Luke & Savannah

Luke and Savannah Black are our full-time peace-workers who are on mission to see God’s vision for Hands of Hope come to fruition in Zambia. They are currently in the capital city, Lusaka, and work alongside our Zambian partners.

Savannah

When I was 17 years old, I was in a deep state of not knowing what God wanted for my life. I had gone on mission trips with my grandparents before but had never felt a specific call to missions. I went on a two and a half week mission trip to Zambia with my grandparents church, Christ Baptist Church of North Augusta, SC. While there, we spent our time evangelizing in the city, meeting with pastors, and volunteering in the Bible college. One night, we attended a gospel crusade, where people watched the Jesus Film and heard the gospel and were invited to be in relationship with Jesus. There, sitting in the dirt, surrounded by children, God clearly and profoundly called me to Zambia. As I came back home, I went through the rest of my life as normal- decided to go to college and become a teacher. My freshman year at Anderson University, I experienced multiple sermons that spoke of speaking the gospel, and over and over felt like God was calling me to go back, but I had no idea why. I had stayed in contact with a pastor we worked with, Bitwell Njovu. I messaged him, asking if there was anything I could do in Zambia, as I felt called there and explained that I was getting an elementary education degree. He said that I could volunteer in community schools, and so I spoke with my family and we booked a ticket for me to stay there during the summer. 

While there, I helped teach english as a guest teacher in Community Schools (schools run primarily by churches with lower fees than other schools). There, I saw a huge need for students to be educated well despite their socioeconomic status from people who loved them and shared the gospel with them. Bitwell and I spoke before I left of dreams of starting a school for disadvantaged and orphaned children, as well as sponsorship of students going without food and necessary resources. The next summer, I returned with some money I had fundraised over the year, hoping to get some ground work for our dream. Within two days of arriving, God had made it clear that He wanted to us to go ahead and start the school, even though I had no idea what to do and felt very ill-equipped as 20 year old in college. Bitwell’s famous words to me in those moments were “If God is with us, we cannot fail”. Over that summer, we found and began renting and renovating a house, turning bedrooms into classrooms. We hired and trained teachers, bought resources, and started a school with a small amount of money donated from college kids. God was moving in incredible ways and now even thinking about those weeks, I know that God is always faithful to what He calls us to and is ready to equip us.

During all of this, some of my family members and many church members came together from seeing the needs of the children and their families, and started a nonprofit organization called Hands of Hope. Since the summer of starting the school, Hands of Hope Trust School has 300+ kids in school. Children at our school are fed lunch and are not kicked out of school for not having the money. They are safe, well educated, and taught the gospel within our walls. We have amazing teachers who love children and love Jesus. They are such an inspiration to me and all of the children. Pastor Bitwell not only pastors his church, but also plants churches, supports pastors and advises Hands of Hope.

In the summer of 2022, my husband Luke and I moved to Zambia full-time. We feel that God has called us to work specifically through the Hands of Hope Nonprofit organization to spread the gospel and see that the mission God has put on it is completed. We will be working closely with the school in Lusaka, as well as our mission for a church and a school in the bush a few hours away. It has been beautiful to watch God’s story grow, as people partner with us and want to see our school and organization play a part in expanding the kingdom.

Luke

I was going into my junior year of high school when the Lord radically changed my life. It was from this moment on that I would say yes to anything the Lord had for me. A few months later I remember so clearly getting a vision from God where I was in a foreign country preaching the gospel with a translator. I’ve never really felt called to do missionary work overseas, I just always wanted to love people wherever I was at, so to get this vision shifted my perspective.

Long story short, I end up marrying this girl named Savannah, whose family is involved in missionary work in Zambia! We both knew and understood that Zambia would always be a part of our lives. We had no idea the Lord would call us to sell everything and move there.

Savannah and I both prayed long and hard about it, but she and I both knew that her answer would be yes. I, however, wanted to hear directly from God if this is what he had for us next. He had called me to a church in Greenville back in 2019 and spoke to me so clearly the moment I stepped through those doors. He said, “Luke this is the place I am going to use to get you where you are going to go.” I had no idea what that meant, but I was stoked! All of that to say, God had called us to Greenville and I wasn’t going to move us unless God clearly called us somewhere else.

After about 2 months of praying, I was reading one morning in Isaiah 43, with Zambia nowhere near my mind. I got 4 verses in and God spoke to me as clear as anything I’ve ever heard. “Hey Luke, go back and read that again.” Well I read it again and this is what verse 2 said:

“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. WHEN YOU PASS THROUGH THE WATERS, I WILL BE WITH YOU… For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.”

There it was. Passing through the waters meant one thing to me… to pass through the Atlantic Ocean. As soon as I read this I was 100% for it. He is a good Father who only gives good things to his kids; why on earth would we not want to do what he says? And we really believe that the Lord is doing something amazing in Zambia. We don’t want to go to Zambia just to build a few buildings and then leave and come home. We believe that God wants his kingdom to be manifested on the earth. We believe that he wants to bless people and show them his goodness. I can see people from all over the country coming to know Jesus in a whole new way. I can see a kid with a club foot being healed, proclaiming Jesus to a Muslim and seeing them go from death to life. The Lord’s love knows no bounds and we know that signs and wonders follow those who believe.