Philip & Sara Matheny

In 2011 we saw God's story of redemption in the life our son, whom we adopted from West Africa. God acted as both a warrior ready to battle for the least of these and a shepherd gently leading his sheep. As we daily watched the love of a family transform our son in body, heart, and mind, we longed to see God do this for other vulnerable children. We joined our Lord serving the orphaned and vulnerable in West Africa in 2013. Our ministry began in a city in West Africa, where the local church and the government agency over orphans worked with us to raise up Host Families in order to address the needs of vulnerable children under the age of 7. Learning our way into orphan care, we discovered an overwhelming majority of the cases didn't need to be placed in our host families, but only needed the resources to keep the baby alive after losing the mother. Because extended families are strong in West Africa,our Formula Distribution Ministry was birthed and now meets ninety percent of the needs that come to us. For the children who truly do not have anywhere to go, we have six Christian Host Families (similar to US foster families) ready to bring these children into their homes and care for them as their own. We've also added educational programs on the local Christian radio station to foster the idea throughout the region that all children are a blessing from the LORD. In 2018, our family transitioned Stateside, where Philip works as the Missions Director for Sheltering Wings while continuing the work with our national ministry team in Africa.