Last Updated March 2011

Sammy gave his life to Christ on Sunday, December 2, 1973 while attending a Youth Camp at Man’gu High School in Kenya. He worked for Barclays Bank in Nairobi between 1976 and 1978 after completion of the “A Level” education between at Thomson’s Falls High School (now Ndururumo High School) in 1975.

In 1978, Sammy went to study Computer Programing in London, U.K. In the Spring of of that year, he attended a Missions Convention with his “adopted British parents” at the Worldwide Evangelization Crusade’s (WEC) Headquaters in Bulstrode (near London) where Brother Andrew was the speaker. It was at that convention that Sammy surrendered his life to the call of Missions, with no idea what all that meant.

In the Summer of 1978, Sammy traveled to Birmingham to visit a friend for a few days. As he watched the Black and White TV, BCC introduced and relayed a documentary on the Turkana and Rendile peoples of Kenya. By the end of the documentary, Sammy knew that God was calling him to reach the Turkana people with the Gospel; that that was the call a few months earlier!

After graduating from the six-month Computer Programming classes on Oxford Street, London, early that summer, Sammy had already applied to several Bible Colleges in Britain. As he waited and communicated about his calling with his parents back home, he read the book “Rees Howells, Intercessor” by Norman P. Grubb. Sammy wanted to experience God in a “real” way! He wanted to witness faith at work, just like Mr. Howells had. He knew that the Bible College of Wales in Swansea that was started by Mr. Howells, a “well-known teacher and prayer intercessor”, in 1924 was the place for him. (Interestingly, Mr. Howells had passed on to heaven on February 13th, 1950, exactly 28 years to the day before Sammy would embark on his journey to the U.K.!). Mr. Howells vision “was to ‘seed the nations’ with the Christian message.”

In August 1978, the Lord opened the door for Sammy to go to Bible College of Wales. He graduated with a Diploma in Bible and Theology in 1980. He took further courses on Missions at WEC’s Missionary Orientation Center under the teachers and authors David Burnett and Patrick Johnstone.

In 1981, Sammy returned home and served in a pastoral capacity at the Valley Road Nairobi Pentecostal Church for one year. His pastoral position brought him into contact with many missionaries and missionary leaders.

In 1982, Sammy accompanied a Swedish missionary on a Turkana language Christian ministry recording expedition to Lodwar town, the government seat of the vast desert Turkana District in northwestern Kenya. At that point Sammy knew very well that he was not adequately prepared for what he saw and experienced! He needed further training!

In 1982, Sammy and Mary were married. Soon after, Sammy went back to school at Pan Africa Christian College (PACC; now PAC University) in Nairobi while Mary taught in high school to support the family.

After graduation in 1984, Sammy was invited to serve as the first Dean of Students at PACU, where he also served as lecturer. He served in that capacity for 2 1/2 years. About 90% of the faculty at PACU comprised non-African missionaries, whom God used to enlarge Sammy’s vision for Missions.

After working with churches, missionaries, and Christian students in Kenya, Sammy became convinced that the local churches needed a thrust in the area of Missions, especially among the unreached people-groups within Kenya and beyond. He took the challenge afresh, believing God to make an impact to that end through his life. He saw the need for further preparation to equip him to meet the bigger challenge.

In 1986, Sammy and Mary, and their two sons, left Kenya for Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (TEDS; now Trinity International University) in Deerfield, Illinois, where Sammy embarked on graduate studies in Missions. In 1990, he graduated with a Masters degree in Divinity, with a major in Missions. The Murimi family moved to Charleston, Illinois, the same year where Sammy graduated with a Masters degree in Educational Administration from Eastern Illinois University in 1992 while he pursued his doctoral degree at TEDS. In 1995 he graduated with a Doctor of Ministry in Missiology from TEDS.

Mary pursued further education as well beginning in 1987. In 1990 she graduated with a B.S. degree in Foods and Nutrition from Mundelein College in Chicago (now Loyola University). In 1992 she graduated with a Masters degree in Human Nutrition from Eastern Illinois University. The Murimi family moved to Ames, Iowa, in 1993 where Mary pursued her Ph.D. at Iowa State University. She graduated with a Ph.D. in Human Nutrition in 1996.

In August 1998 the Murimi family moved to Ruston, Louisiana, where Mary has been a Professor of Human Nutrition in the School of Human Ecology at Louisiana Tech University. Sammy continues to serve with SI on full-time basis from Ruston. They have four children, David (27), Justus (53), Neema (21), and Baraka (19).
Now back to Turkanaland…

Share International (SI) grew out of the vision and inspiration of Sammy and Mary Murimi. On the 18th of January 1989, while studying 1 Thessalonians at TEDS, Paul’s words, “share the gospel . . . (and) our lives” (2:8), made a strong impression on Sammy. He understood Paul’s description of effective Missions ministry as characterized, not only by the preaching of the Gospel to those who have never heard, but essentially as a sharing of one’s life with those who are without Christ. It’s at that moment that Share International (SI) was born. Soon after, a U.S. Board of Directors was formed.

In 1993, the Murimi family traveled to Kenya where they formed the SI-Kenya Board of Directors. In 1997, SI began reaching the poor and neglected Turkana people of northwestern Kenya on annual basis. In 2004 SI started outreach ministry among the Dalits of India.

Under the leadership of dedicated Christian men and women in the U.S., Kenya, and India, the SI work has grown faster than anticipated. SI now supports 33Turkana missionaries and pastors, with a total of 98 churches planted across Turkanaland and in Southern Sudan by 2010.

We invite you to read and view the phenomenal growth of the Share International ministry, including several other ministries in Kenya, India, and Sudan at www.shareint.net. It’s all for the glory of God – making Him and His Son known among the nations through the power of the Holy Spirit!

You can also read access our current financial through the ECFA link at the SI web site.

In summary, between December 1997 and December 2010, the Lord had used Share International to accomplish the following (among others among the Turkana people of Kenya and the Dalits of India, and the Taposa of Southern Sudan:

1. Lead over 25,000 Turkana people to a personal faith in Christ as Savior.
2. Baptize over 3,000 Turkana people
3. Organize monthly church planting and construction mission outreaches in Turkanaland through the SI Team of Evangelism (SITE)
4. Lead over 100 Americans and over 150 Africans on 14 annual Short-Term Outreach & Relief Mission (STORM) trips in Turkanaland
5. Plant and facilitate planting of over 90 churches in Turkanaland
6. Support 9 Turkana pastors and 23 missionaries through the SI Church Growth Program (SICGP).
7. Show the “Jesus Film” to thousands of Turkana people
8. Conduct weekly Bible lessons to hundreds of Turkana children and women through the Share International Children and Women Program (SICWP)
9. Distribute water to 9 villages on weekly basis
10. Distribute several thousand bags of dry foodstuffs to thousands of Turkana families
11. Distribute clothes, medical, and school supplies to the Turkana people.
12. Open a Health Center in Turkanaland to provide monthly medical services to hundreds of Turkana families within Lodwar township and mobile clinics in 9 remote villages through the Share International Health Program (SIHP)
13. Purchase a new mobile clinic to serve the remote villages in Turkanaland.
14. Sponsor over 269 Turkana and Dalit children in K-12 and college education through the Children of the Kingdom (COK) and the SI Foster/Adoption (SIFA) programs, with 75 students graduating from high school and college
15. Support teachers to educate over 450 Turkana adults in remote villages through the SI Adult Literacy (SIAL) program
16. Provide micro-loans to several parents of the children in the COK program in Turkanaland
17. Complete a 3-year Bible college level training in 2006 for 76 Turkana pastors at the SI Missions Institute (SIMI) in Lodwar
18. Hold leadership and discipleship seminars for over 1,000 Turkana church leaders.
19. Provide Bibles and discipleship materials and literature to Turkana pastors, missionaries, and evangelists
20. Provide 15 bicycles and one motorbike to pastors and Bible evangelists
21. Provide 4 start-up goats per family to over 60 very poor Turkana families through the SI Livestock Program (SILP)
22. Provide jobs to 54 staff in Turkanaland, India, and the U.S.
23. Constructed a ministry office building Lodwar
24. Incorporate a church-planting ministry and a sewing training program among the Dalits in partnership with the Messiah Gospel Ministry (MGM)
25. Provide 35 sewing machines to 35 Dalit women. The first 35 women graduates have started successful small sewing businesses of their own in their villages.
26. Sent our first Turkana missionary to the taposa people of Southern Sudan.
27. Became member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA )in December 2007.

We invite you to help SI accomplish more. You can contact us through e-mail at admin@shareint.net; Tel.: (318)513-2535; Fax: (318)257-1998. You can also read and view video clips about SI ministry, or donate to the ministry online at the SI web site – www.shareint.net.

The Vision is alive! The Mission will be accomplished! Only as we obey Christ’s Final Mandate to His Church (Matt. 28:18-20) will “…the desert tribes bow before Him…”.  (Ps. 72:9)

To God be all the glory!

Sammy Murimi