Both Tom and Patty have had a heart to serve in Uganda since the Lord called them to a life in the ministry of biblical soul care. Being local Southern Californians, Tom and Patty faithfully serve at a church in San Diego where Tom is the pastor of Counseling and Discipleship and Patty serves playing the guitar and as a women’s Bible study teacher. Their passion for ministry at home matches one of their hearts’ greatest desires, to see the ministry of the Word taught to local pastors in Uganda so their churches are strengthened and more lives are brought to Christ. Since 2014, they have travelled to Uganda with Overseas Instruction in Counseling (OIC) 10 times to train trainers of biblical counseling and have watched how suffering people receive the joy that only the Word of God can bring.
Tom’s and Patty’s lives were both transformed by the gospel after they got saved in their thirties. Tom had been diagnosed with a life-threatening disease, and, out of despair, he stumbled into an evangelical church where four weeks later he understood the message of the gospel and placed his faith and trust in Christ. He often tells people, in reference to his testimony, “God brought the worst thing in my life to bring me to the best thing in my life.”
Patty’s story began inside a church, yet not one that faithfully taught the Word. She was raised in a religion similar to the Jehovah’s Witnesses called Christadelphian, yet after her own study of the Word she began to question the idea of being saved by works instead of grace. This idea challenged her so much that once she sought answers to her questions, she was led straight to the gospel where she saw her greatest need to be Christ’s forgiveness as a free gift instead of a prize to be acquired through hard work.
Eventually, Tom and Patty began attending the same church. Now, nineteen years later, they’ve enjoyed a marriage together where they are focused on the ministry of bringing soul care to churches internationally. Tom had discovered the ministry of biblical counseling through a book entitled, How to Counsel God’s Way by Robert Hoekstra. Tom had a desire to care for people in the local church. He did not plan to become a counselor, but people would ask to meet with him; and he was eventually asked by church leadership to be trained to serve as a biblical counselor.
The need for biblical counseling in Uganda is abundant as the country is a very poor country with a very oppressive government; therefore, the local people experience intense suffering day in and out. The local Christians are very hard-working and hungry for good doctrine. With the people suffering from so many things, the local pastors often feel under-equipped to minister to their people, as many of them have never been biblically trained.
As Tom’s heart’s desire developed to minister to people through the ministry of biblical counseling, he knew he also had a desire to teach in Africa. Patty encouraged Tom to stay patient and wait until the right opportunity arose for them to teach in Africa. From there, they waited many years to find a mission’s organization that would be a good fit with how they desired to strengthen churches with training up biblical leaders.
Then, at precisely the right time, the Lord worked through His providential grace to provide an opportunity. As they were attending a counseling conference, Tom and Patty came across an OIC booth minded by Susie Vanderwier. They browsed their pamphlet and were immediately drawn to OIC’s distinctives such as experienced trainers, teaching local pastors, and in-person training. Tom knew right away that this was the ministry they had been looking to serve with, as it offered experience they could learn from. The focus of OIC was grounded in sufficiency of Scripture, in-person teaching, training trainers (pastors and leaders), and a systematic curriculum in multiple modules. In this ministry , the trainers would spend significant amounts of time with the local people, investing in their lives first before these men moved to counsel and train their own congregations.
In 2013, Tom and Patty decided to attend the first OIC missionary training conference and left the conference joining the team, further affirming their desire to teach biblical soul care abroad. At the end of the conference, they were told there was a request from Uganda for OIC training, and so they planned an exploratory trip with the Vanderwiers. Since that time, Tom and Patty have had the privilege of watching OIC develop in sending missionaries around the world.
Pastors from all over Uganda travel at great personal costs to attend the Church Leadership Training modules (CLT). The training has ended up being a great catalyst in the people’s personal lives and as well as within congregations. Tom and Patty reminisced about testimonials they often hear after the training is over: “My heart has been so blessed from this new inspirational teaching and transformation of my mind. Really, biblical counseling glorifies God,” and again, “This has been an incredible week and the best training I’ve ever attended.”
Most pastors in Uganda have few books and have never owned a biblical counseling resource. Books are provided to the pastors and leaders attending the CLT training through a generous donor. Some of the books received over the course of the four modules include: Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hands by Paul Tripp, How People Change by Paul Tripp and Tim Lane, and Shepherding a Child’s Heart by Ted Tripp. Along with these books, there are now seven church libraries set up around the country that contain 25 theology books and 25 biblical counseling books. As Tom and Patty look back on this growth, they are consistent to give God the glory for allowing his work to be accomplished among the people of Uganda. They have also had the privilege of watching the myriad of ways the Lord continues to provide for missionaries, both spiritually and financially, as they deal with the challenges of living in a third-world country with increasing joy of the Lord.
Tom and Patty love the people of Uganda, along with their culture. Patty herself has become well-known as she has embraced customs that are very important to the people of Uganda, such as dancing. During their Church Leadership Training events, they will take “stretch breaks,” which looks like line-dancing for Ugandans. The people nicknamed Patty “Dancing Muzungu,” which simply means “dancing white lady,” in a non-derogatory way. As dancing is very important in their culture, Patty not only embraces it but enjoys it as a way to connect with the local women.
Tom and Patty confidently see the ways in which OIC is doing the work of the Great Commission in strengthening churches around the world by training up strong leaders. As it is in all places, church leaders in Uganda can often find themselves ill-equipped to help their people or lead them from sin to holiness, similar to Paul’s church of Corinth. As such, church strengthening is a vital part of the Great Commission because strong churches bring true, rich, and practical gospel proclamation to their local people in a most effective manner, and biblical counseling often plays a vital role in the sanctification process in these people’s lives.
Tom notes how this same strategy is used throughout the book of Acts as the first thirteen chapters focus around church-planting missionaries, and the final six chapters highlight church strengthening missionaries. So, the Maxhams ask you to partner with them in much prayer as they face another challenge in their ministry, the returning to Uganda in a time of the COVID-19 pandemic. They are eager and planning to get back into the country this June and every six months going forward. Join them in prayer as they face ongoing battles related to the country’s third-world challenges and strive to provide more Church Leadership Training modules so that the work of training trainers can spread through the churches. If you are interested in supporting Tom and Patty, or OIC generally, you can visit the Maxhams’ page on OIC’s website or see their personal website at tomandpatty.us.
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