How a Broken House Led Someone to Jesus
There was no big project or campaign when we first met an elderly man named Mr. Mola in Tanzania in March 2025. A local pastor simply noticed someone in his community who was struggling, began visiting him, and eventually asked Francis and Vickie if Mosaic could come alongside him.
At the time, we thought we were helping one elderly man who needed some food, clothing and a little bit of light in his home. Eighteen months later, we're beginning to see just how much God was doing through those seemingly small acts of kindness.
Meeting Mr. Mola
Life had been incredibly difficult for Mr. Mola. He had spent much of his life farming and living hand to mouth, and by the time we met him, he was living in extreme poverty. He had very little food, no electricity, few decent clothes, and his mud home was literally falling apart around him.
He had experienced tremendous loss as well. Two of his three children had passed away, and an accident while cutting wood had damaged one of his eyes. As he grew older and became unable to work, he increasingly depended on the generosity of people around him just to eat.
But during this same season, something much more important was happening in his life: Mr. Mola was encountering Jesus.
His local pastor had been visiting him and, after seeing the conditions he was living in, reached out to Francis and Vickie and asked if we could help. That's exactly the kind of thing we want to encourage through Mosaic. We don't want local churches waiting for an outside organization to notice the needs in their communities. We want pastors and churches to know their neighbors, love them well, and invite us to come alongside when we can help.
So Francis and Vickie went out with the pastor to visit Mr. Mola. Together we were able to provide some food, help him purchase clothing, and give him a small solar light from one of our solar light fundraisers.
I still love the photos and video from that first visit. You can see the condition of his home behind him, but you can also see the smile on his face. There's even a short video of the exact moment they showed him how the solar light worked.
For someone who had been living without electricity, that little light meant that when the sun went down, his home didn't have to be completely dark anymore.
At that point, that could have been the end of the story. We could have celebrated helping someone with a practical need and moved on. Thankfully, his pastor and community didn't.
His Neighbors Built Him a Home
As people continued visiting Mr. Mola, it became impossible to ignore the condition of his house. It barely provided shelter and was literally on the verge of collapsing.
This is where the story becomes one of my favorite examples of what we believe ministry should look like.
The people in Mr. Mola's community came together and decided to build him a new home themselves. They used the materials available to them and constructed a simple mud house for their neighbor. Mosaic didn't come in and build it for them. We were simply able to come alongside what they were already doing and provide the iron sheets they needed to put a proper roof over it.
I think that part is worth repeating:
We helped buy parts for the house. His neighbors came together to build him a home.
That's what partnership can look like. A local pastor brought the relationship. Neighbors brought their time, labor and materials. Mosaic's giving community helped provide something they couldn't easily provide themselves. Francis and Vickie kept showing up and encouraging everyone involved.
Nobody had to do everything, but everyone could do something.
Eventually, the elderly man we'd first met living in a collapsing house had a new place to call home. And while all of this was happening, his family was seeing it too.
The Love of Jesus Was Becoming Visible
One of the people who had a front-row seat was Mr. Mola's daughter-in-law.
She had watched Christians care for her father-in-law when he had almost nothing to give them in return. She saw people bring food when he was hungry and clothing when he needed it. She saw a pastor continue to visit him. She saw his neighbors rally around him and physically build him a new home. And she saw the joy and hope that had come into Mr. Mola's life as he followed Jesus.
Nobody was doing any of this as a strategy to reach his daughter-in-law. There were no strings attached to the food or the solar light. Nobody built a house and then told the family they owed us a trip to church.
People were simply trying to love their neighbor the way Jesus taught us to. And God was using it.
In September 2026, Francis and Vickie returned with the local pastor to visit Mr. Mola and his family again. During that visit, his daughter-in-law shared that she wanted to follow Jesus too.
Right there in the home that her community had helped build, Francis, Vickie and the pastor had the privilege of praying with her as she gave her life to Christ.
I cannot stop thinking about that moment. My eyes well up every time I look at the photos because we're actually looking at the moment someone's eternity changed.
And when I look at those pictures, I can't help but think about everything that led to them.
It took a pastor noticing someone in his community. It took people being willing to visit. It took food, clothes and a solar light. It took neighbors getting their hands dirty and building walls. It took donors providing the money for roofing sheets. It took Francis and Vickie continuing to show up.
None of those things by themselves are particularly complicated or extraordinary.
But look what God did with them.
Let Your Light Shine
Jesus said:
“In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven." Matthew 5:16
I don't know if I've ever seen a more literal picture of that verse.
We gave Mr. Mola an actual light. But the light his daughter-in-law ultimately saw wasn't coming from a little solar panel.
She saw Jesus through people who loved someone who couldn't give them anything in return.
That's what we mean when we talk about encouraging, equipping and mobilizing local churches to be the hands and feet of Jesus in their own communities. It doesn't always require a huge program, a lot of money, or an outside organization coming in with all the answers.
Sometimes a pastor simply needs to notice someone. Sometimes a community needs to realize what they already have in their hands. Sometimes we get the privilege of coming alongside them with the piece they can't provide themselves. And sometimes God allows us to see where all of those little acts of obedience eventually lead.
When we first visited Mr. Mola in March 2025, none of us knew we'd still be telling his story eighteen months later. We certainly didn't know that one day we'd be looking at photographs of his daughter-in-law giving her life to Jesus inside the new home his community had built for him.
And I have a feeling we're going to be telling more of this family's story in the years ahead.
We helped put a roof over Mr. Mola's head. We had no idea what God would build from there.
Better Together,
Mark
There's a space in The Circle for you
Everything in this story happened because different people did different small things. A pastor noticed someone. Neighbors gave their time and their hands. Francis and Vickie kept showing up. And people back home covered the parts that community couldn't, which was a solar light, some food and clothing, and the iron sheets for a roof.
That last piece is The Circle. It's a group of people giving a set amount every month, and the person giving ten dollars and the person giving five hundred are the same size in it. We do life in circles, not rows.
That empty spot isn't a design choice. It's yours.
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
