Friday, 03 June 2011 14:33

Jinger Goma

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Jinger Goma Jinger Goma KGF Church

     I was born and raised in Metro Manila, Philippines, a city of violence and poverty. When I was in grade 1 & 3, I had dreams about God the Father and Jesus Christ, which became instrumental to my later faith in Christ. My life in Manila, however, was far from Christianity then. Like most boys from my city, I ended up on the streets, which included alcohol, violence and unlawful acts, etc. By 14, I had my own gang, was living with my girlfriend, was an alcoholic, and a complete mess. My decrepit life at such a young age forced my mom to send me to Canada to live with my dad. I thought of running away from home, but my life was so chaotic that Canada was an opportunity for a new beginning. I accepted my mom’s verdict and left the Philippines in hopes of a new life and of a better future.

     At 15, my life in Canada seemed promising. I re-established my life and immersed myself in school to pursue Medicine or Dentistry. However, my history quietly found its way back into my life. I struggled against my “demons” but peer pressure and the party atmosphere bested my efforts to repel such strong temptations. Interestingly, it was also in high school that I met my first Christian friends who invited me to sports events in their church. This became my introduction to the Christian world but God’s plan in my life was yet to be unveiled at that point. 

     In College, I became even more exposed to Christianity. A lot of my friends and classmates were Christians. It was in the UCM (University Christian Ministry) gatherings that I met Rachael Pauls (now my beautiful wife). It was then that I became deeply curious about the God of the Christian community. This curiosity led me to attend Sunday Church services and Bible studies. The most pivotal event of my genesis to Christianity was during a Bible study with some college friends. I bombarded the group with hard questions about God, and shared my dreams about God when I was in grade 1 and 3. After sharing my dreams, some of them were completely amazed and others were in tears. I began to feel uncomfortable and asked, “What’s the matter?” They said, “You should read the Bible and you will understand why we are overwhelmed by what you just shared.” This response propelled me to open up the pages of the Scripture. 

     After a few months, I was amazed by the “theological implications” of my dreams. After discovering that my dreams embodied strong and powerful Scriptural truths, I couldn’t help but accept Jesus into my life. In 1998, I was baptized and my journey with Christ flourished from then onward. Since then, I committed myself to a yearly cover to cover reading of the Bible, surrendered all my addictions to Christ, and submitted all my dreams and goals to His will. In 1999, I dropped out of college during my 3rd year of Bachelor of Science degree because I felt the Lord’s call to full time ministry. In 2000, I went to Prairie Bible College to pursue a Pastoral Ministry degree. In 2001, I married the most amazing woman in this world, Rachael Goma, who I am very much in love with. After graduating from PBC, I became the Associate Pastor at Grace Baptist Church in Kelowna from 2004 to 2010. I left Grace Baptist Church because of my burning desire to continue my education and pursue my passion in biblical studies. This journey led me to Regent College in 2010. In spite of enjoying school, however, I am even more excited about being called back into pastoral ministry at Kelowna Gospel Fellowship.

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Mike Penninga

Mike Penninga is first a foremost a son of God, a husband of Michelle, a father of 3, and a pretty good tennis player. A grad of Trinity Western University and ACTS seminary with a background in broadcast journalism, Mike has a passion for sharing the life changing news of Jesus Christ in understandable and captivating ways. He has been the lead pastor at KGF since March 2009.