Daystar University
(Photo courtesy Daystar University via Facebook)
Kenya (MNN) — One of East Africa’s largest Christian universities is upping security following last week’s terrorist attack in Garissa, Kenya.
According to Nairobi News, Daystar University is enlisting military help to defend its campus and students from terrorists.
“Following the heinous attacks that happened at the Garissa University College, the Daystar University management has resolved to hire the KDF [Kenya Defense Forces] to reinforce security,” reads a Daystar statement to students obtained by Nairobi News.
Kathy Sindorf, Associate Professor of Communication & Media at Cornerstone University, is guest-lecturing at Daystar this semester. MNN recently caught up with her husband and fellow guest lecturer, Joe Sindorf.
“There’s a possibility that [Daystar] might be on their [al-Shabaab’s] radar,” Joe reports. “Daystar is the largest and best-known Christian university in East Africa.”
Garissa
(Logo obtained via Facebook)
On Thursday, April 2, al-Shabaab terrorists entered the Garissa University College campus and began hunting for Christ-followers. They found and slaughtered nearly 150 of them. This attack was the deadliest on Kenyan soil since 1998.
“David,” a victim of last week’s attack, was a personal friend of Joe’s.
“[He was a] wonderful guy; loved the Lord dearly,” Joe shares. “We were both professionals working together that struck up a friendship.”
On Good Friday, Joe received an e-mail from a mutual friend relaying the bad news.
“[David] was meeting with a couple of students that he was discipling, and that’s the moment when the gunmen came in,” shares Joe. “When they asked if he was Christian or Muslim and he professed his faith in Christ, that was the last thing that he did on this earth.
“[We’re] missing him; he’s a wonderful guy, but we know that he’s with the Lord now.”
(Photo courtesy Assist News)
Following the attack, Kenyan officials searched for anyone connected to the massacre, and President Uhuru Kenyatta vowed to “respond in the severest ways possible.” Al-Shabaab responded with equal vehemence via Twitter, as reported by SITE Monitoring Service.
“Kenyan cities will run red with blood,” part of the statement read. “This will be a long, gruesome war of which you, the Kenyan public, are its first casualties.”
Kenya persecution
Anti-Christian violence continues to intensify in Kenya, according to persecution watchdog Open Doors USA. The nation jumped from #43 to #19 on the World Watch List — a compilation of the world’s worst persecution hotspots — in the span of one year.
Joe and Kathy Sindorf
(Photo courtesy Kathy Sindorf via Facebook)
“We’re in God’s hands, and if we’re in God’s hands, nothing can touch us unless it’s in the Father’s will,” says Joe Sindorf.
“That’s the only way, really, to face something like this. You don’t know why it’s happening; you don’t know where the next thing might happen. But, you do know we have a loving Father who loves us and cares for us.”
Please ask the Lord to protect His followers in Kenya. Continue praying for the families of believers killed in last week’s attack. Pray that something good will come from this loss.
“They identified themselves with Christ and gave their lives because of it,” concludes Joe. “Pray for people that see this, that they would be drawn to our Lord.”
