Today a group of Empowering Action team members headed to Kenya for a site visit with a ministry that is in the midst of a pilot program of the Abundant Life Program.

Reflecting on this historic event, my thoughts turned to George Muller and David Livingstone.

George Muller, an amazing man of God who cared for 10,000 orphans in 1800’s, was asked at the end of his life if, when he first began the work, he had any idea how it would grow. His response was, “I only knew that God was in it and was leading His child into untried and untrodden paths. The assurance of His presence was my stay.”

Those of us who have been with the Empowering Action from the beginning echo those words of Muller, particularly in light of our inaugural efforts in Africa.

And it is impossible to visit Africa without reflecting on the life of David Livingstone.

David Livingstone was a Scottish missionary, doctor and explorer who helped open the heart of Africa to missions. His travels covered one-third of the continent, from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean. As a child, David’s father used to place him on his knee, and read to him the stories of great missionary men and women. In response, as a young man, David Livingstone prayed,

“Send me anywhere, only go with me. Lay any burden on me, only sustain me. Sever any ties but the ties that bind me to your service and your heart.”

David Livingstone ministered in Africa for thirty-three years, traveling twenty-nine thousand miles and resulting in two million people hearing the Gospel. But at last there came the day when he could not walk, stand, or even be moved. A hut was quickly prepared for him in a small village in the heart of Africa. David Livingstone would be found dead the next morning not in his bed but on his knees. Livingstone, with great agony, had moved himself and rolled off of his cot onto his knees, as was his custom and folded his hands in prayer.

It has been said of David Livingstone that “He died exactly as he had lived: in the presence of His Lord.”

I pray that regardless of what the future holds for the staff of Empowering Action that we live, as individuals and an organization, as David Livingstone did – “in the presence of the Lord.”