3 years ago, a “well-loved and respected” American missionary was among about 29 people killed in an attack by al-Qaida fighters on a hotel and cafe in Burkina Faso’s capital of Ouagadougou.
Michael Riddering, 45, died in the Cappuccino Cafe, where he was to meet a group that was going to volunteer at the orphanage and women’s crisis center he ran with his wife, Amy Boyle-Riddering.
The tragic incident happened after the Missionary and his wife sold their property and possessions in USA, and moved to the town of Yako to run the Les Ailes de Refuge orphanage in 2011. Media reporters said the complex also included a clinic, classrooms and a home for abused women and widows.
On Saturday, The Christian Post confirmed that Michael’s ministry will continue reaching out to many following efforts by national partners and the help of his family.
Jeff Riddering, a pastor of Gateway House of Prayer in Sunset Hills, Missouri, told media his ministry called My Brother’s Keeper will assist the Assemblies of God denomination in accomplishing its vision.
“Without them, Sheltering Wings couldn’t have done it,” Riddering said. “The workforce is African. All the school teachers, they are all African. All the Christians there are from the Assemblies of God denomination.”
“There are over 200 churches that are Assemblies of God churches. What we have is an opportunity to help the Assemblies of God accomplish their mission,” he added. “We want to facilitate their vision to become missionaries themselves, not missionaries outside of [West Africa] but to the unreached people in [West Africa].”
Riddering said that he will be working to raise funding to help plant between 10 to 15 new churches in West Africa this year.
“[I]f God is asking me to go, then I will not be afraid,” Riddering explained.
“The reason why we want to go to [West Africa] is [because I felt] we were called to this area,” Riddering said. “What we are seeing right now is a revival type thing that is on the cusp of happening.”
My Brother’s Keeper Ministries is also the title of Riddering’s book My Brother’s Keeper: The Surprising Story of a Modern-Day Martyr. The book tells the story of Michael Riddering’s unlikely transformation from an alcoholic yacht broker to a missionary in a desert African nation.
