Rescued

from slavery, calls The Fathers House home.

Taking a Step
In 1999, two men took a step. They were just dads, with families and jobs. They flew to Ghana, Africa, not really knowing exactly why God was calling them to this country across the Atlantic. While there, they ministered alongside Pastor David, a local pastor they met through a conference here in the United States. They stood in the dirt and offered little children food, and THEN they told them that God saw them, and that God had not forgotten. They told them they were loved - by Jesus. Their journey continued when they joined by their families. Together they took another step, ultimately providing a few of these children a home their first home. These faithful families named this home: The Fathers House.

A life of slavery.
They live as slaves, made to fish up to 15 hours a day. Slave masters own these little lives and they spend their days Bailing water from leaky fishing boats.

Diving under dark water to untangle fishing nets.

Fishing all dayevery day. Our friends took one step of faith, and God showed them a little bit more. There is something taking life that is even more evil than hunger, God said, My children are being taken as slaves. Go free them. I will show you the way. All along the edges of Lake Volta, just North of Ghana, Africa, there are small villages, full of little children, who are now living a life of slavery. They are taken from their mothers with the promise of a better life, or the promise of a job. Instead they are just alone starving and working. These two families joined George, a local teacher and pastor in Ghana. God has given George the unique ability to speak into the dealings of these slave masters. In 2010, after half a day of traveling in the scorching heat, and blinding dust, these families and George arrived in a secluded village, one of many along the edge of Lake Volta. Sitting under a large oak tree, the meeting place, a slave master thumbed through his spiral bound notebook with lists and lists of names of young boys, young slaves. Negotiations with the slave master. The families and George negotiated with the slave master for the lives of seven young boys. The Lord fulfilled His promise. The Lord himself moved in the heart of that lost slave master, and convinced him to free seven young lives.

The families watched in awe as God literally transferred these young boys names from the book of slavery to the Book of Life.

Gideon Julius Ame Godsway, Jr. Godsway, Sr. Evans Clement Francis
Their home is The Fathers House. They eat three meals a day and play like other young boys. They are free. What is it about the huge dark reality of poverty, of children being slaves, that makes us feel paralyzed? There are so many of them, we think. Will prayer or my money really make a difference? Two families looked into the face of poverty and said, We are willing Lord. Send us. I was hungry and you gave me something to eat. I was in prison, and you came to visit me. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you invited me in. Take one faithful step. Just say, I refuse. I refuse to do nothing. Take a step. God will make you, a fisher of men.

What the Bible does not mention, but what must be true is that, years later, Lazarus still died. The people Jesus healed were inevitably sick again at some point in their lives. The people Jesus fed miraculously were hungry again a few days later. More important than the very obvious might and power shown by Jesus' miracles is His love. He loved these people enough to do everything in His power to "make it better." He entered into their suffering and loved them right there. Katie J. Davis, Kisses from Katie: A Story of Relentless Love and Redemption