He Pulled Me Up Out of the Miry Clay

After not having the financial means to attend high school, Anthony Kimani Wambugu was hired on as a casual laborer cutting down trees and ferrying them to a nearby sawmill for lumber. It was hear that he found himself in the company of people who encouraged him to drink and smoke weed. When the authorities came after them, Anthony fled to Nairobi and found himself in Kibera, the largest slum in Africa and the third largest in the world.

He married soon after, but out of frustrations with his financial situation and life, Anthony found himself drinking more and more. Many nights, he would pass out in the waste-ridden trenches of Kibera, as some of the one million people who reside in that one-square-mile of land passed him by. He was often so drunk that he could not find his way home, and when he did, his wife feared what state he would be in, oftentimes very angry when he found no food to eat. In his rage, he often beat her, and she was afraid for her life and those of her children. But still she prayed. She constantly and devotedly prayed that Christ would have mercy on him. She fought consistently for him in her prayers, and that her marriage would some day look differently.

Finally, God answered her prayers and reached out to Anthony. Anthony and some of his buddies from the pub decided they wanted to try this “salvation thing.” Before going to church or making any kind of commitment, they would meet some place to read the bible, pray together, and even sing some songs. Their experiment collapsed and they all returned to their lives at the pubs, until one day Anthony began wandering into a church in Kibera. It was here that his life was renewed.

After two and a half years, some of his fellow church members felt called to start their own church, Light in the Holy Spirit. This church where Anthony is now an associate pastor resides in a building that was once a pub that Anthony would regularly stumble out of. The church has grown in membership to about sixty. Children are the majority who attend it, and so the elders have started a feeding program that runs through the week. The church members contribute to the food to make sure none of the children go hungry, and they are currently in the process of acquiring another mabati house so they can shelter and care for more kids.

Since joining the class at DPTC, Anthony has particularly appreciated learning about church leadership. He has returned to his congregation with skills and practices to help set them up for success, and is even using his newfound leadership training to further impact his family, friends, and immediate community.

Anthony, by the grace of God and the faithfulness of donors and friends, graduates this November with the Divine Providence Training Center’s Class of 2018.  To make this training possible for other individuals like Anthony, please consider supporting a pastor today!