By Dorothy Brotherton

CHARLES MASINDA’s father had 31 wives. Masinda was a son of the youngest wife, and was abandoned.

No, his is not a story from the past, and from a remote tribe. He lives in Kitale, Kenya, today, where he operates a children’s home sponsored by Kelowna Christian Centre (KCC) in Canada.

In a loving twist against the injustice that Masinda grew up with, his children`s home now cares for 31 youngsters, giving them Christian education, basic provision and lots of love.

Three of the children scored highest in the region in academic tests recently.

Masinda shared his story at Kelowna Christian Centre’s missions conference in March, where he seemed to be a personification of the results of the church’s missions effort.

Kenya came to the attention of KCC in 2007, when the country went into a political, economic and humanitarian crisis.

The crisis opened the door for the church to help. Besides establishing the private school headed by Masinda, the church hosts feeding programs, water improvements, education, micro-loans and help for small businesses.

The KCC missions arm, called Building Beyond Borders (BBB), networks with Hope for the Nations, Be A Hero and Love Mercy.  

“The strength of our work in Kenya is due to our networking. There is a lot more we can do together than apart,” said Trudy Hiebert of the church staff, who helps coordinate the missions work and oversees the Bible school.

The March conference continued on a dramatic high as Teresa and Salvador Martinez from Mexico shared stories about what’s happening in their work.

KCC Pastor Ed Berk described it as “just an explosion in Mexico,” with a host of recent baptisms at the seaside.

KCC has been helping plant churches in Mexico for 15 years, and has three underway now, working with local leadership.

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They are also helping the three churches form their own inter-church organization, so that the churches clearly belong to the Mexican people for generations to come.

Keynote speaker at the missions conference, Noel Alexander, is the co-founder of the International House of Prayer. His theme was the importance of justice in God’s heart and the importance of intercessory prayer.

“The world is crying out for justice. We see people respond when they learn of something they can do to help,” said KCC pastor Ed Berk, who is also director of BBB.

Berk noted the church’s aim is to raise the entire missions budget during the annual three-day missions conference, which is an in-house event. This year, the budget was set at $170,000, and more than $192,000 was pledged.  Berk’s response: “God is awesome, how he moves on our hearts to give.”

He noted the budget had been set a little lower than usual this year, because of recessionary times. It’s typically set at $185,000, but much more than that flows through the people of KCC to missions work.

Berk explained, for example, that he’s taking 17 people to Kenya this spring; and 25 youth are heading to Mexico for a six-week short-term stint.

The budgets for these kinds of events are above the regular missions budget.

“Typically, $250,000 to $300,000 flows through us for missions,” Berk added.

Building Beyond Borders is a 25 year old organization; it was given its present name in 2008, to more accurately reflect what it does.  Its support comes from the 400 – 500 people of the congregation.

For Berk, the highlight of the missions conference was hearing testimonies that were given at a Saturday morning breakfast.

“To be able to sit with our field representatives and have them share the journey of their lives was awesome,” he said.

Founding pastor of KCC, David Kalamen, has visited more than 30 countries in missions surveys and work. He told the gathering that he had cultivated a heart for missions into the ‘DNA’ of the church.

April 2010