The Hope of Africa School of Theology was founded in August 2016 when eighty-five pastors and church leaders enrolled in our Shikomari location. The following week, a second school, located in Olekero, outside of Kilgoris, Kenya, opened with sixty-five in attendance. We were blessed to have world-class teachers sharing solid, biblically-based doctrine with our students.

Pastor Michael Maura established Bethesda Baptist Church in Nairobi, and has served alongside The Hope Factory since the beginning of our years in Kenya, ministering to the children we served in the Tassia Slums, through weekly Bible devotionals. Pastor Michael travels a great deal, teaching in churches, schools, and universities. He recently co-authored a book entitled Prosperity? Seeking the True Gospel with John Piper, Wayne Grudem, and others. He studied Bible and Theology at Nairobi Pentecostal Bible College.

In 2017, we were blessed to have Dr. Reuben Ngume, from Mombasa, join our teaching staff. He is a college professor for a university with campuses all over East Africa, including Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and South Sudan, and even taught our own Pastor Michael Maura many years ago in Bible College. Dr. Ngume has brought sound teaching to our pastors in the areas of Church History, Christology, the Synoptic Gospels, and the Book of Romans. We look forward to an ever-closer affiliation with this humble and godly man.

John Holley is a graduate of the Business School at The University of Texas. He is a gifted and humorous teacher, bringing laughter to his solid understanding of God’s Word. John is truly an entrepreneur, having built and sold businesses throughout his life, including insurance agencies, radio and telephone companies, mortgage businesses, and real estate. He is a rancher, and the Vice President of The Hope Factory, traveling to Kenya on occasion with his wife of 50 years, Mary Catherine. Together, they teach a Community Bible Study in their hometown of Cherokee, Texas.

Mary Catherine Holley is the Founder and President of The Hope Factory, as well as Kiwanda Cha Tumaini, recognized by the Kenyan government as an NGO (Non-Governmental Organization). She is a 1970 graduate of Baylor University, with a Bachelor’s Degree in Mathematics, and a 2016 graduate of Liberty University School of Divinity, with a Master of Arts in Theological Studies. Mary Catherine has written and taught Bible studies for many years, and brings her passion and organizational skills to the vision that God has given her to serve in Kenya. Under her leadership, The Hope Factory has founded Kiwanda Cha Tumaini Christian Academy, Grace Fellowship Church, The Hope of Africa School of Theology, Kiwanda Cha Tumaini Medical Centre, and our agricultural endeavor at Mumias on the River Nzoia, which we call our Land of Promise.