Village Bible Church || Aurora | Indian Creek | Sugar Grove | IL

Our time on August 8 with Matt and Crystal Kehn enabled us to understand the ABIDE discipleship program, but our time since then has allowed us to see the results of that ministry.

The ABIDE program essentially invites hand-picked high school graduates interested in taking their relationship with Christ to the next level. During the six month period between high school graduation and the beginning of the university school year, these young men live, eat, learn, and minister together. Every week they attend intensive training on their relationship with Christ, their character, and leadership. They also travel around each weekend to practice ministry in each young man’s home church. In addition to this, they take on a discipleship role with a young student from the orphanage so that they can really grasp how to “make disciples who make disciples.” Because of this practical training, once they graduate from the program, many continue to make disciples and be involved in leadership and church ministry.

One of the ABIDE students named Patrick has taken this ministry training and applied it to his passion to reach street children in Kabale, Uganda. He is calling his ministry, “The Shepherd Center.” Most of the 70 children involved in his ministry have nowhere safe to live, do not attend school, and must beg or scrounge for food. They are considered the “outcasts” of society and need the love of Christ and a Shepherd.

The ministry and vision of the Shepherd Center is something that is very close to my heart because of my passions that the Lord has given me for underprivileged children. When I first heard about this ministry, I was excited because I wanted to use my God-given passions in a tangible way, different than that of what I am currently doing in the states with Wayside Cross Ministries.

The first day of outreach, Friday, consisted of taking some of the boys to the local hospital to get their teeth worked on. Because these boys have no one taking care of them, hygiene and health are things that are not taken care of. I was encouraged by the sacrifice of Patrick and those volunteers from the Shepherd Center that used their time and resources to get these boys essential care for their health. It was truly an honor to work alongside these people of God, as well as, love on these boys.

The second day of working with the Shepherd Center was a day of outreach for the boys at a local Baptist church in Kabale. By the time we arrived at the church that morning, there were already close to 60 boys at the church excited for the day’s activities. The morning began with breakfast and a time of encouragement and sharing of the Gospel from Ralph and Patrick. We then were able to take the boys outside on the grass to play with a giant parachute for the younger boys and soccer with the older. I had pure joy in seeing these boys, some as young as 5 years old, able to experience a short time of relief from the life they live in and simply be kids for an afternoon. After games, the boys had lunch and received gifts (consisting of soap, Vaseline, toothbrush and toothpaste). Because of the large amounts of rain that day, the outreach unfortunately was cut short, but the boys were still able to be encouraged.

Although many of the aspects of the day were incredibly hard to process in light of the sovereignty of God, I was put at peace by the fact that these boys are able to hear the Good News of Christ. Even if these boys had been born into a rich family, without the love of Christ, they would be in a worse state than they are currently. The smiles on their faces brought tears of joy to my eyes to imagine being able to worship the Lord with them in Heaven!