The dawn broke bright and clear on our first full day of ministry with the El Molo, and our team was full of excitement and hopeful anticipation, as we drove north to the boat launch to get to Komote village. Per our discussions with the chief the day before, we were planning on reaching Komote first, conversing with the chief our desired plans and then back tracking south around El Molo Bay to the southern most village of Layeni, where we felt we would have the largest crowd with which to share the Gospel. We had confirmed with chief at the end of the previous day out meeting with him in Komote for 9 am. When we arrived at the boat launch, however, we found that the chief had already departed for Layeni, so we quickly loaded the vehicle to head back south ourselves. Reaching Layeni, it appeared that we had walked into another cultural blunder, and had somehow failed to follow protocol, even though we had tried to make our meeting with the chief at the appointed time. The chief met us in Layeni, tersely, to say the least, informing me directly that we had already had a meeting, that the chief only has one office, and thus no need to speak to me again, and that we had been given the program and that we were to start our ministry on Komote, that he was very busy and could not see us the rest for the day. We were directed back north, and on the return, our team were all feeling although there was something else at work here: there was certainly an attempt by the enemy to cause persistent delays, but there was also something else at work, Jesus was working on our behalf, despite the feelings of wasted time going back and forth between the villages. We serve the God who is never late, and who is always right on time in His timing.
The frustration and confusion we felt that morning would have been familiar to Jesus’ disciples, who frequently found themselves crossing “to the other side” of the Sea of Galilee, often encountering unexpected challenges and seeming setbacks. In the Gospels, these crossings to unfamiliar territory were rarely smooth—storms arose, cultural barriers emerged, and spiritual opposition intensified. Yet time and again, what appeared to be delays, detours, or even disasters became the very circumstances through which God accomplished His greatest works. The storm-tossed crossing led to the deliverance of the demon-possessed man among the Gerasenes. Their cultural missteps in foreign territories became opportunities for the Gospel to break through barriers that human protocol never could have crossed. As our vehicle wound its way back north toward Komote Island, we began to sense that our morning’s frustrations were not obstacles to God’s plan—they were part of it.
As we approached Komote again, I could not help but think of Mark 5, when Jesus commanded His disciples to cross over “to the other side” once more. The striking encounter the disciples met there with the Gerasenes seemed to be playing out in real time before our very eyes.
As we departed the boat—this time being ferried across in the “community” skiff, which meant we didn’t have to pay for the crossing, but also meant we were in an incredibly leaky fiberglass bathtub of a craft where the man at the tiller had to bail water constantly to keep us afloat—we hastily conferred with the village elders per the chief’s instructions. The villagers began to assemble for a meeting under the only available shade on the island: an open concrete pad surrounded by posts holding discarded fishing nets for cover.
We had met the chief’s second in command in Layeni, and at 9 AM he was already considerably inebriated. Frustrated that we had returned to Layeni to confer with the chief, he had departed the southern village in his own boat and managed to arrive on Komote before us. This “chairman” was a mercurial individual—sometimes placating us, then turning on a dime to demand what we were doing on the island, before switching back to genial openness, inviting us to begin the meeting.
At first only the men of the village joined us, but slowly, as introductions were made, we were joined by women and children until the edges of the shade were bursting with humanity. The chairman presided and welcomed us kindly enough, yet as I began to preach, he became increasingly agitated. Sensing that the battleground here was much more in the spiritual realm than in flesh and blood, I opened with a prayer renouncing any power that Satan’s demons might have on the village, especially the demons of confusion, malcontent, and inebriation.
As I continued, speaking of how Jesus is the High King of Heaven—the God who was before all time, the God who is presently with us, and the God who will be for all eternity—the chairman, seated next to me, punched me in the thigh and said in perfect English, “Stop!” I continued. Again, he punched me and said in perfect English, “Stop!” Looking into his eyes the second time this happened, I saw the demonic behind the inebriation and prayed silently over him, “You have no power here.”
As I continued sharing the Gospel, the chairman became more agitated, until finally two young men picked him up from under each arm and carried him bodily out of the meeting. We continued sharing the Gospel, teaching how from Genesis 3, God loved us so much that He gave us the choice to follow Him, and how even though mankind chose to rebel and break the communion God wanted with us, He gave us the promise of the One to come to restore that relationship. We ended the teaching with the exhortation that Jesus shared the night before His death: “I came to give you peace. In this world, you will have trouble, but take heart, I have overcome the world.”
The call to repentance was simple: Jesus came and died for us, that we may overcome our present trials, including addiction. As we prayed with these villagers, all 40-50 were praying with us to receive the peace that Jesus came to give us! Following this meeting, the feeling in the village shifted palpably, and we were welcomed. As we walked through the village after the teaching, we were offered fried whole fish, which we gratefully accepted. What was once a village that felt closed to us was now friendly, welcoming, and eager to learn more about Jesus.
As evening approached and we prepared to depart Komote Island, I couldn’t help but think of another “other side” story from the Gospels—this time from John 21, when the disciples had fished all night and caught nothing. It was Jesus who called to them from the shore, “Cast your net on the other side of the boat.” When they obeyed, their nets became so full they could barely haul in the catch—153 fish, more than they could have imagined possible.
Our morning had felt much like the disciples’ fruitless night of fishing. We had worked hard, followed protocols, made every effort to do things correctly, yet seemed to be accomplishing nothing but frustration and cultural missteps. The delays, the back-and-forth journeys, the chairman’s opposition—it all felt like casting nets into empty waters.
But when we finally cast the Gospel net on “the other side” of Lake Turkana, on the shores of Komote Island, the harvest was beyond anything we could have anticipated. Not 153 fish, but 40-50 souls—men, women, and children who had lived their entire lives in spiritual darkness, now praying to receive the Light of the World. The same village that had felt closed and hostile in the morning was now offering us food and fellowship, eager to learn more about Jesus.
The enemy had tried to use delays and cultural confusion to prevent this Gospel breakthrough. But like the disciples who discovered that Jesus’ timing was perfect—even when it didn’t match their expectations—we learned that our “other side” crossing had been orchestrated by the One who is never late and always right on time.
As we loaded back into that leaky fiberglass boat for our return journey, our nets were full in ways we had never imagined possible. The El Molo people of Komote Island were no longer unreached. The Light had penetrated their darkness. And like the disciples in John 21, we were left marveling at what happens when we trust Jesus enough to cast our nets on the other side.
From one man He made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and He marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from any one of us. Acts 17:26-27