The Man with One Leg: Adult Mission Story for March 28, 2026

The original version of this story by Don Fehlberg, former remote area senior pastor for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Ministries of the Australian Union Conference, was published in the March 28, 2025, issue of Adventist Record, the official news magazine of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the South Pacific. Adapted with permission.

Sam lived in a neighborhood in Papua New Guinea where drugs, extortion, prostitution, and stealing were common. So, at an early age, he began drinking alcohol, using drugs, and spending most of his time on the streets.

At the age of 15, he joined a gang. He began robbing, stealing, and selling what he stole. All the bad things he did brought many problems for his family and himself. His wife and family tried to get him to attend church, but he wasn’t interested.

On May 19, 1995, he got shot in his right leg by the police, who were trying to stop his criminal activities. He lost the leg and knew that if he had died, he wouldn’t have been ready to meet his Maker. So, he decided to change.

However, not long after that, he spent a week with young people in a house, drinking alcohol and smoking drugs. By 3 a.m., he was dead drunk, listening to pop music through his earplugs.

In the middle of the playlist, Carrie Underwood’s song “Jesus Take the Wheel” came on. The words touched Sam, and with tears in his eyes, he left the group. The song kept ringing in his ears and began his spiritual transformation. He didn’t tell anyone, though.

The following Friday, a voice kept saying to him, “Go to church tomorrow.” He got up on Sabbath morning, and—so his wife wouldn’t know where he was going—went in his usual clothes. Before he got to the church, he changed into Sabbath clothes. That Sabbath was November 25, 2013.

When his wife found out he had accepted Jesus, changed his ways, and was going to church, she was so happy.

Sam was baptized on April 19, 2014, and became a member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Popondetta.

Sam became a missionary, and in 2024, was caring for a newly organized church in Popondetta that had seven church plants. In 2025, he began training at the Omaura Adventist School of Ministry in the Eastern Highlands to prepare himself for further ministry.

Sam says he is “so grateful to be alive and to live in freedom.” Many of his former friends are dead, and others are serving long prison sentences. The good news is that because of Sam’s witness, many of his former friends have also accepted Jesus, changed their ways, and joined the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

He is a highly respected Christian, and even gang members who haven’t accepted Jesus respect him—his word carries a lot of weight with them. So, it was fitting that Sam be appointed head of security for the PNG for Christ meetings in Popondetta.

Apart from a few gunshots at the back of the crowd one night, there was no trouble. The night the appeal was made to accept Christ as Savior, one gang member was heard saying to his mates, “I don’t know what you are going to do, but I am going forward to accept Christ.” His mates replied, “We are coming with you.”

On the last night of the program, Pastor Don Fehlberg, who was speaking in Popondetta, met a man named Ronnie.

Ronnie told Pastor Don he had been baptized during the meetings. He told him he had had a pretty rough life, and then, pointing to Sam, he said, “I was with him.” Pastor Don, who had already heard Sam’s story, told Ronnie he understood.

Now, Sam and Ronnie have teamed up, working to win souls for Jesus. They are a powerful team under the blessing of the Holy Spirit.

“Looking back, I am most grateful to my Seventh-day Adventist family,” says Sam. “They were willing to be different, to live by the Bible’s principles. I grew to respect them more than anyone in the gang.

“Above all, I thank God for teaching me the best way to live.”

God has not only helped Sam to change his ways and live a life to glorify Jesus, but He is also using Sam in a mighty way to lead people to Jesus. He had 95 people prepared for baptism for PNG for Christ!

Sam concludes, “May this story bless and encourage a brother like me. No matter how bad you are, God still loves and cares about you.”

Your generous offering for this quarter’s Thirteenth Sabbath Offering will help the Omaura Adventist School of Ministry equip men and women to share the good news in Papua New Guinea. Thank you for your faithful giving!