Meet Sam Braden

My name is Sam Braden, and I am the son of a missionary family that served in the IFCA church-planting and hospitality ministries for many years throughout the '90s. I was born in northern Indiana, but grew up in places as far flung as Germany, Kansas, and Missouri. I received Christ as my savior at an early age, praying much to the surprise of my parents as we were getting ready to drive to a church on deputation. And no, that's not a commentary on my fear of my dad's driving ability! Haha! Anyway, I went through the AWANA program all the way up to the Citation Award and learned a great deal of Scripture along the way. I went on to graduate from Calvary Bible College in Kansas City in 2008 with a degree in Advanced Biblical Studies with a minor emphasis in Missions. During that time I got the incredible privilege of being able to travel to Israel and spend over a month living and working in the Holy Land, walking where Jesus walked, and meeting many Messianic Jews. Also during my years at Calvary I had the opportunity to meet missionaries from every continent on Earth, all with incredible stories to tell and testimonies to stir the heart. I knew God was calling me into ministry, but I had no idea what or where, when or how any of it would take shape. And the last thing I ever expected was to end up with a ministry involving Africa. I mean seriously, that's the most stereotypical missionary place there is! Surely God would have set me up with some place more exciting! I don't even like hot weather. If I got to cherry pick my mission field, I would have gone somewhere that gets snow! But God in His wisdom knows much more than I do, and He was about to introduce me to someone that needed help in a way I was uniquely positioned to provide, and a new ministry would be born...