Kenny Keck

I started attending West Coast
Baptist College for one reason;
my parents asked me to go for a
year. I came back to the US, after growing
up on the mission field, wanting to pursue
a secular career, but I respected my parents
and decided to honor their wisdom in
taking the One Year Bible program
at WCBC. That first semester, during
Lancaster Baptist Church’s annual missions
conference, God was working in my heart
about surrendering to full time ministry
and specifically missions. I remember
Missionary Tom Lancaster was one of
the guest preachers during the missions
conference. In one of his sermons he asked
the question, “What are you going to do
with your life that will matter for eternity?”

I wanted my life to
matter for eternity
and that week,
during missions
conference , I surrendered to
God’s call in my
life to missions.
The last ten years have been a journey
to say the least, but more specifically, a
journey of faith. One of the greatest lessons
that God has taught me and is still teaching
me is to trust Him, no matter what. As a
missionary on deputation, God taught me
to have faith in His provision. As I began
deputation, my dad counseled me not to
worry about money, but to have a heart to
be a blessing to churches and allow God to
provide the needed support. In other words,
be a servant not a salesman. Taking this
advice, I saw God bless. In just a year and a
half, we were on the field, fully supported.

In my first term on the mission field,
God taught me to have faith in His Word
and His promises. One of the greatest joys
of being in ministry is seeing people’s lives
changed by the power of God’s Word. There
have been multiple times in the last three
years on the mission field that I thought
to myself, “What could I possibly say that
can help this person?” I have come to the
same conclusion every time. I do not have
anything to say, but God’s Word has what
they need. I have seen God’s Word comfort
a grieving family, convict the heart of a
skeptic, and transform the life of a criminal.
It is faith in the power of God’s Word that
gives me the confidence to go even deeper
into the dark jungles of Papua New Guinea.

In Matthew 28:18-20, when Jesus gives us
the Great Commission, He concludes it with
a promise: “…lo, I am with you alway, even
unto the end of the world.” I believe that
there are times in every Christian’s life that
we ask the question, “Where are you God?”
For me, it was as I sat outside the operating
room of my wife on May 25, 2015. God had
given both my wife and me peace about
having our first child at a private clinic in
PNG. After hours of labour, the doctor
informed us that Kalie needed to have a
c-section. In a country like New Guinea, any
type of surgery is major and has a great risk
of infection. I sat in the waiting room
fearful, wondering why God gave us peace
about delivering in PNG if He knew this
would happen? As I prayed for Kalie, it was
like God was saying, “Do not fear, I am with
you.” Kalie came through surgery with no
complications, Julia is a healthy little girl
and one of the greatest reminders to me of
God’s miraculous promises. Recently, God
has also blessed us with a baby boy, Garrett,
who was born August 30, 2017. The work of
missions, I will admit, is not something that
I can do alone. I am so thankful that God
never intended me to do it alone but He
promises to be there every step of the
journey. As I am learning and growing in
my faith, I am thankful for the examples of
faith I was able to observe and learn from
in the staff and faculty of West Coast
Baptist College.