The Lost is Found
At seven years of age, Asbury alum, Jacob Guot, became a “lost boy” when war came to his peaceful village in what is now South Sudan. Forced to run for his life, not knowing whether his family members were alive or dead, he joined up with others in the African bush to walk a thousand miles to Ethiopia. After years in a refugee camp, he fled to Kenya ahead of armed militia members and ended up in a refugee camp there for another nine years. Then the United States government, working with the United Nations, arranged for thousands of “lost boys” to come to America for a chance at a new life. Jacob tells of his years of acclimating to America and learning new ways, all so different from his childhood in South Sudan. He became an American citizen, gained an education, and developed a plan to help his homeland.
Jacob wrote a book titled, The Lost is Found, documenting his testimony, a “lost boy’s” story of faith, hope, charity, and love proves that the human spirit can triumph over hardship and overcome tragedy.
Jacob was ordained as a deacon and priest in the Episcopal Church of Diocese Bor in South Sudan. He has been a church planter and associate pastor of Sudanese Community Church, Inc. Jacob is also the founder of the Sudan Rebirth Ministry, and served as an interim pastor with First United Methodist Church in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He studied at Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky, graduating with two Master’s degrees, in Intercultural Studies and in Christian Leadership.
Lately, Jacob has been working as a mentor with Kentucky Refugee Ministries, helping refugees cope with their situation and grief. He and his wife, Rebecca, live in Wilmore, Kentucky with their children Biar, Angieth, and Ayiei. Jacob and Rebecca have established Africa Sunrise Communities, a non-profit organization to help him fund his mission of returning to a South Sudanese refugee camp in Uganda to work with orphan children, to give them an education, and to serve as a peacemaker among his own people.
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