Who is This Man

When Joseph arrived I got so caught up in the moment, I failed to introduce him properly.  

Joseph Dayamba is a Children’s Minister from Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, West Africa.  He was born and raised in West Africa along with his one sister and seven brothers.  He is married to Aimee and has two children, a son - Ezeckias and a daughter - Jaelle.  

Joseph knew at a young age the Lord was calling him into the ministry, Children’s Ministry.  Being African and being raised in the African culture, he knew this was going to be a huge challenge.  They do not believe in ministering to children.  They are of the opinion that since kids can not tithe and support the pastor they are not worth ministering to, this is even the practice in the Christian Churches there.  (I would love to go there and read some specific scripture to them, but that will have to be in another post)  Joseph grew up and attended a University there and then has gone through a lot of training to become a Pastor.  He says even in training when he would tell them he was going to do children’s ministry they would just look at him like he had lost his mind, pass him over, and go on to the next person.  

Now several years later, he is doing Children’s Ministry there.  He does annual children’s camps, evangelical outreaches, as well as his normal weekly ministry.  He started a Christian School and they now have 160 students.  The sad part is last year they turned over 100 kids away because they didn’t have a place to teach them.  He also recently rented a house and began an English Academy.  The Africans believe you have to be able to speak English if you are ever going to succeed.  The Academy began this year with 3 students, but they have 48 more starting in the fall, which is all they have room for at this point.

These two pictures are of the kids at school!!

This picture is during camp and they are reenacting when Jesus rode into town on a donkey.  My kids thought it was awesome that they had a real donkey for this at kids camp!!  They said, “We always have to pretend!!”

Over the years he has gained the respect of many prominent people in his village and beyond, but not for his ministry.  The government has allowed him to use some of the land, but only because he is giving these kids a good education, they are just willing to allow the ministry part because of the education.  The Imam (Muslim leader) in his village is allowing muslim children to attend the Christian School because the education is so much better than what they get in public school.  The wonderful part is they also get the Word of God and the Love of Jesus!!  He said the parents are praying their Muslim prayers and preparing to go to the mosque, meanwhile the kids are singing songs about Jesus!!  How awesome is that!!

These two pictures are of Joseph doing an outreach in West Africa.  He said it starts out with just kids and the parents just watch from a distance.  They play games and sing lively Jesus songs and eventually the parents get interested and excited and they come down and sit with the kids to be a part of it too!!  It's that contagious JOY!!

Joseph has lived his life stepping up to the call and challenges of the Lord’s ministry in Burkina Faso.  Please keep him and his family in your prayers as he continues to do the Lord’s work, making a difference in the lives of these kids!!!

I believe if we all work together, we CAN change the world one child at a time!!

Counting it all Joy!!