They are far too busy planning programs, raising funds and balancing budgets, answering emails, managing staff members, meeting with judges and boards of directors, buying truckloads full of food, writing training materials, ordering school uniforms, and picking up visitors at the airport. Oh…and rescuing children-at-risk from perilous situations so they can one day become men and women of faith who will impact their own nations!

Let me tell you about a few of my heroes:
Ramon, who [“by faith…”] started his ministry by feeding and educating kids in an old chicken coop in one of the most impoverished towns in his Caribbean island nation. Now he leads a vibrant ministry for hundreds of kids who are being given a quality Christian education.

Mike, who [“by faith…”] as a kid from Canada growing up in Asia, suffered great loss when his missionary father was murdered. Yet Mike became a missionary himself, and today he leads a ministry that rescues outcast children in Latin America.

Linda, who [“by faith…”] overcame great odds to emerge as the national leader of one of Kids Alive’s largest ministries in an African country that suffers greatly from the AIDS pandemic.

David, who [“by faith…”] serves as a pastor, a Bible College director, and the national Kids Alive Field Director for our ministry to over 1,700 needy children in a restrictive Asian nation.

Francis, who [“by faith…”] as a gifted and enthusiastic young man now directs four new Kids Alive ministries in his war-torn African homeland.

Tom, who [“by faith…”] left a successful construction business to follow God’s call by relocating his family to the least-developed nation in the Western Hemisphere. Despite hardships, he opened a new Kids Alive ministry there by rescuing and educating children who have survived unbelievable situations.

These unsung heroes (and others that space doesn’t allow me to mention) are our Kids Alive ministry Field Directors. We gathered together last November in the U.S. for intense training, reporting, planning and relationship-building along with leaders from Kids Alive offices in Canada, Hong Kong, Taiwan and the United Kingdom. We sang and worshiped together. We prayed and cried together. We told stories and laughed together. (Isn’t that how a family should act when they have a reunion?) We discussed and studied ways to improve our policies and standards, to strengthen our leadership skills and to encourage our workers around the world.

I came away from my week with these “heroes” deeply encouraged at how God uses willing servants to do amazing works to build the Kingdom of Heaven. You and I have the privilege to help “hold up the arms” of these Field Directors so they can keep rescuing and nurturing kids at risk—kids whom God will most certainly use to change the world!