The Source Churches in Winnipeg, Florida, and now Kenya

Originally from Manitoba, a pastor couple from Florida are thrilled to see what God will do with their third church plant in Africa.

Ralph and Joanne Hoehne are pastors and church planters of The Source Church.

"We were both raised in Winnipeg, grew up there and loved it and the community," says Joanne. "We left in 2004 to go to Florida where we started a church called The Source down here in 2007. Then eight years ago in 2014, we started a Winnipeg campus of The Source Church. We lead both campuses and usually, we get to travel there quite often."

Having lived down in the U.S.A. for over a decade, the Hoehnes were unable to come to their Canadian campus in Winnipeg throughout the pandemic.

"It's been two and a half years but we're hoping to get there very shortly," she says. "We have just purchased a brand new church building there and we're going to be having a grand opening in a few months."

New Campus Halfway Around the World

The Hoehnes recently returned to their home in Florida from a trip to Kenya, where they opened up another campus of The Source Church.

"About 10 years ago I had this divine, only a God kind of connection with this pastor in Kenya," says Joanne. "I started mentoring him. Out of that, about four years ago he asked me to go do a woman's conference. We had four days of the conference, and all kinds of miracles and pastors from the region started showing up. On the last day, he asked, 'Would you just talk to pastors?'"

Joanne's first trip to Kenya happened after connecting with Pastor Obed Magoko of Nairobi. On the first trip she told him she would talk with pastors in a session if there were at least 25 of them. It then surprised her when 195 pastors showed up on that Monday session.

"We had bishops and pastors from all over the place and they were hungry for God. It birthed a whole new aspect. Since then, Pastor Obed started using our resources and messages. A year and a half ago he found out he had to move out of the building he was leasing. We said we're going to help build this church."

With the help of the Florida and Winnipeg campuses, The Source Church was able to fund and build a brand new facility for the congregation in Kenya. The couple flew out at the beginning of May to help with the grand opening that happened on May 12, 2022.

"It was really exciting because the excitement was in the air," says Ralph. "They're very poor people and they struggle. For them to see something nice and new, a great place to come to church, it was a great time cutting the ribbon and celebrating what the Lord has done."

The Hoehnes were in Kenya for nine days in total, with one day set apart for the grand opening. For four days, they held conferences for pastors.

"We ended up speaking to about 800 pastors and bishops throughout Nairobi. We trained them in a cultural shift, Biblical economics, leadership, and integrity within ministry and the miracles just broke out. Mind shifts started happening. We're excited about what God is about to do in Kenya," says Joanne.

Ralph shared that they continued to see how the different denominations in Kenya work together.

"What the Lord gave me four years ago was that I don't have to speak to the masses to see change in Kenya," says Joanne. "If I can get the leaders and transformation in the leaders, they will take transformation to their people."