Pictured from left: Pastor Mark Daniels (BTh ’98), Diana (Benton) Sokolof (BTh ’11), Dr. Emily Jones, Kandice Jameson (ATh ’16), Federico Serrano, Seth Sokolof (ACL ’11) and Adrian Allen.
This summer has brought many international travel opportunities to our PBC students. Most recently, students and alumni joined mission trip to Kampala, Uganda, working with Life Church.
The trip included many evangelistic trips to small neighboring villages where hundreds gave their life to Christ.
Here’s a report from alum and professor Pastor Mark Daniels:
Uganda STORM 2016 was a huge success! We were in the country for a total of 12 days within which we ministered in quite a few different places. We ministered to Life Church Uganda during 4 Sunday services and 2 youth services. We traveled to Kibiito in the west of Uganda and ministered for 3 days, seeing over 100 people make recorded decisions for Christ. We spent quite a bit of time building relationships with the Ignite Interns of Life Church (there were 19 of them, plus some of Life Church leaders who worked with Ignite). We spent a lot of quality time with Seth and Diana Sokoloff as well. Overall, we all felt like we were stretched and used by God to advance His Kingdom.
In my interactions with the team, I believe that we all agree on the highlight of the trip being the days in Kibiito. These were three challenging days as it was the first time any of us had lived in that manner – the accommodations were definitely different from what we are used to here in America. The toilet, bathing, food, and even sleeping arrangements were all at least a little bit of a challenge for us. Perhaps the “squatty potty” being the biggest challenge. However, those three days also saw some of the most fruitful ministry of our time in Uganda and I think is now viewed as the highlight of our trip. While in Kibiito we all spoke publicly about our faith (and I mean loud and clear through a sound system run with a generator), prayed in faith for the sick, shared the gospel with individuals through personal conversation and through it all came to love the people of Uganda.
Another highlight for the team is the relationships built with the Ignite Interns and the Life Church leaders that help out with Ignite. I have personally thought about all 19 of them fairly often since returning from the trip – an indication of the depth of love that was formed primarily through our time ministering alongside them in Kibiito. The Ignite interns are all young adults and since our team was pretty young overall, we clicked with them in a special way. I really felt like the team that ended up going on the trip was God’s handiwork in plain sight; there was just a special bond formed. In addition to the trip to Kibiito, we spent a whole morning with them the first Saturday. One of the things we did with them that day was to hear them share “one thing they have learned through the Ignite internship.” The fruit of that interaction was great. We felt like we had an idea of who they were and what their story was. Couple that with ministering side-by-side with them and it’s easy to see how the special bond was formed so quickly.
And then there was our time with Seth and Diana. They are great couple who are doing really cool things there at Life Church. I thought their leadership during the trip was first-class and well planned out. It’s obvious that they have lots of experience with teams coming over to minister. I really appreciated their heart for God, for our team, for the Kingdom, and of course for the people of Uganda. Our team felt like we were able to come alongside them and join their efforts without any trouble or hassle. They encouraged us, pushed us into our giftings, loved on us, received from us, and became a brother and sister to us all. They are a home run couple!