#1 The Connection

In late 2018, while on Facebook, I received a friend request from a Ugandan Pastor named Musa Ebong. I thought it was odd and asked myself why he would want me as a friend, or how he even found me, since we had no mutual connections. I eventually learned that, out of pure desperation, he had begun searching for people starting with the letter "A"—Aaron, Albert, and so on. He then moved through the alphabet, sending out so many requests that the platform eventually asked him to stop. Out of all those hundreds of requests, I was the only one who replied and began a conversation.

#2 The Vetting

I immediately went into vetting mode. I wondered: Could this be God directing Pastor Musa to me? After a few days of interrogation, I asked him to do one final thing before we became friends—stand in front of his church and hold a sign that said: "Hello Mark."

#3 The Sacrifice

The reason he was searching for friends was born of necessity. He was already a pastor living in the capital of Kampala, working for an NGO. He was making the best living of his life, and his wife and five sons were comfortable. However, he felt a clear calling to move to Lira—a city six hours north by car—to plant a church there.

His family resisted at first, so he went alone and opened the church in a rented building in the center of town. After a few months, his family followed, but the tithes from the local members were so small that he had to use his own savings to keep the doors open. He was almost broke and questioning why God had led him there. Right after Musa and I became friends, we provided the funds for a projector to help draw crowds. He began showing movies outside the church at night, specifically the Jesus Film in the native dialect. Many people gave their lives to Christ through this movie-night evangelism.

#4 The Partnership

Still, the local community lacked the resources to sustain the church, so my wife, Sherri, and I began to split the tithes we gave to our church in Texas with his church in Uganda. This was enough to cover the rent and the majority of their operating expenses. As the months went by, we drew closer through prayer and daily conversation.

When COVID-19 hit and the community was forced into lockdown, people began to starve. Pastor Musa asked if we could help. This marked the first time I ever asked others for money for this ministry. We managed to raise an additional $200 a month, which allowed the church to distribute 5 to 10 kilos of rice and beans once a month, feeding about 50 families in the area.

#5 The FVKids Mission

After the pandemic, the church adopted Medard and Eldard from Rebecca, which marked the beginning of the FVKids orphan ministry. Two children became three, then four, and today we care for ten children, including Innocent. As the family grew, so did the cost of tuition for private schooling. After seeing the marvelous results of education and Christian discipleship, we realized we needed a dedicated school and orphanage to be truly effective.

#6 Building a Future

In 2023, we raised $20,000 and built Pastor Musa a permanent church on his own land in the Teso Bar neighborhood. This finally gave the ministry independence from landlords. In 2024, during my second trip to Uganda, we visited a goat farm and realized that a similar operation could provide $10,000 to $20,000 in gross revenue for the church.

Today we raised $39,000, secured 17 acres of land, drilled a 180-foot deep water well equipped with solar pumps and a 10,000-liter storage tank. In rural Uganda, people often walk for miles to pump and carry water home. This well now provides a clean, local water source for the community while allowing us to irrigate pastures and sustain our livestock.

#7 The Vision

We are currently finishing the exterior fencing of the goat farm. The next phase involves building internal pens and shelters for birthing and protection from the elements. This farm is the first step toward making Family Voice self-sustaining. On this site, we plan to build an orphanage, a school, and eventually, a new church building. Our vision is to expand to 50 acres, adding cattle and crops so that our orphans can grow up educated in agriculture, ranching, and vocational skills, all rooted in Christian discipleship.