Leader of Nebraska church to donate life-saving kidney to associate pastor

Written by on May 10, 2022

A senior associate pastor at the Bellevue Christian Center in Nebraska, who had been waiting for months to find a donor on the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s kidney transplant list, cried tears of joy before his congregation as he revealed their lead pastor was found to be a perfect match.

And come Aug. 2, Walter Hooker, a father of three and a grandfather of seven, will undergo surgery to receive a healthy kidney from his lead pastor, Andy Kaup, who is also a married father of three.

“Because of the faithfulness of our God, on Aug. 2, I’ll be in surgery. Incredible,” a tearful Hooker revealed during a video announcement posted on the church’s Facebook last week.

“And folks, I want you to know that finding a donor is not easy.”

Once someone is added to the national transplant waiting list, they can sometimes wait many years to find a match or sometimes can be matched fairly quickly, according to the National Kidney Foundation.

“In general, the average time frame for waiting can be 3-5 years at most centers and even longer in some geographical regions of the country,” the foundation states.

Hooker’s Kidneys are functioning at about 10% and he has had to do dialysis three days a week. He began screening to be placed on UNMC’s kidney transplant list in June 2021. He said while people around the country prayed for him to find a kidney donor, some 10 to 15 individuals stepped forward and applied to see if they could be that donor. And Kaup was among them.

Walter Hooker, the senior associate pastor of Bellevue Christian Center in Bellevue, Nebraska, embraces his lead pastor, Andy Kaup, who will donate a life-saving kidney to him on Aug. 2. 2022. | Screenshot: Facebook/Bellevue Christian Center

“One of the things that I’ve learned about God in each and every step is that He’s constantly inviting us into His story, and He’s always got room for you to step in and to watch what He can do and to just let Him move in your life. The trick is that it’s just up to us to be obedient. And that’s our heart in this. It was just to be obedient,” the pastor said.

Credit: christianpost.com


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