What locations come to mind when you think of taking an anniversary trip with a significant other? Maybe you’d love to lounge side by side on the sandy shores of Hawaii, or perhaps you’ve dreamt of setting sail on a Mediterranean cruise.
For Chris and Kim Smith, they have a different idea of romance.
“Before we were married, we had established in our own lives that serving is what we wanted to do,” said Kim, a 63-year-old administrative assistant. “We felt God leading us there. So as a couple, it was something that we strongly believed in and wanted to continue doing in our married life.”
That’s why to celebrate their 29th wedding anniversary, they teamed up with Our Daily Bread Ministries (ODBM) Literacy Program to train Christian leaders in South Africa.
Since its creation in 2021, the ODBM Literacy Program has helped more than ten thousand African students—both young and old—learn English through biblical resources like simplified Our Daily Bread devotions, Bible stories, and more.
“Not just to make heaven more accessible later, but it makes heaven on earth now because it makes their lives better here.”
“The Literacy Program allows us to go in and provide something that these people really need,” said Chris, a 60-year-old former pastor. “Not just to make heaven more accessible later, but it makes heaven on earth now because it makes their lives better here.”
Chris and Kim’s passion for serving with the ODBM Literacy Program brought them to Durban, South Africa, where they spent a day training local church leaders on how to establish the Literacy Program in their communities. Chris, who had previously volunteered with the ODBM Literacy Program in Nigeria just a week before their couple’s trip, led the participants on how to teach English using everything from ODBM’s daily devotional booklets to text written on cereal boxes.
“We showed them the possibility,” he said. “You don’t have to have a library. There are words and print pieces all around you that you can use.”
Because this was Kim’s first time volunteering with the program—and visiting Africa—she answered questions behind the scenes and learned how Chris taught the church leaders so she would be ready to teach at their next training workshop.
“There were people there that I was able to speak to about the Literacy Program, and I saw their excitement and their enthusiasm for learning,” she said. “They were already planning programs and touchpoints for how they were going to use the program. And they were thrilled that they had the support of Our Daily Bread Ministries.”
“It’s more like their heart language that they’re learning. It allows them to have that daily personal relationship with the Lord by reading.”
But for Chris, Kim, and these leaders, it wasn’t just about equipping South Africans with literacy—it was also about using this practical skill to open their minds and hearts to the Bible.
“This program allows us to teach so that a person can be able to read God’s Word and have that personal relationship with God,” said Kim. “It’s more like their heart language that they’re learning. It allows them to have that daily personal relationship with the Lord by reading.”
Together, Chris and Kim were able to celebrate their love for one another by sharing their love for God with others. They encourage others to do the same.
“I don’t think God has called us to sit in the Lazy Boy and watch what’s happening on TV,” said Chris. “He’s called us to make disciples, and the best way to do that is to get with people who need to be discipled.”
“Volunteering is work and service that will profit the kingdom for so many years,” said Kim. “You go for four days or a week, but what you’re doing will impact God’s kingdom for generations.”
If you’d like to impact God’s kingdom by volunteering with the ODBM Literacy Program, please reach out to Dan Kramer at dan.kramer@odb.org.
