Greg & Collene Kent - Dominican Republic

I was saved on April 14, 1964, at the age of 7 at First Baptist Church of Westwood Lakes in Miami, FL. At the age of 11 during a mission’s conference, I felt God calling me into the ministry, but the thought scared me and I didn’t respond.

After graduation from high school in 1974 in Ocala, FL, I worked for a year and in 1975, I joined the Marine Corp where I served until 1978. After my honorable discharge, I returned home and was active in our church.

I met my wife, Collene who was saved at the age of 8, in 1981 at church where we were both serving in Awana Clubs. We were married on June 24, 1983, and six months later I was asked to be the youth pastor of our church. After serving in that position for 4 years while working a full time job, God began dealing with me about the ministry once again. During a mission conference in April 1988 I surrendered to the ministry and entered Baptist Bible College in Springfield, MO to study Pastoral Theology. After a mission conference at the church we were attending in April of 1990, I changed my major to Missions Theology to prepare to be a missionary. Just before graduation in 1992, God began opening doors for us to go to Conyers, GA to start a church.

We arrived in Conyers, GA the end of May 1992 and began preparation to start New Life Baptist Church. We had our first service on October 4, 1992. In 1994, we were praying (claiming Jeremiah 33:3) that God would provide us with more permanent facilities having met in a Day Care Center since our beginning, God answered our prayers and provided us with 6 ½ acres, a church building, Sunday school/fellowship hall and a parsonage with a value of $350,000.00 for $21,000.00. We saw souls saved, our people mature through personal discipleship and mission giving increase each year through our faith promise giving.

After our mission conference in 1996, I began praying that God would call a family from our church to the mission field. In February 1997, I was invited to go to the Dominican Republic on a mission trip and on my return had a burden to make sure we helped someone go there. As a result of our mission conference, God confirmed to me and our family that it was the Kent family He wanted to go to the Dominican Republic. After a teary goodbye, we resigned from New Life Baptist Church in September 1997 (after they called a pastor) to begin deputation.

Our family arrived in the Dominican Republic in March 1999 and began our next journey. We began our language studies and attended a church nearby. The next year (2000), we moved to the city where we are now serving to continue our language studies and help a church in a nearby city. This time was very beneficial as we continued to learn the language and the culture of those we were serving.

In October 2001, we (The Kent family and the Webb family) began making preparations to start Iglesia Bautista Vida Nueva (New Life Baptist Church). In November, we started with a Bible Club for kids each Saturday morning and a Youth Meeting each Saturday night. During that time we saw young people come to Christ and continued to build a base for a church. After much prayer and preparation, we started Iglesia Bautista Vida Nueva (New Life Baptist Church) on June 2, 2002. What a thrill it has been to see people saved, follow the Lord in baptism and grow through personal discipleship. We have trained and equipped people to serve as Sunday school teachers and fill other leadership roles with the music, teaching our youth and disciple others (II Timothy 2:2). June 2005, we left the ministry we started. Since then, we have been working with four other churches helping them with Sunday School teacher training, discipling as well as discipleship training, leadership training, etc. We are now involved at IBVN once again and what a blessing it has been to see their faith and service to the Lord continue to grow.

Family:
Collene and I have three children, Our daughter Tyler (22) graduated with her Associate of Arts Degree from OTC in Springfield, Missouri as well as her one-year Bible degree from Baptist Bible College. She will soon move to Florida to study cosmetology, Tarah Beth (20) is currently working and will be saving so she too can attend cosmetology school. Scott (18) is a high school senior at Santiago Christian School, Santiago, Dominican Republic and will be attending Baptist Bible College in Springfield, Missouri. He will be playing soccer for BBC and studying Business Management.

Birthdays:
Collene January 3
Greg September 7
Tyler Marie August 15, 1986
Tarah Beth December 5, 1988
Scott April 16, 1991
Anniversary June 24, 1983

Please pray for Greg & Collene who are currently serving as missionaries in the Dominican Republic.