Meet our Belize Mission Partner
My name is Kenneth Welch and I live in Belize City with my wife Una and two daughters Anayah and Nissa. We have been married since 2011.
I was saved and baptized at the age of 16 but was never involved in any kingdom work. I started getting involved in ministry in 2011 in Gales Point Manatee Village, which is my hometown. David Stockton and Mike Phifer from Living Streams Church in Phoenix mentored me and raised me in the ways of the Lord. I started leading as a full-time pastor when I was just 21 years old.
I had never even thought of being involved in church further than just attending every once in a while.
But the Lord worked in my heart when I met David and Mike and He completely turned my life around. I was attending university at the time, working on a degree in marine science and biology. Little did I know that the Lord had different and better plans for a wretch like me. He moved me from a life where I would have been chasing money and sinful passions to one where I’m now chasing and serving people and the desires of the Lord. My first 8 years in ministry I served in my hometown, leading the church there. I now lead two churches full-time, Galilee Gospel Chapel in Gales Point and Port Loyola Calvary Chapel in Belize City and I help the ministry in Dangriga.
Both churches are small with 30-40 people on a Sunday. Gales Point is a poor community with little to no opportunity for employment in or around it. Most people are migrating to the nearest city to find jobs to provide for their families. Galilee Gospel Chapel is the only functioning church in Gales Point. The only open place for believers to gather and fellowship with each other so it’s important as it pretty much dictates the spiritual heart of the community.
Port Loyola Calvary Chapel, the church in the city, is in the middle of a gang neighborhood on the south side of Belize City. Majority of the congregants are women and come from outside the neighborhood. We are presently working on programs and outreaches to get more involved in the community and reach the people in that neighborhood.
In Gales Point we are trying to change the community by investing in the next generation, so we do a lot of work with the children and the school. Such as school supply drives with visiting mission teams, the Christmas in Belize Party that LifePoint supports through The Big Give program each holiday season, and yearly VBS programs. Over the years we have constructed a library and a computer lab. We try to promote reading as a solid foundation for education and learning. The elementary school has about 60 kids. There are no high schools in the village, the high school kids must take a 40-minute bus ride every day to go to high school and return home. In recent years we have built an aquaponics farm to help with the food insecurities in the village.
I met Pastor Nathan Bentley with LifePoint Church in 2015 when he came down to Belize to host a Men’s Retreat, and we have been connected ever since. LifePoint Church has been supporting my family and the ministries that we run here in Belize ever since Pastor Nathan learned of the work that God has us doing for the Kingdom.
Ministry pretty much defines the life of my family. We love serving and leading people as hard as it may be sometimes. As imperfect as we and others are the Gospel still needs to be shared so that people can repent and come to know Jesus as personal lord and savior.
Pastor Kenny
