As most of you know, I’ve been in Kenya and Uganda on a mission trip for Wholly Yours Ministries from September 14th to October 18th. I was unable to post a blog during that period due to being very busy traveling and ministering, lack of electricity to power my laptop and lack of proper internet to get a strong enough signal to open the website. I’ve been communicating by posting on my personal FB page as well as the Wholly Yours Ministries FB page. I am now back in the United States, and this is my first post since being back. So as not to overwhelm you with too much information, I will be doing a series of blog posts over the next few weeks. This blog is long but please take time to read it all, it’s very important. The next blog posts will be much shorter and only take a few minutes to read.
First let me say that this trip was 100% funded by me personally and no donated funds were used, except for the medical mission for “Operation Jigger Removal”. I never use donated funds for any of my travel or expenses unless there are those that donate specifically for that cause, and this was not the case for this trip. To give you an idea of what it cost, this trip with airfare, visa, hotels, food, and transport, cost roughly $4000. The purpose of this trip was two-fold. The first purpose was to hold a three-day conference with the Director of WYM Africa and Missions Coordinator of WYM Africa, Pastor Athanus Atimbo and Pastor Patrick Wangira. The conference was to review with them the direction I feel the Lord is taking WYM going forward and to pray and seek the Lord for confirmation and further direction. The second purpose was to visit all the areas and people that WYM has worked with on projects, to meet them, get to know them and verify the projects we had completed since my last visit. I also had many chances to speak at various churches, schools, and organizations. Overall, it was a very successful mission and one I’ll never forget. I’ve included several pictures of our conference, which was held in Mombasa, Kenya where Pastor Patrick and his family live and have a church. We stayed in a hotel on the Indian Ocean and had a wonderful time. I believe ministry should not only be about kingdom work, but also about enjoying life, having fun, and building strong relationships.
Going forward, WYM has replaced the Ministry Coordinators in Africa with a small core WYM Ministry Team, based in Kenya. The goal of this core team is not only to evangelize, but to train and equip the body of Christ to fulfill the “Great Commission”, which is to preach the gospel to all nations and make disciples. We will do this through a combination of crusades, revivals, and seminars. We will use the crusades and revivals to reach the lost and backslidden and the seminars will be to teach, train and equip pastors, church leaders, and church members.
As stated earlier, we have a small WYM core team, but our team will be much bigger as we move from place to place. We will partner with local pastors and leaders to help with the crusades, revivals, and seminars while we’re in their area. We will start by working in conjunction with the churches we have planted or are associated with, but everything we do will be open to any member of the public, church member or leader, regardless of denomination. We want to equip the body to do the work of the ministry. The body of Christ is not a denomination or a building but made up of God’s chosen people from every nation, tongue, and tribe. We however will not water down the gospel but will preach 100% of the Word of God, as it is written.
We are very excited about this new direction, and in fact, have already started this with the crusade and seminar we held in Mayuge Uganda a couple months ago. If you recall, forty people gave their hearts to Christ. We partnered with a church there, a church meeting under trees, which was a work started under the direction of Pastor Patrick some time ago when evangelizing on an island in Lake Victoria. WYM helped them with a down payment on some land and they just completed a temporary structure because they wanted to have a place to meet until their finances will allow them to build a permanent one. The good news is, they have already made the brick for this permanent structure. We had the privilege and honor to speak at this church when we visited a couple weeks ago, and some of the pictures below are of that church and the leaders during our visit.
Reaching the lost not only involves spiritual help but also physical help. If we are to help people spiritually, we must also help them temporarily with their physical needs. Many are hungry, need clothing, need medical help, and proper shelter. Reaching out to those in need has always been part of our ministry and we call that “Love in Action”. The only thing that has changed with this is, we will now work with the local church leaders to identify and establish “Love in Action” programs in their church, which will be administered through their church. This will empower the people in the churches to do the work of the ministry, to be Jesus’s hands and feet. Keep in mind that the churches we work with are mostly rural and in very poor areas. Many of these churches cannot fund the “Love in Action” programs, and that’s where our ministry will play a big role. Also, we cannot start this program with a lot of churches at once but must start with one and then progress to others as finances allow. We will be starting with the church Pastor Athanus and I planted together in Mumias Kenya, the “House of Winners Worship Center – Ogalo”. Doing this will also allow us to gauge the effectiveness of each program prior to helping establish in other churches. All the programs we start will have a goal of helping each person become self-sufficient, not merely creating a system whereby relying on a ministry to take care of them. We will accomplish this through education and sustainability programs.
As you can see, we have a big vision with our new direction, and it will take a lot of prayer and financial support to make it happen. Crusades, revivals, and seminars cost a lot to accomplish, require a lot of equipment, transport, etc. and we’re basically starting from scratch. Also, the “Love in Action” programs must be funded. Wholly Yours Ministries really needs your support, both prayer and financially, to accomplish the mission we feel God has called us to. Thanks to our current donors for your faithfulness. For those that haven’t given, please pray about becoming a monthly partner with us or about donating a one-time gift. You can designate exactly how your gift is to be used and it will only be used for that purpose. We have donors that only want their funds to be used for education or medical, and that’s exactly what it’s used for, nothing else. We need finances we can count on to move forward effectively. Also, if you’re a church or organization, please pray about sponsoring us monthly. I hope you can see from the work that’s being done through WYM that you’re sowing seeds in good soil.
We are a non-profit organization, and your donations are tax deductible according to IRS guidelines. You can give through PayPal account whollyoursministries@gmail.com, CashApp account $WYM59 or mail to Wholly Yours Ministries 483 Oak Hill St. NE, Abingdon Virginia, 24210. If there are other methods you'd like to use, just send me an email @ whollyoursministries@gmail.com and we'll work something out. God bless each one of you.
Wholly Yours in Christ
Rev. Paul Havens
Wholly Yours Ministries
Founder and President
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