OUR STORY

In Northern Uganda where I come from, a self-declared prophet named Joseph Kony arose in 1987 and proclaimed himself a spokesman of God. He convinced some people to follow him, promising to overthrow the ruling government and establish a theocracy based on the Ten Commandments. And this marked the beginning of a notorious rebel group known as the Lord’s Resistance Army. They adopted a guerilla warfare attacking civilian villages, plundering goods, abducting and making child soldiers, and killing many people in the process. And for the first five years my family and I lived constantly on the run. The rebels would make surprise attacks and so you had to be ready to run at all times. But especially at night, nobody dared to sleep at home. And even hiding in the bush, you were lucky to survive.
My parents were saved through the ministry of local believers before I was born. However, the insurgency in Northern Uganda did not foster a deeper growth in God’s word for them. From the time I was born up to about age 5 there was really no church gathering or service to go to for my family. It wasn’t until my family escaped south of the country that we had the opportunity to start being a part of a church family. As for me, I grew up thinking that going to church regularly was all I needed to do in order to get to heaven. The turning point came when I was 11 years old. My Dad was working as a mechanic for an orphanage at the time. And one time a medical mission team from the States happened to come through that orphanage to our village. Having learned some English already I volunteered to translate as the team helped people with different health problems. Later that week, a gospel fellowship was held in my neighborhood and one of the men on the team preached the gospel. And I remember the missionary explaining how each one of us has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God; how every single one of us will appear at the judgment seat of God; and other than faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross, nothing is good enough to save us. God used these truths to convict me by the power of the Holy Spirit. For the first time, I realized that as an individual I had to repent of my sins and put my faith Jesus Christ. I believed in the gospel and God saved me that night.
When I gave my life to Christ at the age of 11, I knew and felt the urgency to serve the Lord with my life. And in response, I was eager to participate in any Church activity that came up. I had the opportunity to participate in a children’s choir that often traveled for gospel outreaches within Uganda and the neighboring countries. I continued to participate in various ministry opportunities throughout primary school and secondary school. However, I never did imagine myself to be the type for full-time ministry in the vocational sense. My aspiration was to be an electrical engineer, and so I worked hard towards that end. Recognizing that my parents would not be able to help me pay for college, I studied hard with the aim of scoring in the highest percentile so that I could attain a college government scholarship. My plan, however, failed despite my best efforts and against my strong expectations based on previous academic record. I did not make the cut among the top students in the country eligible for government scholarships after high school. I was admitted for my desired major but with the financial constrains at home, I could not, at that time, proceed with my education. And for almost two years, I sat out at home with my parents.
As it turns out, God orchestrated that two-year stint to be the turning point in my life aspirations. From the age of five up until I graduated from high school, I had been living and studying in the southern part of Uganda having fled my hometown in the north. For over 20 years, schools had been burnt down and people displaced into refugee camps in and around my hometown. But by the time I returned home from high school in 2011, the region had regained some level of stability. At that time, my parents were engaged in planting a new church in Kitgum town. And now that I was free from school for the first time in a long time, I threw myself into the work of church planting.
It was at this time that my experience of personal evangelism began to grow. We would go out into the villages and speak to people from home to home. The results that God produced following my willingness to simply speak the simple message that Jesus saves was astounding to me. This is because I had not expected that God would use me as the messenger of transforming news in the lives of the least likely individuals. One man stood out. This man was a known drunkard in the village. He would often be found passed out at the roadside. But when one day we went to his house and spoke the gospel to him, he believed and decided to start following Christ. We did not believe it at first, but as time went on it became clear that his life had indeed been transformed. While living in a land that had been ravaged by war, I saw firsthand the transforming power of God’s word. Many humanitarian groups were coming through to provide food, medicine and other services but the key spiritual aspect was being overlooked. The many years spent in idleness in displacement camps had corroded the moral lifestyle of the people. Drunkenness and sexual immorality had become the norm. Seeing the immense spiritual need that existed among my people, my heart broke. God used this experience to move my heart towards the commitment to full time ministry.
When I communicated this sense of God’s call to the leaders in our Church back then, they concurred to seeing the giftings of teaching and preaching in me, and started to pray for me towards that end and to give me opportunities to preach. As I continued to preach, I saw, once again firsthand, the destructive nature of false teaching as some my pious friends fell prey to the prosperity gospel and fell away from the faith. This is when I started to look for opportunities to get theological training in order to help combat false teaching. God graciously and miraculously answered that prayer. Against all odds, God opened the door for me to go to Bob Jones University. I fully believe that God has individually called me to the specific task of full-time gospel ministry. I rejoice at the privilege and look to his grace for the strength to carry out that responsibility.
I completed a bachelors’ degree in Bible and a masters in Biblical Language and literature in 2020 before God brought me back to my home country to make disciples. We started Lubangakene Ministries Uganda in 2021 as an umbrella non-profit organization for the purpose of Church planting, theological training, and Christian education based in Karuma town.
Karuma is a highway settlement that is often overlooked but the immense need for the gospel here is staggering. The moment I got here, I realized that Karuma is a place consumed by witchcraft. This Nile River near us has been the center of many atrocities over the years. In the 70s during the regime of Amin the dictator, this place was the dumping site for the bodies of executed dissidents. So many gruesome rituals are performed here because of the belief that the spirits reside in such big rivers and rocks. Most of the people who live here are refugees who were displaced from their homes during the 20 years of rebel activity in Northern Uganda.
In May 2024, Cavine and I got married. She is a wonderful partner for life and ministry. I thank God for her dearly.