Kenny & Kalie
have been missionaries to Papua New Guinea since 2012
We are both graduates of West Coast Baptist College in Lancaster, CA. After Graduating from college, my wife and I moved to Everett, WA to intern at Bible Baptist Church under the leadership of Pastor Erik Sanders. Bible Baptist Church became our sending church and we began deputation in the fall of 2012, preparing to go to Papua New Guinea.
We arrived in Papua New Guinea on May 10th of 2014. We jumped right into ministry, working with my parents, veteran missionaries Gary and Verda Keck. God has given us many opportunities to help with church planting, Bible school training, and outreach meetings. Kalie and I would’ve be content to stay in Wau and continue helping my parents, but God placed a burden in our hearts for the island province of Bougainville.
Our family is so thankful for those who have partnered with us these three years in Papua New Guinea. Would you continue, and maybe even begin to be a part of what God is doing through prayer and financial support? Enabling my family and me to share the love of Jesus, plant local independent Baptist churches, and train nationals to continue the work in Bougainville.
I was born February 12, 1988, in Mountain Home, Idaho. When I was two, my family moved to Medford, Oregon where my dad worked for Harvest Baptist Temple under Pastor Bob Gass. Not long after being in Medford, the Lord began to work in my parents lives about becoming missionaries to Papua New Guinea. In 1991, my Dad began deputation. In the spring of 1993, we were back in Medford for Easter weekend. After attending their Easter drama the Saturday night before Easter Sunday, I realized what Christ had done for me. I remember turning to my mom and asking her what I need to do to ask Jesus to be my Saviour. My mom began to show me from the Bible how I could be saved. She explained to me why Jesus had to die and that I was a sinner in need of a Saviour. Shortly thereafter, I bowed my head and asked Jesus to come into my heart and save me. Although I was only five years old, I still remember it like it was yesterday.
The summer of 1993, we moved to Papua New Guinea. In 1995, I was baptized at Agi Baptist Church, which at that time, was Pastored by my Dad. Growing up, I loved the mission field and enjoyed helping my Dad with mission work. Whether it was a building project, visitation, or camp meetings I loved to help. One thing I never asked or wanted to do was preach. I was terrified of being in front of people. As I got older I was given some opportunities to preach but never liked it or wanted to do it. After graduating from high school I had my mind set on joining the military and eventually being in law enforcement. My parents asked that I attend a year of Bible College just to help me get acclimated to America and also to get a good biblical foundation in my life. So, I enrolled in the one year Bible program at West Coast Baptist College the fall of 2006.
I knew that God had been working in my heart before college about going back to New Guinea, but I wanted to do my own thing and could not see myself as a preacher. That first semester at college, God began to do a work in my life. In October, during Lancaster Baptist Church’s Missions Conference, God would not let me stop thinking about missions and especially Papua New Guinea. One of the nights, Missionary Tom Lancaster preached a message about being a man that God can use. He talked about what really mattered at the end of your life and what God would be pleased with. I wanted to do what I thought would make me happy, but that night I surrendered my life to whatever God had for me! After that night, there was no doubt in my mind that God wanted me to return to Papua New Guinea as a missionary.
I was born in Salem, Oregon on May 17, 1989. My parents started attending church when I was four years old, and I have been involved in church ever since. Although I said a salvation prayer in a friends’ back yard at the age of seven, I never really felt convicted of my sin or even remembered what I prayed. It was at Mt. Zion summer camp, when I was thirteen, that I began doubting my salvation and became scared of where I was going to spend eternity. After the Thursday night service, I couldn’t put it off any longer. I found my youth pastor’s wife, and we stepped outside on to the back porch of the cabin to talk. It was there, on August 14, 2003, that I repented of my sin and asked the Lord to forgive me and to save me.
After my salvation, the Lord worked on my heart in many ways. The following February, I was at a winter camp when I really felt that the Lord may have a place for me on the mission field one day. As I finished high school, I kept this at the forefront of my mind while I was looking for a Bible college to attend. In 2007, I headed to West Coast Baptist College and enrolled as a missions major. The thought of being a single missionary was not what I wanted at all, and I was afraid to graduate with a missions degree and not have a man to follow to the field. I began to construct back up plans, which meant maybe even changing my major, but the Lord really laid a peace upon my heart that if I had the faith to follow him, he would bring the right man along.
It was at the beginning of my junior year of college that I met my husband, who was preparing to head to Papua New Guinea as a missionary. We dated for almost two years, and were married on July 30, 2011. It is amazing to see how the Lord has brought us together, and we’re excited to be able to serve Him together. We cannot wait to see what He has waiting for us when we reach Papua New Guinea.
