God laid it on our hearts to sponsor a child and we are now blessed to be supporting a little boy in Uganda.

James 1:27 says, "Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, [and] to keep oneself unspotted from the world."  What better way to minister to orphans than to make sure that their physical AND spiritual needs are met?

For several years Jade has had a burden for orphaned children in Africa.  There are many charities, however, and it can be overwhelming to consider all the options.  Several months ago she shared her heart with me about this and we decided to start researching the charities that meet this need.

When making the decision of which group to partner with the following considerations were most important to us:

• The program include sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ as well as meeting natural needs like food, clothing, shelter and education.
• As much of our gift as possible go directly to meeting the need of our sponsored child instead of administrative overhead, salaries or advertising.

We settled on Compassion and have been blessed to help extend God's hand of love to a boy named Akol David who lives in Uganda.

I think it's pretty cool — and no coincidence — that the child we sponsor shares a partial name with our son, Jeremiah.  We look forward to building a relationship with Akol through the years and know that the Lord will water the seed we are planting in his life.