DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO — The soldier stopped dead in his tracks when he heard the words of the woman kneeling a few feet away from him: “Deliver me, Lord! I promise to serve You if You just let me live.”

Though the noise around him only grew louder as his militia group barked orders to their prisoners, including the kneeling woman, the soldier heard nothing — just her words pounding over and over in his head. He, too, had prayed that very same prayer a few years before.

David Tseda was that soldier. He had joined a militia group as a young adult after 21 of his family members were killed in the Congo war. He proved to be an effective fighter and commander, but one day found himself in a hopeless situation, expecting to be killed. “Deliver me, Lord!” he pleaded. “I promise to serve You if You just let me live.”

And God did deliver him! David escaped from his captors, but he continued to live the same violent life … until the prayer of this prisoner recalled his promise to God. I never kept my end of the bargain, he suddenly realized. It’s time to make it right.

David became the first demobilized fighter in the region in 2004 when he left the militia to study the Bible at Shalom University. Walking onto campus in his fatigues that first day, he had no idea what he would do or how God might use him — all he knew was that he had a promise to keep.

Now, eight years later, David serves as the pastor of a local church and has returned to Shalom to earn a master’s degree in theology. David said, “I want to help demobilized soldiers just like me experience the forgiveness and purpose of life that I have found in Christ.”