Miles In Missions

For over a year, CARE Africa had been meeting every Saturday from 12-4pm. It started in my home in a little 10’x10′ room that we all crammed into. We had a bead class, discipleship, and tutoring all in one room. It was crazy! We were then blessed with the use of a local community center called The Centenary. We have plenty of space now and have separate rooms for bead making, tutoring, and discipleship.

Word quickly spread through the town about our Saturdays at Centenary and more and more children started showing up. What was supposed to be a CARE Africa thing turned into a community thing. We counted one Saturday 60 children. We did not want to turn children away but it started to become too much. We just did not have enough hands a feet to keep the children corralled and it started to seem more like a day care then a discipleship and mentoring program.

When school ended for summer holiday we decided to take a summer break too from CARE Africa Saturdays. Katie and I didn’t know what to do. We wanted to see our CARE kids. We wanted to pour into their lives and get to know them better. We loved seeing them on Saturdays! Together we both came up with this idea and then another idea but nothing we thought of seemed realistic or sustainable. Not until we stopped trying to think of something ourselves and went to God in prayer did the answer come. Wednesday night “D” Groups, Discipleship Groups.

I remember Wednesday night High School groups like it was yesterday. “Vision” was the name we called it and it was at the old Southeast Christian grey building on Hikes Lane. I remember every Wednesday so excited to go to church and hang out with my friends. I was touched many times by the Holy Spirit and learned so much about my walk with the Lord. I was so excited to bring this experience to Egbe, Nigeria and watch God use it to teach these kids more about himself.

I immediately contacted my brother, Garrison Polsgrove, who is a youth pastor for Shepherd on a Hill. I told him our vision and he immediately sent me curriculum and guidance on how to run a “D” group. See his latest Blog here on small groups.

We now meet every Wednesday 4-6pm. We have “D” group till 5:30pm and then feed them Jollof Rice for their dinner. For some, this is the only meal they will have all day. I will never forget leaving our first D group meeting last Wednesday and one of the girls said. “Wow, this was so amazing. I have never seen people so happy before.” Thank you God for allowing me once again to be apart of something so much bigger than I can even begin to imagine. The seeds that are getting planted and the generations that are going to be changed is going to be amazing to watch! Thank you to all our supporters for allowing us to be here to watch his amazing work in Africa.