This episode of The Go and Send Podcast features Ben Manthi, a Kenyan engineer who traded a promising career in avionics for a life spent planting radio stations across Africa.
This episode of The Go and Send Podcast features Ben Manthi, a Kenyan engineer who traded a promising career in avionics for a life spent planting radio stations across Africa. Ben grew up in a Christian home, came to faith as a teenager, and spent years quietly serving behind the scenes -- running sound systems and helping with outreaches -- before God began closing doors in his technical career and opening one into full-time ministry with Diguna, a mission organization that has now helped plant more than 90 radio stations across the continent.
Ben shares candidly about the fear and uncertainty of leaving a steady paycheck, the cultural challenges of raising support in Kenya, and the ways God provided again and again when the road ahead looked uncertain. At the heart of this conversation is the remarkable story of the Daasanach, a semi-nomadic, historically unreached people group in one of the most remote and inhospitable corners of northern Kenya. Ben walks through how a single radio station became a bridge -- not only bringing many Daasanach to faith, but helping birth an unlikely peace between rival tribes who have fought for generations.
From there, Ben shares what's next: a growing effort to reach the Maasai people with the gospel in their own language and culture, and what he's learned about trusting God's timing after 17 years on the mission field.
Contact us at goandsend@sonsetsolutions.org
Resources & Links:
● Diguna: https://www.diguna.de
00:00 -- Cold Open: "Unless the People Hear the Gospel, the World Will Not Change"
00:33 -- Meet Ben Manthi: A Kenyan Engineer Turned Missionary
01:12 -- Kenya's 25+ Unreached People Groups
02:03 -- Why These Communities Are So Hard to Reach
04:10 -- Christianity in Kenya: Breaking Down the Numbers
05:57 -- Growing Up in a Christian Family Rooted in Church-Building
06:32 -- Coming to Faith at Sixteen
07:17 -- Serving Quietly While Sensing a Deeper Call
08:37 -- Studying Electronics Engineering and Microprocessors
10:14 -- What Drew Ben to Solving Technical Problems
10:50 -- A Missionary Family Plants the First Seed
11:41 -- Chasing a Dream in Avionics
12:34 -- Watching God Quietly Close Doors
13:00 -- The Persistent Missionaries Who Kept Inviting Him
14:55 -- Praying Alongside Ben: "Lord, We Bring Benjamin to Your Hands"
15:12 -- Wrestling With a Steady Paycheck vs. a Life of Faith
17:15 -- Learning to Trust in the Lord With All His Heart
19:13 -- Joining Diguna and Learning to Raise Support
20:59 -- The Cultural Weight of Asking for Support in Kenya
22:01 -- A Remarkable First Year of Provision
25:02 -- Encouragement for Anyone Afraid to Raise Support
26:39 -- When a Funding Source Ends and God Provides Again
28:24 -- What Diguna Is and the Many Ministries It Runs
30:34 -- Ben's Role Leading Radio Projects Across Africa
32:21 -- How a Radio Station Gets Built, Step by Step
33:52 -- Reflecting on 91 Radio Stations Planted
35:13 -- His First Station Build in the Congo
37:15 -- Introducing the Daasanach: An Unreached People of Northern Kenya
39:38 -- A Semi-Nomadic People Facing Extreme Heat and Isolation
42:27 -- Animism, Witchcraft, and a People Without the Living Lord
43:13 -- Training Believers From the Community to Go on Air
45:59 -- A Church Too Small for Its Growing Crowd
48:02 -- Trading Guns for Bibles: A Peace Platform Between Rival Tribes
49:38 -- Reaching the Maasai: 1.6 Million Strong
53:07 -- Two Stations Licensed, Signal Reaching Into Tanzania
55:04 -- Encouragement for Anyone Taking Their First Step of Faith
55:56 -- The Great Commission and God's Promise to Provide
57:47 -- Where to Learn More About Diguna
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Website: https://www.sonsetsolutions.org