Bishop Joseph Ogutu’s life began in 1942, in the countryside of Nairobi, Kenya.

As the eldest son of his family, he stayed in the countryside until he finished school. He moved to the city and started working as an accountant with Block Hotels.

In 1984, he decided to resign from that job and pursue ministry full time. In his ministry in Africa, he served several politicians, founded the Everlasting Gospel Ministry and founded about 35 churches, including St. John Everlasting Gospel Church.

2007 was a trying time for Ogutu when he was challenged with moving his family to the United States for protection.

“In 2007, there were elections in our country,” Ogutu’s wife, Joyce Ogutu said. “He actually prayed over one of the presidential candidates. After he prayed over the candidate, the poll numbers starting rising and rising for him, to the extent that he actually won the presidential election. Because of corruption in the nation, they swapped it where the loser became the winner and the winner became the loser. After that, there was political violence all over the nation. People were being killed if they supported the other presidential candidate. It was in this context that he saw his life and the life of his family be in danger. His thinking was, ‘If leaders that were protected by bodyguards are being killed, then how am I safe?’ That is why he decided to locate and bring the family here. He still traveled back and forth to Kenya, but we stayed here.”

On Feb. 9, 2018, Ogutu was diagnosed with esophageal cancer. On July 28, 2019, he passed away.

“It has not been easy,” Mrs. Ogutu said. “The whole time he was very courageous. He gave us the hope that things would turn around. We didn’t expect him to live, but through the faith that was with him and what we were doing, we thought that we were going to win.”

Ogutu’s last message to his family and the community was to repent their sins.

“He told us that we have to deal with sin in our lives,” Mrs. Ogutu said. “Most importantly repentance and forgiveness. He told us that God is ready to forgive, but we have to confess our sins.”

During his time in Andalusia, Ogutu arranged several bible studies in his home and traveled to different churches to minister the word of God.

“The things that I remember that people have said about Bishop Ogutu have been that he has a very outgoing spirit,” Mrs. Ogutu said. “He is somebody that knows no stranger. He gets into a church and you think that he has worshipped there for his entire life. His ability to socialize and walk together with people was something that people really admired. The way that he knew the Bible, I would call him a Bible guru. It was something that was a blessing.”

Rev. Travis Day from the Andalusia Full Gospel Tabernacle said Ogutu was one of his most trusted mentors.

“I have been in ministry all of my adult life,” Day said. “And I have preached all over. If I made a reference to a scripture, he would stop me and say, ‘Where does it say that? Give me a reference. If you are going to quote the Bible, then you must give the people a place,’ He was such a dynamic teacher and was so comfortable when he was teaching the word of God.”

Ogutu’s main vision was to have a unified church.

“He had no desire for churches to be competing with one another,” Day said. “But to be one body of Christ; all churches, all people and all colors. He fully believed that the gospel was for everyone.”

Though he has passed on, there is still one challenge that the Ogutu family is facing. In Ogutu’s culture, he wanted his remains to be buried in his ancestral land, but it is not a cheap feat.

“It is just our culture,” Mrs. Ogutu said. “He wanted his bones to be buried on his ancestral land. That is what we are fighting to fulfill. We have raised $13,000, but we are still trying to get to $20,000.”

Through everything, the community in Covington County has supported the Ogutu family.

“I just want to thank the community,” Mrs. Ogutu said. “Being away from home, Andalusia has been our home. For the time we have been here, we have enjoyed a fellowship and the love that we have been shown. They have shown us the love that it is to be Christian and have embraced us. They didn’t throw us away. During the time of his sickness, the support was still there. Even at the time of his death, the support was there 100 percent. I just want to say that I thank the community for accepting us and standing with us through the trying times. Their prayers and offerings are highly appreciated. I also want to thank the hospital staff. I know things did not work as they were supposed to, but there was nothing that they did not try and we will not forget them.”

Ogutu is survived by his wife and his three sons, Thomas, Samuel and Emmanuel.

For anyone looking to donate to help send his remains back to Kenya, they can contact Keahey Funeral Homes, Andalusia Full Gospel Tabernacle or go to GoFundMe.com and search for “Bishop Ogutu’s Fundraiser.”