United World Missions exists to fight poverty in Africa. Ode H. Hines is our pastor, and he's the founder and president of our nonprofit organization. The story of United World Missions is a history of positive change and strong people — teams of missionaries journeying to minister in the continent of Africa. We work together to create opportunities for orphaned children to live safe, healthy, and fulfilling lives.
Planting a Seed
The seed of the United World Missions was planted in November of 1999. Reverend Ode H. Hines was invited along with Pastors Vandy Kennedy, Anthony Macklin, and Randolph Fitzgerald and a host of other missionaries to visit Kenya in Africa. This team of missionaries journeyed to support two ministries. One group of missionaries worked with Bishop Japeth Omucheyi and the Overcoming Faith Centre Baptist Churches of Kenya and Uganda. The other group worked with Bishop Jeffery and the Christian Brotherhood Churches of Kenya.
This was Pastor Hines' first trip to Kenya. As he ministered to the young and old, the saved and unsaved, he witnessed the devastation of their lives. It had a lasting effect on his own life. The impact of the experience awakened in the spirit of Pastor Hines the need to assist our brothers and sisters in Africa. He saw the need of the orphaned children whose parents had died from AIDS, the poor to non-existent health care for the ill, and the 80%-plus unemployment rate. These factors and many more were crippling the very existence of people in Kenya.
The Next Mission
The next mission trip was scheduled for the fall of 2001. But the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 (the bombing of the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington) put most of the world at a standstill. Earlier in the year, Bishop Japheth Omucheyi had visited the United States and shared with Pastor Hines that his Archbishop Julius Omucheyi had been led by the Lord to ask Pastor Hines to consider becoming the senior Presiding Bishop for the Overcoming Faith Centre Baptist Churches of Kenya and Uganda. After much prayer and soul searching, Pastor Hines was led by the Lord to accept this calling.
He communicated with Bishop Omucheyi and the Overcoming Faith family, and from June 11 through to June 21, 2002, Pastor Hines was consecrated as Senior Presiding Bishop of Overcoming Faith Centre Baptist Churches of Kenya and Uganda, East Africa. Along with Archbishop Julius Omucheyi and presiding Bishop Japheth Omucheyi, Pastor Hines assumed leadership of fifty churches in Kenya and five churches in Uganda.
So Many Orphaned Children
The ministry also included 474 orphaned children whose parents died from AIDS and three schools, located in the towns of Kakamega, Bunyore, and Nambale. During this mission, the team conducted a three-day conference providing workshops for pastors, deacons, women, young adults, and children. There were about 250 people in attendance. Many of the pastors and others preached and held services at various churches.
After his pilgrimage, Bishop Hines stated, "This calling that I have received to this ministry reveals to me how God intends for us to fulfill the Great Commission in our lives and serve Him. The need and the ministry are larger than me, in fact, they are greater than all of us. But together we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us." Thus began United World Missions.
