Keynoting the WOW kickoff, and singing in the choir—two of the newest faces at Central are familiar to many. Stephanie and Larry Kraft are back after being away for 38 years doing mission work. They moved back from their latest overseas posting in the UK. Before that, they spent many years in Brazil working with One Challenge (OC) International. OC International is a mission organization that works to more effectively equip, send, assist, and partner with local people to plant and nurture new churches in unchurched parts of the world.

Larry is continuing his work with OC’s Global Research Team (GRT) from Baltimore and is looking forward to retiring in July. Stephanie, also a GRT member, is keeping busy updating the house they have owned since they graduated from college, and all the other things—doctors, hairdressers, etc.—you need to do when you move.

Larry and Stephanie started attending Central when they were students at Johns Hopkins University. After graduation, they bought a house in Ednor Gardens, and Larry worked as a Quality Control Chemist for Davison Chemical while Stephanie worked as an assistant to an epidemiologist at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. They had two children, Kathryn and Peter, and some job changes.

At Central, they joined the Missions Coordinating Fellowship, and Murray Smoot, the pastor, encouraged them to consider that God was calling them to mission work. They met Ken Kudo, a missionary to Brazil being supported by Central, who asked them to work with him to open a missions research department with OC in Brazil. With God’s guidance, they accepted the challenge, moved to Pasadena, CA, to study at Fuller Seminary, and started learning Portuguese. In 1987, they moved to Brazil with their children Katie, age 9, and Peter, age 7.

According to Stephanie, “We had a wonderful life here in Baltimore, and the thought of giving it all up to mission work in Brazil was daunting. But with God’s guidance, we decided it was the right thing to do. We’ve been so blessed to witness God doing things in the world that I could never have imagined.”

In Brazil, they started a research department to identify unchurched and under-churched rural villages, river communities, and urban neighborhoods for church planting. After 17 years, they accepted a transfer to work on behalf of OC’s teams in North Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia from a base in Worthing, England.

Their daughter Katie and her husband Jay are in London where Katie works for World Vision as their Senior Research Advisor for Faith and Development and is also on the faculty of the University of East London. Peter, who works in cyber security, lives with his wife Katharine and their three children in Oakton, VA.

Stephanie and Larry are happy to be home, settling into Central, and being close enough to see their grandchildren more often.

Larry said, “Now that we are back in Baltimore, I am praying that God will give us opportunities to speak individually with younger people about their possible involvement in world missions.”

Contact Stephanie and Larry at larrysteph@worksmail.net.