We have been given the opportunity to attend the Watoto Childrens Conference in Kampala, Uganda. We means the awesome group of pastors I have been blessed to hang out with this week, Ps Ben Rogers from HPC Swaziland, Ps Mark Stermer from HPC U.S., Ps Issac Williams from HPC Mozambique, Ps Greg Evans from Life Church in Memphis (and recently relocated to Swaziland) and Ps Dixon Changara from Celebration, Zimbabwe. What a great bunch of Godly men I get to do life with.

Yesterday started with registration (of course) and a tour of the Watoto babies home. These are babies that have been thrown away by society. Many are brought there by law enforcement when they are found on the streets, in garbage cans or just dropped off. There are 84 infants/babies up to the age of 2 and Its so uplifting to see that these children that were once considered “disposable” are now happy, healthy and most importantly LOVED.   

Ps Gary Skinner (he and wife Marilyn are founders of Watoto) opened the conference with a message outlining his thoughts on the role and responsibility of the church. Strong message saying the church is by far the biggest single resource on Earth to deal with the AIDS crisis in Africa and what really matters most to God is that we reach out to hurting people, that God is asking us to use what we have in our hand to begin helping hurting, oppressed people whos’ hearts are crying out. What an honor to be able to partner with God in some small way as we are always looking for more opportunities to minister His love to people.

Worship session this morning was just awesome with Darlene Zschech and Hillsong London team. Marilyn Skinner and Dr Robi Sonderegger talked about ministry to war affected and traumatized children. In addition to the villages in Kampala Watoto has recently launched out in an area called Gulu. This is an area in the northern part of the country where there are thousand upon thousands of child soldiers who have been forcibly removed from their homes and families and been forced to fight in a war in which they do not even understand. Testimonies were given from some former child soldiers of unspeakable horrors in which they were forced to participate. The shining light through all of this is the love of Jesus that has turned so many tragedies into triumph by the willingness of His people to say yes to God.

Tags: Africa, AIDS orphans, Watoto