Our Partners in Mission

  • The DesRoches - KENYA

     

    Andy and Rebecca DesRoches relocated to Nairobi, Kenya to serve in Leadership Development with CBM's partner, African Christian Church & Schools (ACC&S) in 2006.

    In October 1997, they were appointed as Global Field Staff to serve in Angola. During their year of language study in Portugal, fighting in Angola intensified and they were  re-assigned to Portuguese-speaking Mozambique. The DesRoches family arrived in Mozambique in early February 2000 where they taught at the Instituto Teológico da Beira (Beira Theological Institute).

    Andy was born in Summerside, PEI. His life was changed by Christ through the witness of his friend Stephen, Rebecca's brother, in the summer of 1983. Andy enrolled at Atlantic Baptist College and was discipled by Stephen for that first year. He was baptized at the Summerside United Baptist Church at the age of 20. Andy graduated from Atlantic Baptist College (B.A. Biblical Studies), and from Acadia Divinity College (M.Div., Honours.)

     
    Rebecca DesRoches was born in Moncton, NB. Her father was a pastor and she was active as a young person in youth activities and music in the churches her father served. Rebecca's faith deepened as a student at Acadia University (B.Mus., Majors in Piano and Math; B.Mus.Ed.). The challenge of defending her personal faith among her fellow students awakened a serious commitment to learning what it was to follow Jesus Christ. After her first degree from Acadia, she took a one-year certificate program at Tyndale Theological Seminary and volunteered at Evergreen Mission, a drop-in centre for street people in downtown Toronto.
     
    Andy and Rebecca were married in 1986. For four years they worked with youth groups in the Wolfville United Baptist Church, NS. While Andy was a student at Acadia Divinity College, Rebecca taught children with reading disabilities and gave private music lessons.
     
    Andy served with two churches in Moncton, NB, first at Hillside United Baptist Church as Associate Minister of Youth and then for five years at Cherryfield United Baptist Church.
     
    Andy's thinking toward mission work was shaped by reading and preaching through the gospels over a three-year period. He sees his call to missions as simply his next step in the call which is given to every believer to be a disciple and make disciples by denying ourselves and following Jesus. Rebecca's openness to mission work came as a result of being challenged with the simplicity of the call given to all disciples of Christ to "go and make disciples" and the call to obedience as found in the teachings of Jesus within the gospels.
     
    Andy enjoys camping, biking and hiking. Rebecca also enjoys gardening, reading, and renovation work. Both Rebecca and Andy are accomplished in the music field. Andy plays the guitar and writes songs and the two of them have a special ministry of singing together. Proceeds from their CD, available through CBM, help to support their ministry. Rebecca and Andy have a son, Samuel and a daughter, Davita.
     
    Verse:
    "Show me your ways, O LORD, teach me your paths; guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long."
    Psalm 25:4-5 NIV

    E-mail Address:
     
    Address:
    P.O. Box 64390, 00620
    Mobil Plaza, Nairobi
    Kenya

  • The Byrne-Mamahits - INDONESIA

     

    Johnny and Paige Byrne-Mamahit were recently reassigned to serve in Pontianak, Indonesia in the area of outreach ministries.  They were orginally appointed by CBM in May 2002 as Global Field Staff for a new church planting ministry in East Kalimantan, Indonesia.  

    Johnny Byrne-Mamahit was born in Seretan, Northern Sulawesi, Indonesia, into a large family. His father was a pastor in an Indonesian Baptist Church and when Johnny was young his family moved several times within the 'Minahasa' area. Johnny had a sense of the love of Christ from his earliest day and came to faith in Christ when he was a small child. He was baptized at the age of eighteen at the Iman Baptist Church, Manado, Indonesia. Johnny is a graduate of the Seminay Telogia Tingi, in Manado. While at seminary Johnny focused his studies on Christian education. Just prior to coming to Canada, Johnny was an interim missionary of the KGBI (Kerapatan Gereja Baptis Indonesia) in Jakarta.

    Paige was born in Brantford, Ontario, the second of three daughters of Frank and Jane Byrne, CBM missionaries to Indonesia. Paige grew up as a 'missionary kid' in the Minahasa area of Indonesia. She came to faith in Christ at the age of seven and was baptized at the Baptist Church at Manado when she was fourteen. Paige is a graduate of the University of Guelph in International Development, and did some studies at Tyndale Seminary in Toronto. During her high school and university years Paige often found herself working with and among missionaries.

    Johnny and Paige met in Manado, Indonesia in 1993 when Paige was on a short term mission project with Canadian Baptist Ministries. They were married later that year in Cambridge, Ontario.

    Johnny has always felt a calling to tell others about the love of Christ. After years in Canada Johnny's desire to serve God increased and focused as he learned more about Christianity and the global issues of justice, poverty and evangelism from the perspective of his new Canadian culture. Paige has felt the call to missionary service (to Indonesia or elsewhere) since she was a young adult and her university and seminary studies, and the mission trip with CBM in 1993, further focused and established that call.

    Both Johnny and Paige love spending time with their two children, Nakita and Shoshannah. Johnny also enjoys fixing cars and cooking; Paige enjoys photography, reading, and eating Johnny's cooking.

    In September of 2001, after Paige completed six months of language study in Bandung, Indonesia, the family moved to Balikpapan, located in Eastern Kalimantan on the island formerly known as Borneo. It is a city of over a quarter of a million people made up mostly of Muslim workers who have come from all over Indonesia to work in the oil industry.  Their task was to establish a church in the heart of the city.  Friendships were established with different segments of the community and out of those friendships and other contacts a church was born.  The congregation which first met in their home has now moved to rented quarters on one of the main streets but is looking forward to the day when it will have its own land and building for worship and for service to the growing city. 

    Through innovative ministries that take place in parks, on the sports field, on the beaches, local gymnasiums, coffee shops, restaurants, hotels and in homes the church continues to grow in numbers but also spiritually and in the development of its lay leadership.

    In addition to Johnny’s work as pastor of the church – developing and growing a never ending list of contacts - he also works in conjunction with two other Indonesian missionary families involved in church plants in the neighboring cities of Samarinda and Grogot.  Frequently the families get together to share, consult, encourage each other and to pray and plan for the future growth and outreach of their churches.

    Paige, in addition to her family duties and that of hospitality, is involved in a number of different ministries to children, young people, women and to the nurturing of relationships with people in the wider community of Balikpapan

    Verse:

    "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead..." 1 Pet 1:3

    E-mail Address: bmpaige@gmail.com

    Address:
    Kotak Pos 1051
    Pontianak 78010 Kalbar
    Indonesia