It Started With a Family
Meet Russ & Marcia Baugh
The story of The Way Home began long before it had a name.
In 2000, Russ and Marcia Baugh left their careers in the United States and followed God’s call to serve as missionaries in Uganda. During their four years there, God opened their eyes to the overwhelming number of orphaned and vulnerable children—and began shaping a calling that would eventually become The Way Home.
But first, He changed their own family.
With their youngest child grown, Russ and Marcia felt God leading them to adopt a two-year-old Ugandan orphan. Years later, now in their mid-50s, their family grew again when they adopted their two young grandsons.
Through adoption, the Baughs experienced firsthand something that would become foundational to their ministry:
Children belong in families.
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”
— Matthew 7:7
Finding The Way Home
When Russ and Marcia returned to Uganda in 2010, they saw another side of the orphan crisis: grandmothers—“Grannies”—doing everything they could to raise orphaned grandchildren in conditions of extreme poverty.
These women had stepped into the gap.
They were already providing what institutional care could not: family, belonging, identity, and love.
What many lacked were the resources and support needed to keep those families together and build a sustainable future.
The Baugh family felt God calling them to come alongside these families—not to replace them.
From that calling, The Way Home was born.
God’s Sovereign Plan
What began as a calling to serve others has become an even more personal testimony of God's faithfulness.
Through adoption, the raising of grandchildren, and now widowhood, Marcia has experienced firsthand the very circumstances God called their family to serve. Today, as a widowed grandmother herself, she continues to lead The Way Home with an even deeper understanding of the families it serves.
Through every season, His calling remains the same: to care for the vulnerable, strengthen families, and point them to the hope found in Jesus Christ.
“We believe humans made orphanages for children, but God made families for children.”
— The Baugh Family
More Than A Ministry. A Family.
The Way Home was born from one family's experience of God's faithfulness, His heart for adoption, and His calling to care for widows and orphans. What began with Russ and Marcia Baugh saying "yes" to God's leading has grown into a ministry devoted to strengthening families, equipping churches, and sharing the life-changing Gospel of Jesus Christ throughout Uganda.
Through every Granny-Family supported, every home built, and every pastor equipped, one truth continues to guide us:
God sets the lonely in families—and through Jesus Christ, He invites us into His eternal family.
“We believe God Himself is the founder of The Way Home. After all, adoption and family are His ideas. We are simply the people He prepared and called to be His hands and feet to care for those who are so close to His heart.”
— The Baugh Family
The story is still being written, and as God continues to lead, our purpose remains unchanged: to demonstrate His love, proclaim His truth, and point others toward the eternal hope found in Jesus Christ.
Because The Way Home has never been just about finding a place to belong on earth. It's about helping others discover the Way Home to their Heavenly Father.