The Impact of Generational Ministry | A WLI Share Your Story Blog

Brothers and sisters, my name is Francis Moka, and I want to share with you the incredible journey of faith that the Lord has taken me on.  

I was born into a family where my dad was once a Hindu Priest before he encountered the saving grace of Jesus Christ before marriage. It all started with a friend persistently inviting him to church. After a year of resisting, my dad finally relented, not expecting the profound impact that awaited him. At church, he heard the gospel message from a Sunday school teacher and began to wrestle with deep questions about the nature of God. Despite his years of devotion to Hindu gods, he found no satisfying answers until he encountered Jesus.  

Through the witness of that Sunday school teacher, my dad discovered the truth of Jesus Christ as the real God who died for his sins. This revelation transformed his life, and he surrendered his heart to Christ, experiencing a peace he had never known before. From that moment on, he devoted himself to learning more about Jesus and the Bible, eventually sensing a call to ministry through Isaiah 43:9-10. The Lord called him to plant a church amid a tribe who used to have three to four wives, make their own drugs, and live as they wanted.    

Growing up as the firstborn in our family, I witnessed firsthand the impact of the gospel and the work of the Lord in the lives of this tribe, and their lives were transformed by the gospel in all areas of life. My parents raised me in prayer and immersed me in God’s Word, instilling within me a deep conviction of my own need for a Savior. At the age of 16, I confessed my sins, surrendered my life to Christ, and was baptized.   

As I matured, the Lord stirred within me a passion for ministry and a burden for souls. I served in various capacities within the church while pursuing my education in engineering at the Bachelor’s and master’s levels. However, after completing my studies, I felt a clear calling from the Lord to pursue full-time ministry.   

My journey led me to Moody Bible Institute, where I applied for my Master of Divinity degree. But the road was not without its challenges. My visa was rejected six times, testing my faith and resolve. An international counselor had read an email I sent discussing how I had been rejected six times for a visa; she called me and explained how she felt God speaking to her—she fought for me to get my visa. And I was finally accepted on my seventh attempt. Through all the bumps in the road, God remained faithful, providing for my needs and opening doors that seemed impossible.   

During my time at Moody, I was involved in local and international ministry, witnessing God’s transformative power at work in diverse communities. After two years of being involved in Park Community Church, Chicago, within the production and worship ministries in the Near North Location. I was one of the leaders in planting a new church congregation in a culturally diverse neighborhood on the north side of Chicago. The church was named Sabkha Sahaara, which means ‘Hope for Everyone’ in Hindu. We started with four people, and God blessed it and increased it to 60 people and 12 nations in the span of three years.  

God led me to Woodside Bible Church after graduation through a friend named Victor Nuwamanya, whom I met in my second year of Moody. As a pastoral resident at Woodside Bible Church, Farmington Hills, God helped me grow in many areas of Pastoral Ministry under the leadership of Pastor Jacob Ley and Pastor Joel Tomkinson. I was involved and actively participated in outreach ministries at my location in my second year of residency. I am burdened by God’s call to plant churches in North India and the Middle East, where 3.2 billion have yet to hear the gospel. I am trusting the Lord to provide the resources and partnerships needed to fulfill this calling.   

I am also pursuing a Doctorate in Ministry from Moody, which will equip me to be a more effective leader in God’s Kingdom, enabling me to reach the millions who are still in need of salvation. Please pray for me and the ministry.