DOORS Farm LAND !

There’s a parable that says that a farmer went out and sowed good seed into his field. At night, an enemy came in and sowed bad seed among the good. The farmer could see that the bad seed had been sewn, but couldn’t uproot the bad seed without also uprooting the good. He had to let both fully grow to fruition, and then he first removed all of the bad fruit, before he could go through and harvest the good fruit.

This parable has resonated in my heart for the past year. When our leadership team started DOORS, we were young, like average age: twenty-two. We made a lot of mistakes. We played the game without setting the rules before we began. So while ultimately our desire was to be a ministry that was sowing that good seed, we had a lot of learning to do. There have been so many times that I have questioned God about whether He is who He says He is, or if He is going to do what He said He was going to do, because I was seeing ‘bad fruit’ rise up among the good fruit in this ministry. 

Last year, I constantly found myself reading and re-reading this parable. I found myself being challenged to believe Biblical truths that were not consistent with the ‘bad fruit’ I was seeing in our ministry, but were ultimately the truths of the Lord. To put it nicely, last year was a season of refinement. A season of creating systems and rules and building a strong leadership team in all areas of our ministry, that still had the freedom to be led by the Spirit but also was not working out of places of chaos. It was a year of tearing out that bad fruit.  

As a ministry team, we know that the season to harvest our good fruit was coming. We have certainly been harvesting, and it has been more abundant and more plentiful than I could have ever asked, imagine, or dreamed of. Yes, we were young and inexperienced and made a lot of mistakes; however, this ministry was born out of a desire to see God’s glory expand across this country and this earth, and we did a heck of a lot of things right too ! 

This past fall I kept hearing the Lord in times of prayer and worship and through his Word keep speaking to me to go out and look for land. I thought we were looking for land for our DOORS homes, and I began asking around. I had no idea how to look for land and we certainly didn’t have the money to buy land either. Yet, God kept telling me to go and look for land. He brought friends by my side that I trusted to go and look for land with, and I began this search. We found this incredible piece of land about fifteen minutes away from our current home. It was big enough to build at least four houses for our boys on it. We would be able to bring in a lot more kids. However, we began not to have peace about making that land the new place for our homes and our kids. 

So then we went to the Lord in prayer, and began seeking “Well, what are we looking for land for?” 

God gave vision for this 1 acre plot. A vision of a farm that is teaching inner-city farming techniques to families in the Namuwongo and Kisinye slums that we work in. A sustainable farm that grows highly nutritious foods and vegetables for the homes, school and other DOORS programs directly targeting the health needs of the kids and families. A farm that our boys from our homes and the students from our school can go to, to learn how to farm and learn sustainability projects. A farm that hosts a small group of street kids - the hard kids, the drug addicts and the kids that nobody wants to invest in - once a week for program of farming, homecooked meal, counseling and discipleship outside of the city; to be a place in the city but outside the city for us to raise up farmers (of crops and men). We have vision of a bakery there and a workshop for the women in our Jubilee jewelry program. We have vision of chicken houses, pig pens, goats, cows, herbal medicinal gardens, and sample slum houses to teach our families within the slum what farming techniques are available to them. 

We knew that if we went further outside of the city, we could get a huge piece of farm land for the money that this 1 acre was selling for. However, God was telling us to stay true to the vision that He had given us and what we value as a ministry : discipleship . Our intention is for this farm to be a place of discipleship and a place of teaching. Discipleship will always cost more than effectiveness. Pursuing discipleship will always look more impossible than the other options in front of you. Pursuing discipleship will keep you in a place of desperation for Jesus. Pursuing discipleship will cause you to make massive steps (LEAPS!) of belief in the direction of the promise God has given you. 

We decided that this was the piece of land that we wanted. We waited for two weeks in prayer for the $200,000 (gulp!) that they were asking for to come in. It didn’t. The landowner called and asked if we had the money and we had to see “No, we don’t.”  

Three days later I was contacted by somebody who told me that they wanted to give us $200,000 to put towards land. 

We quickly called the owner back and told him that we wanted the land and made a verbal agreement. Throughout the next two months we faced a series of challenges mainly revolving around this slow-moving culture, and we lost the land. They sold to another buyer. 

Obviously, we were a little confused. In January, we began to look for land again. On the very first day we went out, we found a piece of land that was closer to all areas of our ministry, already had every single building (from sample slum houses to chicken coops to a bakery to a workshop to two houses that we can use for ministry) that we needed and desired on the land, and was also asking for a higher price for that land. 

Again, God provided the amount that we needed, and within two weeks we had the land title. 

We would like to introduce all of you, to the DOORS farm. Our newest area of ministry, a place that we will be pouring development and prayer into; that it would be a harbor, a safe place, a place of discipleship, and a place where love abides. 

HALLELUJAH!

Who is protecting who?

See, I thought that I used to be the one with the strength. 

When you were on the streets and fights used to break out,

I thought you fled to me for safety. 

When we would walk through Kampala holding hands, 

I thought you were hiding your bare feet, dirty clothes, and chagrin under the protection of my white skin. 

Wherever we would go and people gawk and stare and talk and talk, 

The white woman and the street child both somehow exiled from ‘normal’ society, 

I thought by teaching you to ignore them that you would see that God loves us equally. 

I went through a crash-course on being a mom, 

We got teenagers who had seen way more hate and fire and darkness than I had ever seen 

And God gave us sons who learned how to trust, and you learned how to dream. 

Now you’ve grown! You’re big and you’re tall and you are strong, 

And we look kind of awkward as a son and a mom, 

And you walk me home at nights, my sons and my shield,

And I realize that the protected one has always been me.

The shield that you are, you always have been,

Standing next to me and declaring I’m yours,

Protecting me from street fights and misguided words,  

As I walk down the crowded roads that I barely know, 

You held my hand and showed me your home, 

And as the people talked, you hid their words from me, 

Not wanting me to believe that I was anything but a blessing to you and this city. 

You taught me how to light that dang charcoal stove, 

And to cook and to wash and to mop and to speak, 

And that sitting on the front porch talking together every night, 

Was so much more fun than I could ever have watching t.v., 

You gave and I gave and we gave some more, 

And in the purest of loves we now can both see,

That we protected each other from lives of normalcy. 

God has given me beautiful sons. We’ve walked through many, many challenges and joys together. We may not look like a mom and a son, especially as our age gap looks like it is quickly closing. We have pushed each other to breaking points, we have refined each other through fire, and we have spent an uncountable amount of nights rolling with laughter. I say it’s been a crash course, because in three and a half years I have “gotten children” ( and not in a normal way, mind you), poured into them with the beautiful community that God has continuously placed around us, and now as the first four of them have reached eighteen, they have left the nest ! They are now in the Joshua Home, a home teaching them independence, leadership, and discipleship. They are thriving. They are becoming men that I am simply proud to know. Men that will never settle for anything less than the dreams God has put in their hearts, and men who have encouraged me to do the same. 

You Boy,

You Boy, 

Not many men can face rejection and the abuse that you faced and learn to love again. Not many again can be threatened by their father that “if you ever come back to this home, I will break both of your legs,” and still submerge themselves into a family. Not many men can make friends again after being beaten, lied to, stolen from, and abused by their peers. Not many men can leave the drugs of their choosing that have become their best friends, because in the end they are the only ones they can depend on to take them to a safe place. Three days you shook. Three days you faced the pain of withdrawal. Three days you conquered. 

It is my joy to watch you come alive. It is my honor to see you in your purest form. It is my delight to see your eyes dance with light. It is my pleasure to watch you begin to recognize the goodness that lives within you. It makes my Spirit sing when the boy comes out of you who is pure, sweet, childlike, trusting, and joyful; and you look at yourself and question “who is this boy?” There is no shame in the man you are becoming. You are learning that there is no shame in being loved. There is no shame in loving somebody. It makes my heart cry “hallelujah!” when you continuously talk about what you’ve seen in the “Jesus film” and how you ask to watch it literally every day. I’ve loved watching your swollen belly, destroyed with malnutrition and worms, shrink down to a size of a starving child, and then fill out, full of good things. I’ve seen your strength, as your muscles wake up from years of drunken stupor and incapacitating highs. You can swing, and play football, and run, and do handstands, and flip, and jump.

These moments right now are fleeting, but growing in frequency. They help me be patient when you lie to me. They help me love when you look at me with misplaced bitterness. They help me forgive when you treat me as if I have done the most unforgivable thing to you. They help me fight for you when you want to fight with your brothers. They help me see you at times when there is no light to be seen. 

You are strong. You have conquered. You are beautiful. You are brave. You are loved. 

To Be Planted....

Our desire this year is to be planted. As a ministry, God has given us a deep desire to focus on what we are doing and to ensure that we are walking in every place with excellence. Our DOORS home throughout the past three years has been developed immeasurably more than we could have ever imagined. We believe that to enter into this next stage of development, that God desires for us to be planted. We are looking to buy two houses in separate locations within our current community. Our vision over our homes is to have no more than six to seven children within each home, with uncles and aunts in each location that are not simply facilitating a children’s home but fostering a family that abides in the Kingdom. 

To purchase these two properties will approximately cost $80,000. An investment that will allow us to continue to build upon the values which God has instilled in us thus far:

Intentionality. Our intention within our homes is to create disciples. Our intention is that whether a child is with us for three days, four months, or two years; that they leave having been embraced by the love of Christ and knowing more of Jesus’ heart for them. Our intentions are for our staff members to lay down their lives to follow Jesus into a calling, and not just find a good job. Our intention is that no matter what your age or role within our ministry is, each day living life together is a day of intentionally seeking the Kingdom of God and desiring that to be revealed within your own life and the way that you love others around you.

Community. We believe in the power of community. It would be easier and cheaper to find a big plot of land outside of the city and build enough homes to house hundreds of children. We believe that the Lord is asking us to put a higher value on community. We not only desire to reintegrate street children into a society that they have been rejected from, but to create leaders and servants within that society. If our heart is to create world changers, we have to begin with the current community that we abide in. We believe that the interactions and relationships that our children have with our neighbor who has become our DOORS grandma, our friend that runs the local supermarket, and their friends all throughout our community are powerful. We believe that community provides accountability. We believe that our children should have a church family, and frankly, we love our local church. We believe in teaching our children how to be loved and how to be love.  

Individuality. We don’t believe in pushing people through a system. The children within our ministry have vastly different talents, struggles, gifts, desires, histories, and passions. We believe that if we are proclaiming that our focus is on discipleship, that it begins with the individual. We seek to find how we can best reach every child on their level; How can we best feed each child’s passions and talents? how can we best discipline this child? how does this child best hear the gospel? and how can we best empower this child to take every way that our Creative Maker has molded him, and lay it down before the feet of Jesus for His glory? We want to be fully invested in each of our children. That is why believe in keeping our numbers small and empowering a group of devoted staff members and local volunteers to strive to develop a family within each of our homes; a family where each child can be fully loved, fully known, and fully invested in. 

Expression. We believe that every day we should be seeking to let LOVE speak it’s language. We believe in teaching our children to express their love to God through their praise, and we gather for times of worship and praise each week as a ministry. We believe in teaching our children the power of the Living Word, and how it is active and working inside of them. We believe in expressing our love to Jesus through community outreach projects and simply loving the people that God puts right in front of us.  We believe in teaching our children that “There is no greater love than he who lay down his life for his friend.”  We desire to be an expression of God’s love to all who encounter us. 

Impact. We believe that we are impactful. We believe that no moment in life is lost, but every moment can be grown from. We believe that we are a walking, living, breathing testimony of God’s grace, strength, and power. We believe that we should not be hidden under a bushel, but we desire to let the love and light that is bursting out of us shine. We believe that we are raising up the next generation of Godly leaders. We believe that we are raising up disciples who will lay down their lives for Jesus out of obedience, because they have first been loved by our Almighty Maker. We believe in teaching our children to be impactful ; that they have a voice, they have a story, they have passions, and they have vision that can change the world - and it simply starts by abiding in God’s love. 

We believe Hebrews 10:39. That “We are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved.” We believe in the power and might and love of Christ that overcomes all, that saves all.

Will you believe with us?