Andrew “AJ” Ireton owns a small construction company in Van Zandt County, Texas, but his clients know he won’t be available for a couple of months. The Baptist layman will be building a children’s home in eastern India.
About a year ago, Ireton met Pastor Maduh — whose full name is withheld for security reasons — at a conference at Rose Heights Baptist Church in Lindale.
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Maduh leads Global Kingdom Ministries in India, where he is pastor of a church and currently shelters 25 at-risk children in a rented house. Some are orphans, while others were rescued from sex trafficking.
At the conference, Ireton learned Maduh was building a children’s home/safe house that also will provide a place for his church to meet. But construction stalled soon after the foundation was completed.
Ireton saw it as the perfect intersection of his construction experience — including building on a mission trip to Mexico — and his sense of God’s calling to minister to children in need.
“It was a divine appointment all the way around,” he said.
Ireton grew up attending First Baptist Church in Stanton with loving adoptive parents. However, he struggled with depression and said he “believed the enemy’s lie that I would never amount to anything.”
“This path led me into sin and addiction until January 2018, when in a Texas jail cell, I encountered the Lord in a powerful way,” he wrote in a recent newsletter to ministry supporters.
‘Vision of children crying out in need’
God gave him “a vision of children crying out in need of safety and care,” he wrote. “From then on, I dedicated my life to serving the Lord wholeheartedly.”
Ireton has made international mission trips previously. So, customers of Trinity Handyman Service understand he sometimes is not available for several weeks at a time. And East Texas businesses understand when he contacts them seeking ministry support.
“I’ve been calling in favors, dotting every I and crossing every T to get ready,” he said.
When Ireton packed up his equipment to leave for India, about half of the money required to complete the first phase of the construction project was in hand.
“We’re stepping out in faith and trusting that the Lord will provide the rest of the funds once I get down there,” he said.
Ireton knows his wife Meagan and their four children will be “living on bare minimum” until his return, but they support his commitment to go where he believes God leads.
“When the Lord opens a door, sometimes he kicks it in,” he said.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Ken Camp and originally published by Baptist Standard.
