The story of the work in Bungoma is really the story of what happens when purpose meets
destiny.
All of us have inside of us a sense that we're designed to do something in this world.
And when that purpose that drives us meets opportunity, destiny is created.
And it's really the story about how I met a guy from Africa.
In the mid-90s, we'd been pastoring our church for a number of years, and we were looking
for strategic partners around the world to help carry out the work of the church in
different parts of the earth.
I went to a conference in Mississippi, and while I was there, a man spoke briefly and
shared his story.
It was a man from Africa.
His name was Emmanuel Meiku.
As he began to speak, we recognized that there was something about this man and his
vision that was tied to the destiny and the purpose of us as a church and a congregation.
Shortly after that meeting, I flew to Africa with a small team, and we witnessed firsthand
the work that Emmanuel was doing in Bungoma, Kenya.
We were overwhelmed by the poverty, by the needs of the people.
I noticed in the front of the hotel where we were staying, there was a child just laying
across the curb.
When I inquired about this young man, I was told that this is a common problem.
As I asked further, they said that all over Africa, and many of the developing nations
of the world, there's this phenomenon of these children who are orphans because of
AIDS or abandoned because parents don't have the resources to support them.
Some of them as young as two and three years old that are just left on the streets to
defend for themselves.
And I noticed another thing.
I noticed that children were walking around sniffing glue bottles, these little white
bottles of glue.
They had them right up to their mouth and to their nose.
And when I asked about that, Bishop Emmanuel explained to me that the older children give
these glue bottles to the younger children because it helps numb the hunger pains because
they don't get sufficient food.
Many of them eat trash or live in the garbage dumps outside of the community and they just
literally live on the handouts or whatever they can scrap and find.
When I heard this, it broke my heart.
It was shortly after that that my wife went with me and when she saw the condition of
these children, she felt a strong call from God that we need to do something now.
To see pain that I cannot do anything about is probably the greatest frustration in my
life.
In the foundation of the earth, one of the things the Lord established was that a family.
Family is critical to any child having success in life and moving forward to become what
they're called to become.
These children, they have no sense of belonging, they have no sense of love, they have no sense
of boundaries, they have no sense of security.
And so what's important in my heart is that these children have a home, they have a place
where they can go every night and they can have food, they can have shelter, they can
have love and belonging, a sense of community, they can be educated.
But beyond that is the sense that these children have a future and they have a hope that God
is designed for them to become something great.
Your partnership, your financial support will make such a difference in the lives of these
kids.
They have so little and it takes so little to make such a big difference in their lives.
Will you reach with us together to help make a difference in the lives of these children?
We can rescue them.
We can change their destiny and it just might be part of your purpose in this world to help
us do this.
Thank you for considering this request and thank you for praying for our success as we
establish this home for children, the children of Western Kenya.
