Volunteer Profile:Pete VanKempen referenced in summer 2011
by Martha Markwat

One Sunday in 1989, Pete VanKempen and his wife Minnie heard that some fellow church members were going on a work trip to Guatemala. When Pete expressed interest, they invited him along. “On the way home from church Pete told me that's what he wanted to do when he retired,” says Minnie. “So we said, if it was possible to get a ticket in time for him to leave with the others that Thursday, then it was God's will.” That Thursday Pete was on a plane for the first of what would turn out to be many work trips to Guatemala and Colombia, where he used his talents as an electrician to further the work of missions.

In 2002, with retirement only a few years away, Pete was given an opportunity to fulfill his desire to serve in missions when he retired. “I received a request to help organize Word & Deed USA, and believe it was an answer to our wish to serve the Lord by helping those who have so little,” says Pete. A year later, he was president for Word & Deed USA, and in 2004 he handed his business, VanKempen Electric, over to his three sons and retired.

Although he had originally anticipated serving simply in electrical construction areas, the Lord directed him otherwise. As president for Word & Deed, USA, Pete presides over meetings and occasionally gives presentations in various churches. He also travels to Word & Deed projects in developing countries such as Malawi and Colombia to assess problems and encourage the leaders.

Pete says his first trip to Malawi as president for Word & Deed made a deep impression on him, giving him a picture of how large and diverse God's kingdom really is. “Your life is greatly impacted by visiting and working in the developing world,” says Pete. “The poverty and hardships observed up close changes your values. We have so many privileges that it shames us. They have a much greater dependence and trust on God's provision than we ever think of.

”Both Pete and Minnie have a heart for the work that Word & Deed does. “Since I retired, Word & Deed has become very important in our life, and I am honored and privileged that God uses us in this way,” Pete says. “Whenever an opportunity becomes apparent and we can help, we're there.

” Minnie has joined Pete on a few work trips to Guatemala, and was also able to go with him to Malawi once. “I am very thankful that I went to Malawi once, so I can picture it,” says Minnie. She feels it enables her to support and encourage him, and truly understand the work he is doing. And when her husband is gone to Africa for a few weeks she can often be heard saying “I'm just so glad that he can do this.

”After raising their seven children, Pete and Minnie became involved in other children's lives through sponsorship. For the past 20 years Pete and Minnie have been sponsors of several children in Guatemala, Colombia and Malawi. Over the years they have had the privilege of seeing some of them graduate from high school and find employment. On one trip to Guatemala Pete even had the joy of meeting their sponsor child's wife and two children. The young man now owns his own home and works for the government. “It's not just the child, but their whole family that is being affected [by sponsorship],” says Pete.  

The relationships that Pete has established on his travels have helped him and Minnie minister to the African seminary families in their hometown. “Through the Lord's providential leading we were blessed to become acquainted with several Malawi pastors and their families who became our friends,” says Pete. “It has been a privilege to be of assistance with the great cultural adjustments they had to make [when they came to seminary here]. It has been such a blessing for us to become acquainted with these people.”“It has immeasurably enriched our lives,” says Minnie.

“It has never taken away from our family, rather, I hope it has been a positive example for them. Plus, you need this, when it's just the two of you.

”Martha Markwat is a member of the Free Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan and one of the  editors of this magazine.