(audience applauding) (peaceful orchestral music) - [Announcer] Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome star of film and television, Mr.

Dennis Haysbert.

(audience applauding) (peaceful orchestral music continues) - Hello, everyone, and Merry Christmas.

Ah, it's really good to be here tonight with you and choir, orchestra, bells, trumpets.

On behalf of all of us, thank you.

(audience applauding) These volunteer musicians are known all over the world.

And yet tonight, they are all ours.

(audience applauding) You know, for over 20 years, the choir's annual Christmas concert has featured a holiday story.

And tonight is no exception.

But this story is special.

It is an account of a real family, a large family, a family that's growing every day.

We hope it will bless you and your family this season and all year through.

(Oh-aye, Oh-aye) Oh-aye, Oh-aye Oh-aye, Oh-aye Oh-aye, Oh-aye - Over 2000 years ago, under the stars near Bethlehem, shepherds watched over their flock by night.

This Christmas, those stars will be shining over Kenya.

There in the Serene haven of Delaney, certain shepherds will be watching over a special kind of flock.

They will be watching over children, hundreds of them.

The same will be true across Kenya and Tanzania.

Flocks of children, thousands of them, sleeping safely in heavenly peace.

But 70 years ago in the village of Kangundo, that was not the experience for a little boy named Charles Mulli.

(peaceful orchestral music) With sunlight streaming through the thatched roof of their one room hut, Charles woke to find his family gone.

His parents, desperately poor and mired in debt, had taken his younger siblings and fled into the night.

Charles, being the eldest, was left to take care of himself.

He was six.

(peaceful orchestral music continues) In that moment, Charles became one of 100,000 orphans across Kenya, a number that has grown to over three and a half million today.

Many lived in city slums.

(peaceful orchestral music continues) One in five perished, (peaceful orchestral music continues) ahh, before their fifth birthday.

(peaceful orchestral music continues) For most of the 10 years, Charles was homeless.

Though relatives tried to take him in, it was never for long.

He loved learning.

But he was constantly in and out of school, begging for food by day, sleeping in the streets at night.

Oh, man.

At the age of 16, trapped between a debilitating past and a hopeless future, Charles lost the will to live.

But then, he had an experience that changed him forever.

(peaceful orchestral music continues) As if by divine plan, Charles was invited to church.

There, he learned about the child in Bethlehem, born to give His life so that every boy and girl, every person in the world could be healed and made whole.

Now, when he heard the words, "God loves you," well, he knew he wasn't alone.

There was a Good Shepherd, and He was calling.

In that moment, Charles committed his life to answering that call.

(peaceful orchestral music continues) With hope and a sense of purpose, Charles walked three days to Nairobi in search of a job.

Miraculously, a kindly woman took him in as a house boy.

Charles worked hard: washing clothes, cutting grass, and mopping floors.

Within six months, the woman's husband found Charles a position as a field clerk.

Eventually, he was managing hundreds of farm workers.

In this role, he met Esther, a gifted young woman with an infectious smile.

They fell in love, married, and welcomed their first child.

For Charles, life was unfolding one miracle after another.

(peaceful orchestral music continues) Eager to provide for his growing family, he converted his car to a taxi, acquired a fleet of buses, and founded a transportation company.

Business boomed.

Operations expanded to include selling auto parts, real estate, insurance, and more.

Within a few years, Charles had an empire of businesses, including the monopoly on oil and gas in Eastern Kenya.

The homeless, hapless boy from Kangundo had become an international business executive, a leader in his community, and a minister in his local congregation.

Meanwhile, Charles, Esther, and their eight children were living a truly contented life, a life he could never have imagined: a big house, multiple cars, drivers, fine foods, excellent schools.

But then once again, Charles had an experience that changed it.

One day while driving to the city, street children guided him to a parking space and asked him for money.

Because he didn't have time to buy them food, he turned them away.

And when he came back, his car was stolen.

Now, that was a jolt, but not because he lost his car.

For three years, Charles couldn't shake the memory of those children and millions like them.

He knew firsthand the hunger in their bellies and the fear in their hearts.

As his compassion grew, his interest in business waned.

Finally, on a long drive to nowhere, he pulled his car off, off the road to wrestle with God.

"What do you want me to do," he prayed.

"You gave me everything.

"Do you want me to give it back now?"

After hours of struggle, he surrendered.

"Use me."

(peaceful orchestral music continues) (Dennis exhales loudly) In that moment, Charles felt God's love.

Once again, the Shepherd was calling him.

With joy, he would follow.

(peaceful orchestral music continues) That night, at dinner, he announced to his family that he would be rescuing children, children as vulnerable as he had been.

"I'm selling all our businesses, "all our properties," he said.

"We will never work for money again."

Esther and the children were startled and confused.

What did this mean?

They couldn't imagine.

Back to the streets Charles went, into the slums, night after night risking his life to venture under buildings, into alleyways, behind dumpsters.

And with the reach of an upturned hand, he gently called into the darkness.

Oh-aye Oh-aye (peaceful orchestral music continues) Slowly, cautiously, one child emerged.

Then another.

That first night, a month before Christmas in 1989, Charles carried three little ones over the threshold of their home.

Esther fed and bathed them and tucked them in to the first beds they had ever known.

The next night, there were more.

And still more after that.

And so it began.

♪ Silent night ♪ ♪ Holy night ♪ ♪ All is calm ♪ ♪ All is bright ♪ ♪ Round yon virgin mother and child ♪ ♪ Holy infant so tender and mild ♪ ♪ Sleep in heavenly peace ♪ ♪ Sleep in heavenly peace ♪ - Within a short time, the Mulli household was overrun with newcomers, and the Mulli children struggling to adapt.

Their new brothers and sisters were unruly, jumping on the beds, running through the hallways.

Lice and disease were commonplace.

Beds had to be given up, clothing shared.

Meals were reduced to the most basic food.

The house itself had to be remodeled.

In time, the backyard was turned to classrooms, workshops, dormitories, and a chapel.

Soon, the school was established and programs put into place.

The entire effort was just a seed.

But once it was planted, how quickly it grew.

(peaceful orchestral music continues) As of this year, more than 30,000 children and youth have been rescued, nurtured, taught, and prepared for life.

Most have gone on to advanced education, stable jobs, and meaningful contributions in their families, communities, and nation.

But none of this captures the unreserved joy of children and youth who've finally become part of a flock, a fold, a family.

(students singing in background) Once abandoned and alone, they are now immediately surrounded by their peers who understand and accept them.

Side by side, they study, work, sing, dance, play, and pray together, (students continue singing in background) all in the light of love and faith and belonging.

(students continue singing in background) (peaceful orchestral music continues) Charles and Esther, now in their '70s, continue giving vision and leadership to what some call the largest and possibly one of the happiest families in the world, the Mulli Children's Family.

The Mulli siblings help oversee the large operation, but they are not the only ones who call Charles "Daddy".

Generations of rescued children and youth regard him as their father, what the scriptures describe as "a father to the fatherless."

(peaceful orchestral music continues) This Christmas, Charles and others will go out looking for children without homes, which reminds us that Christmas is the season for shepherds, for all who seek out the lost and lonely.

And when we find them, in our families, among our friends, and throughout our communities, we will find the Christ Child Himself.

And He'll be calling, as He always has, "Inasmuch as ye have done it "unto one of the least of God's children, "ye have done it unto me."

(peaceful orchestral music continues) The stars that once shone near Bethlehem are still shining over Kenya and Tanzania.

They shine over us as well, which reminds us that Christmas is not just a story of long ago.

It is here and now, unfolding wherever God's children may be found.

May shepherding them be our work this year.

May loving them be our joy this Christmas.

(peaceful orchestral music continues) Oh-aye Oh-aye ♪ Silent night ♪ ♪ Holy night ♪ ♪ Son of God ♪ ♪ Love's pure light ♪ ♪ Radiant beams from thy holy face ♪ ♪ With the dawn of redeeming grace ♪ ♪ Jesus, Lord, at thy birth ♪ ♪ Jesus, Lord, at thy birth ♪ ♪ Jesus, Lord, at thy birth ♪ ♪ And Amen ♪ (audience applauding and cheering) - Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Now remember when I told you that tonight's story was special?

Well, here's one of the reasons why.

Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming all the way from Kenya, Africa, Dr.

Charles Mulli.

(audience applauding and cheering) Welcome, Dr.

Mulli.

- Thank you so much, Dennis.

It is an honor to be here today.

- We are so grateful to learn about what you have done for the children of Kenya and Tanzania.

- It has been a privilege.

And I would like to say that we are just one of many, many organizations helping children in Africa and around the world.

- I have to tell you, every time I read this... So many are making a difference but let's note that your service has been somewhat unusual.

Those might wonder, why did you decide to give up your businesses when you could have kept them running and then donate the profits?

- That is a very good question.

We all have to do what we feel convicted and are called to do by God.

For me, the question was, what did God want me to do?

I had a deep conviction to sell all my businesses.

But it is just as important to do small things like say hello to a stranger, be a friend, visit someone who is ill, and help a child with his schoolwork.

- When you see the children that you've rescued, now generations of them, how do you feel?

- First and foremost, humbled, thankful.

I believe that God wants us all to love and serve others.

And I am very grateful for the opportunities he has given me.

In my experience, that is the real joy of Christmas: sharing God's love in all ways He inspires to do.

(audience applauding) (uplifting orchestral music)