About Michael and Monica Kanai
Michael received an MA in Sociology from the University of Central Missouri. And an M-Div from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.
Monica received a BS in Elementary Education and Early Childhood, Child and Family Studies from Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar, MO. She has homeschooled our three children and taught elementary and middle school students including Bible for five years.
We met at a wedding during college. I had heard about this young lady Monica and knew she wanted to be a missionary.
Well… it so happened that I wanted to be a missionary too!!
A couple years later we’re married and driving the U-Haul to Southwestern Seminary in Fort Worth, TX.
Another couple years fly by and we’re heading to Kaduna, Nigeria with a one-year-old baby girl. We give everything away and our six bags are packed.
Nigeria says nope, no visa for you.
Once the dust settles, we’re at Midwestern seminary in Kansas City where a local church says to Michael, ‘come be our pastor’.
As the years roll by, we have two more children and I continue to serve at different churches. Monica’s busy homeschooling our three children.
We’ve pretty much moved on from our missionary dreams.
But we both spend a lot of time in the Bible. I’m meditating on passages in search of inner peace – and not being disappointed. Monica is studying each book of the Bible inductively with a Precept group and making amazing observations.
We notice how people suffer for lack of knowledge in God’s Word and we both have a growing desire to teach the Bible vocationally.
The last couple years we’ve applied for Bible teaching positions at several Christian schools close to home.
But God opened a surprising door in Karen, Kenya. A nice little town next to Nairobi, the capital city of 4.4M.
Why are we going? What’s the “why?” for us?
Why would we take the risk, lose the income, the access to family and general security we enjoy here in the US? Because this life is an investment opportunity that only comes once. Our lives have been transformed by the mercy of God and the one tool he has used more than any other – is the Bible.
We believe the Bible is God’s sufficient, authoritative, and inspired Word.
We believe it speaks truth and grace to every person in every life situation.
We believe people are priceless and eternally important.
We believe the students we teach will have potential for happier marriages and families because of the salvation and wisdom found in God’s Word.
We believe there is a coming Judgment Day when every living soul’s eternal destiny will be determined by their relationship to Jesus Christ.
The substitutionary death of Jesus is the only way to be justified before a Holy God.
We are praying that our students will be transformed as they encounter the Presence and Power of God cultivated through His Word.
