She Made Kenya Her Home: In Loving Memory of Dana Jacobs

(August 24, 1967 – January 13, 2017)

Dana Jacobs exuded love, compassion, and genuine concern for all people. She cared deeply for every abandoned or orphaned baby who came through the gate of the Africa Gospel Church Baby Centre, whispering to each one, “Your parents are coming for you.” It was a sacred calling to care for these children and to tell them that they were loved, they were wanted, and they would have a family someday.

This calling to serve with World Gospel Mission in Kenya came after some resistance. At the time her husband, Dan, felt God’s pull to Kenya in 2005, Dana was happy and comfortable in the life they had built in the United States, the result of years of hard work. They had four kids, a lovely home, and a secure future. But God had something else for them, and when Dana surrendered to His leading, they found that He enabled them to find purpose in a ministry that was greater than anything they could have imagined. 

Dan gave leadership as the director of the baby center while Dana coordinated the many teams and visitors who came to the center each year. In this role, she managed the logistics involved in housing and feeding large groups, helped visitors process what they were experiencing, and served as a liaison between supporting partners and Kenyan staff. And she was famous for her delicious homemade pizza. 

Dana made Kenya her home. She embraced the role of sister and mother to staff and babies alike. Dana’s impact on the lives of children will stretch across decades and around the world. 

“When you go in obedience to God’s calling and surrender your life to Him, miraculous things happen,” Dana wrote in 2016 when she was at WGM headquarters for a training event. We are grateful for the years of remission she was able to have after her cancer diagnosis. Yet we still grieve, wondering why Dana lost her life at this time. Our hearts hurt for Dan, Hope, Carson, Talia, Nathan, and Andrea, and for all who knew and loved Dana. 

We have confidence in knowing that she loved her Savior to the utmost and served Him with everything she had. We rest in the knowledge that she is with Jesus. Hebrews 10:23 (NIV) reminds us, “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.” We rejoice that Dana is in the presence of the Source of that hope today. 

GIVE: Africa Gospel Church Baby Centre is a home for orphaned and abandoned children in Ngata, Kenya. You can honor missionary Dana Jacobs' memory by partnering with this ministry. 

September 25-30: Praise God for the wonderful examples given in the Bible about how we are to treat foreigners. 

Missionaries Answer the Hard Question: Why Go Overseas When There Are Needs in the United States?

Bill and Lydia Allshouse, Mexico

“We are all called to serve somewhere, and if God calls you to serve in another country and to another people group, then that’s where you need to be. Lydia and I didn’t know where we were going to serve, considering the needs in the U.S., but we were led to Mexico. God gave us a peace about being in Mexico, so we knew that’s what He had for us and where we should serve.

“We absolutely believe that even though there is a great spiritual need here in the United States, there’s also that great spiritual need in other countries. We believe what Christ said when He gave us the Great Commission—to go and make disciples in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the world. Wherever He calls you, we believe we have to be obedient.”

Jim and Becka Johnson, Papua New Guinea

“Mission work, both overseas and here at home, is important, but you have to go where God calls you to work and how you fit into God’s plan. That’s the main thing. Whether He calls you to go overseas or whether He calls you to work here at home, both are very important. One goes with the other.”

Dan and Dana Jacobs, Kenya

“God places that special calling in your heart that you just can’t shake. Our special calling was to care for orphans and abandoned children in Kenya. Yes, there are needs here and there are abandoned and orphaned children here, but that’s not what God called us to do. He calls each of us to do something.”

Shelley Chapman, Africa Region

“Rather than looking at this question as either/or, I would rather look at it as both. I believe that as missionaries, we serve both in our host country and all of our friends and family in the United States. I also think that it’s important to be embedded in the context over a long period of time in order to see the greatest impact of transformation and change. So, I want to live in the culture where I’m working in my field, which is leadership development in Africa. And then when I come home on homeland ministry assignment, it’s a time for me to invest in the lives of people that I know here in the U.S. Rather than looking at it as one way or the other, it’s the kingdom of God that we’re working on. And the kingdom of God is here in the United States and it’s all around the world. I want to be involved in that process—in that kingdom of God work—wherever that may take me.”

PRAY: “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up” (Galatians 6:9 NIV). The WGM missionary staff depends on your prayer support. Partner with them in prayer through Prayer Lifeline, an email that is sent to your inbox every Tuesday with urgent needs from those on the front lines.