Ministry Newsletter

Dear Friends:

Precious Natamba’s life was in shambles six years ago. But she moved to Masindi, Uganda, and joined Rehoboth Christian Fellowship, where my friends Robert and Doreen Kaahwa are pastors. Then Precious enrolled in The Mordecai Project’s women’s empowerment program. She started raising piglets with our help. The young pigs grew fast and she sold many. She then invested her profits to start a small pharmacy. You can see her standing in front of the drugstore in the photo below.

Then, Precious started a beauty salon and a convenience store; then she bought land to expand her pig farm. More profits allowed her to buy a money transfer business. Today she has broken free from poverty. Her dream is to build a hospital! This is the purpose behind The Mordecai Project. We are giving marginalized women a chance to thrive—and to be discipled in the Christian faith. Thank you for helping us!

Kezia Natukunda is another success story from Masindi, Uganda. She started taking classes at our women’s empowerment center there in 2023. She learned how to make soaps, shampoo and cosmetic creams. Then she started her own line of facial oil. Now she’s getting so many orders she needs training in marketing. We will soon start classes in entrepreneurship in our new center. Helping women start home businesses is the secret to breaking poverty in Africa.

This week I returned from a two-week trip to Uganda, where we dedicated the new Mordecai Project women’s empowerment center in Masindi. The women in the photo below are our leadership team for the center, directed by Doreen Kaahwa, (second from right), from Rehoboth Christian Fellowship. She and Robert have been ministry partners with me for 15 years. In the photo you can see the residential shelter, which has seven bedrooms, seven bathrooms, a kitchen and living areas. Behind it is a vocational training center with seven classrooms and a large hall. In that building we will offer classes in sewing, embroidery, baking, hair styling, literacy and discipleship. Behind both buildings is a place where the women will raise pigs, goats and chickens. We are so grateful for the generous donors who helped us get this far. We only need $11,000 to install bathroom fixtures, finalize landscaping and buy furnishings.

While I was in Masindi, we had conferences for both men and women. People are spiritually hungry in Uganda, even though they struggle with poverty. In the men’s event, I released a father’s blessing over the guys because many of them never knew their dad. This was such a powerful moment because there are so many father wounds in Uganda. In the photo below you can see what happened when I gave the men a chance to repent of violence against women. The men openly confessed domestic abuse or unfaithfulness. This moment alone was worth the trip! The Holy Spirit is restoring the hearts of men and healing women as a result.

After my visit to Masindi, I spoke at a men’s conference in the city of Rwentobo, where we are building a second women’s shelter and empowerment center. In this culture, it’s not common for men to be vulnerable with each other or to confess their weaknesses. Sexual immorality is common but it is usually hidden. The Holy Spirit came in a powerful way in this meeting. I talked to the men as a father, laying out God’s healthy boundaries for sex and how to resist temptation. At the end many guys confessed their weaknesses and then met in small groups to ask for prayer, accountability and healing. Many men called their wives on the phone from the retreat and repented to them.

In Uganda, young girls are forced into unwanted marriages, domestic violence is common, and in some tribes women are considered less valuable than cows. But the Holy Spirit is breaking ancient cultural traditions to bring freedom in Christ. Below you can see the altar call for salvation at our women’s conference in Rwentobo a few days later. I preached from Numbers 27 about the five daughters of Zelophehad who asked Moses for inheritance rights. I told them that even though their culture puts women down, and often abuses them, our Heavenly Father loves His daughters and empowers them. More than 50 women received Jesus for the first time in this meeting!

I also did meetings for men and for women in a city called Kabwohe, Uganda, where my friend Gordon Karuhanga leads a growing ministry. I preached on how everything changed after Jesus paid for our sins. After I gave an invitation, more than 80 people chose to follow Jesus. Pastor Gordon and his wife have asked if we can start a women’s empowerment ministry in this city, where there is rampant abuse and abandonment of women. Please pray with us as we seek the Lord for funding for that project.

After my visit to Kabwohe I traveled to the rural village of Kagoma, on the eastern side of the capital, Kampala. There I met the girl in the photo below, Faridah Nangobi. When she was only 14, some relatives started forcing her into an unwanted marriage. The man who was supposed to marry her impregnated her, and she had this baby at age 15. Then a pastor intervened when he realized what was happening, and Faridah escaped from the marriage and became a Christian. Some believers have been caring for her and her son, who is called Miracle. But she needs to finish school so she can learn skills and be able to get a job. Faridah’s story is too common in Uganda. Many girls as young as 11 are forced to marry men four times as old as they are. The Mordecai Project is building a shelter in Kagoma to help girls and women in crisis, and a high school to provide education for girls who were forced to drop out.

I will be working with this dear pastor below, Paul Wandera, to build The Mordecai Project’s shelter in Kagoma. Pastor Paul and his wife, Christine, have a deep burden to change their culture and to end harmful traditions that hurt women and families. Thankfully we already have the land, but we will need about $30,000 to complete construction. Please pray about how you or your church could help us.

Meet my new Ugandan friend Kane (below). He reached out to me on Instagram when I arrived in Uganda more than two weeks ago. We chatted a few times and I invited him to a youth meeting I did in Kampala near the end of my trip. He showed up at the meeting and we prayed together. He surrendered his life to Jesus and began his faith journey! Many of the young people got his contact so he can be discipled, and he is already plugged into a church. This was the perfect way to end my trip!

On the last day of my trip, we made history when five directors of The Mordecai Project gathered in Kampala. Below you can see (L to R) Connie and Medad Birungi, who direct our work in Rwentobo; Udjasiri Wakahasha, from Goma, Congo; Paul Wandera, Kagoma, Uganda; Elijah Wafula, Moi’s Bridge, Kenya; Robert Kaahwa, Masindi, Uganda; and me. I’m sorry all the wives couldn’t join us. I’m honored beyond words to work with these wonderful people. I only wish one day we could meet with all the other directors from Guatemala, El Salvador, Peru, Colombia, India, Pakistan, Malawi, and Tanzania. We have united to stop the mistreatment of women and girls in the developing world. Thank you for believing in this mission!

We are so grateful for your love and prayers, in the good times and the difficult times. Please pray for these needs:

** Lee will speak at Randy Clark’s Global School of Supernatural Ministry March 5-7;
** Lee will speak at Mount Olive PH Church in Mount Olive, North Carolina, March 8-10, and do a men’s conference there with Pastor Jeff Dail;
** Lee will travel to Singapore March 14-26 to speak at Lighthouse Church.
** Please agree with us for $382,000 to cover the costs of all our current overseas projects. If you know of an individual or business owner who would like to support our work, please share with them about our mission.

To give to our overseas work, just hit the “Donate” button below and follow the prompts. To give by check, mail it to The Mordecai Project, P.O. Box 2781, LaGrange, GA 30241.