Twenty-seven graduates from the Class of 2024 were honored during the LBC | Capital – Uganda Commencement ceremony on May 25, 2024, in Kampala, Uganda. Through a partnership with the Pastors Discipleship Network (PDN), LBC | Capital aims to equip ministry leaders across Africa to proclaim the gospel and to better serve their churches and communities.

For the eighth Commencement ceremony in Uganda, Dr. Richmond Wandera (’20), PDN founder and President and a graduate of LBC | Capital’s PhD in Leadership program, inspired the graduates with these words: “Class of 2024, your years at LBC | Capital have been a time of intellectual exploration, remarkable accomplishment, and extraordinary hard work and dedication. Today, we honor your achievement, and we celebrate as you embark on the next stage of your journey. Today’s ceremony marks the conclusion of your time as LBC | Capital students. But I have great hope that here at PDN, you will continue to pour into the thousands of pastors who come to PDN to find help for their ministries and personal lives. I also hope that you will remain learners for life.”

After Ben Mutegeki, MA, PDN Managing Director, provided the prelude and graduates and administrators processed to the ceremony, Dr. Benson Baguma of the National Team Lead African Evangelistic Enterprise offered the invocation. Joseph Musaalo (’17), MA, Chairman of the Uganda PDN Board of Directors, and Robert Blanks, MDiv, Program Director of the Master of Arts in Contextualized Pastoral Ministry at LBC | Capital officially opened the ceremony.

Offering the day’s Scripture reading from 2 Timothy 2:1-5 was Emmanuel Ahimbisibwe, MA, National Director of Compassion International.

The 2024 Commencement speaker for the Uganda celebration was Peter J. Kasirivu, MA, Founding Pastor of Gaba Community Church as well as the founder and President of Africa Renewal Ministries.

Also the founder and Chancellor of Africa Renewal University in Uganda, Kasirivu has traveled to more than 15 nations teaching leaders and preaching the gospel. He is known for his passion for developing leaders, a service he does through his weekly TV program on LTV known as “The Excellent Life” as well as through annual outreaches to Uganda’s many universities. His greatest love is to help and encourage upcoming leaders. He has authored two books: “Your Vision is Your Future” and “The African Pastors’ Handbook.” Peter and his wife, Irene, have been married since 1994 and have four children, plus have cared for and are caring for many other children.

Another participant from LBC | Capital, Dr. Kevin Gushiken, Chair of the  Church & Ministry Leadership Department, gave a charge to the graduates, after which award recipients were recognized.

• The Servant Leadership Award is given to a master’s degree graduate who has evidenced outstanding scholarship, a servant’s heart and leadership skills: Atria Stephen (’24)
• The Pastor Peter Kasirivu Award goes to a master’s degree graduate who best exemplifies the humility, leadership and outstanding witness as modeled by Pastor Peter Kasirivu: Emmanuel Andiba Okonda (’24)
• Academic Honors represented by a gold stole worn around the graduate’s neck, indicates graduating summa cum laude (GPA of 3.90-4.00); the white stole indicates graduating magna cum laude (GPA of 3.75-3:89); and a red stole indicates graduating cum laude (GPA of 3.50-3.74).

Presenting the Servant’s Towels were Dr. John Francis Mugisha, Vice Chancellor of Cavendish University, and Dr. Edward Kibirango (’19 & ’23), pastor of Deliverance Church Kansanga.

The presentation of the Servant’s Towel has been a longstanding tradition at Lancaster Bible College. Since 1933, servant leadership has been the culture of LBC, reminding all that on the night He was betrayed, Jesus put a towel around His waist and washed His disciples’ feet. In so doing, He offered them a profound and radically counter-culture demonstration of the very heart of God. The joy-filled life in which He invites His followers to participate involves taking up the towel with Him. The servant’s towel is more than a symbol at LBC | Capital. It is a tangible expression of our mission, reminding each graduate that everything they have accomplished and will accomplish comes by participating in the servant ministry of Jesus Christ.

Musical selections were provided by the Anglican Youth Fellowship Choir.

Four graduates were recognized for earning their doctoral degrees:

• Dr. David Musooli (’19 & ’24), PhD in Leadership, whose dissertation focused on “Church-Driven Social Change Through the Nexus of Relational Organizing and Pastoral Transformational Leadership at Worship HarvestMinistries in Uganda.” He remarked of his time at PDN and LBC | Capital: “LBC | Capital’s PhD in Leadership program has been an unparalleled journey of growth and empowerment. Through its rigorous curriculum, I’ve evolved into a transformational leader and change agent. Now, armed with newfound knowledge and insights, I stand ready to serve more effectively as a beacon of knowledge, impacting both the Church and society through teaching, research and consulting. LBC | Capital has enabled me to fulfill my lifelong aspiration of achieving a terminal degree with unwavering confidence.”
• Dr. Byamukama Vincent (’24), PhD in Leadership, who doctoral research centered on “A Qualitative Phenomenological Study of Teacher Perceptions of The Integration of Values into Teaching and Learning at Mukono Christian University.”
• Dr. Rose Mugabi Khalayi (’24), Doctor of Ministry, whose dissertation highlighted the “Effects of Leadership Training on the Perceptions of Women Leaders in Uganda.” She shared, “When I was introduced to LBC | Capital, I knew God answered my prayer for further studies and paved the way for more learning as a leader. I’m eternally grateful for LBC.” Read more of Rose’s story here.
• Dr. Edward Kibirango (’19 & ’23), Doctor of Ministry, who researched “An Exploration of Uganda’s Pentecostal Pastors’ Anti-Intellectual Attitude to Improve Desire for Additional Theological.”

Another 22 graduates earned a Master of Arts in Contextualized Pastoral Ministry, while one earned a Concentrated Bible Certificate.

Watch the 2024 Uganda Graduation Highlight Video Below…

And Check Out the Photo Gallery from the 2024 Uganda Ceremony!

(Photos and video by Allan Jageyambe)

To learn more about LBC | Capital’s partnership in Uganda through the Pastors Discipleship Network and how to sponsor a pastor for $250 a month for 24 months, visit lbc.edu/uganda or email Robert Blanks at rblanks@lbc.edu. 

Learn More About the Pastors Discipleship Network

The Pastors Discipleship Network (PDN) is a ministry that equips pastors and strengthens the African church. PDN was established in 2008 to train and equip pastors and their wives with critical ministry and life skills to help them lead and teach their congregations while fostering personal development.

PDN’s vision is “The Church in Africa ROOTED, READY and ABLE to bring the TRUE Gospel to its nations and the world.” Its mission is “to bring training to untrained church leaders in Africa in order to deepen the church and to advance the Gospel of Jesus Christ through healthy churches.”

PDN was founded and is led by Dr. Richmond Wandera (’20), who grew up in extreme poverty in the Naguru slum near Kampala, Uganda, and battled malaria more than 10 times. When Richmond’s father was murdered, he was left to help care for his six siblings. He entered the Compassion-assisted child development center at his local church when he was eight; then his life and his family changed dramatically.

On completing his early education, he was accepted into Compassion’s Leadership Development Program and was able to attend college. Upon graduation with a CPA and Accountant’s degree, he was invited to join the accounting faculty at Uganda Christian University. Richmond also served as pastor at Nakawa Baptist Church, the very church he joined as a Compassion child. He has been involved with two church plants and community leadership.

As Richmond continued to serve the local church, he realized that his fellow pastors were equally struggling in ministry due to lack of theological training. Determined to receive Bible training, Richmond pursued a very select opportunity and received a Compassion Wess Stafford Scholarship to attend Moody Graduate School in Chicago (USA). During his time at seminary, Richmond often summarized his education for pastors. After his graduate studies, he returned to his country Uganda to begin training pastors in Africa as well as participate in reaching professional accountants for the Lord. He has since been leading the ministry of the Pastors Discipleship Network, which is now training over 4,000 pastors across five countries in East Africa.

In March of 2015, Lancaster Bible College | Capital Seminary and Graduate School then-President Dr. Peter Teague and Wandera joined together in an initiative that resulted in an LBC | Capital partnership with PDN to offer an online Master of Arts degree for African pastors and church leaders. That first group of students, Cohort 1, who started on March 30, 2015, graduated on May 27, 2017. Consisting of 14 ministry classes, this degree is an accredited LBC | Capital degree.

These LBC | Capital graduates then in turn pass on what they have learned in the Master of Arts program to other African pastors and church leaders, helping them minister to those in their sphere of influence. This training-the-trainer model helps fulfill PDN’s mission in equipping and training untrained church leaders.