Our story
Behold, a sower went forth to sow. —Jesus
The story of The Mark43 Institute began, as many good stories do, with a problem. Mark43’s founder, Meshach Kanyion, was born in Nigeria but was raised in America. Time after time he would hear conflicting messages about Nigeria.
On the one hand so-called titans of industry all around the globe were identifying Nigeria as one of the future places of economic boom, but on the other hand reports from people who visited Nigeria painted a picture of tremendous corruption and suffering amongst the people that lived there.
After hearing one such report in 2018, he began sensing that God was calling him to begin doing something about it. As the business world correctly saw, Nigeria is indeed a place with tremendous growth potential, but the conditions for such growth to be realized are not currently in place, at least not to benefit those who could use the help the most. So God began giving Meshach a vision of revitalization that would create such conditions and empower the people of Nigeria. You can read more about how we plan to do so, here.
But it’s not just Nigeria that has growth potential. That potential exists in every nation, every state, every city, every town, every neighborhood and every individual living in them. The thing lacking in many of these places the thing lacking is the condition, the seed, that makes growth possible. So, although The Mark43 Institute began with a vision for revitalization, that vision quickly began spreading and including the possibilities of revitalization everywhere.
Like the sower in the parable from which our name originated, we intend to scatter the seeds of God’s Kingdom far and wide. I know what you might be thinking. In that story (see Mark 4) only 1/4 of the seeds brought forth a harvest; therefore it is foolish to sow so liberally. That may be true, but we believe that the sower is not us, it is the Lord Jesus Christ himself. It is he who tends the garden; therefore those grounds that didn’t bring forth fruit can be cultivated by him, and the conditions will be made right in order that an abundant harvest can be realized.
“Right beneath the surface are these seeds of possibility waiting for the right conditions to come about, and with organic systems, if the conditions are right, life is inevitable.”
This is nothing short of a vision of the reality of God’s kingdom being made known in as many places and lives as possible. Like all great endeavors we are beginning small and we are happy to begin that way, because, after all, look what one small seed that is planted in the right conditions can produce!