CORAL SPRINGS—Keh, born in Malaysia, and his wife, Jessica, born in Hong Kong, have served Chinese Baptist Church of Coral Springs for the past eight years, and they are now headed to Australia as International Mission Board missionaries where they pray that God will use them to work alongside local churches sharing the gospel and seeing many people “born again” into new life with Christ.

The couple are among 54 newly appointed IMB missionaries recognized during a recent Sending Celebration at Ironbridge Baptist Church in Chester, Virginia.

Born in Malaysia, Keh came to the United States for college and worked in the information technology field until being called into full-time vocational ministry. After attending Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, and serving in local churches in Minnesota and Texas, Keh and his wife moved to southeast Florida to serve at the Coral Springs church.

Over the past eight years that Keh has served as pastor at Chinese Baptist Church of Coral Springs, he recalled the challenge he first heard on the campus of Southwestern Seminary—preach the Word, reach the world. After preaching through the Book of Acts, both Keh and his wife “were convicted to make disciples of all nations,” he said.

“Through traveling overseas and witnessing for ourselves how God is working, we were convicted to make disciples of all nations,” he said. “We began to pray and recognize the need for cross-cultural disciple-making, partnership with local nationals, and global missions.”

From that point, God, they said, seemed to open doors seamlessly for the couple to enter the mission field as the calling began to stir in their hearts. For Jessica, born in Hong Kong, she has always been interested in evangelism and sees this open door as something they would be content doing for the rest of their lives.

“This Great Commission task is what we want to do for the next decade of ministry,” she shared.

 

Hold the rope

Both Keh and Jessica believe that the local church is the mechanism that is fueling the vital Great Commission task.

From his study of Acts, Keh adamantly believes the local church not only will provide him and his wife with the needed accountability, support, encouragement, and prayers, but also will “hold the rope” as they serve on the mission field.

“Acts teaches us the importance of the local church in missions,” he said. “It is the local church that commissions and sends missionaries, and it is the local church that stands right beside missionaries; the IMB serves as an extension of the local church to train and send.”

And the couple will need all of the rope-holding they can get as they move from Broward County to southeast Australia—a 10,000-mile journey.

 

On mission in Australia

With Australia representing a diverse, growing immigrant population, the couple will be responsible for coming alongside local churches in the region. Following a boots-on-the-ground approach, both Keh and Jessica will be working tirelessly to “encourage, support, train, equip and mobilize local churches evangelizing the locals and cross-culturally,” he said.

“We’re very excited for the opportunity to encourage local believers, build strong relationships with them, and educate church leaders and congregations more about global missions in the context of the local church,” he continued.

Serving in this region of the world doesn’t come without challenges. According to the couple, some areas of the world, including Australia, have seen a major shift in secularization and have been influenced heavily by a growing progressive agenda.

Young people are leaving the church and are not interested in faith matters. “We need lots of prayer for the Lord’s wisdom to work with local churches to evangelize and disciple the next generation for the kingdom work,” said Jessica. “We’re going to help build a foundation that will allow others to come after us to continue to reach the next generation and help the local churches see that the Great Commission is reaching all nations and ethnicities in the world and that the congregations can have more impact than they currently have.”

With Australia being an open country, Keh and Jessica are encouraged by the many ministry advantages they will soon experience as well. “We can share the gospel in a relatively free and neutral environment due to Australia being an open country,” he said.

With many immigrants moving to “mega, big” cities in the advanced countries, the couple will have the opportunity to share the gospel and disciple believers from around the world.

“We’re looking forward to reaching the locals and also those who are coming to Australia from around the world. We’re praying that believers then will be sent, go back [to their various countries] and share the gospel with their people,” said Keh. “Pray that the Lord will give us opportunities to share the gospel with the locals and open doors to connect with local churches.”

Keh and Jessica are enthusiastic about what the next several months hold as they complete their final IMB orientation and training between now and December, leaving the states after Christmas. They are also grateful to the men and women across the Sunshine State who have given sacrificially so they could answer the call to go.

“We’re thankful to the countless local churches that make us serving on the field a reality by giving through the Southern Baptist Convention Cooperative Program and the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions,” said Keh.

Still others can listen for and respond to God’s call to the nations. Jessica said she is praying that more men and women answer the call.

“My prayer is that we would see more brothers and sisters respond to God’s calling to ‘go and make disciples of all nations,’” she said.