Sam Birondwa
Building Hearts Instead of Homes
Sam Birondwa
The month of April in Rwanda marks the halfway point in the country’s long rainy season. While April showers bring May flowers to hopefuls all over the world, marking the passing of another year’s cold winter, the month of April marks a very different anniversary for the people of Rwanda—another year passes since the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi. On a bus to Kigali in 2008, April also became the anniversary of the calling on Sam Birondwa’s life.
After graduating from Makerere University in Kampala in 2007 with a degree in Development Studies, Sam’s return to his home country was marked by a new understanding of the generation of young Rwandans who had been profoundly traumatized by the 1994 Genocide. Looking around him on that bus to Kigali in 2008, Sam saw a generation paralyzed by grief and unconvinced by hope for the future—but that wasn’t the only encounter he remembers so vividly from that day. Thirteen years later, Sam is still stirred by the vision he had of a heartbroken Jesus asking, “Whom shall I send?” And while it has rarely been an easy path, Sam continues to answer Jesus’ question the same way he did on that bus: “Yes, here I am Lord, send me.”
Sam quickly discovered that his willingness to take up God’s call came hand in hand with uncertainty, enormous steps of faith, and a loose grip on his own plans for the future. In what Sam describes as his very own “burning bush moment,” Sam received clear direction from the Lord to begin a leadership conference for Rwandan youth. While Sam had planned to spend his savings on building a house for his family, the message he received was clear: “‘I am sending you to build my people’s hearts, not houses.”
So, in 2009, Sam founded Youth Impact Mission (YIM), and held the first conference, with the vision of seeing “a reconciled, united and prosperous Rwanda under God-fearing leaders.” Having attended highschool at Cornerstone Leadership Academy in Uganda, Sam knew the incredible impact of discipleship and leadership development for young men and women. But, having also grown up an orphan in a house with 30 other children, Sam also knew the impact of poverty and insecurity. So when the first annual YIM conference drained Sam’s savings entirely—and then some—he planned to abandon the idea altogether.
The Lord, however, had different plans for YIM. In the months following the first conference, Sam recalls clear affirmation of the calling on his life in the form of miraculous provision for YIM and an impactful dream where young people called out to him by name. Not only was there another conference the following year, YIM has hosted the Vision Conferences every year since. Together with mentorship programs, leadership development initiatives, and action campaigns, YIM reaches 60,000 youth annually—many of whom have come to know Sam by the name he first heard in that dream: “Uncle Sam.”
Sam serves today as the President of YIM, in addition to his role as Principal of Cornerstone Leadership Academy Rwanda and Senior Pastor of Kingdom Embassy, the church he planted in Kigali with his wife, Molly. In keeping with the call he received on his bus ride in 2008, Sam says that his dream for each of these ministries is to raise up transformational servant leaders who fear God, value hard work and relationships, and promote unity and reconciliation.
When asked how he manages all of these responsibilities, especially as a husband and father to two young daughters, he admits that it hasn’t always been smooth sailing. While he has found a sustainable balance now, he remembers a time in his life when his tank felt perpetually empty; struggling with perfectionism and stagnancy in his leadership, fighting to keep himself physically healthy, and feeling drained of creativity and inspiration, Sam felt that in order to continue developing young leaders, he needed some development of his own.
The importance of balance and effective self-care was one of the first things Sam learned at Kurumbuka’s Abundant Leadership Institute (ALI). Sam says that his experience as a participant in ALI’s first cohort radically shifted his understanding of the relationship between effective leadership skills and personal health. Now, when Sam mentors other leaders, he reminds them that “leadership is working yourself out of your responsibilities.” ALI equipped Sam to see the potential in others, to empower them to use their skills, and to delegate responsibly and effectively—to Sam, this is the key to maintaining a manageable workload while simultaneously building up the leaders of the next generation. In this way, Sam’s experience at ALI served to reaffirm the importance of developing young leaders in order to develop nations.
The practical approaches to mentorship and leadership development that Sam gleaned from his time at ALI are part of what make him a unique leader in his community. In recognizing that young leaders need real-world skills and training in addition to spiritual guidance and development, Sam believes that Rwanda will see a generation of young people, reconciled in Christ, who are ready and prepared to write a different story for Rwanda. ALI’s emphasis on existing community resources, competency-based programming, and strategic planning equipped Sam to take practical and measurable steps toward realizing the goals of his ministries.
When Sam reflects now on his leadership journey, it's his heart for relationship that so clearly stands out. The most impactful lessons Sam talks about are those he learned at ALI about fellowship, genuine connection, and a family of leaders in Christ. Sam emphasizes that it is because of regular contact with the men and women from his cohort and continued encouragement from the mentors he met at ALI that he is able to give and lead abundantly. His hope is that the leaders who come through Cornerstone Leadership Academy and Youth Impact Mission will experience a similar sense of genuine fellowship.
Looking ahead, Sam is excited to continue investing in young leaders who will inherit a radically transformed Rwanda and embody abundant leadership. Sam’s journey in faithful obedience serves to inspire and prepare a generation of future leaders to respond to the needs of their communities, to make space for reconciliation, and to thrive in Christ’s abundance. To Sam, it is the fellowship among Godly leaders that makes all the difference. “Show me great things that have been done and I will show you that it is because of a united group that has come together.”
