Field Notes: From Seed to Oak

For the final week of the kids’ mid-year school break in August, we had the privilege of sending a team from the United States and South Africa to Lusungu Children’s Home to lead a week of Vacation Bible School.

We came to serve, teach, and encourage but as is so often true at Lusungu, we found ourselves being encouraged, taught, and changed by the people we came to serve. It was a beautiful week of fellowship, worship, hard work, laughter, prayer, and watching God continue to stretch us and grow something He began long before we arrived.

Growing from Seed to Oak

The children spent the week walking through a series called Growing, written by Donna Stuart. She is a gifted creative not to mention a mom, friend, and mentor who is dearly loved by our team. The work that flows from her heart is deep and will put wind in your sails to follow Jesus in whichever season you find yourself! We were so blessed by her generosity in allowing us to use her material, and we were especially excited to be able to give each of the older children a copy of her 5D coloring book (a book you can color, read, listen to, watch, and even flip through an animation!) to keep and return to as they continue to grow in their identity as followers of Jesus.

The series walks through seven seasons of faith—from a seed planted in darkness to an oak of righteousness that is anchored and planted by the Planter. Each morning began with prayer and one of the poems appropriately read in a grove of trees under the pavilion:

• The Seed — God planted me with purpose.

• The Root — God is rooting me deep in His love.

• The Rise — God is calling me to trust Him as I step into the light.

• The Sprout — God grows me alongside His people.

• The Stand — God strengthens me to remain faithful through every season.

• The Release — As I remain in Jesus, my life bears fruit that blesses others and points back to the Planter.

• The Return — We belong to the Planter, and we live our whole lives looking forward to His return.

From there, the children gathered in Bible study groups where they could ask questions, wrestle with Scripture, and grow in their understanding of who God is and what it looks like to walk with Him through every season. I was especially touched by the group of our oldest girls who sat with Megan and Chelsea for hours in discussion and prayer over one another. It was beautiful to get to witness their discipleship over these women and a true hunger for a mature faith in Christ. Afternoons were filled with singing, dancing, games, crafts, deep conversations, laughter, and progress on the chicken coop turned library.

Hope Insansa Library: A Dwelling Of Possibilities

Years ago, one of our board members, Delinda Barnett, casted vision with Bishop Caddie N'gambi and Mum Rodah for the original chicken coop on the Lusungu property that someday, it would become a library. This year, our team which included her daughter, Chelsea Barnett, got to see that vision through with the final installation of ceiling and floor tiles. Chris, one of our team members, worked shoulder-to-shoulder with a local contractor and the young men at Lusungu. Brick by brick, panel by panel, something new was taking shape. It felt like more than construction. We were laying a foundation for a place where children could discover books, gain knowledge, ask questions, learn, dream, and grow. It was a team effort of moving furniture, sorting through every book, organizing them into categories, and preparing the space. We got to witness the excitement grow in the children as they realized that this place would be full of possibilities for them.

It was a particularly meaningful week for this work because it coincided with the death of Dolly Parton, whose lifelong commitment to children's literacy has reached millions of children around the world. Micki, Chris’s wife and one of our team members, shared Dolly’s story with the children—how Dolly grew up with a father who could not read, and how that experience shaped her commitment to helping children discover the power of literacy. It felt like a beautiful reminder that a single life can create ripples that reach generations. And that is what we hope for the Hope Library.

It won’t simply just be a room full of books. We are believing it will be a place where possibility lives and where HOPE is alive!

At the end of the week, we gathered together for a dedication ceremony. We named the space Hope Insansa (‘hope’ in Bemba) Library and gave it back to the Lord and His purposes. We prayed over each wall, sang I Surrender All, shared our hopes and prayers for the space. We took communion as a family and anointed each child's head with oil. It was one of the most beautiful evenings of the entire trip—a night of encouragement, surrender, and hope.

Sunday’s Update: Attachment Year in Agriculture School

One of the most meaningful moments was receiving a visit from one of our own Lusungu kids—a young man named Sunday. For years, I knew Sunday as the little boy who could invent almost anything. He would take whatever he could find around Lusungu and turn bits and bobs into beautiful and functional creations.

Now, Sunday is studying agriculture and is completing his year of attachment—an internship that is part of his education. My biggest regret of the trip is that I didn't get a picture of him in his work gear when he came by. Next time!

Agriculture is one of the largest industries in Zambia, and I cannot wait to see how Jesus uses Sunday in that sector—not simply as someone who farms, but as someone who can bring wisdom, innovation, integrity, and the Gospel into the work he does. We are praying over him as he continues his education and believing that the seeds planted in that little boy years ago will continue to bear fruit.

Evelon: A Living Testimony

Another powerful moment came when our team got to reconnect with Evelon’s church. Evelon is currently discipling a branch of Jubilee Ministries International, and we were invited to take part in a portion of their Friday night service in the yard of his flat. The evening was full of worship, prayer, preaching, and performances—all offered for the glory of God. We got to pray over Evelon and encourage the church body through worship and prayer alongside them.

The following day, we invited Evelon to share more of his story with our team. His story is one of redemption. As a young child, Evelon was taken from a copper mine in the area and brought to Lusungu Children’s Home at the age of ten. A story that is all too common amongst our kids. He carries a story that could have defined the rest of his life but God wrote something different. An opportunity to receive an education that came to him by way of Mercy Kids Africa. He shared one of the most powerful moments for him was in 2015 when a former Mercy Kids Africa team member taught him how to write his own name. It was a moment of impact in his life where he began to see himself differently. He was empowered, he gave his life to Jesus, and committed to persevering through school.

He is finishing Bible college this November. He is discipling others, gathering the church in his own yard, and is a living testimony of what hope can look like when a child is given the opportunity to learn, grow, and encounter Jesus. Evelon’s testimony puts wind in the sails of the community and if I'm honest, he puts wind in mine too.

The Heart of Worship

It wasn’t just Lusungu Children’s Home and Evelon’s church we got to be part of. We got to share Donna Stuart’s Growing on Shekinah Radio, which reaches listeners across the nation. It was such a unique opportunity to encourage people on the air with the same poems and Scripture we were taking the kids through all week—to extend the invitation to grow in Jesus beyond the walls of Lusungu and into homes and hearts across Zambia. Donna’s words are truly for any age and stage of life you’re in.

Once again, we also got to have a touchpoint with Empowered Women Global Network, spearheaded by Gracious N’gambi, Bishop and Rodah’s firstborn. Each woman on our team had the opportunity to record a podcast with this gifted host, encouraging and empowering the women the Lord has entrusted Gracious to shepherd through her ministry. What a gift it was to see the message of hope and faith continue to travel beyond the places we could physically go. We pray these chats would be evergreen encouragement for the women of the Copperbelt as they continue to grow in their God-given gifts to build businesses in their community.

And then there was Abby leading worship. Abby not only enthusiastically brought songs to teach the kids, she learned a couple Bemba songs in preparation as well — not an easy task but she did it with a holy surrender and humility before Jesus. I think our Zambian family was going to give her an official passport if they could following worship to Tembwe Wangoma and There’s No One like Jesus in Bemba. It was pure love exchanged and I know it blessed our Father in Heaven. The same songs we had been singing together all week became an offering. By the week’s end, the kids weren’t just participating in a VBS activity—they were worshipping Jesus and Abby ushered in space to do just that.

The well did not run dry! We arrived at the weekend and Abby stepped in to lead worship alongside, Faithfulness N’gambi — the middle of Bishop and Rodah’s seven biological children — and the rest of the praise team at Jubilee Cathedral. Both women have a common ministry with their voices that blessed this congregation.

WOW.

I watched on with Chantelle at rehearsals as the women were encouraged and touched by what Abby and Faithfulness had to share. We held back tears as English and Bemba praises to the Lord echoed like crystal throughout the sanctuary at Jubilee Cathedral. It was a beautiful reminder that our worship of Jesus is what brings us all together. He has made us a family and all it requires are our hearts turned toward Jesus.

Twalamonana Mailo — Farewell For Now

The kids sang the song they always sing as we bid farewell,

Oh we’ll miss you,
oh when you go,
oh we’ll miss you,
oh when you go,
you’ll remember to create one union with the Lord,
you’ll remember to create one union with the Lord.

Our goodbye was hard. This team was so anointed, stretched, and poured out what Jesus had grown in them and the Holy Spirit was tangibly present at Lusungu each day. As we cried and hugged and said goodbye, I kept thinking about something that had been spoken over me the night before we disembarked on this visit.

It came from Revelation 22:

Then he showed me the river of the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the city’s main street. The tree of life was on each side of the river, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree are for healing the nations… — Revelation 22:1–2

Our tears are rivers of the water of life and this restoration of Eden is a picture of healing, restoration, and reconciliation. Tears are not always a sign of sadness and are evidence that something mattered deeply. They are the overflow of love and they are a sign that healing, restoration, and reconciliation are taking place. The leaves of the Tree of Life are for the healing of the nations and as I looked around Lusungu that week, I realized we all had been given a glimpse of what we are waiting for. Not the fullness of it, not the finished picture, but a beautiful glimpse.

God is growing something here and we get the privilege of watching it grow. Brick by brick, book by book, life by life, from seed to root, root to rise, sprout to stand, and release to the return, we wait expectantly toward the day when the healing of the nations is complete in Christ. Until then, we get to continue planting, building, and believing for the Kingdom to come and His will to be done at Lusungu Children’s Home as it is in Heaven. Amen.