Feeding a future
Church member Jim White serves at one of the community suppers at Providence UMC in Yorktown, Va. The community dinners helped fund the education of the Rev. João F. Sambo, who this year was elected a United Methodist bishop, now serving in Mozambique. (Photo courtesy of Rev. Keith Moore)
Special to United Methodist Insight | Sept. 29, 2025
For members of a small Virginia church, putting an Africa University student through college – and seeing him become a bishop years later – was all about following the Holy Spirit.
The Rev. Keith Moore felt the nudge to help young João Sambo, and the congregation of Providence United Methodist Church in Yorktown, Va., responded by raising enough money to fund the tuition. Sambo went on to a distinguished career in ministry.
Bishop João Sambo of Mozambique. (Courtesy Photo)
“Perhaps the most miraculous news is that he was recently elected to be bishop of the Mozambique Episcopal Area and began his duties on April 1, 2025,” Moore said.
For member Jim White, Sambo’s election made the church’s support even more real. “We felt like we really did play a part in that,” he said.
Moore was serving Providence in 2004 when the church was asked to help host a Mozambican delegation attending the Virginia Annual Conference. During a dinner for the visitors, Moore said he felt God’s presence. Later that evening, he had the opportunity for a long visit with Sambo, who said he had applied to Africa University to pursue a call to become a pastor but scholarship funds weren’t available.
“I usually sleep well at night, but not that night,” Moore said. “I tossed and turned, trying to discern what God would want me to do. I felt led to find a way to financially support him to attend AU.”
Reconnecting
The Rev. Keith Moore, left, and the Rev. João Sambo reconnect at The United Methodist Church’s 2024 General Conference in Charlotte, North Carolina. Sambo was elected bishop in 2025. (Photo courtesy of Rev. Keith Moore)
When he told Bishop João Machado what he was feeling, the bishop – whose family had taken in Sambo at age 13 – became emotional and prayed with him.
“[T]hat was the affirmation I needed to answer the nudging of the Holy Spirit,” Moore said.
The $5,200 tuition was beyond Providence’s budget. However, Moore said, the president of the United Methodist Men’s group, Bill Hicks, came to his office “and shared with me how he was feeling led by God to help me provide the scholarship.”
The men’s group hosted a series of community suppers to raise donations.
“It was a massive effort,” White said. The church served between 100 and 200 people at each dinner, he said.
“The dinners proved to be more than just a fundraiser,” said Janet Moore, Keith’s spouse. “They brought together the family of God that met at Providence UMC. And they brought in some community folks, too. People would come and give whatever they could, as there was never a required fee; but the tuition always was paid. God took care of that.”
When Sambo later graduated with a divinity degree from Candler School of Theology in Atlanta, Georgia, Janet Moore said she “felt like a proud parent.” At a celebration in honor of the Sambo family afterward, she recalled Bishop Joaquina Nhanala speaking. “I remember some of what she said, and I’m paraphrasing: ‘Today João Sambo has become one of the most educated people in Mozambique. He can do any job there: pastor, professor, district superintendent. One day he may even be a bishop!’ And we all clapped in praise!
The Sambos became like family, Janet Moore said, and today she and her husband are helping young Keith Sambo with some of his costs as he follows his dad at Africa University.
As the Moores served additional churches – Providence United Methodist Church in Quinton and Beech Grove United Methodist Church in Driver – those congregations also built ties with the Sambos and ministry in Mozambique.
“It still amazes me that God used this ordinary pastor to take a great leap of faith and help support a young man in Africa to do something extraordinary. I am so grateful for the churches I have served who helped answer this call,” Keith Moore said.
Doing outreach strengthens a congregation’s faith while helping someone in need, White said.
“God can do amazing things through people. … For our church to be able to do something like that was pretty remarkable,” said White.
Tim Tanton is retired news director for United Methodist Communications. This article was distributed by United Methodist-related Africa University.