God can call people into ministry—anytime—anywhere—at any age. All we have to be are His willing and obedient servants. Anna and Gordon MacKenzie are two such people. Called into ministry later in life, Anna and Gordon were obediently serving the Lord here in the Maritimes at Halifax Life Bridge Community Church.
However, after a 2013 short-term missions trip to Honduras, the MacKenzies felt a compelling call to go there. They’ve now been ministering in the capital city Tegucigalpa of Honduras for two years and are in the process of becoming full-time missionaries with the Baptist General Conference of Canada.
From 1996-2000, Gordon attended Kingswood University as a student. He became the men’s resident director in his senior year and kept that position until 2002. He also was the athletics director from 2000-2002. Anna, his wife, worked as a teacher’s assistant in local schools in the area.
With the support of almost 20 churches (especially from their first pastorate Penobsquis Baptist Church), Gordon and Anna work quite closely with the parachurch organization Manso Extendidas (Extended Hands). Both Anna and Gordon mentor and disciple adolescent girls and boys, between the ages of 12-18, within the prisons. Most of these teenagers have been involved in gang life from some of the most impoverished and uneducated parts of the city.
Anna also works with Manso Extendidas’s kindergartens for children between the ages of 2-5. She tries to find sponsors for each child, so they can continue attending the school. Because of this ministry to the children, ME has planted three churches in the area.
Gordon teaches and counsels pastoral leaders, who often have very little training. (Gordon also has his master’s in counselling.) He also works with the organization Bible Basics, which helps to develop mobile training services to go to where the pastors are.
Gordon and Anna also have a young man Raul living with them. While Raul did time in jail for a gang-related charge, his best friend was killed. He then gave his life to Christ and became a mentor to other boys in the prison. Gordon and Anna who will do whatever they can to support him.
Besides raising support for transition homes for these teenagers, by far Anna and Gordon’s favourite ministry is to go out at night to feed the homeless in the most destitute parts of Tegucigalpa.
Anna and Gordon’s lives are full. They have already witnessed lives being changed such as six girls in prison accepting Christ, with four of those girls choosing to leave their gang life. Yet there is so much need that as Gordon says, “We could easily stay in Honduras the rest of our lives and build on what has already been started.”
Gordon and Anna are one couple of many other Kingswood graduates who are ministering all over the world for the Kingdom. We are truly thankful for their zeal to share the love of Christ wherever they go.
Note: Check out the Mackenzies’ website here www.mackenziesinhonduras.com and “like” them on their facebook page https://www.facebook.com/MackenziesInHonduras.
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