Where faith meets the field
Founded in 2016, Imani Ministry began with just a few baseball gloves and a calling to serve children. What started as a simple act of faith has grown into a Christ-centered ministry dedicated to transforming lives. Through sports, education, discipleship, and compassionate care, we empower children and families, nurture faith, and develop the next generation of leaders who will make a lasting impact in their communities.
Three-month ticket. Two-year stay.
Imani Ministries began with a simple desire: to serve children and help create opportunities where few existed. In 2016, at just 20 years old, Jessa boarded a plane to Uganda with a one-way mission and a three-month plan.
Three months became nearly two years. Somewhere between the plans she made and the life she found, Jinja quietly became home.
There were no cleats. Just bare feet.
One dusty diamond captured her heart
One place kept pulling her back: a small field where kids of every age gathered to play and to watch the game. It had almost nothing, and it had everything.
The joy on that field did not match the poverty around it, and that contradiction would not let her go.
Five worn-out gloves. Two baseballs. And so much joy.
But something was missing
The kids were not in school. In Uganda, education is not free, and no amount of talent on the field could pay a term's fees.
So Imani started small: six children, sponsored through high school. No offices, no programs, no plan for what came next. Just six kids and a promise kept.
“Who has despised the day of small things?”
The same field. A different story.
worn-out gloves
kids in school
ministries beyond baseball
dusty field, and not much else
students supported
young athletes reached
ministries, one family
mission house, always open
God can do much with little. He has been proving it ever since.
The small thing grew
Today Imani is three ministries and one home: baseball that disciples young athletes, education sponsorship that keeps children in school, women's empowerment that strengthens families, and the Mission House where all of it shares meals, prayers, and homework.
The field is still dusty. The gloves are still worn. But nobody is missing school anymore.
Hear it from Jessa
