A sponsored child, grown up

When a child is seen

The Transforming Power of Sponsoring a Child

Enock Nkulanga was a sponsored child in Uganda. He gave this talk at First Baptist Church in Starkville, Mississippi, on April 19, 2026. These are his words.

Enock Nkulanga at First Baptist Starkville, the church where he gave this talk.

Good morning. It is a genuine joy to be with you today at First Baptist. Thank you for making space for me to share something close to my heart and, I believe, close to yours as well.

I want to talk to you about children. Specifically, about what happens to a child, what becomes possible in their life, when one person decides to see them. Really see them. Not as a problem to be solved, but as a person with a future worth investing in.

Many of you are already doing that. Through He Is Worthy, you are reaching into Uganda and saying to a child you have never met: I see you, you matter, and I believe in you.

I want you to know what that does. Not in theory, but from personal experience.

“Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.”
Proverbs 22:6

This is not just a parenting instruction. It is a promise. It tells us that the seeds we plant in a young life take root in ways we may never fully see — but God does.

My story

I grew up in Uganda. I was a boy with a big dream and very little certainty about whether that dream could ever become real. I wanted to be a lawyer. I wanted to make a difference with my words.

But wanting something and having a path to it — those are two very different things.

Then a man from Huntsville, Alabama entered my life. He committed to supporting me through high school, taking care of school fees and supplies, the practical things that can stand between a child and their future.

But what he gave me went far beyond money.

When he learned I wanted to become a lawyer, he did not just nod and move on. He took me to Kampala, the capital city. He sat me down with real lawyers — professionals who wore suits, argued cases, built careers doing the very thing I had only imagined. He introduced me to their world. He said, without saying the words: this is not a fantasy. This is real. And you can belong here.

Do you understand what that moment did to me?

I was a young man from a poor background being shown that my dream was legitimate. That someone who did not have to care, cared. That I was worth the investment of not just money, but time and imagination and relationship.

That is not a small thing. That is a life-shaping thing.

“Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”
Matthew 25:40

Jesus did not say: whatever you did for the most prominent, the most visible, the most likely to succeed. He said: the least of these. The child no one else is paying attention to. That is where He is. That is where your investment goes.

How it shapes the work I do now

I did not become a lawyer. Life took a different path. But that man’s investment planted something in me that could not be undone — a conviction that young people’s dreams are not too big. That they need adults who will not just feed or clothe them, but will see the person they are becoming and walk alongside them.

That is why I founded LeadMinds Africa in 2018.

We work with young people aged 15 to 22 in Uganda, in schools and in communities, walking them through a program that works on the head, the heart, the hands and the habits. We want whole leaders. Not just young people with skills, but young people with character, purpose, and the belief that they can change their world.

Every single day, I draw on what that man from Huntsville gave me.

“His investment in me became my investment in others. That is how generosity works. It does not stop. It multiplies.”

Enock Nkulanga

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord — plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
Jeremiah 29:11

God has already written a future for every child you are sponsoring. He knows their name. He knows their capacity. What you are doing through your giving, through He Is Worthy, is becoming part of the way He delivers on that promise.

Closing

I stood in a lawyer’s office in Kampala as a teenager because a man in Huntsville said yes. I do not know what he was thinking when he signed up to sponsor a child he had met a few times. But I know what it produced.

You are sitting in this room today, some of you already saying yes to a child in Uganda. I want to look you in the eyes and tell you: do not underestimate what you are doing. You are not just sending money across an ocean. You are sending a message. A message that says: I see you, God sees you, your life has value and your future is real.

And one day, perhaps sooner than you think, that child may stand in front of a room full of people just like me today and say: someone believed in me, and that changed everything.

The children at the school and orphanage in Uganda are being fed, and they do not have to worry about food. The teachers serve as guardians, brothers and sisters they look up to and feel safe with as they pursue their dreams. Your investment is making it possible for them to connect the dots in life and to feel the love of Jesus Christ. It is a huge opportunity for them to know Christ through your investment.

Thank you for your obedience.

God bless you.

About the speaker

Enock Nkulanga lives in Kampala, Uganda, and is the founder of LeadMinds Africa, which he started in 2018 to work with young Ugandans aged 15 to 22 on character, purpose and leadership.

He is a friend of this ministry, not a visitor to it. He served as driver and interpreter for Max and Vicki Alston during their time in Uganda, has stayed with them in the United States, and has spoken to their (Empty Nesters) Sunday school class. He has traveled to the United States at least seven times, and in March 2026 was a keynote speaker at a conference in Colorado Springs. Max and Vicki support him and his organization monthly.