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6/19/2018

Esther

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by Alli Kennedy

BHM 2018 Short-Term Summer Missionary


Esther
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Esther | Photo by Alli K Photography
there is a school 
Where hundreds of children greet our group 
with warm affection 
at the last classroom I desperately try to hold back the flood of tears that have been rising to my eyes 
And for a moment I don’t hear anything 
I just see her
Dancing and smiling
Freezing in time 
“Alli, can you spot your child?” Our translator Jackson asks 
I nod excitedly and point at her 
Her eyes light up and we both run towards each other kneeling into an embrace 
She places her little hand in mine
never letting go
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Alli & Esther | Photo by Alli K Photography
we ride to Katanga
her only response to my hundreds of questions along the journey a shy little “yes” 
When we arrive 
She leads me through beaten dirt paths 
As if to say “let me show you my home” 
as she pulls me along 
She looks back at me with bright eyes 
and a grin from ear to ear 
with two little teeth missing from the bottom
she is the contrast of beauty
In this hell 
In this slum 
with a river of sewage 
rising from rainfall
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Katanga slum | Photo by Brooke Martin
walls start closing in as Esther leads me
To her home
Her grandmother greets me and welcomes as many of us that can fit into her home 
her house is the size of my bathroom
only a curtain separating the bed from the living area 
She tells me 
Esther’s mother cannot care for her 
because of the mental challenges she faces
she has been taken advantage of several times of so no one knows Esther’s father 
her grandmother is aging
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Alli meets Esther's family | Photo by Alli K Photography
Their only hope has been through sponsorship 
For Esther’s school, clothes, water, and food
and in that moment 
I feel peace 
But 
I also feel absolutely horribly helpless 
I want to save her from the hell she lives in 
I want to take her into my arms and run away to safety 
I want her to know love 
I want her to know the love of my Father 
it takes everything in me to not break in that moment
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Esther & Alli | Photo by Alli K Photography
We walk to lunch holding hands 
My friends swinging her in between us 
She sits with us and laughs and laughs 
Her sweet giggles bringing joy to everyone around the room
Her dances inspiring claps and videos 
She makes silly faces at us 
Her goofy personality on full display
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Alli & Esther | Photo by Alli K Photography
​She asks for my water and tries to drink it 
All at once 
I stop her for breaks 
This is probably the most water she’s ever had to drink at once.
My heart sinks
I try to hide my tears from her 
Beneath a smile 
but it’s the most difficult thing I’ve ever done.
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Esther tries juice | Photo by Alli K Photography
We walk along back to her home 
I know our time together is short
But to her little mind, this lasts forever. 
This is it.
This is the end of her suffering.
and I can’t take that from her
I just can’t.
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Esther & Alli | Photo by Alli K Photography
When we reach the bus, I get on my knees to meet her eyes and her smile fades 
Like she knew the dream I was about to steal away from her 
Jackson tells her she has to go home and we’re leaving for the day 
I can see her little heart drop.
she lets go of my hand 
I coax her back into my arms and she stands still 
“Hey, I love you sweet girl” I whisper to her 
A blank stare haunts me 
From eyes that had shined so bright 
I step away from her and wave 
she turns her back to walk home 
and as her little feet carry her away from me 
the dust churns as we drive away.
She fades into the horizon of Katanga. 
I shatter.
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Alli & Esther in Katanga | Photo by Alli K Photography

Esther is just one of many children that live in Katanga with a story like this. Sponsorship can be the only hope for some children to go to school and to have meals and clean water. A year ago, a post from my friend, Waverly McCall, convicted me of how much I was spending on food and extraneous items when I could be changing the life of a little girl in Uganda. I never thought in a million years I’d be able to meet her and cherish her for even a short time. She has rocked my whole world and shown me how to love in a way I never knew how. If you are interested in sponsoring a child and forever changing his or her future, please check out Benjamin House Ministries and the wonderful things they’re doing in Uganda.
Learn More About Sponsorship

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5/24/2018

Restorative Dance

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Family Restoration Stories: Ibra

You may have heard that, in honor of their birthdays, we're having a friendly competition to see which of our founders - Bucky or Julie Rogers - can raise the most money for our Transitional Homes. Our goal is $10,000 or one full year of Family Restoration operations. That may seem like a big goal for just 3 months, but it's just that important. Here's why:

Ibra Believed He was the Problem

For as long as he can remember, Ibra's mother and father have been separated and while he was young his father cared for him. When his father took a new wife, she refused to cook for Ibra and his siblings. Naturally, they told their father and, to their surprise, he immediately kicked their step-mother out of their home. Soon after, their father regretted his actions, knowing they were made in anger, and pleaded with his new wife to return.
Ibra believed that he was the problem; he was the cause of his step-mother's banishment. When Ibra heard that his step-mother might return, he fled out of fear that she might blame him for his father's actions and mistreat him. Ibra was only 10 years old.

Life on the Street

For the next 4 years of his life, Ibra was homeless and lived on the streets of Kampala - the capital of Uganda. Each day, he dug through rubbish pits for food and re-sold plastic bottles in front of street shops to try to earn money. At night he would sleep on the sidewalk and hide from policemen, ordered to arrest homeless children and send them to Reprimand "Rimand" Houses. Throughout the years, a few non-profits occasionally fed him, but none did anything to get him off of the streets.

If our Transitional Homes didn't exist,
​Ibra's story would end here.

If our Transitional Homes didn't exist, Ibra's story would end here. He would continue to roam the streets of Kampala, like many children before him, and be one of thousands. No one would know his name, remember his birth day, or care to hear his story. But God had another plan.
Ibra was found by Benjamin House staff. He moved into our Transitional Homes, where his House Parents, Abraham and Phiona, lovingly took care of him for 3 months as his social worker dove into his case in order to discover whether Ibra had any living relatives who would care for and raise him. The bonds formed between the Rogers family, Abraham, Phiona, and Ibra during those months will not quickly be forgotten.

Ibra goes Home

After 4 years of homelessness as an orphan and 3 months of rehabilitation and family research, Ibra has a family. On Thursday, May 17, 2018 Benjamin House Ministries reunited Ibra and his birth mother! Her ex-husband never told her their son had run away and you can only imagine her horror as she discovered that he'd been living as a homeless orphan.
In 12 short weeks, Ibra's life is radically different than it was before. He has a future, a family, a home.

In 12 short weeks, Ibra's life is radically different than it was before.
He has a future, a family, a home.

So far in this friendly birthday competition, donors have given a total of $1,083.35 - enough to fund 5 weeks of family restoration in our Transitional Homes! Will you help radically change a child's life and a bring child, like Ibra, home?

Help Restore Families

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From Julie's birthday (May 9th) until Bucky's (August 7th) birthday, we are hosting a friendly competition to see who can raise the most donations for funding Benjamin House's Transitional Homes! Our goal is $10,000, which would fully fund our Transitional Homes for one year!
If Julie wins, Bucky has to learn a traditional Ugandan dance and perform it for us! If Bucky wins, Julie has to learn and perform the dance! If we reach our goal of $10,000, they BOTH dance! The best part is that no matter who wins, we'll all be helping to restore families in Uganda!
Donate here to choose your dancer! (choose whose fundraiser to donate to in the "My donation is for" drop down box).
We'll post a video of the dancer here once the competition has ended!

Choose Your Dancer

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5/7/2018

Why Transitional Homes?

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Family Restoration Stories: Hakim

One of the first questions we're asked when people hear about Benjamin House Ministries is whether we're an orphanage.
Actually, we're not! Benjamin House Ministries is a family restoration non-profit.
There are over 2.6 million orphans in Uganda. To give you some comparison, the number of orphans in Uganda is equivalent to more than 50% of the population of South Carolina. Children are without parents for a multitude of reasons ranging from civil war, disease, abuse, and overwhelming poverty. The average Ugandan has a monthly income of $30. That's just $1 a day. For many Ugandans, being a "good mom" or a "good dad" just isn't on the radar. Survival is. Every day, Ugandan parents are faced with a choice: either I can keep my child and when they're older they'll struggle with life just like I do now, or I can take my child to an orphanage where they'll get 3 meals a day, an education, and a chance for a better life. We believe that's a choice no parent should ever have to make.
Family Preservation
While the quick fix to the orphan care crisis in Uganda is to build orphanages and give kids the most comfortable life possible, in the long term it makes the situation exponentially worse. Kids need families! Our desire is to remove the barriers that might keep a child from their family or tribe of origin so they can grow up learning what family looks like.
For families that are already together, but are on the brink of falling apart with children who may soon become orphans, we created our Child Sponsorship program. BHM Child Sponsorship exists to preserve families. If the expense of school fees or providing enough food for the family is the challenge, we offer sponsorship for the child so that he can stay with his parents. Building another orphanage would essentially put a bandaid on the Ugandan orphan care crisis. We want to provide solutions at the root of the issue!
Family Restoration
Then there are the families that have already fallen apart. The children who are already without parents, living on the streets of Kampala and sleeping on the sidewalks at night. Every child has a story and there are 7,000 children living on the streets of Kampala. A girl whose father abused her, causing her to run away. A boy whose mother got Malaria and passed away. A refugee who fled Northern Uganda during the civil wars. These children don't just need homes. They need a place to restore their hearts, souls, bodies, and minds. Seeing this overwhelming need in the heart of Uganda, we sought out to restore families through Transitional Homes. In these homes, orphans receive counseling and love from our social workers and House Parents. There are no more than 8 children in a home at one time and we aim to find a forever family for each child within 6 months. One of these sweet children is Hakim and after 4 years of living on the street, he is home! This is his story.
Hakim goes Home
When Hakim was young, his parents separated. After his mother got remarried, she and his step-father wouldn't let Hakim, his sister, or his brother visit. Their father took Hakim's siblings in and Hakim went to live with his Grandmother. After some time, Hakim's father and siblings visited. His father decided to take Hakim with him this time and leave his brother and sister with their Grandmother. She had no choice but to give Hakim to his father.
Hakim was 10 when he went to live with his father and step-mother. Immediately, his step-mother began mistreating him and eventually she influenced Hakim's father to abuse him, as well. When their abuse became more serious, Hakim fled to the streets of Kampala.
In February, Hakim moved into our Transitional Home and in just a month we found his Grandmother! She and Hakim's siblings have heard nothing about Hakim from their father since he took Hakim away, 4 years ago. Although his family was eager to have him return, our social workers felt that Hakim needed more time to recuperate. After 2 more months of counseling, rehabilitation, and adjustment Hakim, his siblings, and Grandmother were reunited!
​Hakim is living with his Grandmother and siblings now and was given a "Welcome Home" present by our staff including a new mattress, mosquito net, pillow, clothes, food, and school supplies, and 2 pre-registered terms at the nearest school. Our social workers will continue to check up on Hakim and his family throughout the year as he adjusts to being a kid, again, in his forever family!

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4/27/2018

The First of Many to Come

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Family Restoration Stories: Innocent

Our hearts are filled to the brim after witnessing Innocent return home for the first time in 8 years and be reunited with his family! This is his story:
Innocent grew up with his parents and 3 siblings in a small village in Arua about 375 miles from Kampala. In 2000, when Innocent was 6, his parents separated. His dad decided to move to Kampala to find work in the city and told their family that Innocent would come with him to go to a good school. But Innocent was never enrolled in school. Instead, he was abused at home by his uncle and after 2 years, Innocent fled to the street. He lived on the streets of Kampala for 6 years.
This February, Innocent moved into our Transitional Home, where he was counseled and loved by our social workers and House parents as we searched for his relatives.
Upon finding Innocent’s mother, we discovered that she was never told that Innocent ran away. For the past 8 years she believed Innocent was away at school. You can only imagine the pain she felt when we told her the truth.
But her pain was soon replaced by the greatest joy! With the approval of our social workers, Innocent was reunited with his mother and her family in Arua! Friends and neighbors flooded their home as news spread that their son has returned!
We are overjoyed to finally see our dream of family restoration taking place! Innocent is the first of many children whose families we will see restored! Thank you for believing in this dream and helping us make it a reality.

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4/25/2018

World Malaria Day 2018

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by Bucky Rogers

Founder of Benjamin House Ministries


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Flu strain A, B, C, XYZ and everything in between has littered my Facebook feed this winter season.  It's everywhere.  I've watched as people lament getting it, their kids getting it, and a hundred home remedies to stop it or make it better.  Influenza can be deadly in a small portion of the elderly and very small children in the USA, but for the vast majority of people who get the flu, they feel like trash for a few days, then start getting back on their feet.

Where we live, in Uganda, Malaria is everywhere.  It makes up nearly half of all diagnoses and treatments from hospital and clinic visits.  It is the single highest cause of death, making up 1/3 of all deaths, globally.  Forty-two Ugandan children die every day due to Malaria.  In fact, during the time it will take me to write this blog, a child here will have taken their last breath because of a disease that is preventable and easily treatable.
​

Forty-two Ugandan children die every day due to Malaria.

​I got malaria for the first time about a year ago today.  My wife, Julie, asked our son, Innocent, what having Malaria felt like. He told her, "It feels like your world is ending."  Within 2 hours I went from normal to barely being able to function.  I couldn't form coherent sentences.  By the time I got to the doctor, I passed out in the lobby and woke up hours later with an IV and Julie by my bedside.  It took nearly 7 days for me to feel well enough to even attempt normal activities and another 3 weeks to fully recover. The first month after we moved to Uganda, another missionary contracted Malaria and it went cerebral and he was in a coma within hours.  He died just a few weeks later.

It feels like your world is ending.

​Some of the best ways to prevent malaria are sleeping under a treated mosquito net, taking anti-malarial drugs, and avoiding mosquito breeding grounds at dusk.  Benjamin House, through our sponsorship program, is trying to ensure that the families under our care have every tool they need to escape this deadly disease.

Thank you for standing with us, always.
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Click here to donate $10 to our World Malaria Day fund to provide a child with a mosquito net.
Click here to donate $25 or more to our World Malaria Day fund to provide a child with anti-malarial medication.

​Click here to learn more about Child Sponsorship.
Click here to Email us and register your church for this year's VBS for BHM fundraising theme: Fight the Bite.
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3/27/2018

There are no coincidences. This is why we're here.

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Picturephoto taken by Mama Says Photography
This is Beatrice and her two sons, Jonathan and Samuel. Two years ago, Beatrice was at a point of desperation. Her skin had been breaking out with odd bumps, so she went to see a doctor. Not only did the doctor verify that Beatrice has a skin disease, but she also has HIV. When her husband heard the news, he left Beatrice and their sons, who were only 3 years old and 1 month old at the time. Beatrice was ostracized with no job, no food, no health care, and no way to take care of her boys. She shared with her friend, Faith, that she felt she had no choice but to abandon Jonathan in the streets and throw Samuel into a pit latrine (a deep pit that is dug in the ground to be used as a toilet).
That month Bucky and Julie Rogers, our founders, moved to Uganda. They started a neighborhood fellowship that met together in their home every Sunday night. Faith came to the fellowship every week and convinced Beatrice to come with her to see if Benjamin House could help her. Immediately, we fed Beatrice and her boys and gave them food to get them through the next few days. Bucky and Julie asked her to come back in two days to hear our plan to help preserve her family. That night, we shared Beatrice’s story with our supporters and both of her boys were sponsored in less than an hour! Today, Beatrice’s skin is healing and she receives treatment for her HIV, Jonathan is in primary school, and Samuel is a happy and thriving 2 year old!
This sweet boy is a living miracle; a picture of God's perfect timing and a reminder, on the hard days, of why we’re here. The Lord is good and greatly to be praised!


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11/24/2017

VIDEO: Transitional Homes Ribbon Cutting

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10/30/2017

Benjamin House Ministries: the story behind the name

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Almost one year after they got married, Brian & Mary Beth Lambert were expecting their first child! At their 24 weeks ultrasound screening, they received devastating news that their child would not survive outside of the womb. The doctor callously described the nature of the child’s condition and encouraged them to terminate the pregnancy. Brian & Mary Beth refused, choosing to treasure any time they would have with their child.
When they found out they were having a boy, Brian recalled the Scripture of the patriarch, whose name was associated with both sorrow and strength (Genesis 35:18). So Brian and Mary Beth chose to name their son Benjamin. Throughout the pregnancy, Brian & Mary Beth read the Bible to Benjamin each night, knowing that when he opened his eyes in Heaven, he would recognize his King, never having known the sorrows of this broken world.
The Lord took Benjamin away on March 5, 2010, 10 weeks from his due date. He entered the world three days later, and was buried next to Mary Beth’s father — the grandfather he will only know in Heaven.
Benjamin’s story has touched many hearts and Brian & Mary Beth’s choice to value life has been an inspiration to all who hear it, including our founders. Benjamin House Ministries seeks to show the God-given value of every child, just as the parents of its namesake did.


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10/2/2017

Sometimes It's Takes Being Broken Ourselves...

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​by Kimberly Henderson

BHM supporter


Picturephoto taken by Blissful Grace Photography
Sometimes it takes being broken ourselves to get us to the point that we will willingly minister to those who are broken around us.

Take yesterday for example. As I stepped out of our van to head into church, my shoes fell to pieces. Literally. Pieces. Right there in the parking lot.

First, I lost both heels in huge chunks. Then smaller, crumbly pieces followed suit. It was the craziest thing. I had to walk carefully and a little tip-toey so I didn’t leave a huge mess with every step. But even with me walking with the greatest of care, I had to pick up pieces of my sole as we made our way in and as I made my way to and from the stage for choir.

But God...

We “just happened” to have visitors at church yesterday. People from Benjamin House Ministries, a ministry doing incredible work in Uganda. And what did they have with them in order to raise money for and awareness about their ministry?

Not just t-shirts.
Not just beautiful handmade necklaces and bracelets.
They had shoes. 
The ones you see pictured above.

Shoes I was able to purchase and slip on my feet between services. Shoes and a shirt purchased with money that will now be sown back into the lives of people in Uganda.

And I can’t quite get over it. How God met me in my place of need and, in doing so, allowed me to help provide in a small way for people in their place of need.

Would I have stopped at their booth and given anyways? Maybe so. I hope so. But it was the brokenness I was walking in that made it a certainty.

How thankful I am that He let those shoes break exactly when they did. I want to remember He is a God who meets us in our brokenness. A God who tenderly helps us pick up the pieces of our soul. A God who takes those broken places, leads us to a place of healing and then allows us to minister out to others.

May we trust Him with our broken places-expecting Him to lovingly and powerfully meet us in them, knowing He can bring beautiful purpose out of pain. And may we become faithful and humble partners in His ministry of hope and wholeness. Because we have a world that is deeply hurting and is in desperate need of hope.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 2 Corinthians 1:3-4


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9/24/2017

Rescuing Uganda’s orphans: Spartanburg ministry still growing

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Alyssa Mulliger

Staff Writer for the Spartanburg Herald Journal. This article was published online by the Spartanburg Herald Journal on 24 September 2017. Read the original article at ​http://www.goupstate.com/news/20170924/rescuing-ugandas-orphans-spartanburg-ministry-still-growing​.


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Bucky and Julie Rogers say God has called them to Uganda for life.
The Spartanburg couple had known for a few years they were being called to provide orphan care overseas in some capacity. After multiple mission trips to Uganda through their church, Anderson Mill Road Baptist Church in Moore, that calling turned into a vision three years ago to rebuild Ugandan families by helping the country’s growing number of orphaned and vulnerable children.
“It became apparent that (Uganda) was the place God was calling us to plant our lives,” said Bucky Rogers, who had been pastor of students and worship arts at Anderson Mill. “The situation for orphaned and vulnerable children is very dire there, and generations of exploitation have made it exponentially worse.”
The Rogers sought to invest their lives in seeing things change and in spring 2016, the couple and their four adopted children moved to Kampala, Uganda, to establish an orphan care and family restoration ministry called Benjamin House Ministries.
Right now, the organization is assisting 140 children and families in Uganda through its programs.
“We have been on the ground in Uganda for about 18 months now…and have no plans to return back to the states to live,” Rogers said. “We believe God has called us here for life.”
Providing basic necessities
Among the priorities of Benjamin House Ministries is to help provide basic necessities for Ugandan children like food, clean water, safe shelter and education.
The average Ugandan lives on less than $1 per day and eats one meal per day, Rogers said.
Streams, wells and run-off pipes are where most Ugandans get the water they use for drinking, cooking and bathing. Every year, more than 10,000 Ugandans die from illnesses related to drinking dirty water, Rogers said.
“Many of (the children) became separated from their parents and have been living and sleeping on the streets, begging for food and using drugs to numb the hunger and make themselves sleep,” he said. “Some reach a point of desperation and want to go home, but don’t know how.”
The Rogers and their staff of eight in Uganda also work with the country’s local leaders to get homeless children into transitional homes and prepare them to be part of a family again.
“We want to see the millions of children who are growing up in abject poverty without mothers and fathers be reunited with their birth family or tribe of origin,” Rogers said.
D.J. Horton, senior pastor at Anderson Mill Road Baptist Church, said like any new ministry in a challenging place, the organization’s first two years haven’t been without some difficulties. The organization has evolved and adjusted, but what hasn’t changed is the Rogers’ desire and call to help the people of Uganda, he said.
“Bucky and Julie had everything here with us at The Mill — great job, thriving ministry, beautiful home and tons of loving friends,” Horton said. “Yet, because of their heart for Uganda, they gave all of that up to go live in a third-world country and simultaneously start a new ministry.”
Helping children thrive
Uganda has one of the youngest populations in the world. The median age is around 16 years old.
The AIDS crisis in sub-Saharan Africa and the war in South Sudan and northern Uganda wiped out much of the adult generation, Rogers said.
“It’s literally a nation of children,” he said. “Well-meaning people came to Uganda and established orphanages to care for the children who were left behind. Inadvertently, they created an even bigger problem.”
Bucky Rogers said as a result, Uganda has a generation of adults who grew up in orphanages and boarding schools and who don’t know what it means to be a family. The majority of children are either raised by grandparents or placed in boarding schools and visit home only a few months a year, he said.
“This breakdown in the family has caused ripple effects that are hard to overestimate,” he said. The role of Benjamin House Ministries is to provide donors, churches and other groups an avenue to inspire hope across Uganda. The organization does this by assisting orphaned children and preparing them for their futures, subsequently building up the country’s next generation of leaders.
An important piece of this preparation is education, which can lead to job skills training and empowerment.
According to the organization, some Ugandan children begin working as young as 5 years old to help their parents earn a living. If they sell enough items like rice or bananas on the street, they might be able to pay for school.
“All education in Uganda costs money,” Rogers said. “If a family cannot afford the school fees, including a school uniform and school supplies, then their children may never learn to read or write.”
The organization’s sponsorship program helps take care of schooling expenses, along with medical care and other minor needs, allowing parents to keep children in their families. The organization also has a program that equips teenagers with leadership skills.
“Kids who were struggling when we first placed them in school are now thriving, and we even have several who have advanced to the top of their classes,” Rogers said.
Restoring healthy families
Another way Benjamin House Ministries helps to restore families and get abandoned children off the streets is by building transitional homes in Uganda.
The organization broke ground in June on the first of multiple transitional homes. Children will stay in the homes between three and six months as they receive counseling and rehab for any drug addictions.
“The kids we are rescuing from the streets are alone. On the streets there is no hope for them,” Rogers said. “Our transitional homes are a safe place to land and prepare to be a part of a family.”
Each home will have a set of house parents and between six and eight children. The organization’s staff will work to find the children’s families or tribes and make sure these are safe options for the kids.
Where that isn’t possible, suitable foster parents will be trained and assume the role of parents in a child’s life, Rogers said.
Parents or guardians also will receive counseling through the program in order to adequately care for any children and provide them with a forever home. This can be a complicated process and often involves helping parents or guardians gain skills so they can find a job and provide for their children.
“We want to see families lift themselves out of poverty and brokenness, not simply receiving a handout,” Rogers said.
Building future success
Back in the United States, one part-time representative and a board of directors help spread the Benjamin House story and raise financial support to help the organization continue its work in Uganda.
“Our ministry is completely dependent upon our supporters in the states,” Rogers said. “So the timing of our vision depends wholly on the giving.”
The organization’s major fundraising avenue is through its annual unveiling events. This year, such an event will be held on Sept. 28 in Chattanooga, Tenn., and another on Oct. 5 at the Upward Star Center in Spartanburg.
The ticketed dinner events are open to the public and will involve an intimate discussion with Bucky Rogers about the basic needs of Ugandans and how Benjamin House Ministries can help meet them.
“The work that Benjamin House does is transforming the lives of Ugandans by inspiring hope while meeting their basic needs,” said Kevin Drake, publisher of the Herald-Journal and a Benjamin House Ministries board member. “By caring for others we enhance our own life experience. This banquet gives us an opportunity to make a difference in the lives of these children.”
Michael Lord, who also is on the organization’s board, said the future of Benjamin House Ministries is bright because the need is still so large. The board’s role is to give the Rogers the tools they need to do what needs to be accomplished in Uganda, he said.
“When you look at Benjamin House and its aims and its goals for the future, the potential to reach every child is just overwhelming,” Lord said. “We want to impact the lives of as many children as possible, but it all starts with one child. And I think the Rogers know how to build those relationships with that one child, and then another child and another.”
Through ongoing financial and community support, Bucky Rogers sees the organization expanding in the coming years with an entire self-sustaining village in Uganda.
He also wants to see the organization reach more children and families, plant hundreds of new churches, and shift the general mindset of Ugandan families.
“Basically, we have a huge dream, and we believe God can do it,” he said.


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7/25/2017

Hendrix Elementary donating eclipse glasses to children in Uganda

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by Zach Fox

Staff Writer for the Spartanburg Herald Journal. This article was published online by the Spartanburg Herald Journal on 25 August 2017. Read the original article at ​http://www.goupstate.com/news/20170825/hendrix-elementary-donating-eclipse-glasses-to-children-in-uganda.


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A group of Hendrix Elementary School students want Ugandan children to enjoy an upcoming solar eclipse as much, and as safely, as they did this week.
Amy Flynn’s fourth-grade class has started collecting used eclipse glasses to send to Ugandan children later this year. School officials are working with Benjamin House Ministries, and the glasses will come with notes from Hendrix students about what the eclipse was like.
The African country lies in the path of a 2020 solar eclipse.
“One of the students said, ‘Well, we could keep them until the next eclipse’ and we said, ‘That’s not really possible,’” Flynn said. “That’s when we started looking, who could we even give these to?”
The idea built steam after Flynn reached out to Benjamin House staff. The organization works with orphans and families in Uganda.
Spartanburg School District 2 spokesman Adrian Acosta said other schools have been asked about either sending glasses to Hendrix Elementary or starting similar donation drives.
Friday, Flynn encouraged her class to bring in the glasses the district gave them for the eclipse.
She taught another lesson about the eclipse and its significance before having students write messages to the Ugandan children who will receive their glasses.
“I think it’s the right thing to do,” said Grayson Smithson. “I hope they’re thinking that, ‘Hey, some kid was nice enough to donate these to me.’”
Hendrix Elementary is an International Baccalaureate school, encouraging students to use lessons to take action, Flynn said. The eclipse provided a perfect opportunity for learning, because it it led to classroom lessons and a lesson in giving back, she said.
“I think that’s what they’re going to remember about fourth grade,” she said. “They’re going to remember all the learning about this specifically. I hope when they hear about the eclipse in 2020 in Uganda, they remember someone will be holding their glasses.”
Addison Posey said her “mind was blown” by seeing the eclipse with her parents and family friends. She hopes children in Uganda have the same feeling in a few years.
“I hope they get the message that the solar eclipse is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and they’re really experiencing history and now they have the glasses to actually experience that history,” she said.
Any residents who want to donate their glasses can drop them off at the front desk of Hendrix Elementary or mail them to 1084 Springfield Road in Boiling Springs.


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6/24/2017

What's the Point? They'll be dirty again.

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Ashley Bennett

Summer 2017 Short-Term Missionary


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We began our ministry that day by washing feet. Layers and layers of dirt... As I scrubbed the bottoms of their feet, they were not even ticklish. Their feet, just like their hearts and eyes, were hardened and void of feeling.
I won't lie... I caught myself thinking what's the point? What will washing these dirty feet accomplish? They will be dirty again in minutes.
Covered in scars and open wounds, I began to see their feet as a beautiful, sorrowful depiction of the lives they live. Hard, dirty, unfeeling, scarred, and wounded. 
God revealed to me that the washing was not only for them, but for me. I needed to see their filth, their pain, their scars, their wounds. I needed "the eyes of my heart enlightened" (Ephesians 1:18), because I was just as dirty, scarred, and wounded before I found Christ. Those feet represent all our lives before Christ, and thankfully Christ does not look at us and say, "What's the point? They will sin again." No, lovingly and patiently, He washes us clean over and over again.
Thank you Jesus for your never-ending and never-failing salvation that washes us white as snow.


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11/21/2016

I Wish I Had More Faith

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by Bucky Rogers

Founder of Benjamin House Ministries


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I wish I had more faith…

Why is it that we, who have been given everything we need in Christ, bought from death, sealed by the Holy Spirit, living a life of joy and happiness and hope, experiencing that God has always been and will always be faithful, and awaiting an eternity in paradise with Him…………still doubt?

Why can’t I simply wake up every morning and trust that the needs that God shows me today, He will provide for in His time and in His way? Why can’t I rest in His promise that He has all this in His hands? Why does restlessness and helplessness and anxiety seem to be in my shadow? I’ve seen Him do it! I’ve witnessed the nearly visible hand of God right in front of me a hundred times! I know…I KNOW who He is and what He has promised. Why do I still wonder?

When I’m looking at a sea of faces of kids at a local school I chaplain, why do I give in to fear that they will turn aside from the Word and just continue the cycle that has been destroying the family in Uganda? Why can’t I remember the examples of the ones who are steadfastly following Jesus and are going to make a difference…or think of Charles or Joakim or others on our staff who are breaking that cycle and leading others to do the same? I want my first thought to be a thought of encouragement, remembering a young man who used to be Muslim and is now being baptized on Christmas to publically profess his faith.

There’s a computer program that we use to track our giving for Benjamin House. The front page has a chart that tracks giving over time. I check it every day. Every…day. Why can’t I just trust that God has called us to this and He will provide every cent we need to accomplish the goal? Why does my heart skip a beat when I log in and notice the giving trend going down, or when I get an email from someone saying they’re discontinuing their giving. I’ve seen it before, and God always does something incredible and it goes back up. Why can’t I rest in that?

I want my kids to know their father trusts THE Father. No matter what. Now I just have to work to become that man. I identify with Peter more than I ever thought I did before. Everything in me wants to jump out of the boat at every instance. I want to be where Jesus is, on the front lines, in the middle of the dirt and the pain with Him. But before I take the 3rd step, I’m looking to the right and to the left to make sure nothing’s gonna hit me.
I have to be real. No plastic smiles here. Things are hard. And we go through days that we feel like we’ve been trudging through mud for so long that we can’t take another step. Then I get a message like this:
“I’m thinking about you all this morning, we miss each of you so much! I’m especially missing just hanging out at the Rogers house and see all of the beautiful Christmas decorations and decorating Christmas cookies. But I’m so grateful for the work you are doing in Uganda and seeing all of the updates on each step of this journey God is bringing you though (especially the recent ground breaking!). We pray for you but I’m spending some extra time lifting you up this morning, as I know the enemy tries to discourage and tear you down, I pray for strength, endurance, and Gods peace as you all are on the front lines. Thank you for being such an incredible example and blessing to so many we love y’all!”

So, I’ll continue to echo the man in the Gospels who said, “I believe Lord, help my unbelief.” I’ll continue to lean on the Church as she continues to be what God has called her to be. I’ll continue to wrestle Brennan, beat the girls off Inno, watch Sasha tackle manhood, keep Xan from having a heart attack, tickle my Becca-boo, and keep the ice trays filled for my lovely Julie. I’ll look into the eyes of the thousands, remembering the dozens that God has already worked miracles in, and we’ll keep walking by faith.

Pray for us. Pray that we will be able to take a step in the dark not knowing where our foot will land but trusting that the one who made it all and who loves us completely will be guiding that foot to a perfect and solid place. Pray that our hearts will remain steadfast and encouraged. Pray for the days when the dust seems too think, the air too hot, the roads too bumpy, and the language too hard. Pray for us to remember that each day is a gift and a responsibility and no matter what happens, we’re saved and heaven is waiting. This life is a blip on the screen, and I pray we’ll be faithful with this moment.

Bucky, Julie, and the Benjamin House Team



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9/15/2016

Former Upstate pastor Bucky Rogers shares updates on Uganda ministry

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by Allison M. Roberts

Staff Writer for the Spartanburg Herald Journal. This article was published online by the Spartanburg Herald Journal on 15 September 2016. Read the original article at ​https://www.goupstate.com/news/20160915/former-upstate-pastor-bucky-rogers-shares-updates-on-uganda-ministry​.


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A former Spartanburg pastor who moved to Uganda was back in the city Thursday night to update a large crowd of supporters about his first six months in Africa and the project he started there.
Bucky Rogers, executive director of Benjamin House Ministries, his wife, Julie, and their four children packed their lives into about 10 duffel bags and moved to Uganda in March to dedicate themselves full-time to Benjamin House. Rogers started the ministry to help orphans in the country.

It took about two months to get settled, Rogers said, but over the past six months Benjamin House Ministries has opened a church that about 300 people attend and started a family sponsorship program.

The next project is a transitional home that will help children transition from orphanages to a family setting. The home will give them a place to get comfortable with living with a family before moving into that situation, Rogers said.

Before moving to Uganda, Rogers took several trips to the country and saw firsthand how great the need was. Living there has allowed him to see the need in a different way, he said.

“It’s everything I expected it would be, and yet everything is different than I expected it would be,” Rogers said. “Every day is hard. It’s not hard in that it’s hot or we don’t have ice or we don’t have Chick-fil-As on every corner. We’re OK with that. But it’s hard helping 44 kids in a slum right now and seeing thousands more who need help. We’re asking God to open up the floodgates and let us help these kids.”

Kelly Clark, a member of Anderson Mill Road Baptist Church, went with Rogers on his first trip to Uganda. They were on a mission trip with the church, and Clark saw how much the trip and people there touched Rogers’ heart.

Clark said it wasn’t a surprise when Rogers announced his family was moving to Uganda. It seemed natural, she added.

Thursday was the first time Rogers had been back in Spartanburg since leaving. Clark said she was excited to hear about his experiences and had her handkerchief ready.
​
“They moved in March and I’ve seen the Facebook posts but I haven’t heard Bucky’s heart,” Clark said.

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8/1/2016

We're all someone's daughter...we're all someone's son

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by Bucky Rogers

Founder and Executive Director of Benjamin House Ministries


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Somewhere around the mid 80’s, John Farnham released a song called “You’re the Voice.”  I’m sure the meaning of the song is nothing like how my brain has been applying it over the past 5 months, but nonetheless, those words keep ringing through my mind.  We’re all someone’s daughter…we’re all someone’s son.
Yesterday, Julie and I were driving back home and there were two very little girls digging through our trash, trying to find something of value, and probably trying to find food.  I met another boy at the gate who said, “Pastor, I don’t want to ask you for things.  I know everybody does that.  But we have no food.  My grandmother is sick and needs to eat.  Do you have anything left?”  A man came up to me after service last Sunday asking to speak to me sometime this week.  I made an appointment with him to talk this past Thursday.  He told me he was thrown in the latrine as a baby and someone passing by got him out and cleaned him up and nursed him back to health.  That caregiver died when he was a young boy and he’s lived the rest of his life trying to survive on his own.  He turned from Islam and accepted Christ that day.  I spoke to his wife yesterday and she too gave her heart to Christ as well.  I told them I loved them and I would see them next Sunday, and as we were walking away, he told me that was the first time he had ever heard those words directed to him.
The other day I was doing some painting at the church and a student from the school that I’m campus pastor for came by to see me.  He helped paint a little and then I walked with him back down to the school.  On the way he said, “Do you remember a few weeks ago when you talked to me after the chapel service?”  I did remember. He was clearly upset and wanted me to pray with him, so of course, I did.  He continued, “That day I was going to commit suicide.  I had already planned when I was going to jump from the 4th floor balcony.  I played it out in my mind over and over.  I decided not to after we prayed.  Pastor, I have nothing left.  I have no one left.  There’s no one who would even know if I had died that day.”  I kept it together until after I dropped him off at school and then I just got into my car and wept.  Of all the things in this world I understand, that just isn’t one of them.  I’ll never understand it.
When I think back over my childhood, all I can remember is love.  My parents divorced when I was 2 years old.  When I got a little older there were some pretty rough times…going from a fairly comfortable to having absolutely nothing within 6 months.  I can remember a few times during those years not telling my mom that my class in elementary school was taking a field trip because I knew we didn’t have the money and I knew it would hurt her to tell me that we just couldn’t swing it.  So, while the school was on field trip, I would hang out at the school, help the teachers grade papers and stuff, and then come home without a word.  I can remember saving up my birthday money and Christmas money that relatives had given me, and sneaking a $20 bill in mom’s purse every now and then.  My older brother was in trouble a lot, and I would wake up at night to shouting matches between him and my mom.  And yet, with all that…the thing that is most in the forefront of my memory is love.  There has never been a day of my life, ever, that I didn’t feel loved by my mom and dad.  I’m their son.  I know what that means.  And I’m a lot like them.
Over the past 5 months I’ve been struck by the reality that there are generations of people in Uganda who are just like their parents.  They too are someone’s daughter…someone’s son.  They’ve known neglect and so they neglect.  They know abandonment and a lack of love, so they abandon, and fail to love.  They’ve been cheated and exploited for gain, so they cheat and exploit.  They become their parents…and on and on.  Uganda is drowning for lack of heroic, godly, caring, strong, Biblical fathers.  I would never do anything to diminish the value of a mother.  But there’s something powerful about the hands, heart, and words of a father.  And they’re almost entirely absent here.  I can feel it everywhere I go, and with every boy and girl I talk to or spend any time with.  They hang on every word.  They’re content to just sit beside you…to hold your hand.  They have a scared look until you smile at them and then they smile the biggest smile you’ve ever seen.  A simple “I love you” spoken by an adult, and their life is utterly changed.
Ministry is ministry, and our whole world needs it.  And maybe I’m biased because these are my people.  But there is a level of need here that isn’t matched by any experience I’ve had in the 15 or so nations I’ve been to.  There’s a desperation that human words just can’t really fully explain.  That’s why we need you.  We need you to pray for wisdom and discernment.  We need you to pray for strength as we hold our hearts out every day and bring them back in every night bruised and torn.  We need you to give, and give sacrificially.  I need people to value life and the Gospel and choose to sacrifice something to see something miraculous happen.  We need you to come.  These kids, mothers, fathers, this society needs you.  It needs your smiles, your hugs, your words, your example, and the greatest need of every human heart…the Gospel.  We need you to keep telling the story, to remember us, and to help others see what they otherwise would not see.  We need you.
Our unveiling banquets in Chattanooga(Sept 13) and Spartanburg(Sept 15) are going to be a huge celebration of all the open doors God has made available to us in these past 5 months.  But it’s also going to be a very difficult night for me.  Because as much as I want to celebrate, and see everyone, and update everyone on our progress, I still have faces in my mind of all the kids and birth mothers we’ve had to tell that we can’t help them yet.  I have memories of kids waiting just outside the door…kids waiting on their name to be called.
So, in the words of John Farnham:
We have the chance to turn the pages over.  We can write what we want to write We gotta make ends meet, before we get much older
This time, we know we all can stand together With the power to be powerful Believing we can make it better
You’re the voice, try and understand it Make a noise and make it clear We’re not gonna sit in silence We’re not gonna live with fear
www.benjaminhouse.net
www.facebook.com/benjaminhouse


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5/12/2016

100 and counting (continued)

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by Bucky Rogers

Founder and Executive Director of Benjamin House Ministries


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51. Taco does NOT mean taco. (So don’t say taco…trust me on this one)
52. Cheddar cheese does not exist, so when you find out that it does exist at one store, and there’s one brand and one package of that brand, you may or may not be justified in running to grab said package even if it means you might have knocked a little girl over. (theoretically speaking, of course)
53. You literally have no idea what is really going on in people’s lives.  The smiles on their faces hide a lifetime of pain.
54. We are anxiously awaiting full funding so we can build permanent housing so that we don’ t have to have 14 of us into 6 rental bedrooms.
55. There’s not much better than ending every night with a family devotion being led by Ugandans, just sayin.
56. Roosters are gifts.  This particular gift lasted about 24 hours on our property before we had him for dinner because he woke me up at 4am.
57. Ugandans sing…loud…always.
58. Our new home just might be the most beautiful nation in the world.
59. When you use one boda boda(motorcycle taxi) driver too often, he becomes the envy of the neighborhood, and all the rest of the boda drivers give you mean looks when you drive by.
60. When there’s a man selling popcorn on your street, you stop and buy popcorn from him even if you have popcorn at home.  He’s working.  And that may be the only thing he sells that day.
61. Internet costs more than a car.  literally.  I could probably hire a Ugandan to swim the Atlantic to deliver a message to someone in the states for cheaper than I pay for a month of internet.
62. Death is a part of daily life.  One of Xan’s friends lost his mom this week.  The standard of living is such that when Ugandans give testimony, the first thing they generally say is that they thank God for keeping them alive.
63. I just thought I was cheap before.  Now I save every pickle jar, spaghetti jar, margarine tub…everything.
64. I always felt relatively proud of how I smelled in the states because of my limited sweat glands.  I now stink 24/7…I can even smell myself.
65. I should never be surprised when God moves and works and prepares the way.  I should be used to it by now.
66. An apartment size stove/oven doesn’t work well to try to feed 12-20 people every meal.
67. Turkeys poop.  a lot.
68. Mike, our night guard, knows a little bit about everything.  And can fix anything.  And for that, I am eternally grateful.
69.  Deliver the water tank to the house as soon as possible this morning actually means deliver the water tank to the house sometime between this morning and next week.
70. Ugandans know how to worship…we have a lot to learn.
71.  I can’t dance.  I’m pretty sure I knew that before, but now I have a daily reminder.
72. People are hungry to be loved, valued, just talked to.
73. Luganda(the heart language of most Ugandans) is hard to learn….dang it.
74. Some of the most skilled craftsmen in the world live here, and they make their craft with almost no real tools.
75. I hate corruption.
76. It’s very difficult to understand a Ugandan on the phone when you can’t see their lips.
77. When its very difficult to understand an Ugandan on the phone, you might accidently order 100 packs of something you need instead of one.
78. On a rainy day, the porch becomes a slip-n-slide.
79. Grass becomes non-existent when the neighborhood plays soccer in your yard every day.
80. An ounce of hope can literally change a life.
81. If your signature isn’t 100% identical to the signature card you signed at the bank, they make you sign a piece of paper 128 times until you sign one that is identical…. not joking.
82. Legos on the floor in the middle of the night hurt just as bad in Uganda as they did in South Carolina.
83. It is in fact COLD here in the early mornings during rainy season.  for realz.
84. I wish I knew someone who owned a container, and a ship.
85. There’s not much better in all the world than hearing your children worship in the middle of the day, alone in their room.
86. There is no 86, I’m just throwing this in here to see if anyone is still reading.
87. Never underestimate the value of clean water.
88. There are literally thousands of people giving to make this ministry happen.  Without them we’d be sunk.  And every time I see that report I tear up because I know there are people who are sacrificing greatly to give what they give.
89. Food coloring here is made with salt…which makes for a very interesting birthday cake if you don’t realize that before you color the cake and the frosting.
90. On any given road there are at least 20 merchants selling the exact same inventory of items.
91. It’s pretty important to remember whether you’re using a 110v appliance or a 220v appliance…or else you lose your eyebrows.
92. It’s pretty important to remember that oil is very hot when you’re cooking with it and do whatever it takes to not have it pour on your face and neck or else you end up with gnarly scars that hurt for days.
93. Nightly devotions always end best when a Ugandan prays to close. #Ugandansknowhowtopray
94. During rainy season, drive slowly as you pass people walking on the road, or you cover them in mud from head to toe (not that I would know from experience…)
95. Neighbors are the best.
96. Neighbors with cows that produce milk are even better.
97. The USD to UGX exchange rate is simply ridiculous.  When you buy an egg for 200 shillings it’s just confusing.
98. Boda boda(motorcycle taxi) drivers really really really like to drive Mzungus(whiteys).
99. I love my new home country and its people.  More than I could have imagined.
100. Prayer and fasting works.  Please keep praying for us!


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4/10/2016

100 and counting

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by Bucky Rogers

Founder of Benjamin House Ministries


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We’ve now been on the ground in Uganda for exactly one month.  I’ve learned a lot…I’m learning a lot.  Here’s the first 50 of my top 100 things I’m learning.
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1-Everything takes longer in Uganda.  Everything.  What I used to be able to accomplish in an hour takes a day.  It’s probably good for me to slow down some, but with someone like me, that’s a hard pill to swallow.
2-A closed gate does not mean neighbors won’t just come in anyway. Honestly I kinda like that.
3-There probably won’t be a day of my life from now on that I don’t have tears well up in my eyes.
4-When a Mzungu (Luganda term for white person) moves into the hood, everyone…EVERYONE knows it.  haha
5-Boda Boda(motorcycle taxis) drivers do not realize that there are other cars, people, animals, potholes, speed bumps, etc. on the road.
6-I used to hear stories of kids living with HIV and I would feel bad for a bit and then go on with life.  Now those kids are my life.
7-Teenagers are the same everywhere.  Even if they don’t have a phone, they’ll hold up a calculator and pretend they’re taking a selfie. (saw it twice)
8-Getting a haircut from a Ugandan barber costs about 70 cents.  Score.
9-Getting a haircut from a Ugandan barber who has never cut Mzungu hair before causes said barber to shake and sweat a lot.
10-Getting a haircut from a Ugandan barber causes the entire village to come watch.
11-Not having hot water for a shower is quite nice once you get used to it.
12-At least 95% of the people you see on a daily basis struggle to survive, and can’t imagine ever being able to change their circumstances.
13-Ugandans think its cold when it gets down to 70 degrees.  coats, toboggans, scarves, blankets and the like are common.
14-When you hire a painter, its likely that much more than what you hired him to paint will end up with paint on it.
15-A bag of popcorn from a roadside merchant is 16 cents.  And it makes his day every single time you buy some from him.  Score.
16-When you find a business that doesn’t charge you double because you’re a Mzungu, you keep them…forever.
17-Ugandans, like everyone, can’t be lumped into categories with nice clean labels.
18-People here work hard and long.  Things that take 10 minutes to do with a machine in America take 2 days to do with a strong back, a homemade pic-ax, and a wooden wheel barrow.
19-Just when you think to yourself “There’s no way he can carry that on his head” he’s throws it up there and carries it a mile or two.
20-When you take Ambien the first few nights in a new country as you adjust to the time difference, go to be IMMEDIATELY.  If not, you end up doing very embarrassing things that your family and team talk about nearly every day thereafter.
21-Kids all over the world always want something.  Most of the kids here really just want an adult to love and lead them.
22-Soccer doesn’t require a soccer ball…or goal…or level ground.
23-Skin color stinks.  I wish I could take a pill that would make me black…or a pill that could make everyone blind to skin color.
24-Electricity works…sometimes…in some outlets…with some things…if you stand on one foot and recite the alphabet.
25-When the carpenter says he can make you a table and chairs for less than you can buy them in a store and he says he will be done in 2 weeks, he really means that after 3 months he might have secured the wood to make them…maybe.
26-There are scars on every Ugandan; internal and external.
27-When you are car shopping from an individual seller and you arrange to meet up to see the vehicle, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the vehicle or the person actually exists.
28-Evidently there are still cannibals in some parts of Uganda.  Or maybe its a story they tell children to keep them from wandering away alone…but no one seems to want to tell me which is true.
29-You have to dust everything in your house…every…day.
30-Sometimes, when you’re in a meeting with a lawyer, negotiating a contract, he asks you what your favorite song is and then gets up and proceeds to play it on a keyboard and tells you to sing it for him.
31-Sometimes, when you’re planning your Saturday, you get a call to come to the Egyptian ambassador’s house party and end up in the newspaper.
32-It’s not a good idea to read through a book of letters from people you love back in the states.  ever.  for any reason.  unless you just really need to flush something out of your eyes.
33-It costs about 50 cents to have a garment altered by a skilled tailor.  Score.
34-I miss DJ Horton’s preaching.  That’s all I’ll say about that.
35-Just when you think everyone in the states has moved on with life, you get a message…and cry yet again.
36-I’m pretty sure I’ll never be fully hydrated ever again.
37-Getting anywhere that requires getting in a vehicle takes at least an hour longer than you thought it would.
38-There’s no such thing as right-of-way.
39-While most teenagers in the US hate school and try their best to find ways to skip, Ugandans love school and work very hard (sometimes selling things on the streets up to after midnight) in order to pay for it.
40-The side of the main road works as a fine substitute for a restroom.
41-Mayonnaise costs a fortune (please bring me mayo!!!)
42-You say a prayer here before you get on a road for any reason, not just before long trips asking for “traveling mercy” whatever that is.
43-Desperation causes people to make choices they otherwise would not make.
44-I still believe God can reshape an entire nation, and I’m praying for it every day.
45-God’s people, when they see a compelling need, can show up in force to support and provide for it.  I’ve never been more encouraged by the generosity of believers all over the states.
46-Literally everywhere you are, there are people who desperately need Jesus…and clean water.
47-Just because someone says they know Jesus, and has”Jesus Saves” painted on the back of their taxi, doesn’t mean they’re a Christian.
48-Trying to text while on the back of a boda boda isn’t wise most of the time.
49-People here are so hungry for truth, and the freedom on their faces as they are being released from years of heretical and dangerous teaching is quite overwhelming.
50-God is good, He is at work, and we’re not stopping.
Please keep praying.  If you feel like you can give, head over to benjaminhouse.net and click donate.  A dollar accomplishes so much here.  God has given us a big dream and we know that He will provide in His time.  Thanks for holding us up!
Bucky, Julie, and the Benjamin House Team.


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4/9/2016

Cleveland pastor and his family create a family restoration center in Uganda

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by Karen Nazor Hill

Staff Writer for the Times Free Press. This article was published online by the Times Free Press in Life Entertainment on 9 April 2016. Read the original article at ​https://www.timesfreepress.com/news/life/entertainment/story/2016/apr/09/building-community-love-uganda/359249/.


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The Rev. Bucky Rogers with young children at the Benjamin House in Uganda.
On March 9, after an emotional send-off from family and friends, Bucky and Julie Rogers boarded a plane with 15 suitcases containing everything they owned. The next day, they landed in an African country that would become their permanent home — Uganda.
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It's a drastic change from the life they set out to have when the young preacher, who grew up in Cleveland, Tenn., and his wife married 15 years ago, back when they decided to not have children.

"We selfishly knew we didn't want anything to do with that," says Rogers, admitting that "the Lord must have laughed."

Today, with five children ages 6 to 19, Rogers, 35, serves as executive director of Benjamin House Ministries, a family restoration center for children in Uganda. He says God called him and his wife to work internationally on behalf of those who cannot fend for themselves. It was a journey, physically and mentally, to get there, he says, but Uganda is where they're meant to be.

The journey started when he was 17 and became a Christian. His family moved to Chattanooga after his stepfather was injured at work and spent a year in hospitals and rehab.

"It was a rough time for my family," he says. "We became that family that area churches would provide food and small items for us kids for Christmas. But I'm thankful for that difficult time. It brought me to the Chattanooga area, to my wife, my Savior, my calling as a pastor and a glimpse of my future."

After graduating from Whitwell High School, he attended the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga on a full academic scholarship, graduating with a degree in business administration and accounting. But during that time he felt the call to become a pastor. He soon began serving as an associate student pastor at Red Bank Baptist Church, where he married Julie, his high school sweetheart. It was in their pre-marital counseling that they agreed to not have children.
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After they married, he earned a master's degree in Christian education from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky.

"It was in seminary that the Lord changed my heart about children," he says. "Through a seemingly random event, he convinced me that we needed to adopt internationally. We didn't have anything. We could barely pay for the place we were living and gas to get to school and back. How in the world would we come up with $30,000 for an international adoption?

"I let those questions hold me back for a few months, but the Lord soon overwhelmed me. We decided to trust him and move, even when it didn't make sense and even when all the external indicators would say no. God provided every cent, and we brought home our first son, Xan, from Guatemala."

Moving to Spartanburg, S.C., he pastored a church, Anderson Mill Road Baptist, for a decade.

"During that 10 years, the Lord added to our family three more children (all adopted)," he says. And though he was content with pastoring in the Spartanburg church, he says he began "to feel a stirring."

"Usually the winds of change start blowing when you're not satisfied with where you are. That was not the case for me. Things were great. We had a comfortable home, a church family that loved us, a great city, and many friends and students we were investing our lives in.

"We had a promising future, and then the Lord started a gentle prodding. We knew God had called us to full-time orphan advocacy. We didn't know if that just meant we were going to keep adopting until we died or what, but after a trip to Uganda, I started feeling like our role in the orphan care crisis would be much larger."

After a second trip, he was convinced, he says. His wife? Not so much.

"I have always been open to Bucky and I moving to another country. Ironically, my prayer has always been, 'Lord, I'll go anywhere except Africa,' " says Julie Rogers, 34. "When Bucky first called me from Uganda that first year, asking me to think and pray about it, my response was 'OK,' but inside I was thinking 'no way.'

"Over time, though, the Lord softened me to the idea and eventually gave me a love and a calling every bit as strong as Bucky's. Toward the end of our time in the U.S., I was even more excited than he was, I think."

Though the couple knew they were doing the right thing, their families weren't so sure.

"At first our parents were very emotional and afraid for us," Rogers says. "They asked all the questions you would expect: Why does it have to be to Africa? How will you get medical care? Aren't there plenty of hurting children in America? What about your safety? Why would you take such a risk on so big of a change?

"My answer doesn't really satisfy people, but it's true," Rogers says. "I would rather be on the edge of a cliff and be obedient to God than be in comfort and rejecting what I know he has called us to do. Yes, we will be uncomfortable, poor by U.S. standards, rejected in many ways, unsafe to a certain extent, and choosing a more difficult life. It is still better than us ignoring the clear call of God and leaving these children to suffer and many to die without ever having known what it's like to go to sleep at night without fear and hunger."

Lost Children

Children in Uganda are desperately in need of parents, the Rogers say. Because of the result of AIDS crisis in Africa and the 20-year war in northern Uganda and South Sudan, much of the adult population has been wiped out, Rogers says.

"Children were taken as soldiers and those that were left were either put in refugee camps or left to fend for themselves," he says. "The result is that now 75 percent of the nation is under the age of 18. It's literally a nation of children."

He says young families there have been faced with either keeping their children and raising yet another generation in poverty or giving up their parental rights and handing their kids over to a center, where they'll be nurtured, educated and offered the chance for a better life.

"Julie and I believe no parent should ever have to make that decision," Rogers says. "Our desire is to remove the barriers to families staying together and restore children to their families. Where that is not possible or safe, we will advocate for foster care and adoption. We want to wake up in 20 years and see half of the country's orphanages closed because those children are now with their families."

But to help the Ugandan children, they had to build a ministry from the ground up. Benjamin House was born. The name "Benjamin" was chosen to honor the son of Rogers' best friend, a baby who died in his mother's womb. The Benjamin House is a nonprofit so the Rogers had to fundraise enough money to cover their first three years of expenses, he says.

"We are trusting the Lord to provide beyond that."

Benjamin House is located on the northern end of Kampala, the capital city.

"We won't be in the main city area, but we will have some access to electricity and running water. We will grow much of our food, but there are also local markets to be able to get other things."

Meanwhile, support for Benjamin House is dependent upon partner churches and supporters.

"We have about 20 partner churches and are looking to expand that," Rogers says. "We will have fundraising banquets in Chattanooga and Spartanburg each September as well as ongoing fundraising as we let our needs be known to our current and potential supporters. We need an army of people giving, coming to Uganda on short-term mission trips to serve alongside us, and sponsoring children for $30 per month."

Meanwhile, while unpacking their 15 suitcases of mostly clothing, Julie uncovered something that had been hanging in their homes for many years — a metal plaque.

"It simply says 'FAMILY,' " she says. "That's what drives us and on the hard days it will remind us why we are here."

"We have no intentions of ever living anywhere else," her husband says. "This is home."
Contact Karen Nazor Hill at khill@timesfreepress.com.

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3/3/2016

How do you measure a life?

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by Bucky Rogers

Founder of Benjamin House Ministries


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​As we are in our last week in the United States there is a lot going through my heart and mind.  There are a thousand tiny details to still get ironed out.  There’s the actual travel (24 hours of travel time with 3 small children, 2 of which have special needs, and 15 bags that contain all our earthly belongings) through crowded airports, TSA checkpoints, times of food, times of no food, and times of plane food.  There will be dozens of things I want to jump on as soon as we land and plans that have been in my dreams for the past year that we can finally set into motion.  And yet, all I can think about is what happened last night.
 Last night I sat down with about 25 men.  The Lord led me to which 25 were there, but there could have been 100 others (although my heart may not have been able to withstand that).  I wrote each of them a letter, reminiscing on the past, reminding them of where they’ve been, and challenging them to never go back there.  In the mix were guys whose dads left their post and in doing so left a shattered heart after the dust settled, guys whose dads passed away early in their lives, guys who have been in the deepest sin struggles you can imagine, and guys who have earthly fathers that are second to none…and everything in between.  The one thing they all shared in common was that they each have a piece of my heart.
The Lord has been gracious to me to bring me young men over the years to invest my life in.  I don’t know exactly how He does it, or why He chooses the ones He does, but I’m so grateful.  I don’t have all the answers, and I have messed up more than I’ve gotten right as I’ve sought to lead these men to Christ.  I’ve said wrong things, given wrong advice, been impatient and pushy, and sometimes even pushed so hard that some of the men God brought to me are now far from Him.  But for whatever reason, He keeps bringing them to me.
I went around the circle last night and read those hand-written letters aloud to each of them.  I wanted them to be encouraged that they’re not alone…that every man goes through times of battle and can rise on the other side of it with victory.  I laughed and cried during almost every letter.  This was supposed to be my chance to encourage them and challenge them for the future.  But, just as I wrapped up and was about to pray, one of them spoke up and began to share how the Lord had changed his life during the time I’ve known and loved him.  One by one they shared, and the real flood gate of tears started.  But these weren’t empty tears from brokenness or shame or self pity.  If there can be joy in tears, I think that’s what was happening.  I’ve never been more happy and more sad than in that moment.  Then some of us went out to Taco Bell for one last ride.  I’ll remember it forever.
People keep asking me how I’m doing, and I don’t really know how to answer.  As far as moving goes, and selling all our stuff and being in a new culture, living simply, embracing poverty, and all the unknowns I’m doing fine.  I’m ready.  I’ve never been so ready for anything in my whole life.  But when I think about the people I will leave, the relationships that will never be the same after 5 days from now, and the legacy these men will go on to build, I am completely undone…broken…scattered.  That is, until I think of the 25, the 250, the 25,000 young men in Uganda who need to have this same testimony.  What if a nation of fathers begins to commit to their families that they will not leave their post?  What if each believer in that nation decides they’re going to add one more to their family whether through mentoring, foster care, or adoption?  What if I could help make sure that one more child has the mom and dad they need and that they will never go to bed afraid ever again?
You see, Benjamin House isn’t just a project for Julie and I, it’s our lives…made into an organization.  It’s the priorities of our family (the Gospel), multiplied.  And as we go, we look back over our shoulders at the thousands who are holding our hands, holding us up, holding us accountable, and holding the rope for us in prayer and giving, and we are overwhelmed.  Please continue to pray.  We will be at GSP at noon this coming Tuesday, tickets and duffel bags in hand, ready to step out of the boat and trust Jesus to keep us from sinking.  Pray, tell our story, give in whatever capacity the Lord allows, and let’s change the world.  I’m just crazy enough to think we can.

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2/16/2016

You Can't Save Every Child...But You Could Save Joel

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by Bucky Rogers

Founder and Executive Director of Benjamin House Ministries


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James grew up in the northern part of Uganda, in a city named Gulu.  Gulu was one of the cities hardest hit and most affected by the 20 year war led by Joseph Kony and the LRA (Lord’s Resistance Army).  Within just a few years of the conflict, many of the adults in the region had been killed and many children had been abducted by LRA troops to become child soldiers.  The children would leave their homes and hide at night out of fear that the soldiers would come and kill their parents and take them away to become soldiers.  Deep into the conflict, Uganda emptied the cities of the north and gathered people into very large refugee camps.  An entire generation grew up in those camps. James told me about his life growing up in an area that was basically under prison encampment conditions. “Mom and dad died when I was 4 years old leaving me with my little brother, Joel, and my grandma.  Life became really hard during that time.  My brother, Joel, and I weren’t able to go to school, and my uncle would drag us from the hut almost daily and beat us.  My grandma wasn’t able to care for us because she had nothing to feed us and there was no way to buy food.  We would wait on food from the government people who ran the refugee camp.  Life there was so terrible.  We would go days without eating.  Sometimes I would steal from our neighbors so my brother would live.  We were caught so many times stealing and they would beat us so badly.  When I was 7 years old I was abducted by the rebels (the LRA).  They took us out into the bush and for 6 months I was forced to carry heavy things very far distances.  There were 7 of us that were abducted at the same time.  4 of them were killed in fighting, and 3 of us survived.  They made us kill.  I refused at first and they beat me over the head and made me watch them kill a woman who was simply fetching water at a local well.  I saw many people killed during that time.” James spoke softly as he showed me scars literally all over his body.  He showed me 2 large scars in his leg where a stick hand gone through his shin as they were running through the bush when he was abducted.  “We happened upon some government soldiers and the rebels started firing.  I started running and I jumped down and embankment to get away.  That’s how I escaped and went home.” After some time passed, a man from Canada came to the camp and collected all the orphans to take away to an orphanage.  James and his brother, Joel, were separated and taken from their grandma.  He was able to eat and go to school, but even James admitted, “We were so wild. We were used to bush life and had no family, nothing to ground us.” A few years later, the leaders of the orphanage were exposed.  They had stolen money meant to help the kids and the orphanage was closed and all the kids taken back to Gulu.  Some were reunited with family members, and others were left to the streets.  “The only way I’m able to go to school is because I am one of the lucky ones who has a sponsor,” James said.  “My grandma can barely afford to feed us, she surely can’t afford school.  Joel isn’t in school because he doesn’t yet have a sponsor to help with school fees.  He dreams of becoming a doctor when he is able to go back to school.  I want to be president.” James is 21, and his brother, Joel, is 18.  I met James through a strange set of circumstances and the Lord compelled me to tell his story.  I don’t tell his story to get people to get emotional and say to themselves, “Man, that’s so sad.  How could anyone treat children like that.”  Honestly, I don’t believe God has called me to try to move people’s emotions.  He has called me to move people’s actions.  To motivate a nation to rebuild families, restore relationships, build great moms and dads, put away corruption and deceit, and lead their country.  He has called me to wake up generations of Americans who have fallen asleep at the wheel and been anesthetized by plasma screens, apps, status symbols, and extravagance.  He reminded me again today that the point of life isn’t simply to arrive safely at death with more toys than your neighbor. I probably shouldn’t say things like that.  I’m sure it will come across as harsh and judgmental.  But, honestly, I value the lives of the children of Uganda(and many other places in the world) and the future parents they will be one day more than I value being liked.  We have no idea in this country what 90% of the rest of the world faces on a daily basis…the fear they wake up with and go to bed with every day. But you can choose that your life will be different.  You can determine that you’re going to live life with your eyes open and although you can’t save every child…you can save one more today.  You can build a father today.  You can help a mom keep her kids today.  You can stand with a young, pregnant and terrified 13 year old girl so that she doesn’t have to walk alone.  You can choose to sponsor Joel and make sure he finishes high school, university, medical school and changes the lives of countless other Ugandans he will treat one day.  You can lock arms with us at Benjamin House Ministries and make a difference.  Or, you can go back to life, enjoy your kids and grandkids, and arrive safely at death.  I think most people are just waiting for an opportunity to make their life count for something greater.  Stand with us.  Sacrifice to help us fund the ministry that will accomplish all these things in Uganda.  Become a child’s sponsor and make an impact that will be felt for generations.  Or, if not us and if not Uganda, then do something…somewhere.  Life is a breath and then it’s gone.  Let’s use every ounce of it. To donate online, visit www.benjaminhouse.net.  To contact me, just email me at bucky@benjaminhouse.net.  I’d love to make time to talk with you.  Child sponsorships for Joel and thousands of kids just like him will begin in March 2016.  For those of you who have been following my family and our story, we fly over with a one way ticket to Uganda on March 8th with no plan B.  We need you rowing with us.  So, grab an oar, and may God bless you for your sacrifice.

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12/17/2015

Does that mean Christmas changes too?

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by Bucky Rogers

Founder of Benjamin House Ministries


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The other day I had myself a good old-fashioned pity party.  We were setting up the stage for our annual Ignite Band Christmas Rockstravaganza (a Christmas worship service that I and our worship band do each year).  This year, my youngest son Brennan was going to be singing a verse and chorus of “Where are you Christmas?”.  You know it.  The song’s chorus says, “My world is changing, I’m rearranging.  Does that mean Christmas changes too?”  Brennan did so good as he practiced it for the first time with the microphone.  No nervousness at all.  I knelt there beside him, holding the microphone, and sort of zoned out thinking, “I wonder if he has any idea how true the words he’s singing really are?  Does he realize just how much it will change?  Am I a bad father for making choices that will drastically affect his life forever?”  And thus commenced the pity party.
We are moving to Uganda, Africa.  I’ve spent months telling our story, trying to raise funds, trying my best to not worry about our funding and to just trust God with our future, thinking about the details of forming a non-profit, assessing the needs in Uganda, preparing my team for action once we hit the ground in March, and studying Ugandan culture and the orphan care situation there until I couldn’t see straight.  I prepared my heart and mind for nearly every change that we have coming, and have been trying to prepare my kids for those as well.  But there was something about this simple line from a simple song that destroyed me that day.
Growing up, Christmas was magical.  No matter what actually happened in the busyness and bustle of that day, no matter the fact that I grew up in a divorced family and we traveled all over the place from spot to spot to see relatives, it was always my absolute favorite day of the year.  The anticipation was always so sweet and it always reminded me just how much I was loved.  And, I guess that’s what hit me. Next Christmas, while most people back home are enjoying snuggling up by the fire on a cold Christmas Eve, we’ll be opening our windows to try to get a breeze.  While dads are tucking in their kids snugly under their quilts, warm in their pajamas, daring them to come out of their rooms, I will be tucking in the mosquito nets around our kids’ beds and praying them off to sleep.  While families make plans to drive around to see Christmas light shows and church musicals, we will enjoy having our neighborhood kids over for dinner in a dimly lit room.  While kids back home gather together with family, getting big sloppy kisses from grandma and being tickled by grandpa, my kids will skype with their grandparents to tell them Merry Christmas and kiss a computer screen as they say goodbye.  Christmas indeed changes too.
As I’ve gotten older, I’ve gotten weepy!  I used to never cry.  I don’t think I cried more than 10 times between the ages of 15 and 25.  I’ve cried more in the past 48 hours than I did those 10 years!  And so, as I thought of all these things, I started wondering if I’m somehow shorting my kids.  Will they blame me in the years to come for taking them away from comfort, family, friends, and all the things they’ve come to know?  Am I being selfish in taking them halfway across the world to chase after this dream I believe the Lord has given me?  And while I’m at it:  Of all the people in the world that are far more capable than me of doing this task, why did the Lord choose us?  We have nothing to offer.  I’ve never done this before.  Gracious.   I have spent the last 6 months talking to congregation after congregation about how God had brought us to a place of complete trust…and He had…but at this moment I was overwhelmed and couldn’t seem to get it together.
Then Joseph came to mind.  I would never presume to place myself in the same category as a man like Joseph, but I do wonder if he ever had times of doubt like this.  What am I doing?  How does a mere man raise the son of God?  Is there not someone else who is in a better position for this task?  What will this mean for my future…for our other children one day?  I wonder, as they fled to Egypt, if he ever questioned whether he was a good enough, strong enough father, and if he would be able to deal with what his future would hold.  Did Abraham think about leaving his home/friends/extended family when the Lord told him to go to a land he did not know?  Was Noah apprehensive about starting over with just his wife and kids?  Did Peter, James, and John ever doubt that what they had experienced was real…real enough to go across the known world and make it known?  Would Paul have still gone on his great missionary journeys and propelled the church into the world if he had allowed the thought of change to overcome his mind?  Again, I’m no Abraham or Peter, but because I am surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, I should…Lord willing, I will…throw off everything that hinders, and the sin that so easily entangles(like doubt), and run the race that has been marked out for me.
My kids’ Christmases will be different.  Their world is changing.  They’re rearranging.  And that means Christmas changes too.  I want them to love their family, and long for time with their grandparents.  I wish we could enjoy all the things each Christmas that we’ll be leaving behind.  I wish they could have more than memories of those things.  But more than that, I want them to know that when God calls, no matter what the call, answering that call is more important than anything else in the world.  Christmas is still about God coming to the desperate and alone…and that part of Christmas will never change.
Most people aren’t called to move their family to a third world country.  For them to do so would be wrong.  But we are.  We aren’t any better or more spiritual, in fact I can name about 50 people off the top of my head right now that I think the Lord should have called instead of me J.  And so, we go.  And although you don’t go with us, in a way you do.  You are every bit as much a part of the Benjamin House story as we are.  As you pray for us and the families we will restore, you become a part of their family.  As you sacrificially give to allow us to be on the front lines of this dramatic shift in the orphan care system of a nation, every bite of food we take, mile we drive, person we meet, father we train, mother we give a job skill to, lost person who is adopted by Jesus, child who receives AIDS treatment for the first time, teenage mother we love, teenage pregnancy we help keep from ever happening…all of it…you ARE Benjamin House.
Your giving, particularly at year end, is critical to our family and ministry.  As I’ve said before, I hate asking people for things.  But, this task is too big for us to do alone.  We need you.  You can send your tax deductible contribution to Benjamin House Ministries PO BOX 21, MOORE SC 29369, or give online at www.BenjaminHouse.net  Contact us through the website if you would be open to us speaking to your civic group, church, small group, etc. between now and when we fly out on March 8th.
May God bless your family this Christmas.


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10/29/2015

Our Miracle Baby

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by Bucky Rogers

Founder of Benjamin House Ministries


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We had planned for so many years to adopt a little girl from China.  They require you to be 30 years old and have a certain income and as soon as we reached those milestones, we began the process.  In a somewhat sterile way, we went down a list they gave us of special needs and were asked to check off ones that we would be open to.  In our minds, we were okay with a medically correctable special need.  Things like cleft lip, club foot, even birth marks are considered special needs in China, so we checked all those.  We would adopt a little girl, bring her to the states, get her whatever small surgery she needed to be “normal” and then go on with life.
We were paired with a little girl and we finalized the process and were ready to travel to China.  We had been given some indication that she had some delays, but all children in institutionalized environments have delays.  We read up on overcoming those, and got ready to receive our little Rebecca.  As we walked into the cold orphanage office, we sat down and she was brought out to us.  She was asleep and laid there peacefully but then began to wake up.  As she woke up she didn’t really move much.  Her eyes kept rolling back in her head and she would just scream and hit herself.  We quickly began to realize this was not just institutional delay.  Something was very wrong.
As we were leaving the office a lady came up to us, shoved a packet into our hands and said, “We never thought she would be adopted.”  Inside were some of her medical records that they had intentionally not shared before the adoption.  They revealed that at some point a hole had been drilled into her skull to relive pressure.  All the signs pointed to a scenario where either her birth parents or a caretaker had shaken her, causing damage to her brain stem, and bleeding on the brain.
The months following were a slew of doctors visits, tests, and scans.  We sat in the consultation room after her MRI and her neurologist came in and showed us the pictures.  The diagnosis was cerebral palsy, mental retardation, and cortical blindness. He pointed out large areas of dark in her skull where her brain should be.  It simply wasn’t there anymore.  He then told us to prepare for the future.  She would never walk, never talk, never be able to eat or care for herself.  She would likely be on a feeding tube and lots of medication to keep her sedated and comfortable and she would probably live about 8 years.  We were devastated.  We sat and held each other and cried.
I remember days later praying to the Lord and giving Becca to Him.  I said, “If you have given Becca to us for 8 years, then I will make them the most care-filled and love-filled days a child could have.  But you have the power to heal her now.  And I trust you either way.”  Our God answers prayer.
About a month ago, Becca grabbed our ottoman and pulled herself up to a standing position.  She has dozens of words in her vocabulary.  She interacts with us, knows our voices and the voices of her brothers and others in her life, and God is continually performing miracles in her life.  These things are unexplainable by human standards.  She simply doesn’t have the brain capacity to do what she is doing.
In Uganda, many children just like Becca are relegated to lay in their cribs until they die.  The culture doesn’t understand special needs or how to treat them.  Part of our ministry through Benjamin House will be to train therapists who will be the hands and feet of Jesus as they work in children’s lives to give them the best possible shot at a long and healthy life.  We’re asking the special needs community in the US to rally together and help provide the needed support for this to happen.  We are so blessed with access to services in the US.  To whom much has been given, much is expected.


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10/21/2015

And then he called me papa...

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by Bucky Rogers

Founder of Benjamin House Ministries


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After completing two adoptions, Julie and I were exhausted (and so was our bank account).  God had been faithful to provide every dime we had needed for the adoptions.  Sometimes it was through the faithful and generous gifts of family, friends, and our church family.  Other times it was through seemingly benign circumstances like the sale of a home.  Regardless of how and when it came, though, we were now broke.  We were also emotionally spent from the stress and anxiety that comes with the adoption paperwork and process.  We had pretty much decided that we were going to just wait, live a little bit, have some recovery time, and then possibly pursue an adoption in China when we became old enough to do that (For China’s process, you have to be 30 years old to adopt). Then, one day I received a phone call that changed all that. “There’s a 12 year old Ukrainian boy on an airplane headed to the US right now.  He’s an orphan.  There was a family that was going to host him through a pseudo foreign exchange program, but they had a family emergency and can no longer host him.  It’s just 3 weeks, can you host him?”  The words seemed so simple at the time, and I went home to talk to Julie about it.  Of course, being the incredible godly woman she is, she never even hesitated.  “Why not?” she asked.  So we agreed. In the hours that we waited to go pick him up, I formulated the plan.  I would host several parties at our house and invite as many couples as I could invite to meet him.  Maybe one of them would feel called by God to begin the adoption process.  So, I began the plans and phone calls.  A few hours later, we picked up a very tiny, very tired, blonde haired blue eyed angel named Sasha. He spoke no English, and we spoke no Russian, so our first few days were filled with a lot of hand gestures and drawings.  Things were going really well, until he decided to wreck my plan.  About the second or third day, he began to call Julie and I mama and papa.  In that moment, my heart became his.  One night, as he layed across my lap and put his head on my shoulder and fell asleep, I prayed that the Lord would give him to us.  We were absolutely broke and had literally nothing to begin the process with, but we knew he was our son. One day after church, I got a phone call from a good friend who asked if he and his wife could stop by our house.  Of course I said yes.  Our home is always open, and there are always people coming and going.  They came in and sat down across from us and asked if we were serious about adopting Sasha.  With a lump in my throat and tears welling up in my eyes, I told them that of course, we were serious.  The wife of this couple, then handed me an envelope and said that they wanted to help and she asked me to open it.  Inside was a check for $10,000.  After they left, Julie and I sat there in disbelief and just wept. Two days later a friend called and told us that they were giving us their van.  We could use it for a larger vehicle or sell it for the adoption.  There was another $5,000 covered.  A day later I got an email from a member of our church family with the promise of $3,000 toward the adoption.  We hadn’t even really told anyone that we were pursuing adoption for Sasha or that we needed money.  God just provided…as He always has. Julie and I have decided to spend the rest of our lives making stories just like that happen over and over again.  This world is full of people who are ready to sacrifice something of their lives and wealth in order to make a significant difference in the lives of children.  Whether that’s sponsorship, foster care, adoption, or simply taking a trip to a foreign place and holding children tight, letting them know there is hope and a future for them; people are standing up one-by-one to answer the call.
​Will you be a significant part of a child’s life that you may never meet?  Will a child eat a meal every day and attend school for the first time in their lives because your family sacrificed eating out one day per month?  I believe God is raising up so many, and you could very well be the most significant thing that has ever happened in a child’s life.


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9/28/2015

And again...

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by Bucky Rogers

Founder of Benjamin House Ministries


Picture
Just about the time that Xan started getting used to us, and our bank account started to recover, we felt the Lord was calling us to adopt again.  Julie wanted a little girl, so we began the process to adopt domestically.  We carefully put together a profile and waited.  Two birth mothers chose us, but we lost both due to the birthmothers changing their minds.  We rejoiced in that, but it was also very painful.  Then one night we got the phone call that would change everything.  “We have a 3 week old little boy.  Do you want him?”  Well of course!  How could we say no!  So, we drove all night to Baton Rouge, Louisiana.  The next morning, our little Brennan was placed in our arms.  He was so tiny.  We took him home, and the crying began. He cried…and cried….and cried.  We later found out that his birth mother likely used drugs pretty heavily while pregnant with him.  His first few months were painful ones for him and for us.  We spent evenings stretching out his muscles that had been made tight because of all the pain he was in.
Over the years, he has had therapy on top of therapy to try to get him caught up.  The drug abuse has left him slightly delayed and on the autism spectrum, but he has progressed so much.  Brennan is the happiest, most content child I’ve ever known…and such a blessing to us.
In Uganda, a child like Brennan would have been left alone to grow in silence and obscurity.  People just don’t know or don’t have time or money to get children like Brennan the care that they need.  We want to bring that kind of hope into families that are confused and scared.  So much can be done, if we have people standing with us.
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9/20/2015

Documentary for Benjamin House to be unveiled

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by Luke Connell; Spartanburg Magazine

Staff Writer for the Spartanburg Herald Journal. This article was published online by the Spartanburg Herald Journal on 20 September 2015. Read the original article at ​https://www.goupstate.com/article/NC/20150920/News/605136188/SJ/.


In a neighborhood on Spartanburg’s westside, Bucky Rogers and his wife, Julie, take a needed break on the couch. A small film crew is documenting their home life and their mission to build Benjamin House Ministries, an organization with the goal of helping orphans and rebuilding families in Uganda.

The last few months have been a whirlwind of activity, and from an outsider’s perspective, their lives would seem to be more exhausting than many others. Bucky and Julie Rogers have four adopted children — Sasha, Xan, Brennan and Becca, who has special needs.

A Tennessee native, Rogers has worked as pastor of students and worship arts at Anderson Mill Road Baptist Church — The Mill, for short — in Moore since 2006. After several mission trips, he and his wife felt called to pursue a life helping children abroad. A 2013 trip to Uganda solidified in their hearts that God wanted them in the African country.

Named in honor of the stillborn son of friends, Benjamin House celebrated its global launch in June at an event featuring presidential candidate and former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee. The event made headlines nationwide and ignited a fundraising campaign.

Brightly colored T-shirts bearing the Benjamin House name are donned regularly by followers across Spartanburg County, and a social media campaign has seen supporters post photos wearing the shirts in 40 states and 13 countries, so far.

For his part, Rogers has become a reluctant front man for the movement. A pastor, with more than 14 years of experience and a passion for music, he appears more comfortable in the presence of young people, helping guide them through life’s troubles, than in soliciting money for the mission.

“I’m kind of used to meeting people’s needs,” Rogers said. “I thrive on that. So, asking people to partner with us financially to help us accomplish this task is something that doesn’t come easily. But, for these kids and these families, I’ll do whatever it takes. And, I’m seeing more and more that people are just waiting for an opportunity to be a part of something like this.”

In July, Rogers and members of the Benjamin House team spent a few days touring orphanages and discussing potential partnerships with existing Ugandan organizations. At one possible future home, surrounded by students, Rogers said the dream of Benjamin House — up until then only envisioned on blueprints and in his head — was becoming real.

A documentary chronicling the last several months and the effort to build Benjamin House will be unveiled at an event at the Upward Star Center on Thursday. Rogers plans to return to Uganda in October to finalize more plans and, in March, he will move his family there to begin building Benjamin House. His vision is that the organization will be more than a group home for orphans, that it can repair families and be a conduit for education and change.

For more information
What: Unveiling of a documentary about the effort to change orphan care in Uganda.

When: Thursday, 6-8 p.m.

Where: Upward Star Center, 9768 Warren H. Abernathy Highway

Tickets: visit BenjaminHouse.net

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