An old, impoverished African man tapped on the window of our Land Cruiser as we were driving away. He peered into our vehicle, looking into the faces of the pastors we had brought to the Turkana Feeding Program in Kenya. He was hungry, but we had no food left to give him.

My hope was that the snapshot of that man’s face, his posture as he stood holding a worn burlap sack, needing just a little bit of food, would be etched onto their hearts forever as it had been mine so long ago.

For some reason God recently has been reminding me of those details. The creases in his tired, worn face. The hope in those weary, sad eyes. The twisted, bowed body, stick-like legs, his broken teeth, his seemingly hopeless reality. He needs food for his family.

For more than three decades, Samaritan’s Purse has assembled a world-wide team whose “hearts are broken by the things we believe break the heart of God.” At the very core of our belief is the need and urgency of the Gospel. We are willing to take ownership and responsibility for the broken, the hopeless, the helpless people of this world, caring for their physical needs before we present that life-changing message.

My prayer for this group of pastors and Christian leaders was that they would see the reality of desperate hunger, the magnitude of HIV/AIDS on helpless women and children, the torture that pastors and Christians have endured during genocide, the power of a simple gift like a shoe box, a discipleship program, and a Bible through Operation Christian Child, and finally the desperate need of remote missions hospitals around this world.

They were seeing not stories, but the testimonies of people with real courage. The pastors that survived genocide are the leaders of a broken nation, the instructors and caregivers to women and children with HIV/AIDS are unrecognized giants, the nurses and relief workers looking after malnourished women and children are vessels of Christ’s love, the Operation Christmas Child teams are life givers to generations of children and their families.

Any one of these places, people, and experiences could change your heart and life forever. The prayer I prayed without ceasing was that the pastors and Christian leaders on this trip would see, feel, and hear the desperation, the utter horrible conditions that men, women, and children are facing in Africa right now.

I prayed that these experiences would go deeply into their hearts and souls and they would conclude: ‘I can’t take this. I just can’t live anymore with this reality without doing something to make a difference’.

All over Africa there are men who want their wives and children to go to bed tonight without hunger, with clean water, their wounds wiped with medicine, with maybe just a touch and a prayer from someone like you.

Our mission is to relieve a little suffering in Jesus name. My prayer is that after watching the video with this story, you will look into your heart and decide to go, to give, and to pray.

Samaritan's Purse , Kenya , Sudan , Community Development , 360 Vision Trip