It was nearly 9:00 PM on a Friday, and Godfrey was sitting in traffic on his way home.
Like many evenings, he was catching up with his wife over the phone while inching through Kampala’s rush-hour congestion. Then another call came in.
The number had been forwarded from the Words of Hope Uganda office line, the number listeners can call after hearing one of the ministry’s radio programs.
Godfrey answered.
On the other end was a woman named Joanne.
“She said, ‘I just heard your program, and I am looking for someone to speak into my life. I’m struggling with issues, and I don’t feel like living.’”
Godfrey paused.
“Did I hear you . . . you don’t feel like living?”
“Yes,” she replied. “I have suicidal tendencies.”
A Voice of Hope
As traffic crawled forward, Joanne began sharing her story.
She had lost hope. Her job had become a source of frustration. A relationship had fallen apart. She felt abandoned and rejected. Then she explained why she had called.
“I listened to your program,” she said, “and I thought I should call you and ask you to pray for me.”
In that moment, a radio program became more than something heard in the background. It became an open door. Joanne had heard enough hope to reach for help.
“I told her how valuable her life is,” Godfrey says. “I told her, ‘If you hear any whisper of suicide, that’s the devil’s whisper.’”
He reminded Joanne that the loss of a job or the end of a relationship was not the end of her story.
“Jesus loves you,” he told her. “He loves you with an everlasting love.”
Prayer on the Road
Then, while carefully navigating traffic in the darkness, Godfrey prayed.
He asked God to surround Joanne with his love and give her hope. He prayed that she would know her life mattered. He prayed that Christ’s love would reach her in the middle of her pain.
The conversation lasted nearly thirty minutes.
By the end, something had changed.
“At the end of our conversation,” Godfrey says, “Joanne had laughter and smiles. I could tell on the other side of the phone.”
Before hanging up, Godfrey connected Joanne with another trusted Christian who could continue walking alongside her.
That follow-up matters. Words of Hope Uganda does not only broadcast gospel teaching and then move on. Team members listen, pray, counsel, and help connect people to ongoing care when they respond.
Why Follow-Up Matters
Every day, thousands of people across Uganda hear the gospel through radio programs. Some listen quietly while going about their day. Some are strengthened in faith. Some are drawn back to Christ. And some, like Joanne, find the courage to make a life-changing phone call.
This is the power of gospel media joined with personal care.
A broadcast can enter a home, a workplace, a car, or a lonely evening. It can reach someone at the exact moment they are asking whether hope is still possible. And when that message is paired with a real person ready to answer the phone, pray, and walk alongside them, God uses it to bring light into dark places.
For Godfrey, moments like Joanne’s call are a reminder of why Words of Hope exists.
“When I see a transformed life through our ministry, that keeps me going,” he says. “When I hear testimonies of people: marriages being reconciled, people coming back to Christ, it blesses my heart.”
Join the Story
Your support helps equip indigenous Christian leaders to share the hope of the gospel in the heart languages of unreached people.
In Uganda, that means radio programs that teach God’s Word, follow-up calls that offer prayer and counsel, and local believers who are ready to speak hope into moments of deep need.
Please pray for Joanne and others like her who are searching for hope. Pray for Godfrey and the Words of Hope Uganda team as they answer calls, offer counsel, and point people to the everlasting love of Jesus.
And pray that every listener who feels alone would hear the voice of Christ saying: your life matters, and your story is not over.
