HERE AM I MINISTRIES
Started in 2012, HERE AM I Ministries is a 501c3 Tax Exempt Organization focused on spreading the Word of God throughout Africa. Over the years, and using multiple tools, God has allowed the ministry to grow and spread, especially in Kenya and Uganda. The goal will always be to share God's love through the Word to His children. This was this mission laid on David Spencer's heart while serving in Sudan, and it's this mission God has grown and developed into the ministry we have today. And God has allowed many opportunities to serve His church in Africa to include purchasing Bibles, training church leaders to teach, clean water ministry, career and economic training for church leaders (that they might provide a living for themselves), and planting a school for ages Pre-School through 7th Grade.
OUR FOUNDER: DAVID SPENCER
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David was born and raised in Bedford, IA. He went to Sunday School as a youth, and even served in the church as a teen. But, as an adult, he left the church and went his own way for 20 years. He got married, had children, had a successful construction business, served the community on the city council and the fire department... But then, on August 17, 1997, he yielded his heart and life to Jesus! Praise the Lord! And thus, the journey began. “…behold all things have become new.” 2 Corinthians 5:17b NKJV. |
On that day God took the desire for alcohol from him, replacing it with a desire for The Word of God. He had a hunger for the Word. He wanted to know it and to know God more.
In January 2001 he went on his first mission trip: heading to Nicaragua as part of a 12-member team to help with ongoing recovery efforts after hurricane Mitch devastated much of the country in 1998. God used this to begin a new stirring in David’s heart - to begin a new desire in him. This fed a hunger in him, that he could be doing more for the Lord than just running a construction company and building things in this world. David now had a desire to build for the better world: The Eternal Kingdom.
God continued sending him on trips to various places, such as Nicaragua, Haiti, Russia, Mexico and Venezuela, all the while training and preparing David for further service. Along the way as HE was training him, HE was also introducing David to people who would be used by HIM to direct, correct, assist, encourage and minister to him, and with him. These people, too numerous to mention the names of all of them, have been great blessings in David’s life. And, he’s thankful for each one of them.
In 2004, one of those great persons that God had introduced David to started a ministry called Safe Water International Ministries, or S.W.I.M. The goal of this ministry is to help people anywhere in the world be able to have Safe drinking water by being able to produce chlorine wherever they are using only water, table salt, a 12-volt battery, and a device called a Chlorine Producing Unit, or CPU for short, in the Name, and the Love, of Christ. It is this ministry that God used to first take David to Africa: specifically, Kenya in 2007. There he introduced him to more people HE would use to direct David in the way that HE wanted him to go. From Kenya HE took David into Uganda and Sudan in 2010. It was on the trip to Sudan when God put it on David’s heart to begin HERE AM I Ministries. That trip had successes and trials. In those trials God was able to speak. He made it clear that David should begin a new ministry that would go beyond what he was doing through S.W.I.M. Whereas David drug his feet, HERE AM I Ministries was finally formed in 2012. However, David continued to work closely with S.W.I.M. (Still does to this day). The CPU is a great tool to help people and to equip local churches to reach out and minister to their local and neighboring villages.
It is in doing this when God put something else on David’s heart.
“Delight yourself in the Lord and HE shall give you the desires of your heart.” Psalm 37:4
In going out and meeting pastors in the rural villages and areas, God began to show David some things and put a burden on his heart - to give him a desire in his heart. He began to see that many of the pastors weren’t trained and/or weren’t well versed in scripture. This inspired a desire to help, to provide a means for those pastors in the bush get trained. This blossomed into a yearning to establish a training and resource center where pastors could come and read, research, and learn the Word so that they could be equipped to equip the Church (Ephesians 4:11-13).
In September 2018 that “desire of the heart” began to be a real work of God. HERE AM I Bible School in Bugiri, Uganda held its first session. It’s a place where rural pastors can, for a small fee, come and be taught the Word, learn how to do Inductive Study (learn to let scripture interpret scripture), and build relationships with other pastors. They come and spend one week per month for about 24 months as they journey through the Word of God, chapter by chapter. And whereas poverty and support are always an issue, they also have the opportunity to learn a vocation while there: Mechanics; welding; computer/electronics repair; carpentry; sewing; baking; hair dressing, and English. Bibles are provided for each one as well. Their boarding, food, and education all come at a small fee of 50,000 Ugandan Shillings, or less than $20.00 USD per month. And even this is difficult for some of them.
But, what a blessing to see how God is bringing “a desire of the heart” to fruition. David’s prayer is that this work will honor and glorify our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and that it may be used by Him to build, strengthen and edify the Body of Christ.
To Him be the glory and Honor forever and ever. Amen.
In January 2001 he went on his first mission trip: heading to Nicaragua as part of a 12-member team to help with ongoing recovery efforts after hurricane Mitch devastated much of the country in 1998. God used this to begin a new stirring in David’s heart - to begin a new desire in him. This fed a hunger in him, that he could be doing more for the Lord than just running a construction company and building things in this world. David now had a desire to build for the better world: The Eternal Kingdom.
God continued sending him on trips to various places, such as Nicaragua, Haiti, Russia, Mexico and Venezuela, all the while training and preparing David for further service. Along the way as HE was training him, HE was also introducing David to people who would be used by HIM to direct, correct, assist, encourage and minister to him, and with him. These people, too numerous to mention the names of all of them, have been great blessings in David’s life. And, he’s thankful for each one of them.
In 2004, one of those great persons that God had introduced David to started a ministry called Safe Water International Ministries, or S.W.I.M. The goal of this ministry is to help people anywhere in the world be able to have Safe drinking water by being able to produce chlorine wherever they are using only water, table salt, a 12-volt battery, and a device called a Chlorine Producing Unit, or CPU for short, in the Name, and the Love, of Christ. It is this ministry that God used to first take David to Africa: specifically, Kenya in 2007. There he introduced him to more people HE would use to direct David in the way that HE wanted him to go. From Kenya HE took David into Uganda and Sudan in 2010. It was on the trip to Sudan when God put it on David’s heart to begin HERE AM I Ministries. That trip had successes and trials. In those trials God was able to speak. He made it clear that David should begin a new ministry that would go beyond what he was doing through S.W.I.M. Whereas David drug his feet, HERE AM I Ministries was finally formed in 2012. However, David continued to work closely with S.W.I.M. (Still does to this day). The CPU is a great tool to help people and to equip local churches to reach out and minister to their local and neighboring villages.
It is in doing this when God put something else on David’s heart.
“Delight yourself in the Lord and HE shall give you the desires of your heart.” Psalm 37:4
In going out and meeting pastors in the rural villages and areas, God began to show David some things and put a burden on his heart - to give him a desire in his heart. He began to see that many of the pastors weren’t trained and/or weren’t well versed in scripture. This inspired a desire to help, to provide a means for those pastors in the bush get trained. This blossomed into a yearning to establish a training and resource center where pastors could come and read, research, and learn the Word so that they could be equipped to equip the Church (Ephesians 4:11-13).
In September 2018 that “desire of the heart” began to be a real work of God. HERE AM I Bible School in Bugiri, Uganda held its first session. It’s a place where rural pastors can, for a small fee, come and be taught the Word, learn how to do Inductive Study (learn to let scripture interpret scripture), and build relationships with other pastors. They come and spend one week per month for about 24 months as they journey through the Word of God, chapter by chapter. And whereas poverty and support are always an issue, they also have the opportunity to learn a vocation while there: Mechanics; welding; computer/electronics repair; carpentry; sewing; baking; hair dressing, and English. Bibles are provided for each one as well. Their boarding, food, and education all come at a small fee of 50,000 Ugandan Shillings, or less than $20.00 USD per month. And even this is difficult for some of them.
But, what a blessing to see how God is bringing “a desire of the heart” to fruition. David’s prayer is that this work will honor and glorify our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and that it may be used by Him to build, strengthen and edify the Body of Christ.
To Him be the glory and Honor forever and ever. Amen.
OUR BOARD MEMBERS
David Spencer - Bedford, IA
Jackson Samuel Byansi - Bugiri, Uganda
Jeff Kennedy - Bedford, IA
Tara Harvey - Maryville, MO
Casey King - Bedford, IA
Steve Runyon - Maryville, MO
Jackson Samuel Byansi - Bugiri, Uganda
Jeff Kennedy - Bedford, IA
Tara Harvey - Maryville, MO
Casey King - Bedford, IA
Steve Runyon - Maryville, MO