It Takes More Than a Drill

A MESSAGE FROM ANDY BACHERT, CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER (COO)

“Jesus said to her, ‘Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life’” – (John 4:13–14, ESV)

Have you ever considered what happens between the time you turn on the faucet and the moment water flows? For most of us in North America, the answer is, not much. We reach, we turn, it flows. We don’t think twice about what made that possible. We just expect it to be there. And it is.

For a village in Vanuatu, West Africa, or Central America, the answer looks completely different. Before a single drop of clean water reaches that community, a lot has to happen.

Field leaders have to survey the site, boots on the ground, long before the drill ever arrives. Someone has to coordinate the team, manage the schedule, and make sure the right people are on the right plane. And then, someone has to actually go, to leave comforts, to travel far, and get boots on the ground.

Different people. Different roles. One well.

In 2026, Friends in Action International is drilling wells in all three of those regions. Three sets of logistics. Three communities waiting. And behind every one of those wells is the same truth: it takes more than a drill.

It takes the field partner who spent years earning trust in a village long before the equipment arrived. It takes the coordinator who manages the team schedule and never sets foot on the plane. It takes the donor who gave before they knew exactly where the money was going. It takes the volunteer to leave his family and do life in a bush location. It takes the prayer warrior who lifted up a community they’ve never seen.

Every single one of those roles matters. Remove any one of them, and the water doesn’t flow.

But here’s where I’m going when thinking about this year’s water initiatives. As significant as clean water is, and it is genuinely, life-alteringly significant, it could still run out.

The well we drill this year will need maintenance. It will age. The community will grow, the demand will increase, and someday someone will have to come back and drill again. Physical water, no matter how clean, no matter how deep, no matter how hard-won, is temporary. It satisfies for a season. And then thirst returns.