As Helene and I began our journey to become missionaries to Malawi, we asked the Lord to direct the focus of our ministry. The slogan “Building Leaders to Change a Nation,” was born out of prayer and listening to the Spirit’s whisper. We quickly discovered that servant leadership is a great need in African countries and soon came to understand why the Lord lay this on our hearts.
We met Francis Kalembera soon after arriving in Malawi. He was a first-year bible college student in the diploma program. Helene assumed the role of College administrator and I became the president and one of the professors at the college. We soon recognized Francis as an emerging leader. The academic level of the school was in good shape wo we focused on bringing servant leadership to the forefront of the leadership training that was part of the curriculum and began investing in students.
In 2013 we were asked to give leadership to City Pentecostal Church as the founding pastor was retiring and returning to Canada. Francis was part of the congregation and was graduating with his diploma. We brought him on staff, enrolled him in the degree program, and brought him into our mentoring program.
It became evident very quickly that Francis was emerging as a servant leader and the call of God was clearly on his life. Graduating with his degree, we brought him on as our assistant with the view that we would work toward transitioning him to become the lead pastor. We enrolled him in the Master’s program at Pan African Christian College in Kenya. He would travel to Kenya twice a year for in class work. After two and one half years Francis graduated. He was then elevated to associate pastor and served as an exemplary servant leader. In January 2019 the torch was passed and Francis became lead pastor and I took the role of pastor emeritus. Today, Francis continues to lead City Pentecostal Church and has three young, emerging, servant leaders that he is mentoring, educating, and preparing to become lead pastors with servant leader hearts.
Helene and I look to this as one of our greatest victories during the 11 years we spent in Malawi.