEC 23; SEC 20; IM 12; SM 2 and WM 2), and 34 (58%) achieved first place to proceed to the TED finals. However, this is not the end of the story, but rather the beginning.
What was a surprise to me was when, by divine appointment, I crossed paths with one of the SEC Pathfinder Area Coordinators, Vernon Noel. I casually asked him why he was late for the Bible test, to which he replied, "I am just coming back from another Bible test". Intrigued by his answer, I wanted to know more about this other Bible test event that I knew nothing about. SEC’s Vernon Noel and Susan Miller-Preston were the virtual quizmasters this year, while the ex-Pathfinder Director, Pastor Clifford Herman, conducted the quiz the year before.
The virtual testing is an inspiring story of how God moves among His people - a gripping testimony of lives changed by the Pathfinder Bible Experience (PBE). The story started in 2022, when Jacynter Were, a Kenyan Adventist, attended an online prayer line. She would meet Pastor Ikwisa Mwasumbi, NEC Pathfinder Director, clad in his full Pathfinder A class Director's uniform, who had taken part in the same prayer meeting. Among the myriad of prayer requests brought to the prayer group was one about the PBE. Jacynter wanted to know more about the PBE programme so she asked Pastor Mwasumbi all about it. On another occasion, a friend of Jacynter, Sarah, who had heard of PBE during a camporee visit in the US, also met Pastor Mwasumbi in the same prayer group and mentioned the PBE programme and Jacynter's name to Pastor Mwasumbi during their prayer meeting. These two isolated encounters sowed the seed of the PBE programme in Kenya, which was to later germinate. Although Jacynter and her friend were new to the PBE, they were determined to bring this programme to Kenya.
In my pursuit of clarity on the story of the PBE in Kenya, I opted to learn more from Jacynter Were (JW). Here is my WhatsApp phone interview following the BUC PBE finals held in Newbold on Sabbath 8th March 2025.
MT: Jacynter, I am excited to learn more about this inspiring story, how did you start on this PBE journey in Kenya?
JW: Thank you for your call. It is all by God's grace. After meeting Pastor Mwasumbi during the online prayer meeting, my friend Sarah called me to inform me that Pastor Mwasumbi was inviting them to Greece and the USA for the TED and NAD finals, respectively, so that they could witness and learn how PBE tests are done. This journey of faith started in March 2023 when I applied for the visas, which was our first miracle - as we secured an interview date and finally the visa. I then joined the North England Conference (NEC) team for the tours of Greece, visiting the ancient Corinth and Areopagus, bringing to life the Acts 17 story! On the day of the PBE test, I was invited to observe the duties of the judges and graders as well as join the ABE and PBE officiating panel in scoring the participating teams. The same process was followed at the NAD finals in Florida, USA. I learned as much as I could comprehend in that short space of time.
MT: It must have felt like a whirlwind tour of the two PBE finals, so how did you then put all this new experience into practice when you got back home to Kenya?
JW: On my return, I initially started PBE at Newlife SDA Church in Kenya, as our sister churches did not fully comprehend this new programme. I searched online and found the South England Conference (SEC) online registration form which I duly completed and registered a total of 14 teams for PBE even without knowing anyone in the SEC. However, later on, I met Pastor Herman Clifford, the SEC Adventurer and Pathfinder Director at the time, who graciously adopted the Kenyan teams and placed them with London Ghana Church under Daniel and Roz. I learnt so much from Daniel, including discovering the PBE websites with online resources such as PBE Academy PBE Prep and PBE Quiz Engine and Ready Answers. We were privileged to have a dry-run organised to help our Pathfinders get a glimpse of PBE testing. SEC Area Coordinator Vernon Noel advised me to reorganise the teams to ensure that each team had a full set of six members - this brought the total number of teams to 7, with 2 teams (Flying Marine Orcas and Flying Marine Bowhead Whales) progressing from the Area testing in January 2024. These two teams got first place in successive testing and proceeded to the conference, union and division finals of that year. It was at the TED finals in Schiedam, Rotterdam that one of our teams, Flying Marine Orcas achieved first place and created history in the process by becoming the first team to reach that feat in their maiden appearance. We saw the hand of God and owe everything to Him - it was the Lord's doing and we are so grateful for all the support from SEC, London Ghana and the Parents of Newlife SDA Church. Similarly, we were also very grateful for the support from Pastor JP Maiywa Youth Director of East Kenya Union and Pastor Mwebaza the Youth Director of East Central Africa Division (ECD).
MT: After such a successful start, how has the journey been since your inaugural participation?
JW: The progress of PBE in Kenya has been tremendous! 2025 recorded growth both in the number of teams participating and the jurisdiction covered by PBE teams. The East Kenya Union Conference (EKUC) was represented by South Nairobi Kajiado Field (SNKF) and East Nairobi Field (ENF), while the West Kenya Union Conference (WKUC) made their first appearance represented by Central Nyanza Conference (CNC) and Ranen Conference, however, Ranen PBE team did not participate in the tests due to late registration. SNKF had a total of 16 teams from two pathfinder clubs - Flying Marine Flying Marine Pathfinder Club of Newlife SDA Church contributed 14 teams and Salems Pathfinder Club of Laiser Hill with 2 teams. ENF was represented by the Golden Eagles of Nairobi East Church with 3 PBE teams. CNC was represented by The Warriors of Kenya-Re SDA Church with 4 teams. All the teams registered with the SEC but as there were a large number of teams from Kenya, the SEC created an extra area 9, for the teams from Kenya. This year, a total of 23 Kenyan PBE teams gathered at the Adventist LMS Guest House for the PBE Area test on January 11, 2025, with the Warriors travelling a distance of more than 350 kilometres overnight from Kisumu to Nairobi to attend their PBE maiden test! With excitement and determination written all over their faces, the teams set out to show their prowess in Bible study. There was one challenge for one of the PBE teams, whose member was unable to participate as permission to travel to the event was not granted by the boarding school. On the day of the test, the team (Flying Marine Great White Sharks) quickly divided among themselves the five chapters of their team member who could not join them and the entire morning before the test was spent memorising their friends' parts. God moved in the hearts of our pathfinders, and when the test results were announced, Great White Sharks was among the 11 teams that secured first place at the Area Level Test and made it to the Conference Level. The Conference level test was held at Kenya Bankers hall on February 8, 2025, with 3 teams (Flying Marine Orcas, Flying Marine Amazon River Dolphins and Flying Marine Sea Lions) getting first place and proceeded to the Union Level Test on 8th March 2025. The Union Level test was held on March 8, 2025, at SDA Church Newlife where all three participating teams achieved first place and are now proceeding to the Division Test in Budapest, Hungary. Thus far, the Lord had been Ebenezer. The teams are busy working hard to maintain the standard and are in pursuit of a perfect score.
MT: What, in your opinion, is the secret to your success?
JW: Parents of Team Flying Marine Orcas will tell you that "those kids are very prayerful". This Kenyan PBE team has taken the PBE programme seriously as they independently search the Scriptures and test themselves using the PBE search engines. The young people will tell us when new questions are posted on the sites demonstrating their total commitment. It was easy for me to start the PBE programme at Newlife SDA church as I was the incumbent Pathfinder Director at the time. However, even after my tenure had ended and I was out of the country, I continued to coordinate PBE activities in Kenya, ensuring timely registration and working closely with the Pathfinder leadership at my church in Kenya.
Bible experience mirrors the history of Adventism in Kenya
The story of our church can be traced back to the early 20th century when the first SDA missionaries to work in Kenya, Pastor Arthur Carscallen and a Malawian Peter Nyambo, travelled from England to Hamburg, Germany and sailed from there on 1 October 1906 to East Africa, and established the first church at Gendia1. They settled near the sandy and rocky Gendia hill, helping to counter the sweeping spread of Islam in the East African coastal regions. It is no coincidence that Gendia became the birthplace of the SDA church in Kenya and the epicentre of Adventism in Eastern Africa. The SDA church in Kenya2 is made up of two large conferences, East and West Kenya Union Conferences, with a combined total of 7,947 churches and over 1.2 million members, according to the most recent General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists Annual Statistics Report for 2023. This story of the humble beginnings of Adventism in Kenya to the current status mirrors the humble beginnings of the Pathfinder Bible Experience programme in this country, where the first PBE team from Kenya to participate in PBE hails from Newlife SDA church with expansive growth only possible as God moves.
What pleases Jacynter the most is seeing the enthusiasm among the PBE participants who are so excited to study God's word. The PBE teams have assumed so much responsibility that the team captains are the ones who organise and arrange their revision meetings, calling on their peers to study sessions. The PBE teams in Kenya have already set their sight on the book of Isaiah, ensuring that they are one step ahead in next year's Bible book of study and testing. The next milestone for the PBE programme, according to Jacynter, is to bring the church leadership to embrace PBE and start doing the tests locally within our Division. Jacynter foresees a future when PBE will be done both in English and Swahili, a major language among East African countries, a future where all the children both English and non-English speaking will be able to study the Bible, studying God's word in their hearts. At the time of this article going to press, the teams in Kenya are busy studying, while their parents and the church are busy looking for resources to enable them to travel to Hungary for the TED finals.
https://nation.africa/kenya/news/gendia-the-birthplace-of-sda-church-in-kenya-195104 [accessed on 12 March 2025]
https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Statistics/ASR/ASR2024.pdf?_gl=1*1lnb47q*_ga*MTA1NzIzMDY2NC4xNzQxODc0MTk1*_ga_2VBYH6KEBQ*MTc0MTg3NDE5NC4xLjEuMTc0MTg3NjIyMS4wLjAuODQ1MDc2Nzg1
I had not prepared myself for my encounter when I attended this year's Adventurer and Pathfinder Bible Experience (ABE & PBE) union-level testing at Newbold College on Sabbath, 8th March 2025. It is an event that proved to be pivotal to many young adventurers and pathfinders who were seeking to qualify for the Trans-European Division finals in Budapest, Hungary. This was a Sabbath when young people from the Irish, Scottish and Welsh missions and the South (SEC) and North England (NEC) conferences would test the limits of their Bible knowledge.
There were a total of 50 ABE teams in the BUC finals (SEC 18; NEC 21; SM 2; IM 7, and WM 2), with 39 (78%) achieving first place in the testing to proceed to the TED finals. Whereas there were a total of 59 teams PBE teams participating in the BUC finals (NEC 23; SEC 20; IM 12; SM 2 and WM 2), and 34 (58%) achieved first place to proceed to the TED finals. However, this is not the end of the story, but rather the beginning.
What was a surprise to me was when, by divine appointment, I crossed paths with one of the SEC Pathfinder Area Coordinators, Vernon Noel. I casually asked him why he was late for the Bible test, to which he replied, "I am just coming back from another Bible test". Intrigued by his answer, I wanted to know more about this other Bible test event that I knew nothing about. SEC’s Vernon Noel and Susan Miller-Preston were the virtual quizmasters this year, while the ex-Pathfinder Director, Pastor Clifford Herman, conducted the quiz the year before.
The virtual testing is an inspiring story of how God moves among His people - a gripping testimony of lives changed by the Pathfinder Bible Experience (PBE). The story started in 2022, when Jacynter Were, a Kenyan Adventist, attended an online prayer line. She would meet Pastor Ikwisa Mwasumbi, NEC Pathfinder Director, clad in his full Pathfinder A class Director's uniform, who had taken part in the same prayer meeting. Among the myriad of prayer requests brought to the prayer group was one about the PBE. Jacynter wanted to know more about the PBE programme so she asked Pastor Mwasumbi all about it. On another occasion, a friend of Jacynter, Sarah, who had heard of PBE during a camporee visit in the US, also met Pastor Mwasumbi in the same prayer group and mentioned the PBE programme and Jacynter's name to Pastor Mwasumbi during their prayer meeting. These two isolated encounters sowed the seed of the PBE programme in Kenya, which was to later germinate. Although Jacynter and her friend were new to the PBE, they were determined to bring this programme to Kenya.
In my pursuit of clarity on the story of the PBE in Kenya, I opted to learn more from Jacynter Were (JW). Here is my WhatsApp phone interview following the BUC PBE finals held in Newbold on Sabbath 8th March 2025.
MT: Jacynter, I am excited to learn more about this inspiring story, how did you start on this PBE journey in Kenya?
JW: Thank you for your call. It is all by God's grace. After meeting Pastor Mwasumbi during the online prayer meeting, my friend Sarah called me to inform me that Pastor Mwasumbi was inviting them to Greece and the USA for the TED and NAD finals, respectively, so that they could witness and learn how PBE tests are done. This journey of faith started in March 2023 when I applied for the visas, which was our first miracle - as we secured an interview date and finally the visa. I then joined the North England Conference (NEC) team for the tours of Greece, visiting the ancient Corinth and Areopagus, bringing to life the Acts 17 story! On the day of the PBE test, I was invited to observe the duties of the judges and graders as well as join the ABE and PBE officiating panel in scoring the participating teams. The same process was followed at the NAD finals in Florida, USA. I learned as much as I could comprehend in that short space of time.
MT: It must have felt like a whirlwind tour of the two PBE finals, so how did you then put all this new experience into practice when you got back home to Kenya?
JW: On my return, I initially started PBE at Newlife SDA Church in Kenya, as our sister churches did not fully comprehend this new programme. I searched online and found the South England Conference (SEC) online registration form which I duly completed and registered a total of 14 teams for PBE even without knowing anyone in the SEC. However, later on, I met Pastor Herman Clifford, the SEC Adventurer and Pathfinder Director at the time, who graciously adopted the Kenyan teams and placed them with London Ghana Church under Daniel and Roz. I learnt so much from Daniel, including discovering the PBE websites with online resources such as PBE Academy PBE Prep and PBE Quiz Engine and Ready Answers. We were privileged to have a dry-run organised to help our Pathfinders get a glimpse of PBE testing. SEC Area Coordinator Vernon Noel advised me to reorganise the teams to ensure that each team had a full set of six members - this brought the total number of teams to 7, with 2 teams (Flying Marine Orcas and Flying Marine Bowhead Whales) progressing from the Area testing in January 2024. These two teams got first place in successive testing and proceeded to the conference, union and division finals of that year. It was at the TED finals in Schiedam, Rotterdam that one of our teams, Flying Marine Orcas achieved first place and created history in the process by becoming the first team to reach that feat in their maiden appearance. We saw the hand of God and owe everything to Him - it was the Lord's doing and we are so grateful for all the support from SEC, London Ghana and the Parents of Newlife SDA Church. Similarly, we were also very grateful for the support from Pastor JP Maiywa Youth Director of East Kenya Union and Pastor Mwebaza the Youth Director of East Central Africa Division (ECD).
MT: After such a successful start, how has the journey been since your inaugural participation?
JW: The progress of PBE in Kenya has been tremendous! 2025 recorded growth both in the number of teams participating and the jurisdiction covered by PBE teams. The East Kenya Union Conference (EKUC) was represented by South Nairobi Kajiado Field (SNKF) and East Nairobi Field (ENF), while the West Kenya Union Conference (WKUC) made their first appearance represented by Central Nyanza Conference (CNC) and Ranen Conference, however, Ranen PBE team did not participate in the tests due to late registration. SNKF had a total of 16 teams from two pathfinder clubs - Flying Marine Flying Marine Pathfinder Club of Newlife SDA Church contributed 14 teams and Salems Pathfinder Club of Laiser Hill with 2 teams. ENF was represented by the Golden Eagles of Nairobi East Church with 3 PBE teams. CNC was represented by The Warriors of Kenya-Re SDA Church with 4 teams. All the teams registered with the SEC but as there were a large number of teams from Kenya, the SEC created an extra area 9, for the teams from Kenya. This year, a total of 23 Kenyan PBE teams gathered at the Adventist LMS Guest House for the PBE Area test on January 11, 2025, with the Warriors travelling a distance of more than 350 kilometres overnight from Kisumu to Nairobi to attend their PBE maiden test! With excitement and determination written all over their faces, the teams set out to show their prowess in Bible study. There was one challenge for one of the PBE teams, whose member was unable to participate as permission to travel to the event was not granted by the boarding school. On the day of the test, the team (Flying Marine Great White Sharks) quickly divided among themselves the five chapters of their team member who could not join them and the entire morning before the test was spent memorising their friends' parts. God moved in the hearts of our pathfinders, and when the test results were announced, Great White Sharks was among the 11 teams that secured first place at the Area Level Test and made it to the Conference Level. The Conference level test was held at Kenya Bankers hall on February 8, 2025, with 3 teams (Flying Marine Orcas, Flying Marine Amazon River Dolphins and Flying Marine Sea Lions) getting first place and proceeded to the Union Level Test on 8th March 2025. The Union Level test was held on March 8, 2025, at SDA Church Newlife where all three participating teams achieved first place and are now proceeding to the Division Test in Budapest, Hungary. Thus far, the Lord had been Ebenezer. The teams are busy working hard to maintain the standard and are in pursuit of a perfect score.
MT: What, in your opinion, is the secret to your success?
JW: Parents of Team Flying Marine Orcas will tell you that "those kids are very prayerful". This Kenyan PBE team has taken the PBE programme seriously as they independently search the Scriptures and test themselves using the PBE search engines. The young people will tell us when new questions are posted on the sites demonstrating their total commitment. It was easy for me to start the PBE programme at Newlife SDA church as I was the incumbent Pathfinder Director at the time. However, even after my tenure had ended and I was out of the country, I continued to coordinate PBE activities in Kenya, ensuring timely registration and working closely with the Pathfinder leadership at my church in Kenya.
Bible experience mirrors the history of Adventism in Kenya
The story of our church can be traced back to the early 20th century when the first SDA missionaries to work in Kenya, Pastor Arthur Carscallen and a Malawian Peter Nyambo, travelled from England to Hamburg, Germany and sailed from there on 1 October 1906 to East Africa, and established the first church at Gendia1. They settled near the sandy and rocky Gendia hill, helping to counter the sweeping spread of Islam in the East African coastal regions. It is no coincidence that Gendia became the birthplace of the SDA church in Kenya and the epicentre of Adventism in Eastern Africa. The SDA church in Kenya2 is made up of two large conferences, East and West Kenya Union Conferences, with a combined total of 7,947 churches and over 1.2 million members, according to the most recent General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists Annual Statistics Report for 2023. This story of the humble beginnings of Adventism in Kenya to the current status mirrors the humble beginnings of the Pathfinder Bible Experience programme in this country, where the first PBE team from Kenya to participate in PBE hails from Newlife SDA church with expansive growth only possible as God moves.
What pleases Jacynter the most is seeing the enthusiasm among the PBE participants who are so excited to study God's word. The PBE teams have assumed so much responsibility that the team captains are the ones who organise and arrange their revision meetings, calling on their peers to study sessions. The PBE teams in Kenya have already set their sight on the book of Isaiah, ensuring that they are one step ahead in next year's Bible book of study and testing. The next milestone for the PBE programme, according to Jacynter, is to bring the church leadership to embrace PBE and start doing the tests locally within our Division. Jacynter foresees a future when PBE will be done both in English and Swahili, a major language among East African countries, a future where all the children both English and non-English speaking will be able to study the Bible, studying God's word in their hearts. At the time of this article going to press, the teams in Kenya are busy studying, while their parents and the church are busy looking for resources to enable them to travel to Hungary for the TED finals.
https://nation.africa/kenya/news/gendia-the-birthplace-of-sda-church-in-kenya-195104 [accessed on 12 March 2025]
https://documents.adventistarchives.org/Statistics/ASR/ASR2024.pdf?_gl=1*1lnb47q*_ga*MTA1NzIzMDY2NC4xNzQxODc0MTk1*_ga_2VBYH6KEBQ*MTc0MTg3NDE5NC4xLjEuMTc0MTg3NjIyMS4wLjAuODQ1MDc2Nzg1
