Life Support Ministries was birthed out of a mission trip to Uganda in 2006, with friends who had the same heart call as founders, Jerry and Shelly Jackson.

Rev. Jerry Jackson, Nathan Hall, Nathan Greer, Rev. Martin Dorsey, Greg Noone & Brain Krieger all attended a mission trip to Uganda in 2005 where they helped with a Pastors conference and revival. During the mission trip Rev. Jerry Jackson saw the great need for feeding the physical needs of the people of Uganda. Also while there he saw the great need for a children’s and women’s ministry.

Children are the future, yet there was no provision for them on a bigger format that could be seen. 57% of Ugandan’s are under 18 (and that was from a 1998 census) with the life expectancy rate of 40-41 years and yet most of the mission trips are general revivals or pastors conferences. The only Vacation Bible School’s or any child-centered program was on an individual church basis with at most maybe 50 children. Rev. Jerry saw this as a tragedy, without knowledge and training of Jesus Christ for these children, Uganda would be a mission field forever. If we teach the children then they can change their world. In Proverbs 22:6 the Bible says, “Train up a child in the way that he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it” so why weren’t we helping to “train up” these children. Though many people might say that it’s the parent’s job to do that, Rev. Jerry knows God called him for this purpose. With a high orphan rate in Uganda, an Aids epidemic, as well as a high poverty rate, children are in danger of losing more than their share of family members to any one of these factors and more.

Women account for about 51% of the population with 43% between the ages of 15-49 age group; this is why there seems to be a need for women’s ministry there. It seems that in all our efforts as Christians we seem to have left these two groups out of our efforts in Uganda.

In August of 2006, Rev. Jerry Jackson, Greg Noone, and Brian Krieger returned for these purposes. They took along with them new team members, Shelly and Brittany Jackson, Christie, Braden and Dylan Noone, Pastor Tim Parker, and Pastor Wade Shepard. Together with a team of pastors and friends from the US and Uganda they held the first ever area wide VBS! Over 2000 children attended the VBS over a 3-day period and over 350 salvations! PRAISE GOD! Although Satan tried to hinder God’s work for the VBS, as always, God prevailed and the VBS was a huge success. There were children that traveled over 150 miles to attend and before the team left Uganda, word had spread and many pastors and teachers from area schools and orphanages were calling to see how to get involved for the next year.  According to our Ugandan partners, Life Support is expecting over 7000 children to attend in July 2007!

In 2006 the women’s conference had over 200 women that attended and heard the Word of God. Many women’s lives were changed and renewed. This year we are told to expect over 1000!

In 2006 we feed over 5000 Ugandans during the VBS and women’s conference. It was our honor to feed the mind and body (just as Christ)! We are planning to do the same in 2007. But we can’t do it without your help. As you’ve noticed the number of children and women have grown, and with that, our budget, please prayerfully consider becoming a part of our team by donating to a very worthy cause. Feel free to email us with any questions you may have, we are standing ready to serve.

ugandamissionteam@sbcglobal.net

Blessings to you all,

Rev. Jerry and Shelly Jackson