OUR MISSION
We will enter into partnering relationships with communities through their local pastors and churches to help them restore their local economic infrastructures and raise them from a daily survival level to one of economic viability and sustainability.
We then work with these strong, Christ centered communities to help them equip and mobilize their own indigenous missionaries, evangelists and church planters who we believe will write the final chapters of the Great Commission in the Developing World.
WHO WE ARE
It takes a great team to make great things happen, and LifeLift is made up of some of the most passionate, dedicated people on the planet.
Dan Dill
Chairman and Chief Excutive Officer
Dan is a founding member of LifeLift International. He is from Orange County, California and graduated from San Jose State University with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Aeronautical Operations and minor in Business Administration.
Dan later graduated from The Master’s Program, incorporating a process of re-examining one’s God-designed potential, God-honoring passions and God-given purpose to discover one’s unique God-ordained Kingdom calling. He served in the USAF Reserve as a C-141 Aircraft Commander.
In addition to flying with the USAF reserve Dan was an airline pilot, retiring as a captain from FedEx Express in 2007. Upon retirement Dan attended and graduated with High Honors from Biola University with a Masters Degree in Christian Apologetics and then attended the Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics, Administered by Ravi Zacharias International Ministries at Queen’s College, Oxford University, UK. Dan is now a Gulfstream IV international charter pilot.
Jim Ruschman
Chief Operating Officer & Treasurer
Jim has been involved with LifeLift International since 2008 and has taken an active part in their ministry projects in Kenya. He is a member of First Evangelical Free Church of Fullerton, California, and has served in several areas, including as a deacon and trustee. He is an entrepreneur and business builder.
His current business startup partnerships include RB Innovative Products, Inc. (FlatForks.com), Conely’s Accessories, Inc., and R&B Fresh Express, Inc. Jim holds a BA degree in Business/Marketing from Michigan State University and an EMBA from the Drucker School at Claremont Graduate University.
He is also a graduate of The Master’s Program, which focuses on living a life of purpose and significance to glorify God.
Agametochukwu (Agam) Iheanyi-Igwe
Secretary
Agam serves as pastor of The Beacon LA, in downtown Los Angeles. He holds a bachelors degree in Electronics Engineering from Federal University of Technology, Owerri Nigeria; and a Masters from Biola University’s Talbot School of Theology.
He is completing a PhD in Educational and Leadership studies at Talbot where he also serves as adjunct faculty. Having served as pastor both in Nigeria (his home) and in Southern California, he is passionate about equipping church leaders in Africa. He is married to Oge, and they are blessed with four children.
John M. Njoroge
John is from Kenya and is currently a member of the speaking team at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries. He is a summa cum laude graduate of Talbot School of Theology where he earned a master’s degree in philosophy, a master’s degree in New Testament studies, and a master of theology. While at Talbot, he also served as a graduate teaching assistant and an adjunct faculty member.
He is in the process of completing a PhD in philosophy at the University of Georgia. He lives in Atlanta, Georgia, with his wife, Leah, and their two boys, Jonathan and Benjamin. John and Leah own and operate an orphanage in Mai Mahiu, Kenya.
REGIONAL PARTNERSHIP with AFRICAN ENTERPRISE
In 2007 the LifeLift International board commissioned a trip to Kenya for the first time. There we met Stephen Mbogo and Joseph Mullinge. Stephen was the Team Leader for African Evangelistic Enterprise Kenya at the time and Joseph a senior staff member. This was the beginning of what have become lifelong friendships and what would become a our Regional Partnership with African Enterprise. The mission of African Enterprise is, “… To evangelise the cities of Africa through word and deed in partnership with the church.”
Dr. Michael Cassidy
Founder
Born in Johannesburg and educated at Michaelhouse, Cambridge University, and Fuller Seminary, Dr. Michael Cassidy is the Founder of African Enterprise (AE), and has been involved in evangelism, teaching and leadership ministries since 1962, the year he launched AE with a mission to Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. Since then, he has led numerous missions to cities throughout Africa, as well as in other parts of the world, including Australia, Belgium, Costa Rica, Israel, Nicaragua and Panama. To further the accomplishment of AE’s mission – Evangelizing the Cities of Africa through Word and Deed in Partnership with the Church – he has established evangelistic teams in Congo (DRC), Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe and support offices in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland/Northern Ireland, New Zealand, Switzerland and the United States. Michael was named in 2012 as the Honorary Chairman of the global Lausanne Movement for world evangelization, succeeding the late Rev. Dr. John R.W. Stott in this position.
Dr. Stephen Mbogo
International Team Leader
When we met Stephen he was the Team Leader of African Evangelistic Enterprise, Kenya. Through Stephen’s administrative leadership and staff assistance we were to complete seven infrastructure redevelopment projects in Kenya and one in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Stephen was able to come to the USA in 2009 and completed studies at Biola University in La Mirada, CA. He and his wife Rosemary each graduated this year as PhD. Stephen’s degree focused on Intercultural Studies. He and Rosemary returned to Kenya, with their son Victor and daughter Joy, to take up their new positions. Rosemary is a Professor at Africa International University, formerly Nairobi Evangelical Graduate School of Theology (NEGST) and Stephen is the new International Team Leader of African Enterprise. LifeLift International plans to do joint mission operations with Stephen and African Evangelistic Enterprise , Kenya. This will include establishment of a water drilling NGO in South Sudan, which will be jointly managed with Dep Tuany and Mark Yeels of San Diego, CA USA.
Rev. Edward Ngaira
Kenya Team Leader
Joseph Mullinge Ndiku
Project Manager
Joseph has helped manage all of our projects in Kenya and the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. He was very instrumental with LifeLift International and African Evangelistic Enterprise of Kenya in preparing fir a negotiated peace settlement between the Maasai and Kikuyu peoples of the Great Rift Valley in Kenya. This peace accord has survived for over six years and even through civil unrest in 2008 following a contested Kenyan Presidential election. Joseph oversaw construction of the 750,000 liter covered water reservoir we completed for our sponsor Faith Community Church of Whittier, CA USA for the Maasai people of the Great Rift Valley. Joseph has traveled with us to the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and has coordinated mission outreach for LifeLift International to that region. Joseph also oversaw completion of a water well (borehole) project we did in Miu, Kenya, during which he conducted a very successful evangelistic crusade. The Church in Miu now conducts indigenous mission evangelism and church planting to remote areas of their province in Central Kenya.
John Shikuku
Kenya Mission Coordinator
John Shikuku is the Mission coordinator for African Enterprise.
Edward Mungai
Missions Mobilizer
William Muchiri
Community Transformation Officer
The African Evangelistic Enterprise
Kenya Staff
- Njogu Njeru – AEE Acting Team Leader Emeritus
- Joseph Wanyama – AEE Chef
- Dan Dill – LifeLift International Chairman & CEO
- Janet Mwendwa – AEE International Community Transformation Officer
- Joseph Mullinge Ndiku – AEE Foxfire Youth Program Supervisor
Michael Cassidy and Dan Dill
During November 2006 Michael Cassidy met with Chris Anderson and Dan Dill at the headquarters of African Evangelistic Enterprise at Karen township, Kenya. Dr. Cassidy was returning from an evangelistic outreach event within the Christian refugee camps in Khartoum, Sudan. While his team was successful at discipleship with the Christians of Khartoum, he expressed sorrow that African Enterprise had not been in a position to provide more physical resources to meet medical and housing needs and to provide for nutrition and comfort. He felt African Enterprise was doing a good job at evangelizing through the “Word” but he wished they had better resources to provide for the “deed” half of their mission. Conversely, we felt that LifeLift International was not as equipped then at imparting the “Word” but was successful in partnering with African Evangelistic Enterprise (AEE), Kenya at providing “deed” or works while AEE-Kenya focused on the “word.” Thus the idea of a Regional Partnership between African Enterprise and LifeLift International was born. Through continuing education each ministry has endeavored to strengthen its role in both “Word” and “deed” ministry to better contribute to ministry partnership.
WHO WE HAVE PARTNERED WITH
- Faith Community Church
Whittier, CA - First Baptist Church
Garden Grove, CA - African Enterprise
Monrovia, CA & Nairobi, Kenya - Agape Children’s Ministry
Modesto, CA & Kisumu, Kenya - Special Ministries
Zealand, MI & Nairobi, Kenya
COMPLETED PROJECTS
We’ve already completed numerous projects. Take a look →