It was in October of 2014 when I was last in Uganda before my wife, Michelle, and I traveled there on April 24th -May 1st of this year. We were blessed to be able to spend time with Potter’s Field Ministries’ recently deployed IGNITE interns serving there, minister with and to the Calvary Chapel Entebbe (CCE) staff and church members, and to simply fellowship with our brothers and sisters there in Uganda who are so dear to us and all who serve with Potter’s Field Ministries (PFM). In addition to those reasons for going, there was also another purpose for our time there – to be a part of a building dedication that had been years in the making!
Final preparations on the two-story educational building and courtyard
Potter’s Field Ministries has been involved in the private Christian school at CCE, Calvary Chapel Christian School, since it’s very beginnings. Over the years assisting in the building of needed educational buildings, providing funding for the administration for the school and, especially dear to us as a ministry, providing scholarships to hundreds of kids yearly to attend the school and get needed education, PFM has been blessed to be an intricate partner in all the school has grown into. As is always the case, school growth has led to the need for added facilities and, at the time of my last trip to Uganda, there were plans drawn up for a two-story educational facility, though the actual building of it was still just a dream. That dream came to reality over the past two and a half years, and it was our privilege on Friday, April 28th, to be a part of the dedication of this new building, along with our IGNITE interns and overseers.
The Mayor of Entebbe cutting the ceremonial dedication ribbon
It has surely been a long haul for Pastor Craig Linquist, founding pastor of Calvary Chapel Entebbe (CCE), and the staff of CCE, in seeing this building come to fruition and dedication day was truly a celebration of perseverance but, even more so, a special day to acknowledge the provision of the Lord. What started in July 2015 with a ground-breaking ceremony attended by the mayor, local dignitaries, and CCE staff and church members, was culminated on that Friday with many of the same people in attendance along with many others, including individuals from the local school board and even a member of their parliament. There were speeches, performances by the kids in the school and also some from our Potter’s Field Kids programs, and the unveiling of dedication plaques. I was blessed to be able to unveil the “Donor Plaque” acknowledging the many partners who the Lord worked through to build the new facility, which not only includes six new classrooms but also a computer lab and a library! We were privileged to get to know Ed and Germaine La Guardia, who provided the funds specifically for the library, dedicated in honor of Germaine’s father.
Pastor Craig Linquist of CC Entebbe (left) with Ed and Germaine La Guardia
Children reading in the new library!
All in all, it was an incredible time being involved in the final preparations of the building, including the planting of plants and setting up the library, and we will long remember the smiling faces of the kids and their parents as they marveled at what the Lord had provided for them. I can’t say thank you enough to Pastor Mike and Pam Rozell, along with the staff of Potter’s Field Ministries, for the privilege of representing all of them at the dedication, as well as for all the special times of fellowship we had with our IGNITE interns and those who call Calvary Chapel Entebbe their home church and school.
Performance by some of the children enrolled in Potter’s Field Kids Uganda
The planting of the “Donor Tree”
