I was born into a family that had a lot of issues. I hated my father and everyone around me after they denied me my education, but by God’s grace, I was able to join a school. I worked hard in my education, and I was among the best.
I took my report card to my father; he looked at the report with a lot of disrespect and threw it down. He didn’t want me to continue with my studies; instead, he wanted me to stay at home tending to the livestock.
I became very stressed and decided to commit suicide. I went to a nearby forest, climbed a tree, tied a rope to it, and put my neck through the loop. I closed my eyes and prayed my last prayers before I hung myself. While praying, I heard a strange voice calling my name, “Jacob! Jacob! I love you.” I opened my eyes, but I did not see anyone. So, I got down from the tree and went back to the village.
Within a month, there was a training that was conducted in my village where they were teaching about Disciple Making Movements (DMMs). They also talked about forgiveness and the heart of a father. The message reminded me of my history. I told them about my relationship with my father. They asked me to confess all my sins, and then they prayed for me. That day I gave myself fully to Christ. They taught me about DMM in the Discovery Bible Study (DBS) groups that were formed. I was so interested in the teachings, and I became active in the DBS. They trained me to be a DBS leader. They encouraged me to be obedient and to reach out to more villages within our area. I started practicing DMM and formed several more DBS groups.
After one month, I went back to my father’s village to ask him for forgiveness because we did not have a good relationship. My father and the rest of my family were very happy to see me, and they even slaughtered a sheep for me. I had a conversation with my dad, and we forgave each other. Our relationship started anew, and I shared with him what I learned, because in the training we were asked accountability questions, and were encouraged to share our group experience with others. He was very interested, and took me to his close friend, a pastor, to pray for me. My dad didn’t know that I had already received Christ. After prayer, we started discovering the Word of God together, and everybody was sharing what he or she had discovered. Everybody, especially the pastor, was very interested in hearing this. The pastor asked me so many questions, and he explained that he didn’t send people out from his church to make disciples. He had people come to his church for preaching, and his main goal was to have many church members. He was always praying for God to bring more people to his church, but after he learned about DMM, he came to realize that he needed to go outside of his church. He also needed to identify some people from his church and send them out to make more disciples. He said that this was the best way to preach the Gospel.
He started a DBS with his family and in the church where he was pastoring. God enabled him to expand and start DBS groups in other villages.
Through the commitment of this man, he reached a person in another village who started a DBS that became a church.
