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EYM Leadership

Randall and Donita Kollie, Co-Founders

In 2005, Randall Kollie’s world began to collapse. He was 11 years old. Born and raised in Harbel, a town in Margibi County, Liberia, Randall was in fifth grade and had been attending Billie Call Christian Institute (BCCI) in Monrovia for two years when his mother and infant brother died. His father, meanwhile, had a debilitating illness and struggled to care for Randall and his siblings. Then, only five years after Randall’s mother had died, his father also died, leaving Randall and his siblings as orphans without any means of support — let alone the means to continue in school.

But God was at work in Randall’s life in this dark time. The year his mother died, Randall met 9-year-old Donita Dolo at BCCI. They became friends, and Donita introduced Randall to her parents, Pastor Sumoiwuo Dolo and his wife, Anita. Soon, by God’s Grace, the Dolos decided to sponsor Randall for the remainder of his schooling at BCCI, from seventh grade through high school.

The same year his mother died and he met Donita, Randall also came to a deep and abiding faith in Jesus Christ in the youth group at Harvester Ministries Center, where Pastor Dolo was then a resident pastor. Before long, Randall felt called, with God’s help, to do whatever he possibly could to pay forward what the Dolos had done for him.

As the years went on, Randall and Donita’s friendship blossomed into love, and in 2016 they were married. Not long after, they moved to Seattle to be part of Philadelphia Church under the support of Pastor Derek Forseth. Their sons, Raykin and Xander, were born in Seattle.

With Pastor Derek’s help and encouragement, Randall and Donita founded Empower Young Minds to help students like Randall be able to go to school.


Pastor Derek Forseth, Advisor

Derek Forseth, lead pastor at Philadelphia Church in Seattle since 2007, has had a connection with Liberia since the 1990s, when he first met Liberian pastors through the Fellowship of Christian Assemblies (FCA). He and Pastor Dolo met when Pastor Dolo was visiting FCA churches around the country to scout out a church home for Donita and Randall Kollie, his daughter and son-in-law. He chose Philadelphia Church, and asked Pastor Derek and his wife, Krista, if they would be Randall and Donita’s “away parents.” They readily agreed to do so.

Since 2017, when Randall and Donita moved to Seattle, Pastor Derek has also served as a mentor to Randall, meeting regularly with him. Over time, Randall began sharing with Pastor Derek his dream of supporting children in Liberia who could not afford to go to school, and the two of them began to develop a plan. That plan became Empower Young Minds, which was set up under the auspices of Philadelphia Church.