“Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven,” Jesus once replied to a very wealthy man who asked, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” The man went away dejected, unwilling to part with his possessions. What would have happened if this encounter had ended differently?

 Charles Mulli felt God was asking him to do the same. But unlike the rich young ruler, Mulli responded, “Yes, God. Use me.” Since then, he has seen how “what is impossible with man is possible with God.”

In a documentary, which the National Woman’s Missionary Union previewed this summer during their meeting in Phoenix, Director Scott Haze recounts the inspiring rags-to-riches-to-rags story of Mulli. A former street kid who became a millionaire, Mulli chose to give it all up to help other street kids like himself. The film, “Mully,” debuts Oct. 3-5 in theaters in Louisville, Lexington, Florence, Richmond, Owensboro, Paducah, Bowling Green, Ashland and other places across the state.

Abandoned by his parents when he was young, Mulli turned to begging in the streets to stave off starvation. One day, inspired by a preacher’s message to “work hard, and by faith there’s nothing impossible before God,” he decided to set out on a 40-mile trek to Nairobi in search of work.

He found a job washing dishes and cleaning floors. Then, he had an opportunity to oversee about 800 field workers. Able to save a little money, the uneducated but enterprising young man began a taxi service, which he proudly called “Mullyways.” His new business venture quickly expanded into a fleet of buses.

Later Mulli also sold insurance and real estate, before eventually finding himself in the lucrative gas and oil industry. With a family of eight, a large house and expensive cars, he and his wife, Esther, were enjoying the good life. He had become a respected community leader in Kenya.

Yet, Mulli grew discontent. “The more you get, the more you want to have more; that is the nature of people,” he observes.

In the documentary, Mulli shares how the Lord laid it on his heart to help other street children living in poverty. At first, he wrestled with God. But “the moment I said, ‘Yes, God,’ I got the greatest joy in my heart,” he recalls.

To his family’s dismay, he sold all his property and businesses to provide street children with food, shelter, medical care and even schooling. He turned his own house into a makeshift orphanage.

Perhaps as striking are the honest reactions of his kids as he brought more and more street kids home, even adding rooms onto his house for them. Before long, he had to relocate his family and the street kids to a barren piece of property with no electricity or running water. His kids had to pitch in and build concrete shelters with tin roofs as the numbers grew into the hundreds.

“I felt like the world had collapsed under my feet,” one daughter shares. “In plain language, that’s called total madness. That’s what it is,” a son says. “They smelled so bad. They had lice, tattered clothes, no shoes,” another daughter adds. “I despised them because mom was suddenly taking time” to go bathe and care for them.

But, at the end, we are pleasantly surprised to find a transformation occurred in his children’s attitudes. Their compassion for the street children grew over time, and they have captured their father’s vision, assuming leadership roles in what is now known as the “Mully Children’s Family” organization.

Thus far, Charles and Esther Mulli have taken guardianship of more than 12,000 abandoned children. And, just as astonishing is a transformation that has taken place on the barren land where they resettled. Through water conservation, reforestation and soil cultivation, a once-arid climate has become a lush valley. From one acre plowed with oxen, the work has grown to 500 acres farmed with tractors. In fact, production was so high, they were able to take excess produce to market. And, when ethnic warfare broke out in Kenya in 2007, the Mully Children’s Family was able to provide food every day to more than 2,400 displaced children in refugee camps.

From a vision of just becoming self-sustaining, the organization has expanded to five locations, caring for thousands of children daily. With a nationally recognized school, many former street children have gained an opportunity to attend college, and some are dreaming now of becoming doctors, teachers, managers and bankers.

This documentary is definitely one that every believer needs to see. You will be amazed by the incredible things that are possible with God when someone has a willing heart. To find a theatre where “Mully” is showing near you, go to https://mullymovie.com.