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In the twenty-fifth episode of the third season of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with Laban Ayiro, the Vice Chancellor of Daystar University. Ayiro begins by exploring the exponential growth the Church is experiencing in sub-Saharan Africa and, in particular, in east African nations such as Kenya. As a frequent visitor to Europe and North America, Ayiro compares the spiritual climate of those two regions of the world with Kenya, the ways in which Christian commitments prove more fundamental to the identity of Kenyans, and thus why Christian discipleship is viewed as more compelling. He also details how the growth in Christianity has fueled the growth of universities such as Daystar, growth which Ayiro hopes he and his colleagues are meeting with a truly Christ-centered education. Ayiro then shifts to talk about how his own education in Canada, South Africa, Kenya, and the United States proved formative, gave him an expansive view of the world, and provided him with connections he draws upon when seeking to advance the efforts of his colleagues and students. Although the conditions Ayiro experienced prior to this appointment at Daystar were painful, he believes God was working through those conditions in order to lead him to Daystar and, upon arrival, have a vision for the university’s future. Ayiro shares that vision, one in which he has sought to meet considerable growth with incremental increases in academic quality as guided by the university’s Christian mission. He then closes by talking about the symbiotic relationship he believes the Church and Christian universities such as Daystar must share, recognizing they are dependent upon one another in several ways as they strive to meet the needs of the world in Christ’s name.
Todd Ream: Welcome to Saturdays at Seven, Christian Scholar’s Review’s conversation series with thought leaders about the academic vocation and the relationship that vocation shares with the Church. My name is Todd Ream. I have the privilege of serving as the publisher for Christian Scholar’s Review and as the host for Saturdays at Seven. I also have the privilege of serving on the faculty and the administration at Indiana Wesleyan University.
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Our guest is Laban Ayiro, Vice Chancellor of Daystar University. Thank you for joining us.
Laban Ayiro: Thank you for the privilege to be on this call.
Todd Ream: Demographers and sociologists have noted for a couple decades now that one of the regions of the world where Christianity is growing the fastest is in Sub-Saharan Africa, and in particular Sub-Saharan East Africa. In an article in the Christian Century, Baylor University’s Philip Jenkins noted that approximately 85% of Kenyans are Christians, and if that perception and percentage simply holds, population growth in Kenya would mean that by 2050, approximately 80 million believers will live in Kenya.
To what do you attribute the appeal of Christianity amongst your fellow Kenyans?
Laban Ayiro: Yeah. Thank you Todd. The history of Kenya, I don’t want to call it the civilization, but the history of Kenya has been driven by missionaries. We had missionaries from the United States. We had missionaries from the U.K. Scotland. And they came through not just the Church, but schools. So many of us have had the privilege to, to partake not only of the Word of God through Scripture, but also the education. And so Christianity is rooted deeply, because it came with a very attractive package of education and enlightenment.
So we, we, we grew up aspiring, first of all to know God, and then of course go to school and, and, and work hard. And my generation, for example, all our teachers were missionaries. Uh, and, and so the influence has continued on and, and we are in a way, perpetuating it because the most successful Kenyans are Christians the professionals, across the various sectors.
And then of course the proliferation of churches, the different denominations of churches in Kenya, yeah. That’s why it’ll continue to grow and we thank God for it.
Todd Ream: Thank you. For Christians living in regions of the world where Christianity is not growing, such as several different nations in Europe or in the United States where Christianity has recently been flat in terms of numbers, what lessons do you believe we can learn from the Church in Kenya?
Laban Ayiro: I think if you, if you package religion as a, a social entity, you don’t think of the Church as a place where we go just to worship. But a Church also provides health facilities. The Church provides education, quality education. Uh, the Church provides water. The Church provides for the poor, the vulnerable groups. I think that endears the Church to the people.
Uh, maybe for America, I think you people because of the “richness” in quotes of America people don’t see the need for God. I mean, they get anything they want, so they, they, they don’t see the need for Christian living and values.
But I think the Kenyan model, you know, Todd, between me and you, you know, I get I get a, a little disheartened when every time I visit the U.S. and I’m there 40% of my time, and I’m cautioned not to talk about God when I walk into an institution that is not Christian. And yet in Kenya, everywhere people pray freely. People, you know, worship freely inside the classroom. Classes start with prayer.
And I think it, if you ask me what’s the greatness of the U.S.? What, what’s the greatness of your country? It is what your constitution says. It starts with God. We need to learn that there is something bigger. There is something we can’t be if we are not under Its umbrella, and that is God.
Todd Ream: Thank you. As Kenya’s Christian population has grown, what impact has it had on Daystar University?
Laban Ayiro: Oh, a huge impact. I think what makes us different is our Christ-centeredness. So, as a Christian population grows, everybody who is Christian, who is a believer, feels very safe to have their children come to a school like Daystar. So while other universities in Kenya are struggling financially they don’t have, they have low enrollments Daystar, we are spoiled for choice.
We have just two weeks ago I admitted 2000 freshers into the classrooms of Daystar, and I couldn’t take everybody. I’ll give you an example. My school of nursing has a capacity of 150 students. I had more than 500. I had more than 500 turning up. So yes, as the population increases Christian schools, good Christian schools like Daystar become the place of choice for people who are worried about their children, the values and the centrality of God in the life of a human being.
Todd Ream: In what ways, if any, have the students changed? And then in what ways have the faculty changed?
Laban Ayiro: First of all, the students have changed a lot because of internet, the internet of things because of social media. So it is a generation that knows it all. And I know that my theology department, my theology department has had to learn that there’s something called AI. And that maybe it is more interesting to get into spatial AI, virtual reality, and take the keys to Jerusalem to go through those historical sites Golgotha, the Sermon on the Mount, the Dead Sea, the, you know, the Jordan River. Uh, so they need to embrace technology to entice these young minds that are so attuned to seeing things, observing things. So the students have changed tremendously.
My faculty has had to struggle. But one of the rather wicked things to say is that COVID became a huge advantage because then everybody had to grapple with technology, whether you liked it or not. So the old faculty members had to learn to, to get online and to do their classes on, on Moodle and, and, and, and all those things. So, so, yes.
Um, things have changed, but it’s very interesting, Todd, you know Daystar does not, because of the Kenyan constitution, we can’t stop Muslim students from coming to Daystar. So out of about 8,000 students, I have about 400 Muslim students. And out of those 400, about 310 are Muslim girls.
And uh, it’s very interesting. Last years’, last year during graduation, the media ran after the kadhi, the bishop whose daughter was graduating. And they asked him, what is your daughter doing in a Christian university? And he said, even if I was to do, if I was asked, I would do it again because my daughter has changed. She’s more outward, she’s more respectful, she’s more engaging. And even now, she doesn’t struggle in becoming a better Muslim because now she appreciates that Islam and Christianity and even Judea are all Abrahamic religions. There is a commonness around us. You know, it was a very interesting revelation.
And they keep coming. They want to come to Daystar. They want to come to a university that has a focus on values, a university that teaches people to be civil teaches us to be humble, teaches us to be servants to each other. It makes a very big difference, yeah.
Todd Ream: Thank you. Before we move on, I want to ask if scholars like Philip Jenkins are correct about the growth in the Christian population in Kenya over the course of the next 25 years, in what ways do you anticipate Daystar may need to also change, especially in terms of its organizational structure, as demand very likely will continue to grow?
Laban Ayiro: Yeah, and, and it’s growing exponentially. Let me give you an example. When I came to Daystar five years ago, we had about 2,900 students. As I speak to you now, our population is just going beyond 9,000 as we talk. So it is exponential growth.
And so in terms of organization, one of the biggest areas of focus for me is the chaplaincy. A big area of focus, coupled with reinventing our curriculum, so that the integration of faith into learning is intensified, is, I don’t know what to say, it is, it is positively radicalized as we move on as a university.
And, and one of the struggles I’ve had, and, and I’m glad you have asked that question, the struggle of convincing the Christian world of the need for a university like Daystar to have a very strong school of mission and theology. I have walked across the U.S. And people tell me, why are you putting, why are you thinking of putting money in that, you know?
And, and, and most of our brethren, Christian brethren in the U.S. would be wanting to plant churches, to increase centers of worship, but they don’t know that Daystar, if Daystar is a school of mission and theology, it becomes the center for producing men and men and women of God who will carry the Gospel into the, the existential realities of the 21st century. So according to them that’s not a good investment, you know?
Uh, right now, we just started a chapel. We started a chapel and one of the most difficult projects for me was to convince people that I will like a place of worship at Daystar University, that our Christ-centeredness dictates that we have a place where we can go and worship and submit ourselves to God.
So what I’m saying is that it is going to be a big challenge in the organization if we are to carry out our mission, our Christian mission. And I’m just continue telling God, you know, this is not my job. This is your job. So You had better help me out and, and this build a big school of mission and theology where people from across Africa can come and enhance their knowledge and their capacity for kingdom building.
Todd Ream: That’s beautiful. Thank you. I want to ask you now about your own story as an educator, because your pursuit of your education led you to study in several universities four different universities on three different countries, beginning with Canada’s McGill University, where you earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry and mathematics. Kenya’s Kenyata University, where you earned a master’s in entrepreneurship, Kenya’s United States International University, where you earned a master’s in international relations. Then you went to South Africa, the University of Witwatersrand, where you earned a master’s in education and finance and economics and planning, and then you went back to Kenya.
In what ways, if any, did studying at four different universities in three different nations enhance your education?
Laban Ayiro: Wow. Um, I cannot, if I say anything, it might sound exaggerated, but I, I’ve benefited, it’s been very profound in terms of human relationships, in terms of appreciating challenge. In, in, in McGill in Montreal I encountered snow for the first time and,
Todd Ream: And a lot of it.
Laban Ayiro: And a lot of it and then McGill also a very, very intensive and high demanding school.
And then of course, I went through these other universities, South Africa, just to see the disparities that were created by apartheid. And they were trying to catch up. Uh, and then of course being in Texas for my post doctoral studies, Texas A&M, and I’m an Aggie myself really has been very impactful.
But if you’ll allow me to go back a little I’m a son of a driver. My father was a driver. He didn’t have an education, but he was a very good driver. And so he got a job driving an American couple in Nairobi. One was a professor at Nairobi University, a mathematics professor. And my mom, the lady was a pathologist at the national hospital.
And so they asked my father whether he would allow me to go and stay with him in my formative years, I was a little kid, grade three. Uh, so I moved from the slums of Kibera, where I was born and where we were living with my father to go to a very posh in, you know, a privileged place in Nairobi. And so this couple, God does perform miracles, this was a Jewish couple.
So I grew up as a Jewish kid, you know, for eight years. They brought me up from a very poor background, to a very stimulating environment. Uh, they took me to a whites, almost a whites only only school, very few Africans that time. But more importantly, the Jewish culture, the mannerisms, the development of survival instincts and character really ingrained in me and I think I am what I am because of those eight years.
Even what I’ve become, you know, a professor of statistics I would never have become because my American dad Weinstein couldn’t, couldn’t allow you to not to get an A plus in maths. You just had to do it whether you liked it or not.
And then the reading culture, my, my mom, they became my dad and mom in, in the literal sense because they did everything for me and loved me and cared for me.
Todd Ream: Wow.
Laban Ayiro: And, and so yeah, so it followed me when they were coming back to Ohio, I’m an only child to my mother, she wouldn’t allow me to come with them that time. But we remained friends. Uh, when they passed on, I, I came for the, both times I came for the funeral. Ben, their son, who then became my brother when my mom died, Ben came to Kenya. So we, we, it’s a family uh, up to now. When Ben’s daughter was wedding, I came for the wedding and walked her. Uh, me and Ben walked her down the aisle. So it’s that.
And then God just extended it in this, you know countries you’re mentioning for my former studies. Yeah, so it has had a big difference and I look at the world very differently and that has helped Daystar, because I’ve expanded the collaborations, our links with Christian universities in the U.S. I found two universities. Now we have about 21 very close friends.
Uh, the president of Wheaton was in Nairobi recently, went to Uganda with him at the Uganda Christian University. He stayed over in Daystar. Uh, the president of Taylor has come to Daystar, has stayed with us. I’ve gone to Taylor. I’ve stayed, I’ve stayed at Wheaton, Calvin you know, so that that, that ability to relate, and particularly to other Christian schools, I attributed to this exposure that I’ve had.
Todd Ream: What advice then, do you offer your own students in terms of their pursuit of their education?
Laban Ayiro: They must be global citizens, and they must be Christ-like. They, they, they have to learn to be Christ-like. They humility serving service before self.
We read this in Galatians 5:25, learn, learn to walk with the fruit of the spirit and God will bless you in so many ways when you love other people, when you tolerate other people and when you give to the needy and those aspects. And just being that good human being that I’m sorry to say, our countries in Africa now are really struggling to get those good human beings to lead the country.
So yeah, so I tell them that this, this, this world is just a small piece of land and you just happen to have popped up in Kenya, but you could have popped up anywhere. So it is good to be, yeah, to be, to be I don’t know how to say it, to be Christlike.
There’s this book, we, we all have read this book Leading Like Christ. You know, it is so important, yeah, and we thank God for what we are doing to the kids in Daystar.
Todd Ream: Would you describe the path then that brought you to serve as the Vice Chancellor of Daystar, a position, which, for example, is quite comparable to the university president in the United States?
Laban Ayiro: Yeah. Thank you very much. Um, the path to becoming a don, I think is, I was deliberate about it. I’d worked in the civil service and teaching is really what I wanted to do in life. I enjoyed teaching. And it’s because of my late mother when I did my all A-levels and I couldn’t make the grade for medicine and I was taken to teaching. I didn’t want to go for it.
But my mother called me in the night, and said, you know what you wanted to be a doctor, but God wanted you to be a teacher. And you’ll be a great teacher. I always remember that. And I thank God I’m a teacher because I’ve influenced so many young minds from a high school principal to the university.
So my coming to Daystar is another big miracle in my life. I was teaching at Moi University, which is a public university, is like your land grant, the big universities in the U.S. And then something happened and I was asked by the council of the university to take over as acting vice chancellor. Uh, there had been corruption with the top three in the university so they were all sent home. And then they said, but there’s that Christian man let’s give him this university.
So I got to be made an acting vice chancellor from almost three ranks below. So in serving Moi University the politics of the area could not understand why their own people were sent away, and they brought this stranger who is not our tribesman to head our university because everybody of positions, not service.
So I was an acting president for about two years. Then the political leadership ganged up and said you must leave. And it was a national hue and cry. You can still, if you Google my name and Moi University, you’ll see a lot of video clips of that. And I was actually, literally asked to get out of that place.
And so the World Bank in Nairobi saw so much unfairness. They then asked me to go as a consultant in education. So I joined the World Bank. And after about six months, I got a phone call from somebody I’ve never known up to today a strange number and said, hello. Are you Laban? Yes. Um, have you seen the advert in the newspapers today? Uh, Daystar University is looking for a president. Why don’t you apply? I said, no, I don’t want to be, I don’t want to be hurt again, because my wife was so devastated at what happened to me.
But uh, another voice told me, well, Daystar’s a Christian university. Let me give it a shot. I had never been to Daystar, none of the gates at main campus or Nairobi campus. I knew nobody in Daystar, but I gave it a shot. Uh, the recruiting firm interviewed, shortlisted, then I went to meet the council of Daystar. And then I went to meet the senate and the university community. And to cut that story short, I got a job.
And so every time, it’s like there is what do you call it? There is these winds, gusting winds that really God created to throw me out of Moi, and I landed in a place called Daystar.
Moi University was a university of 50,000 students.
Todd Ream: Oh wow.
Laban Ayiro: So I come to a university of 3,000 students. And just look, see what the Lord has done.
Todd Ream: Yeah.
Laban Ayiro: And one of my biggest, biggest lines on chapel is I always tell people, I remember Jabbok in the Bible, and I tell people, you know, I was born out of pain to come here. I’ll never cause pain. I’ve asked God never to allow me to cause pain to anybody but to expand the kingdom of Daystar. And I’ve seen it. I’ve seen Him doing it so strongly, yeah.
And in Daystar, you know, we do on average about nine devotions in a day. We pray about nine, ten times in a day. From the time I get to my office at six in the morning, when I’m going home in the evening, I’ve done about ten prayers, because every meeting starts with a devotion and a prayer.
Really it would, it, it, it’ll influence, it impacts on somebody. So if you take nine, nine devotions every day, times, you know, 200 days in a year, times six years I’m thoroughly converted.
Todd Ream: Yeah.
That’s wonderful.
Laban Ayiro: Yes, yeah. So that’s, that’s how, but what a privilege. I wish one day you’ll visit or the people will be on this call, will visit Daystar and you see what the Lord has done. And it’s a privilege.
And you know that storm in Moi University was actually created by God when I look at it to propel me. And now everybody in Kenya Ayiro is a household name, everybody knows about Ayiro. And the contrast now Moi University has collapsed as a university. It’s doing very badly. And so yeah, so that’s what God does in building His Kingdom.
Todd Ream: As the Kingdom expands, the Church grows in East Africa and Kenya, and the demand for Christian colleges and universities grows in East Africa, we’re gonna need more educational leaders.
What advice do you offer then to those who may be thinking about serving as vice chancellors and deans, younger generations as, as they are being called upon, in greater numbers, to lead these institutions that are growing so rapidly?
Laban Ayiro: Yeah, maybe we need to pause and sometimes I find it hard to, to see Daystar as a university. Many times I see Daystar as a mission. And my biggest worry is whether we have the next generation of people who will be aware of that fact that this is not a job, this is serving the Kingdom of God.
So my advice is that when you find yourself being considered for leadership, whatever type, whether you are a dean of school or um, a, a professor or an administrator in a Christ-centered university it’s not about you. God has called you for a purpose and so you’ve got to be able to, to exist both in body and spirit. That’s, that’s, that’s quite tough in body and spirit.
And you can’t pretend about it because God resists the proud, we know that, and and, and glorifies the humble. So what we need to do in Christian universities is to keep insisting on the virtues of love, virtues of humility virtues of sacrifice, virtues of courage amidst adversity. And then we’ll get the leaders we are looking for and to stand in.
And I am unashamedly a Christian. We go for meetings of universities in Kenya, and they start a meeting and I’ll tell the chair I beg your pardon kindly, can we pray? And, and people get startled because nobody wants to talk about, so I and, and I, and you know, because, you know, the audience is not excited about prayer, you, you ask God to give you the words.
And the other day we were in Mombasa, one of our coastal towns, and I gave a prayer. And I said, no, we are not just going to pray. We are about 50 here. Let’s get in a circle. Let’s hold hands. Let’s believe in what we want to pray about, because we arrived in Mombasa by the grace of God. We are here by the grace of God.
When I finished, the room went silent. And for the, the, the rest of the time, everybody was coming to, to say, but how, how? That was beautiful. You touched my heart. You know, I, and I tell them, but that’s what we do. That’s, when you’re a believer, that’s, that’s your DNA. That’s your way of life. I think as we talk of walking and building the Kingdom of God and you know, mentoring people to come in.
And by the way, Todd, I am struggling a lot with values. At Daystar, our ethos, our values are excellence, transformation, and servanthood. They sound very nice, but as I internalize the mission I’m on and go through Scripture I have learned that even my own community at Daystar, initially, just took those words as being fashionable, you know, to say this is who we are.
So now I’m pushing the whole university starting with my council, that we’ve got to push ourselves from where we are and make these words virtuous. We must have a, they must become our golden standard. So when you are a lecturer you don’t just talk about excellence. You exhibit, you know, excellence oozes out of you. Uh, when you are a, a chaplain transformation is your mission. And it is something that weighs you down heavily when it is not being done.
And servanthood like at least many people ask me why you know, I preach twice in the two campuses every week. They, I go to, I lecture my PhD class, my master students, and they say, why are you doing all that? You’re a vice chancellor. You don’t have to, you’re a president. You don’t have to. And, and I tell them, but what is servanthood? Servanthood is picking the broom. And when you pick the broom, you encourage fellow human beings.
And, and, and so I think the struggle with the Christian schools is that God is asking us to have the virtue preposition of leadership, that we must truly love, truly demonstrate, grow that excellence we are talking about that love, that courage to speak as a Christian. Uh, we must do that.
Uh, and then we must have relationships that are authentic, that they’re real and, and that’s what Christ was. He was so authentic. When, when things were not going right, he’d tell you no. He would cause havoc in the temple if he saw that God’s house was being adulterated. So yeah, so that’s my struggle now in my university.
When I see something is not right, I ask them or I ask the person, help me understand whether this is really who we are. Yeah, in a very gentle, you know, understanding way. So relationships are very important. I’ve seen what, what they do, and as Christians this world is such a difficult place. And yet we are so many Christians. So I ask myself why the world is supposed to be a very peaceful place.
Todd Ream: Thank you. I want to ask you now actually even a little bit more about Daystar. Um, its history reaches back to 1964, but on September 29th, 1994, Daystar University received its charter from the Kenyan government, and along that way, it worked with educational partners such as Wheaton College. You mentioned that President Phil Ryken had recently been to campus there and also Messiah, what’s now Messiah University.
Today, Daystar enrolls over 9,000 students. And you mentioned that it has two campuses, a main residential Campus in Athi River, which is about 40 kilometers or 25 miles southeast of Nairobi and a non-residential campus just on the edge of city center, Nairobi.
For guests who visit the residential campus, the Athi River campus, what do you want them to experience?
Laban Ayiro: I want them to experience the beginnings of Daystar. It’s very humbling because Daystar was founded by an American couple from Oregon. They had been down to South Africa’s missionaries because of their beliefs in uh, equality. They were thrown out. They went to Zimbabwe, Rhodesia, then, then they landed in Nairobi to start a college for Christian communication literature.
Don and Faye Smith, Faye Smith passed on two years now, and she’s buried on campus at Athi River. That’s why I’m saying it’s very humbling. And Don Smith moved from Oregon to Nairobi to Athi River, and he lives on campus. He’s an old man, about 95, whom we all love dearly because this was his idea.
And then the first vice chancellor was a Ugandan, Professor Talitwala who served as a vice chancellor for over 20 years at Daystar. When I came in, he had had a bad accident. He was in a wheelchair, and he said, you know, I have never done anything for my country, Uganda. All my energy has been in Daystar, so I cannot be buried in Uganda. I want to be buried in Daystar. So we have also buried the founding Vice Chancellor in what is called the Hero’s Corner.
So what do I want you to experience? I want you to experience what sacrifice can do. I want you to experience what happens when men of God commit themselves to realizing a dream. And, and just the, the savannah and the, the ecosystem in Daystar, it borders, not quite like Arizona, but that kind of climate. Uh, although now we have planted over a hundred thousand trees on campus, and now it’s, yeah, it’s, it’s, it’s a real Eden in a desert planted over a thousand trees over the last six years.
And by the way, that earned me an invitation to the Vatican. The late Pope Francis, the nuns here at Nairobi, the ambassador, came and said, my God, this is unbelievable. Uh, you must come and meet the Pope. We are having lunch. He had come to a local parish and he said, you must come the Pope Laudato si’ philosophy of caring for Mother Nature. I’m sure the Pope would love to see you. I got an invite to the Vatican. I attended Mass, but more importantly, I had 11 minutes of private conversation with the late Pope Francis.
Yeah, so Athi River is something for me, and that’s why I’m very encouraged not just my fellow presidents who are, who have been on campus and stayed with me, stayed at my house just like I’ve done on their campuses.
But we have had the board of Tyndale the whole board come to Daystar the Christian foundation in where is that? Is that in Chicago? Where is that? Tyndale Foundation? Yeah. And other Christian foundations come to visit Daystar. So it’s like a pilgrimage.
If, if you, if you just get to Nairobi. And you know, the fanciness of Nairobi and the hustle and bustle of a city. Uh, so when I go to Daystar as a president, the first thing I told the council is that I wanted a house in Daystar. Uh, I didn’t want to stay in Nairobi, so I stay on campus just next to the campus. And uh, what a delight for six years have been. For my kids to know that our president is just a call away.
Yeah and now when they’re playing, we are one of the best, in fact, the best now, the best university in rugby in Kenya.
Todd Ream: Okay.
Laban Ayiro: Yeah. Five, five of my boys are on the national team. Uh, so when they’re playing, I’m there with them to cheer them up and yeah demand more and more from them. It’s very special coming to Athi River, yeah.
Todd Ream: Thank you. You’ve mentioned you’ve been there six years and just this past July, Daystar University completed its five-year strategic plan, which came under your leadership and it was entitled, drawing from Isaiah 43:18-19, “A New Dawn.” There were nine priorities in that plan.
And what would you and your colleagues say were some of the largest successes of that plan as you now begin to assess what’s taken place, you know, over the course last 5 years?
Laban Ayiro: It has been a truly new dawn, a new beginning. When I was recruited for Daystar, they had just had a terrible crisis. The students had gone on rampage. They had rioted, a Christian university, and the image of Daystar had really gone down and there was a lot of mistrust even within the community those who betrayed the cause and those who are loyal and, and so the, the president had to, to be asked to vacate the office. And that’s how I came in myself.
So we did a strategic plan with the aim of really rebuilding Daystar. When we look at what that strategic plan has done for us it’s marvelous. But is it really the strategic plan? No, it’s God. It is God. It is God who said, have this instrument to direct you. And we have expanded in infrastructure. We have now one of the largest nursing schools in the country. We have during my tenure, we started the school of law. I found it at 50 students. Now there are over 600. The nursing school is over 1200 students. What can I say? And the expansion in facilities the growth in enrollment, both faculty recruitment.
But for me, the biggest achievement is stopping the drift from Christ-centeredness. Yeah, there was a deliberate drift. That’s why we were getting into those situations. So bringing it back and telling people, hey, there’s no alternative. There isn’t an alternative. So it’s, it’s been phenomenal.
Many times, Todd, I feel very threatened. I feel very intimidated myself. When I’m alone and say, what, what is God saying? This kind of growth is unexpected. What is God saying? And how does He expect us to, you know, to cater for all this exponential growth in students? Uh, we expect to expand the university, but more importantly, how do we still hold people in the center? Because the center must hold, and the center is our Christ-centeredness. Yeah, that’s where there is beauty. That’s where there is heat. Uh, you know, that’s where there is love in the center.
So if you, if you are growing if you think I’m a chemist, if you think in terms of atoms and electrons, you need to bring them to the nucleus. Otherwise, they will, they will, you know, they’ll get into the world. So, yes, the new dawn has been not just a cliche. No, no. I’ve seen God use it to transform his Kingdom at Daystar.
Todd Ream: Thank you. As we begin to close our question, our conversation today, I want to ask you about Daystar’s relationship with the Church in Kenya, and the Church has been growing rapidly, the university has been growing rapidly.
In what ways can that relationship even be, you’ve talked about how it’s changed and been enhanced in the last six years, how can it be enhanced even more in the years to come?
Laban Ayiro: Uh, beautiful question. Um, Daystar’s multi-denominational, so Daystar does not have a sponsoring church. So we don’t have the Baptists owning Daystar or, or the Anglicans or, you know, we don’t have that. We have all these churches coming together, Pentecostals and everybody, to be trustees of Daystar. And that has been a beauty in itself because in that, within that diversity, we have removed many tensions and, and any kind of dominance. Uh, within that diversity, we have been able to be more rational and truly be Christians because we are supposed to love our neighbors. And we have many programs in Daystar of capacity building of the churches.
That’s why I will cry about my School of Mission and Theology. Uh, I still have three years to go to exit Daystar, but one of the things I would like to leave behind is the chapel and the School of Mission and Theology, in addition to all these other specialized areas because I know that the Church in Kenya needs educators who are grounded in what Scripture says.
Yeah, and, and we can plant many churches and they’re now turning out to be cults. They’re turning out to be cults. Yeah, because the people who are leading those churches don’t have the knowledge, the prerequisite knowledge. Uh, and, and I keep praying to God and saying, this is your mission. I keep banging doors. Sometimes I bang them and say, please help me. Help us set up a, a training center for men and women who will carry
Todd Ream: Yeah.
Laban Ayiro: the Kingdom of God in Africa.
So we have a very good relationship. We have, we train pastors’ wives, we train pastors in leadership. We train the youth. We, we and at very subsidized costs sometimes I get funding. Recently we got some funding from an American couple from Carolina, the Jappes, they, they, they came here and they trained the 300 pastors. We are staying together. Yeah, so we are very, very deliberate determined, but we need to be structured and to institutionalize this aspect of our mission as a Christ-centered university.
Todd Ream: For our last question then for our conversation, I want to ask you, in what ways can the university in Kenya be of greater service to the Church, and in what ways can the Church also be of greater service to the university?
Laban Ayiro: Yeah, I think it’s mutual. It’s symbiotic, and that’s why I keep telling my people and the leadership of the university, the top leadership that we must make a contribution. And our biggest contribution to the churches is to empower them, build their capacity. Uh, not just in the fundamentals of theology and the Scriptures and the Word of God, but also in management of churches, to rid churches of corruption to encourage people to serve rather than benefit.
So we have that role and the Church needs to pray for Daystar, needs to amplify the name of Daystar. You know, so that our children who are coming from those churches, they know that they are the automatic school to come to is Daystar. That mutual symbiotic relationship is what we are looking for, striving for.
And I think Daystar has the big advantage. As I said, we don’t have a mainstream church that claims ownership, so it’s very easy to bring people together and, and carry out this mission.
Todd Ream: Thank you very much. Our guest has been Laban Ayiro, Vice Chancellor of Daystar University. Thank you for taking the time to share your insights and wisdom with us.
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