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The Road Back to Deerfield: A Call to the Great Lakes Region

​ On Monday afternoon, a few hours before I boarded a plane to head back to New Hampshire, I sat down with Bishop Theo for a final debrief. I thought I had already seen and processed the depths of Rwanda, but our conversation brought me to tears all over again. As Theo laid out the sheer magnitude of the suffering, poverty, and logistical challenges facing the African Great Lakes Region—which spans Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, South Sudan, and Burundi—my heart completely broke. But it also ignited a fire. The Weight on a Bishop’s Shoulders Theo received a direct call from God in 1997. That same year, he started the Harvest Christian Church. Today, he is the Bishop and overseer of 82 Harvest Christian Churches across Rwanda, Uganda, and the DRC. He also founded the Africa Hope Initiative (AHI) as an interdenominational ministry, opening the doors to everyone—Protestants, Catholics, and Muslims alike—because he believes the only way to r...
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A Weekend of Extremes: Joy, Holy Fire, and 250,000 Souls

​ If my time in Rwanda has taught me anything, it is that this country lives in the extremes. Your heart is forced to expand here because it is constantly being pulled between overwhelming celebration and profound, historic grief. This past weekend—my final few days on African soil—was a whirlwind that left me completely, emotionally spent. Saturday: A 12-Hour Wedding Marathon On Saturday, I was invited to a traditional Rwandan wedding. In America, we think a four-hour wedding is long. This was a twelve-hour marathon with over a thousand people in attendance, and it was one of the most culturally fascinating things I have ever witnessed. Traditional Rwandan weddings are broken into three distinct, formal parts: the Gusaba (the traditional introduction and dowry ceremony), the church service, and the grand reception. The scale of the production is incredible—in between each of these three sections, the entire wedding party completes a full outfit change, transitioning from vibrant, t...
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Blood, Grace, and the Gift of a Cow

​ If my first week in Rwanda was defined by the structured routine of the classroom, this week has been defined by the raw, unpredictable depths of the human soul. I have moved from the heaviest, darkest corners of human history to moments of such absurd, overwhelming grace that I am still struggling to process them. Once again, the tears have come every single day. I am learning that in Rwanda, your heart doesn’t just break; it expands. The Echoes of Nyamata The heavy, historical shadow of this country caught up with me at the Nyamata Genocide Memorial , a Catholic church where 45,000 souls were systematically slaughtered over the course of just a few days in 1994. Walking up to the building, you pass a series of plaques bearing the agonizing testimonies of survivors who were trapped inside during the attack. But nothing prepares you for the physical reality inside the sanctuary. The pews are piled high with mountains of clothes—the actual garments left behind by the victims. Look...
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Tears of Joy and the Broken Church in the Hills

​ The last seven days have been an absolute whirlwind of intense, holy, and heavy experiences. To be completely honest, I have cried every single day that I have been here. They are always tears of pure joy, sparked by the ways God keeps pricking my heart through the grace of the Rwandan people. So much has happened that I need to break this down day by day just to process the sheer weight of it all. Thursday & Friday: Passing the Torch and Receiving a Name By the time Thursday arrived, I finally felt like I had completely hit my stride in the classroom. The clunkiness of working through a translator had smoothed out, and the connection with the 30 local pastors in our cohort was locked in. On Friday, we held a pastoral Round Table discussion. We were joined by Dr. Bane Angles, a professor of pastoral ministry at Mid-Atlantic Christian University, whose own classroom cohort had wrapped up the day before. Listening to these grassroots leaders ask questions taught me a profound ...
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