Pastor Tony is hardly an imposing figure—he might reach five feet on his tiptoes. But he has an infectious laugh, a quick grin, and a huge heart. Most encouraging of all, he has a beautiful vision for the growth of Christ's church in Uganda and an unflappable confidence in God.
In January 2018, the Sunday prior to our final week of training in Gulu, I had the privilege of attending one of the three churches newly planted by Pastor Tony's congregation. Our host was Pastor Martin, the planter mentored and sent out by Tony. I rejoiced as I listened to Martin give a gospel-saturated, biblically-solid message from Romans 10 to his flock.
At the conclusion of the worship gathering a woman stood to share a testimony. She motioned toward Pastor Tony. "God has used this little man," she said, "to bring the good news of Jesus to our village and start this church."
“God has used this little man," she said, "to bring the good news of Jesus to our village and start this church.”
Later in the week our team of teachers from western Wisconsin were privileged to present certificates of completion for the non-formal training curriculum of TLI to 35 leaders of the church in northern Uganda. This was the culmination of nearly three years of ministry by the St. Croix Valley LEAD Team there in Gulu. By our best count, these national leaders have already started new worship gatherings in twenty villages over the past two years. This was in direct answer to our prayers that God would raise up an indigenous church planting movement through those who received our training.
In the end, when we handed Pastor Tony his own certificate, he stopped to offer thanks to God. "Through this training we have learned how to teach the Word of God more faithfully and train others." He then added a further commitment: "We will train all of our other leaders," he said, "so we can take the gospel out to other villages, and the church will remain strong in the Word."
