A Heart for the World
LBC Students Put Feet to Faith
The bus drove past rolling hills and fields covered in thick vegetation. The night air flowed through the windows, greeting the passengers with a warm and humid breeze. House lights glimmered and shimmered in the distance.
This was it. They were finally here. After praying for weeks and traveling for two days, a group of eight Life Bible College students and alumni had arrived on the red-clay soil of Uganda, Africa.
The next week would provide opportunities to take everything they learned at LBC and directly apply it to the mission field.
“The Bible says it perfectly, don’t be hearers only, be doers,” said Pastor Bill Thomas, Life Bible College Director. “Everything students are taught in their two years at LBC—when you go to Uganda, you’re going to get thrown into the fire, so to speak.”
On their first Sunday, the group attended a church service at Jericho Breakers International Ministries in the capital city of Kampala. What immediately stood out was the hunger people had for God.
“What’s different is the worship,” said second-year LBC student Dashi Sopoti. “They just go at it. At one point, we all had our handkerchiefs and were waving them around, and some people were lifting their chairs up.”
“It was a great experience in seeing the differences in culture and how they do church,” said fellow second-year student Audrey Miller. “I thought it was really cool to see the freedom. They dance, they sing—it doesn’t matter what you look like. They just do it for the Lord.”
After Sunday, it was off into the jungle to minister at two churches. During one of these services, a young girl with a headache approached Audrey to be healed. She put her hands upon the little girl and commanded the headache to go.
A look at the little girl’s face and Audrey knew it hadn’t left. So, she prayed once more. Again, the little girl still had pain.
Audrey paused and asked Jesus what she was supposed to do. He brought to her remembrance how He was moved with compassion for people and healed them. So Audrey prayed to have His heart for the little girl.
“As soon as I prayed that, it happened,” she said. “I was overwhelmed with compassion for this little girl. I prayed again, and it was different. I think the only way I can describe it was that it came from my heart, instead of my head.”
“I looked down at her and I didn’t have to really ask. She was just grinning.”
The rest of the week unfolded in much of the same manner. Just as Jesus said in Mark 16, the group laid their hands on the sick and saw them recover. They cast out demons. They set captives free.
For Dashi, the trip reinforced everything he had learned—to know he can boldly share the gospel, with signs, miracles, and wonders following.
“We have so much authority and impact in the spiritual realm,” Dashi said. “It doesn’t matter who the person is, the gospel message is the same and it has the same power for everybody.”
But the trip wasn’t just about doing the works of Jesus. It was about representing Jesus in every possible way—loving people, joining together in unity, and ministering to and from the heart.
“You’re not going to come back as the same person who left,” Pastor Bill said. “The Bible is truly real, it comes to life. If we step out and we put into action what we are taught, God shows up. And it never fails.”