He Spreads the Gospel Because of a Well

Imagine walking for fifteen hours. Not a hike for fun, but a journey on foot, across rough terrain, carrying nothing but a Bible and a burden for his people.

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Pastor Musa makes that walk every single month.

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When I sat down with Musa this September, he told me about that journey himself. He leaves his home in the tiny village of Kamorinyang in Uganda’s Karamoja region and makes the day-and-a-half journey on foot to reach our pastor center. Fifteen hours of walking there, and the same back. Why? Because Musa wants his community to know Jesus, and he knows he can’t shepherd them well without being strengthened, trained and encouraged himself.

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I asked him what fills his mind during all those hours. He didn’t hesitate. “I think about wanting to know the truth of the Gospel so my village can too.”

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But Musa’s story didn’t begin with a sermon. It began with a well.

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Musa remembered every detail when we spoke. Years ago, our clean water repair team traveled to Musa’s community to fix a broken well. For so long, families there had gone without a reliable source of safe water. When our team finished and the first clean water flowed again, something more than a pump was restored. Hope came back. And Musa noticed. Who were these people who came, not for recognition, but simply to serve? Why did they care?

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Then one of our pastors came to Musa’s village to share Christ with the people there. That well had opened the door, and now the gospel walked through it. The message stuck with Musa, and he wanted to know more. Musa had witnessed false teachers at work across his region, and he told me he wanted to learn more about the Gospel so he could help rid the region of them.

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That hunger to learn more led Musa to join our pastor training center. Today, he is a pastor. He leads a church of 18 people who once had no one to tell them of God’s love. And every month, he makes the long walk back to us to learn, pray and be equipped, then carries what he receives home to his village.

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This is a picture of a village at work. A repair team that showed up. Donors who made it possible. A pastor who refused to stop walking.

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There are more Musas out there, and more communities still waiting for clean water and for the hope that follows it. That is why this year’s campaign, It Takes a Village, is so close to our hearts.

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We are raising funds to purchase our own drilling rig.

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Today, our teams repair broken wells, and we’re grateful for every one. But with a rig of our own, we can drill brand new wells in places where no water source exists at all. We can reach more communities, at lower cost, without waiting on outside contractors. Our repair teams aren’t going anywhere, either: repairing and drilling will work hand in hand as we grow clean water access across rural East Africa. A rig of our own also lets us reach places that are physically hard to get to, places most others won’t go. Those are often the very same places where communities remain unreached and have never heard the Gospel. Every new well becomes what that repaired well was for Musa: an open door.

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