Sometimes, great servant leaders (Mt. 20:28) come from humble and dangerous beginnings. Take Moses, who Yahweh chose to lead His people out of slavery in Egypt. Faced with Pharaoh’s plan to reduce the Hebrew slave population by killing newborn boys, Moses’s mother put Moses in a basket on the Nile river to be rescued by an Egyptian woman (cf. Ex. 1:16, 2:3).
In today’s rural Nigeria, “Pharaoh” targets the young in various ways. For a HEAL student named Alexis, her “Pharaoh” was a broken family. “She was born out of wedlock to a teenage mother whose boyfriend abandoned her”, explains HEAL Founder Deacon Leo. Alexis’s mother found the Messengers of Justice in Akpim village and their work of forming servant leaders among poor village youth.
Alexis is now dreaming big in spite of coming out of a near hopeless situation. “She is brilliant and very serious about becoming a medical doctor one day”, Rev. Leo says. During my 2017 trip to Nigeria, I met Alexis and can vouch for her studiousness and playful personality. But, scars from her past challenge her. Rev. Leo elaborates, “Alexis suffers from her father’s abandonment and absence and she becomes very defensive even when it’s not warranted.”
Alexis would take good first step toward being a physician one day by scoring well on the upcoming Basic Education Certificate Exam (BECE). This Ministry of Education exam must be passed for Junior Secondary students to advance to Senior Secondary level. Rev. Leo is confident as “Her tutors believe she is ready and will do well”, he says. Please keep Alexis in your prayers.
Not every future servant leader is targeted for destruction by a tyrant or ends up leading a people out slavery like Moses. But, many children facing great adversity like Alexis have the potential to be a great blessing for the world. HEAL’s mission is to be there to ensure that potential is realized in Jesus’ holy name!