HUNGER WAS NEVER THE PROBLEM

After years of ministry in Uganda, I have become convinced of something:

Spiritual hunger was never the problem.

A lack of opportunity was.

I have sat with pastors under trees, in unfinished church buildings, in refugee settlements, and in remote villages far removed from anything resembling a Bible college or seminary.

Many of these men have never had the privilege of formal theological training. Some of them have less than a whole Bible; yet, all of them have a calling, and a congregation looking to them for spiritual leadership.

Trust me, when the Word of God is opened, they lean forward.

• They ask questions.

• They take notes.

• They stay after the session to talk.

They want someone to explain what they have never had the opportunity to learn.

They are hungry.

And that is one reason I return to Uganda again and again.

Beginning August 23, RHMI will spend more than seven weeks creating opportunity.

We will travel from Nakigunju in Bugiri District to Nwoya in northern Uganda, then to Mbale, Buyende, Jinja, and the villages in between.

There will be two intensive weeks at the RHMI Bible Institute. There will be Discipleship Boot Camps in village churches. There will be preaching on Sundays, food distribution among people in need due to drought conditions, and our continuing Discipleship Initiative and Pastor & Church Leaders Consults interspersed throughout the journey.

But an itinerary doesn’t really tell the story.

Because between those scheduled events will be something just as important:

• Fellowship…

• Counseling…

• Listening…

• Praying together…

• Answering questions…

• Opening the Bible one more time…

• Sitting with a discouraged pastor who simply needs someone to remind him not to quit.

These are not merely teaching events.

We are trying to create transformative learning experiences… places where pastors and church leaders can encounter biblical truth, examine what they have believed, ask difficult questions without embarrassment, and leave not merely with more information, but with deeper convictions.

That requires going where they are.

• It means long roads.

• It means remote villages.

• It means carrying the classroom to people who may never have the means to come to one themselves.

• And sometimes it means teaching a lesson that must be translated two or even three times before everyone in the room has heard it.

Why go to such lengths?

Because somewhere down one of those dusty roads is a pastor who is hungry to know God’s Word better.

And behind him is a congregation waiting to be fed.

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied” (Matthew 5:6).

The hunger was never the problem.

Opportunity was.

By God’s grace, Raising Hands Ministries intends to keep creating that opportunity… one pastor… one village… one open Bible at a time.

WE SHALL BE FOREVER ON ASSIGNMENT!