Ending the Story

Next Generation Ministries is closing.

Let me explain ... no, let me sum up!

Though summing it up can be done with the opening sentence of this blog, what follows may be a bit of an explanation.

Pam and I went on our first international short-term mission trip to Uganda in September 2001. It took me only minutes to fall in love with the people of Uganda. Pam fell in love with the people during the summer of 2004 on my third short-term mission trip. We moved to Uganda in 2005. We lived with Betty and Abdu Wasswa for four years and learned so much from them. We applied for nonprofit status with the IRA and were approved in 2008 as Next Generation Ministries (NGM). Pam and I lived among the people of Uganda and directed the work until COVID-19 hit the world in 2020. We made two trips to Uganda in 2022.

During those years we witnessed:

• Hundreds of people giving their lives to Christ
• Hosted nearly two dozen short-term mission teams
• 15 of those teams were medical teams
• Thousands of Ugandans in remote villages received free medical care & treatment
• Short-term missionaries fell in love with underprivileged children and started sponsoring them in schools through NGM
• The hiring of full-time drivers, a medical manager, a student-sponsorship coordinator, three  administrators, two media managers, a gardener, a couple of cooks, a housekeeper, and a mentoring manager for One Step over the years
• The purchase of a small farm and attempted to start a dairy but finally planted trees
• The purchase of a property in Bugembe
• An exciting cross-cultural, residential, mentoring program for young adults
• Ownership of two vehicles
• Numerous opportunities to share Christ, mentor, speak at conferences and churches
• Give out hundreds of Bibles in both English and Lugandan
• The birth of Fountain of Hope Ministries through https://www.fountainofhopeuganda.org
• The birth of Rock of Ages Primary & Secondary School through  https://hands4uganda.org

Some of these activities were organic and the others were organizational. The organic work will exist for eternity. The organizational part is what will terminate on the last day of this year, 2024.

So, you see, there is no real ending. It's just where we stop the story ... that is the organizational part of the story. The legacy of Next Generation Ministries is written in the hearts of the people impacted by NGM.

Since the pandemic, the organization experienced a small but steady decline in donations to the General Fund which sustained the salaries and operation of the organization. Donor-designated contributions continued to provide medical care and school fees. With my retirement and Rebecca's struggle to fulfill responsibilities as a fifth-year medical student and executive director of NGM this past year, it became obvious the Lord was giving us indications that it was time to dissolve the organization. The online giving portal for NGM will no longer receive donations after December 31, 2024.

Through the years, many of our staff moved on to other opportunities with our blessings. We are grateful to the Lord for these spinoffs. We are so grateful for the undeserved and unearned opportunity to represent the Lord to the people of Uganda. These were special years for us. It is our passion to bless our current and past staff members with a financial gift before the end of the year. Donations would be appreaciate.

Pam and I intend to make return trips to Uganda for ministry and nurture our relationships there in the years to come as the Lord provides the necessary resources.

We are grateful for all of the NGM Partners who stood with us through the years so we could work in Uganda. It was a genuine team effort. We could have never done what we did without all the various moving parts. You are always in our hearts.