SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Church, good to see all of you today.
SPEAKER_01: It's great to have all of our campuses join us, everybody online.
SPEAKER_01: And uh I am fired up for this week.
SPEAKER_01: It is Easter week and Passion Week.
SPEAKER_01: And so all the things that your host has talked about, I hope you will lean into.
SPEAKER_01: Man, those guided prayers.
SPEAKER_01: Do you know we have had over 500,000 listens with guided prayers, which is pretty cool, which means over 500,000 prayers have been prayed, not just in our church, but across our city, across our state, even across our country.
SPEAKER_01: People are in engaging in that.
SPEAKER_01: And so, man, get involved in that.
SPEAKER_01: Invite somebody.
SPEAKER_01: It's going to be a great uh Easter weekend for sure.
SPEAKER_01: I think today is going to be a great uh day, also.
SPEAKER_01: We've got some guests.
SPEAKER_01: Obviously, it's gonna be a little bit different message today.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, Wallace and Mary Kamal from Missions of Hope International are here.
SPEAKER_01: We've talked a lot about Mohi, and so they're gonna be joining me in a second, and my wife's gonna join me on the stage, and so I'm excited about that uh too.
SPEAKER_01: Before we do that, what I want to do is take a few minutes and just get our hearts set on something that I think is really important to God's heart.
SPEAKER_01: I want to ask you a question to start.
SPEAKER_01: When was the last time that you felt unseen?
SPEAKER_01: Think about that for a moment.
SPEAKER_01: I think we've all had moments where we felt like we went unnoticed, like nobody saw us in this moment.
SPEAKER_01: I've got kids, my wife and I do, from age 14 to 22.
SPEAKER_01: There's four of them.
SPEAKER_01: And we have conversations with them all the time.
SPEAKER_01: I'm from the 14-year-old to the 22-year-old, and they won't use the language, man, I felt unnoticed today, unseen.
SPEAKER_01: But you have those conversations where you just realize what they're trying to say in this moment is, man, I feel like I got missed.
SPEAKER_01: And I think every one of us, we have those moments for them.
SPEAKER_01: It might be school, it might be friendships, uh, it might be on a team, it might even be within our big family of six, that one of them for some moment just felt like I went unseen or unnoticed.
SPEAKER_01: You felt that.
SPEAKER_01: Now think about spending a lifetime.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to think about spending a lifetime of being unseen, of being unnoticed, of nobody being able to see the predicament that you're in, and you just have this sense that there is no way to get out of this.
SPEAKER_01: Last September, my wife Jen and I went with three other people on staff, so Paul Carpenter, who's one of our execs, uh, Caitlin Bennett, who is our associate uh missions or outreach director, and then Tyler Gertman, who is our outreach pastor.
SPEAKER_01: And we went to Nairobi, Kenya to see Missions of Hope.
SPEAKER_01: Missions of Hope is something I've been involved with with Wallace and Mary Kamal since 2012.
SPEAKER_01: And uh they just do incredible ministry, but they are located, they started in the slums of Nairobi.
SPEAKER_01: And so what they did is we got there and we made introductions, did all that, and we had this orientation, and we went down into the slums to the Mathari Valley.
SPEAKER_01: If you don't know what the Mathari Valley is, it is 2.5 square miles, a network of slums, 2.5 square miles, and here's the thing approximately one million people live within that 2.5 square miles.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, it is it is amazing just the concentration of people, but then the concentration of poverty, uh, uh, of people like it.
SPEAKER_01: Like you go through these slums, and you can't imagine.
SPEAKER_01: Like I could try to describe this to you.
SPEAKER_01: You cannot imagine the poverty, and we're not talking about poverty that we experience here.
SPEAKER_01: We are talking about extreme poverty, cycles of generational, systematic poverty that people get stuck in and can never get out on their own.
SPEAKER_01: We saw all of this, and you just see these beautiful children that because they were born in this location, this is what they're experiencing.
SPEAKER_01: It's interesting when Jesus announced his ministry and he said, Here's my ministry, and I'm launching this ministry in Luke chapter 4.
SPEAKER_01: He he explains who he came for.
SPEAKER_01: And it was the unnoticed of the world.
SPEAKER_01: Listen to what he says.
SPEAKER_01: He says, The Spirit of the Lord is on me because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.
SPEAKER_01: He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind and to set the oppressed free.
SPEAKER_01: That idea, he says, He I've come to give good news to the what?
SPEAKER_01: To the poor.
SPEAKER_01: Do you know that word poor?
SPEAKER_01: Jesus is actually quoting from Isaiah 61 back in the Old Testament.
SPEAKER_01: The Old Testament is written in Hebrew.
SPEAKER_01: That word poor is this idea of those crushed by life.
SPEAKER_01: It can be various different things that they crush by life, but then it also carries this meaning of those oppressed by systems or cycles of suffering, the unseen.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know if you know who Viola Davis is, but Viola Davis is an American actress.
SPEAKER_01: She grew up in extreme poverty here in the U.S.
SPEAKER_01: I would say poverty here in the U.S.
SPEAKER_01: She writes her memoir, and Viola Davis says this.
SPEAKER_01: She says, She says, when you are poor, you're invisible.
SPEAKER_01: When you are poor, you're invisible.
SPEAKER_01: And if you read her memoir, the things that she went through, the abuse that she experienced from various things, uh, physical abuse, sexual abuse, verbal abuse, emotional abuse, so many things, and then the the lack of having things.
SPEAKER_01: It's just incredible her story.
SPEAKER_01: But what she says is when you're poor, you are invisible.
SPEAKER_01: Invisible to people.
SPEAKER_01: I would say invisible to everyone except Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: If you step back and you say, Jesus in Luke 4 said, Here's what I came for, but then that's at the beginning of his ministry, at the end of his ministry in Matthew chapter 25, Jesus tells us how we should view those who are unseen.
SPEAKER_01: Here's what he says.
SPEAKER_01: And he gets amped up here.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Then he will say, Jesus is given a parable, and he says, Then he will say to those on his left, Depart from me, you who are cursed, into eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
SPEAKER_01: For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat.
SPEAKER_01: I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink.
SPEAKER_01: I was a stranger and you did not invite me in.
SPEAKER_01: I needed clothes and you did not clothe me.
SPEAKER_01: I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.
SPEAKER_01: And then they said, Jesus, when did we see you?
SPEAKER_01: It says, Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison and did not help it?
SPEAKER_01: When did we allow you to go unseen?
SPEAKER_01: And here's what Jesus says He says, Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.
SPEAKER_01: Man, why does Jesus get so hyped up there?
SPEAKER_01: Jesus gets so hyped up there because every single person, every single child, every single adult, seen or unseen, is an image bearer of the king.
SPEAKER_01: Like Genesis chapter 127, what does it say?
SPEAKER_01: It says that we were made in God's image.
SPEAKER_01: I love this quote.
SPEAKER_01: It says this says poverty is not just a lack of money, it is not having the capacity to realize one's full potential as a human being.
SPEAKER_01: And I would change that quote.
SPEAKER_01: I love that quote, but I would change the end to say to realize one's full capacity to be an image bearer of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Why did Viola Davis say when you're poor, you're invisible because it's a reality?
SPEAKER_01: But what's interesting is Viola Davis had the opportunity because there are systems and opportunities and scholarships, and she got a full ride scholarship to an underprivileged school for a person like her to go into theater, which caused her to have an opportunity to step out of the systematic poverty, to rise all the way to become an award-winning actress.
SPEAKER_01: The only difference between Viola Davis and a person, a young person, a young girl who sits in the slums of the Mathari Valley is they were born in different places.
SPEAKER_01: And what Jesus says to all of us is he says, not just to go here, which we are.
SPEAKER_01: Every single one of our campuses is working with under-resourced families, is working with unhoused people and unhoused families.
SPEAKER_01: We're doing that here.
SPEAKER_01: But he also says to go into all the world.
SPEAKER_01: God has always had this at the heart of God has been those who are overlooked and unseen.
SPEAKER_01: And we walked out of the slums, we went into the schools of Mohi, and we'll talk a little bit about those in a moment.
SPEAKER_01: And we just begin to see these faces of these kids with joy and excitement who were learning and memorizing scripture and learning just education and we're understanding who God's created them to be and these teachers that are telling them you can be anything you want to be.
SPEAKER_01: There are no limitations when you have God on your side.
SPEAKER_01: And guys, I think we have been called as a church to have the opportunity to see people, see people who are right here around us, and also see people who are across the world.
SPEAKER_01: And I am really excited today.
SPEAKER_01: That's what we're gonna talk about.
SPEAKER_01: Is I want to invite out Wallace and Mary Kamal and my wife Jen, if they would just go ahead and come out.
SPEAKER_01: And uh when you see them coming out, if you could just give them a huge central welcome.
SPEAKER_01: But what we're gonna do today is we're just gonna have this conversation about understanding who Mohi is, like where they come from, what's what who Wallace and Mary are, and then this opportunity just to see the story of what God's actually doing in that place.
SPEAKER_01: Because, guys, here's the thing man, for us, we have been called.
SPEAKER_01: There they are.
SPEAKER_01: Let's give them a hand.
SPEAKER_01: We have been called to see the unseen.
SPEAKER_01: I am super excited.
SPEAKER_01: We always talk about how we like to we love invite um introducing our friends to our friends.
SPEAKER_01: And so, Marion Wallace, I am so excited you guys are here.
SPEAKER_01: Um, we've known each other since 2012, and uh great friendship, but I'm excited for you to meet some of our friends.
SPEAKER_01: And uh it's great.
SPEAKER_01: And so, and Jen, I'm excited that you're joining us.
SPEAKER_01: I get to hang out with this lady all the time, and I love it.
SPEAKER_01: And you guys don't always get to see her and meet her, and so I'm excited that she gets to be here with us today.
SPEAKER_01: And we're just gonna hear just a little bit.
SPEAKER_01: You guys are a part of a conversation that we get to have and just kind of see what's going on um over in Africa and beyond.
SPEAKER_01: So, Jen, you you went on your first trip with me in September, and uh, why don't you just take a moment and share just what you saw?
SPEAKER_00: Well, as Sean said, I was privileged to get to visit Missions of Hope International for the first time this past year, and I still vividly remember driving through the slums for the first time.
SPEAKER_00: And in all honesty, I was speechless because I don't think a picture or a video can adequately represent the reality of what these children live in.
SPEAKER_00: And so we went through the slums and stopped at our first center to visit.
SPEAKER_00: And as I met leader after leader after leader and the teachers, I found myself at a loss for words once again, because every person that I met was sharp and faith-filled and on mission and strategic.
SPEAKER_00: And then we met the kids and they were so enthusiastic and welcoming and so joy-filled despite their circumstances.
SPEAKER_00: And then we went, I think, golly, I think we visited 10 centers on that trip, and it was like hitting the repeat button over and over and over again.
SPEAKER_00: Every experience was the same.
SPEAKER_00: And so we went back to our room one night and I told Sean, I said, I have never witnessed this level of extreme poverty, but I've also never witnessed the level of leadership that I see in this organization and all across Kenya.
SPEAKER_00: And I've never personally gotten to witness what God is doing on such a broad scale.
SPEAKER_00: So we're so excited to have you here.
SPEAKER_00: Please tell us how did Mohi start?
SPEAKER_02: Um, I was born and brought up in central Kenya, about three hours' drive from the city of Nairobi.
SPEAKER_02: I grew up in a polygamous family.
SPEAKER_02: My dad had two wives, and I'm the seventh born of a total of 20 children.
SPEAKER_02: And so when I was growing up, I thought I was one of the most disadvantaged people in the entire world, because we did not have much resources in our family, and we kind of struggled for almost everything.
SPEAKER_02: And I knew that the only way out of that situation was for me to get a good education, hopefully go to university and then find a job in a bank, work with money and not be poor.
SPEAKER_02: That was my thinking.
SPEAKER_02: And by God's grace, I made it to Kenyatta University.
SPEAKER_02: And as a first-year student, first semester, I accepted Jesus.
SPEAKER_02: And then I joined a group that would go to different places to do evangelism and to do missions.
SPEAKER_02: And during one of those missions, I met somebody who told me about Madale Vari slums.
SPEAKER_02: This person had grown up there and he shared with me what life was like for children and the people living in the slums.
SPEAKER_02: And as he described this place, I felt a strong urge to want to go and see it for myself.
SPEAKER_02: Because I had never imagined that such a place existed in our country, and especially in our city of Nairobi.
SPEAKER_02: And so one Saturday morning he took me there, and I was shocked to see the level of poverty.
SPEAKER_02: And that became the turning point of my life.
SPEAKER_02: For the first time, I felt so blessed.
SPEAKER_02: I wondered why I had complained my whole life.
SPEAKER_02: And I wondered why our government would allow people to live in such deplorable conditions of poverty, why the children were left out there just to suffer.
SPEAKER_02: And I wondered why Christians were not doing something about it.
SPEAKER_02: And the more I thought about all these, the more I felt strongly in my heart that something had to be done.
SPEAKER_02: And of course, as a college student, I didn't have much, but with a little bit of pocket money that I had, I went the following Saturday with a bag of groceries for this one family.
SPEAKER_02: And the way they received that bag of groceries, shared uh food with the people in the neighborhood, especially the children, just moved my heart.
SPEAKER_02: And and I saw I saw how much they were willing to share so little with so many.
SPEAKER_02: And uh that kept me uh going every Saturday.
SPEAKER_02: Later on, I met my husband Wallace in a prayer meeting, and uh we became good friends.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, when I met him, he was working with Price Waterhouse.
SPEAKER_02: And uh as we got to know each other, I realized that he had also been to Madare Valley uh through another means and was connected to a local church pastor.
SPEAKER_02: And as we became friends and let alone got married, we felt God literally linked on our hearts to start a ministry to serve the children and the families of Madare Valley slums.
SPEAKER_02: And in the year 2000, through his financial support, we were able to start the first hope center with 50 children.
SPEAKER_02: We rented a small building and we got started there, and the ministry started to grow one step at a time.
SPEAKER_02: And over the last 25 years plus, God has blessed our ministry in such an amazing way through different partnerships.
SPEAKER_02: And today we have 38 schools, 38 church plants, and these 38 schools, 36 of them are in Kenya, one in Liberia, in West Africa, and one in Ethiopia.
SPEAKER_02: And in total, we have 32,000 boys and girls that are getting education every day in our schools.
SPEAKER_01: Mary, I've I've seen I've seen the picture of you guys and the the 50 kids, and it is incredible just to you for us to walk in and see these schools, and you're walking in amidst such poverty, and then right out of that poverty are these beautiful schools that just are drawing kids, and it's incredible what God has done.
SPEAKER_01: One of the things I think is really neat that Jen and I have noticed is it's incredible how God puts people together with different abilities and talents.
SPEAKER_01: And Mary has, like you can see it, this this inspirational ability just to inspire people and call people to things.
SPEAKER_01: Wallace has the same, but it's interesting.
SPEAKER_01: Wallace has this business mind and leadership mind that I've always just been so intrigued and impressed with.
SPEAKER_01: And Mary will see these opportunities and these visions, and then she'll talk to Wallace, and Wallace is like, well, here's how we do that, and just puts a team together.
SPEAKER_01: How many, before we get to the next question, how many staff members do you guys have that are local Kenyan people?
SPEAKER_02: Currently we have 2,05 Kenyans.
SPEAKER_01: It's amazing, and yeah.
SPEAKER_01: And the leadership that has been put behind that and structure, Wallace, I'd love for you to talk about.
SPEAKER_01: You've done some incredible work with values and then also what you call pillars.
SPEAKER_01: That and and you would really describe your ministry, what you guys do as a holistic ministry that is is rising people above these cycles of extreme poverty.
SPEAKER_01: Could you just talk about the values and the pillars and what you guys are doing?
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, thank you.
SPEAKER_03: As missions of OP International, we work among the urban poor and the marginalized poor, and uh we use a holistic ministry model which is rooted in the Bible.
SPEAKER_03: And so we are guided by four core values uh as we do whatever work we do, and that is uh bold faith, uh, because I mean everything depends on God.
SPEAKER_03: And uh the second core value is integrity uh because we are accountable to God, and the third one is servanthood, and the fourth one is transformation.
SPEAKER_03: And uh the holistic ministry model consists of four pillars uh that help us uh to intervene in the lives of these people that are hidden, but also uh who rob, I mean, uh poverty has robbed their dignity uh because of the I mean the situation they are in when they are unable to earn a decent living for themselves.
SPEAKER_03: They are left out to beg, and uh that steals their dignity.
SPEAKER_03: And through these uh four pillars, where we have education, we educate the next generation.
SPEAKER_03: And these vulnerable children come to our own schools and we give them quality education.
SPEAKER_03: They get two meals a day, and they are guaranteed basic medical care uh so that they can, you know, uh be raised up to become people that are responsive and responsible and be able to give back to society.
SPEAKER_03: And uh, they are the ones who are going to change their families.
SPEAKER_03: Uh and the second pillar is economic empowerment.
SPEAKER_03: We literally give back the dignity, you know, to these poor people when we train them on how they can be able to use their God-given ability to start businesses, uh, and we avail credit to them.
SPEAKER_03: And uh then we train them on vocational skills.
SPEAKER_03: We have a technical training institute through which they can be able to get a trade with which they can be able to start their own businesses or get employment.
SPEAKER_03: Uh, and we also get involved in the marketplace, just leveraging on the resources that God has given to us in the ministry.
SPEAKER_03: We have social enterprises.
SPEAKER_03: Uh, we have a water bottling uh plant because we sunk a well where the water was so clean, and uh we are able to bottle that water and sell and also use it within the ministry.
SPEAKER_03: Uh we also have uh a clothes production unit.
SPEAKER_03: Uh, with all these 32,000 children, we make their uniforms, but we also uh reach out to other schools in the in the locality uh and other businesses where we make clothes for them.
SPEAKER_03: And through this, we are able to uh build sustainability within the ministry.
SPEAKER_03: Uh and we have the third pillar, which is health, and uh we major on preventive health education whereby we teach on hygiene on how they can be able to clean up their environment so that they can stay healthy and prevent you know opportunistic diseases.
SPEAKER_03: Uh but we also have curative services alongside the centers, we have our clinics and recently we upgraded one to a hospital, and we are in the process of building a second hospital.
SPEAKER_03: Uh and fourth and most important is that uh all whatever we do gives us access to these families so that we can share the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_03: And so we are very intentional uh to share the gospel to the children through devotions uh and to the staff and also to the community through our social workers who are always connected to these families.
SPEAKER_03: And uh we share the gospel.
SPEAKER_03: We have uh church plants alongside every of these uh schools.
SPEAKER_03: And so with the four pillars, there is holistic transformation that is taking place in every community that we have gone, and we have seen the power of God, and we have so many stories of transformation in all these communities.
SPEAKER_01: Guys, it is, you can't, like Jen said, we can explain, Wallace can explain, does an incredible job explaining what this is, but you can't understand it until you go see it.
SPEAKER_01: Like when you walk into the boys' boarding school and you see this water bottling plant, you realize that every bottle of water you're drinking is hope water, and you're realizing that they're using that to be able to also sell to be able to fund portions of the ministry.
SPEAKER_01: 32,000 kids, two meals a day.
SPEAKER_01: You go to the girls' boarding school, the high school, and you see all these farms, and you see these kids that are working these farms and people in the community that are working and tending these farms and being paid for it.
SPEAKER_01: And every single meal, all the vegetables, everything that's coming is from those farms.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's incredible.
SPEAKER_01: You're watching other schools and their uniforms.
SPEAKER_01: I'm always like, Yeah, we made those uniforms and we made those uniforms.
SPEAKER_01: And what they're doing is the sustainability for when you're able to give, your money goes directly.
SPEAKER_01: When we as churches give, our money goes directly towards kids and people and the ministry side, and they're keeping the operational costs and that.
SPEAKER_01: It's just absolutely incredible.
SPEAKER_01: They're they're micro loans.
SPEAKER_01: Their loan portfolio is three over three million dollars.
SPEAKER_01: And you're talking three million dollars, and then come down to what the loans are for.
SPEAKER_01: There was one particular store I remember we met a lady who was had rented a water tank.
SPEAKER_01: She was bottling gallons of water, selling them for a few cents, and it was literally that right there.
SPEAKER_01: Then she paid off her loan, asked for another loan to get another water tank to be able to do two at the same time.
SPEAKER_01: And it's just right raising them above these levels of just the cycles of poverty.
SPEAKER_01: And it's incredible what God's doing with that.
SPEAKER_00: You know, one thing I noticed when I was over there is that everywhere we went, we we spent a lot of time praying.
SPEAKER_00: And it just made me think, you know, here in our culture in the US, when we come up against a difficulty or a challenge or a roadblock, a lot of times we try to plan our way through it and figure out how we're gonna get out of this and what do I need to do.
SPEAKER_00: And what we noticed over there is that you all seem to pray through all of your challenges.
SPEAKER_00: And so everywhere we went, people would say, Would you pray with us for this?
SPEAKER_00: Would you pray with us for that?
SPEAKER_00: We went to Mintangone, which is the school that we are partnering with, and they said, Would you pray with us for clean water?
SPEAKER_00: We are praying for clean water for our community and trusting that in God's timing that will happen.
SPEAKER_00: Will you pray with us to finish building out our school?
SPEAKER_00: Because we have all these kids in the community waiting to come within the safety of our center, and we're just praying for God's timing.
SPEAKER_00: So that was really encouraging and inspirational for me to see.
SPEAKER_00: Can you just tell us a little bit more about the power of prayer in your ministry?
SPEAKER_02: Um, we all know that this ministry is a God story, and it was founded on the power of prayers.
SPEAKER_02: And what was founded on prayers can only be sustained through prayers, and that is why we pray and pray and pray.
SPEAKER_02: And of course, when you pray, you are seeking God so that he can give us direction on how to go about things and how to move forward, and what does he want us to do every step of the way, because he is the one who is leading in this ministry, and so we have to seek him, we have to seek for his direction.
SPEAKER_02: And one of the things I must say is that we have seen God just answering prayers.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, he's the one who transformed these lives, uh, the lives of the children, the families, the people in the community, uh, and even in the society.
SPEAKER_02: Uh, you know, recently, uh, you know, last year, we we knew very well that God was leading us, you know, to start a school in Ethiopia.
SPEAKER_02: I like to tell stories.
SPEAKER_02: And uh it was, and then when we got to Ethiopia, uh we learned that they have elections this year, actually June 1st of this year.
SPEAKER_02: And during the times of elections, they do not uh admit or they don't register new organizations.
SPEAKER_02: And so we were like, but God spoke to us to start a school in the fall of this year, and so we started praying and embarked on prayers.
SPEAKER_02: We went ahead and recruited some Ethiopian nationals uh to who are supposed to work in the school, in the new school, and we just mobilized them to pray, and as we all started praying and praying, God gave us such favor against all odds.
SPEAKER_02: Our organization got registered, and we were able to start our school in October, and so through prayers, God can move even things that look like mountains, he can be able to change things and situations and circumstances just for the sake of his name to be glorified, and that is why we pray and pray.
SPEAKER_01: Man, yeah, so good.
SPEAKER_01: I think we need to remember that that which is founded on prayer is only sustained by prayer, and uh so good.
SPEAKER_01: And had the opportunity to go with a group of pastors with you guys to see that school in Ethiopia in January, February time frame.
SPEAKER_01: And man, it's just incredible um what's happening there.
SPEAKER_01: I do want you to talk a little bit about I I might set this up.
SPEAKER_01: I I was I went with uh Mary, um, Jen and I did and our team.
SPEAKER_01: We went with Mary up to Lodwar, which is up in the the northeast, right?
SPEAKER_01: Um uh west, excuse me, west.
SPEAKER_01: And it's like we're talking out in the bush, desert, uh nothing there.
SPEAKER_01: And then in the middle of that, there's this school that has a thousand kids in it, and it's just transforming the area up there.
SPEAKER_01: And I we saw Mary get up in front of 500 high school kids.
SPEAKER_01: And guys, I spoke and gave a devotion, but I was so glad that I spoke before Mary because she just lit the place up.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, it was like she just got up there and just challenging these kids, and it doesn't matter what situation you're in, nothing limits you if you are connected to God and have God's power in you.
SPEAKER_01: And just you were just talking about the destiny of these children, and then went with you, Wallace, and we went to Ethiopia and we were all there together, and you did the same thing.
SPEAKER_01: You got up, and I did the same thing.
SPEAKER_01: I spoke for like three minutes before you got up, and I was so glad because you got up and you challenged those teachers.
SPEAKER_01: And what you did with the teachers is he literally started talking to them about how they were destiny makers.
SPEAKER_01: But you were not talking about destiny makers for a few kids, you were talking about an entire country.
SPEAKER_01: That these kids were gonna be ones that were gonna change an entire country.
SPEAKER_03: Could you just talk about that for a minute?
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, thank you so much.
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I'm always amazed at uh the power of the gospel to bring out these people that are hidden and bring them out to be seen.
SPEAKER_03: And that's literally what happens.
SPEAKER_03: And as we were sitting there in Ethiopia, you know, uh Korea community where we have a school is a community that is uh associated with liplosy, and so they are stigmatized.
SPEAKER_03: And uh I mean they live around a damn site.
SPEAKER_03: It is the least of places and the worst of places that you know one can live in.
SPEAKER_03: Uh but you know, within those four months, you know, that those children have been in our school, it's amazing what has happened.
SPEAKER_03: They made presentations in English in a country that they speak in Amharic, you know, but they were presenting in English, they look very decent and were very confident.
SPEAKER_03: And it is because the teachers, you know, who are believers had actually worked with them.
SPEAKER_03: And uh as I looked at them, you know, I I could not help but think about, you know, uh the midwives, you know, that are in the book of Exodus, uh, who are commanded by uh Pharaoh to kill every boy, you know, from the Israelite women.
SPEAKER_03: Uh but they refused.
SPEAKER_03: You know, they did not kill those kids because they feared God.
SPEAKER_03: Uh, but one of the most amazing ones is this woman in the book of Exodus, chapter two.
SPEAKER_03: She is Jochabed, um, the mother of Moses.
SPEAKER_03: She was able to discern.
SPEAKER_03: I mean, a boy that he was supposed to kill and throw into the water.
SPEAKER_03: But she was able to discern that there is something unique, you know, in this boy.
SPEAKER_03: Just as there is something unique in those kids that are hidden, uh, that are that are not seen, there is something unique about them.
SPEAKER_03: And so with Jochaved, she saved this boy who was later to become the savior of Israel.
SPEAKER_03: Because God used him to deliver Israel from slavery in Egypt to the promised land.
SPEAKER_03: And so, in the same way, as we go out there, you know, I was just sharing with the teachers that they are literally changing uh the trajectory of those children as they teach them and as they bring out a potential that is in them that is God given, so that they can become the saviors of their own families, but not just their families, but they become change makers, you know, within their country, and they can become world changers.
SPEAKER_03: And we have seen that, you know, as we have worked with these people in uh these poor communities, we have so many stories of transformation.
SPEAKER_03: Children that uh, you know, that could never have become anything.
SPEAKER_03: But today, because uh we reached out to them, God has transformed them.
SPEAKER_03: We have one that is an attorney today, who is uh serving as an advocate of the high court in Kenya and so many others, uh because we gave them an opportunity, and that's a power of the gospel.
SPEAKER_03: So grew up, so yeah.
SPEAKER_01: So he grew up in Mohi and is now in the High Court organisation.
SPEAKER_01: That's incredible.
SPEAKER_01: That is incredible, and there's so many stories.
SPEAKER_01: One of my first social workers that um gave me a tour around Mohi, I asked Grace, I was like, hey, so where did you grow up?
SPEAKER_01: And she said, I grew up here.
SPEAKER_01: And she said, I went off to college because I had an opportunity through Mohi, and she chose to come back to the Mathari slums to work with Mohi to give more kids opportunities.
SPEAKER_01: It's incredible, guys.
SPEAKER_01: That's what we have is we have the opportunity to see a group of kids.
SPEAKER_01: Now, our school is directly to the east, uh over on the ocean, and so it's it's not in Nairobi, it is in a and actually a place that is just as poverty stricken or even more, and it's in Mintangoni, Kenya, and there's already a partial school built there, and there's 420 kids.
SPEAKER_01: We have the opportunity to build three stories on and give 420 more kids an opportunity to have to be seen and to be world changers.
SPEAKER_01: So this Easter, here's what we're doing.
SPEAKER_01: Check it out.
SPEAKER_00: Imagine growing up without consistent access to school, no safe classroom, no daily friendships, no place to dream about who you might become.
SPEAKER_00: For many of us, that's hard to picture.
SPEAKER_00: But for children in Mitangoni, Kenya, this is everyday life.
SPEAKER_00: Right now, 420 children from preschool through ninth grade are still waiting for the chance to have their future changed forever.
SPEAKER_00: Church, this is our moment.
SPEAKER_00: We have the opportunity to come alongside Missions of Hope International and help an entire community to build phase two of a three-story school, a safe, hope-filled place where children can learn, grow, and simply be kids.
SPEAKER_00: These children will gain an education and learn about Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: But this school is more than brick and mortar.
SPEAKER_00: It's two nutritious meals a day for children who might not otherwise eat consistently.
SPEAKER_00: It's a first-generation student discovering science in a lab.
SPEAKER_00: It's a child learning how to use a computer for the first time.
SPEAKER_00: For this year's Easter offering, our goal is to raise$300,000 to help complete the middle wing in kitchen at Mittingoni.
SPEAKER_00: Your investment will build classrooms for an additional 420 children to have access to education and a pathway out of extreme poverty.
SPEAKER_00: Your investment will also help build Mohi's kitchen facility, laying the groundwork to serve meals to nearly 1,500 children as the school reaches full buildup.
SPEAKER_00: Central, will you step out in faith?
SPEAKER_00: Through your above and beyond Easter offering, you have the opportunity to change a child's life and maybe even change a generation forever.
SPEAKER_00: Will you join us in being for families at Mittingoni?
SPEAKER_00: Let's be for the future world changers.
SPEAKER_01: Isn't that awesome?
SPEAKER_01: Here's all of our campuses.
SPEAKER_01: Here's what we've got the opportunity to do.
SPEAKER_01: We talked about 420 kids there right now.
SPEAKER_01: There's an opportunity for another 420 kids.
SPEAKER_01: Then the full build out of the school will not just be a school, not just a church, it's a full hope center that will have 1,500 kids with a technical institute to teach them trades, with a hospital clinic, with a, I mean, it is like it is a full build out of something that's going to really help the community.
SPEAKER_01: And that.
SPEAKER_01: So we'll talk more in just a little bit about how you get involved with that.
SPEAKER_01: But Walston Mary, as we as we wrap up, I just wanted to ask you one more question.
SPEAKER_01: And just is there anything for our people that you just feel like the Holy Spirit is just saying that we need to hear today?
SPEAKER_02: God is on the move.
SPEAKER_02: But he's counting on each and every one of us as his children, as believers, so that we can work alongside him.
SPEAKER_02: Right here where you live in your neighborhoods, in your family, in your workplaces.
SPEAKER_02: Um, you can share the love that you have experienced, the love of Jesus with those around you, so that they can also get to experience the same.
SPEAKER_02: And we can be able to keep advancing the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_02: And God is just waiting to use you as you become available.
SPEAKER_02: So please let's let's just heed to that and and and just keep sharing the love of Jesus with all those that are around us and with no fear.
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and um I love the scripture that is in the book of Ecclesiastes, chapter 9 and verse 9, that says, two are better than one.
SPEAKER_03: And I am so thankful because of our partnership with Central Christian Church, uh, because I believe that uh our labor is going to bring forth much as we are foot on the ground, and as you come alongside us, you know, God is going to help us, you know, help those uh children and their families to be seen.
SPEAKER_03: And uh God will be glorified as we walk together for his glory.
SPEAKER_01: That's awesome, guys.
SPEAKER_01: We are so grateful for you guys being here.
SPEAKER_01: We do want to pray, and so I'd love for us to be able to pray for you, and then I would just be grateful if you would also pray for our church, church, all of our campuses.
SPEAKER_01: If you just would reach out a hand to Wallace and Mary, and would you be praying with me as I pray for them that God will bless?
SPEAKER_01: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_01: God, we just want to come before you right now and we just praise you for all the miracles that you have done since that day in 2000 when Mary and Wallace just saw what was going on there in the Mathari Valley.
SPEAKER_01: God, you have just opened doors that are absolutely incredible.
SPEAKER_01: I want to pray for these two, for their staff, um, for everyone involved.
SPEAKER_01: Just want to pray Holy Spirit for power, just continued power.
SPEAKER_01: Um, Father, these are the two of the most humble but most powerful people that I've ever been around.
SPEAKER_01: And Father, I pray that you would keep their humility strong and that they would just continue to work in Holy Spirit power.
SPEAKER_01: Father, give them wisdom, and we pray for just the expansion of the opportunity beyond Kenya, beyond Ethiopia, beyond Liberia, and just that there will be many, many more of your kids that are seen, that have the opportunity to become image bearers, better image bearers for you.
SPEAKER_01: Father, we just pray all these things in Jesus' name.
SPEAKER_03: Our God and our Father, we are so thankful because of the privilege and the honor that we have to be called by your name, oh God.
SPEAKER_03: You took us from darkness and you brought us to your motherland's light that you may be glorified, oh God.
SPEAKER_03: And we thank you, King of all glory, because of this partnership that we have with the central Christian church.
SPEAKER_03: Our God and our savior, we lift this church to you, oh God.
SPEAKER_03: God Almighty Father, you have placed them in this valley, oh God, in this city of Phoenix, our God, for such a time as this, oh God, that you may use them to be your true witness in this valley, our God.
SPEAKER_03: And we pray in the name of Jesus Christ, our God and our savior, that you will help the leadership, oh God, in this church, that you give them wisdom, that you will equip them, our God, and make them equal to the task, oh God.
SPEAKER_03: God Almighty Father, even to expand the boundaries of this church, oh God Almighty Father, to every corner of this city and very our God and our savior.
SPEAKER_03: And Lord God Almighty Father, you accomplish your purposes, oh God.
SPEAKER_03: Thank you because of every family that is in this church.
SPEAKER_03: We lift them up to you, our God.
SPEAKER_03: That you'll intervene in their situations, our God and our savior.
SPEAKER_03: That you will heal the sick, oh God, that you restore families, our God, that God Almighty Father, you will intervene in the lives of their children, our God.
SPEAKER_03: That they will be raised, oh God Almighty Father, in uh in their families, oh God Almighty Father, where they shall find peace and they will be brought up in thy fear, our God and our Savior.
SPEAKER_03: Thank you, King of all glory, because of each and every ministry in this church, our God.
SPEAKER_03: We pray, our God Almighty, that every ministry shall flourish our God.
SPEAKER_03: And oh God of glory, that you help them in everything that they do, oh God Almighty, that you will help them to succeed, oh God.
SPEAKER_03: Thank you, Lord God Almighty, that you will glorify your holy son Jesus Christ in every aspect of this church, oh God.
SPEAKER_03: Even as they reach out, oh God of glory, beyond the boundaries of this country and join together with others, oh God Almighty, Father, to expand thy kingdom.
SPEAKER_03: We thank you and we praise you.
SPEAKER_03: For in Jesus' name we pray.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_03: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Can you guys thank Wallace and Mary and Jim for being with us?
SPEAKER_01: Thank you, God, so much.
SPEAKER_01: You guys can see why I prayed before Wallace prayed too.
SPEAKER_01: They're just incredible people.
SPEAKER_01: I'm so glad you got to see them.
SPEAKER_01: I do want to encourage you, don't let tonight, just the sun go down tonight before you have an opportunity to give toward these kids.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, I want you to think about this.
SPEAKER_01: $300,000 sounds like a lot.
SPEAKER_01: We have about 2,500 families that call Central Home, which, if you just do the math on that, guys, what that is, is that's like$120 per family.
SPEAKER_01: But the reality is not every family is going to be here on these weeks to hear about this.
SPEAKER_01: Not every family's gonna be able to give or is going to.
SPEAKER_01: And so, like what my family is looking at and saying, okay,$120, how many families can we take care of and sacrifice above and beyond our regular giving?
SPEAKER_01: So there's a commitment to the ministry we do here, but then above and beyond that, what can we sacrifice for the sake of these kids?
SPEAKER_01: And I think if we all do that,$300,000 is nothing.
SPEAKER_01: And uh, I'm excited about that opportunity.
SPEAKER_01: So for you, I just want to invite you.
SPEAKER_01: If you want to give, there's boxes in the back, you can give on our app and you can give online.
SPEAKER_01: And you just go to online and you can pull down.
SPEAKER_01: There's a um a deal you can choose for Easter offering and do that above and beyond your regular giving, and let's accomplish uh that together.
SPEAKER_01: Also, don't forget, man, Easter is this next weekend.
SPEAKER_01: Invite somebody.
SPEAKER_01: If you have not done that, same thing.
SPEAKER_01: Don't let the sun go down today without you texting them.
SPEAKER_01: Take those cards with you, give those to waiters and waitresses and people that you know wherever you go, and just encourage them to come because I think it's going to be an incredible uh weekend together.
SPEAKER_01: You guys, all of our campuses, you guys have a great day.
SPEAKER_01: We will see you at Easter.