Profile: Reverends Sonia Crawley & Sonji Pass

Profile: Reverends Sonia Crawley & Sonji Pass
Global Missions
7/1/2011
By Annya M. Lott

Reverends Sonia Crawley and Sonji Pass witnessed God create many first experiences for the people of Isiolo, Kenya. They saw people open the Bible, drink fresh water, and receive medical attention for the very first time in their lives. “What can we as a ministry do for you?” Pass asked the villagers of Isiolo, a remote district in the eastern province of Kenya. “The response was phenomenal but initially there was silence because they couldn’t believe it. No one had ever come to ask them what they needed.”

Both Crawley and Pass serve a missionary God who calls all believers to share the Gospel with others. ”Mission is a lifestyle, not a destination. It’s who we are in the Body of Christ,” declares Crawley. Their lives changed in November 2003 after Bishop Claude Alexander asked them to travel to Kenya. In February 2004, they went to East Africa for two weeks and returned again in September of that year. The missionaries then journeyed back to Kenya one year later to work with four schools in Nairobi for six months.  “The Lord gave us a five-subject curriculum addressing the needs of young people such as self-esteem, building healthy relationships and setting goals,” recalls Pass.  

There was a year-end celebration attended by more than 400 youth and young adults at which time 165 gave their lives to Christ, and 250 made an abstinence pledge until marriage. As a result, the community school program allowed the reverends to meet with seven different branches of the Kenyan government that challenged them to work in Isiolo to reduce the economic and social needs. “We never heard of Isiolo before; we didn’t know where it was on the map,” remembers Crawley. After arriving, they witnessed fulfillment of a divine purpose because all the needs of the villagers fell perfectly in line with Bishop Alexander’s five areas of global mission focus -- leadership development, HIV/AIDS education, village infrastructure, church planting, and team mobilization. 

The first task was accessing clean water. At the time, Isiolo villagers were drinking and cooking with water from a filthy cesspool. The Park Ministries contracted a company to drill a 400-foot deep water hole, and it was dedicated to the villagers in 2009 as, the Lord’s Well. “We were told the water is the sweetest because all the other wells in Isiolo are salty,” says Crawley. “But we know this water is sweet because this is a well that God ordained for his people.”

The second task was deploying a medical mission team. It seemed daunting initially for both reverends. But more congregants, including medical professionals, became interested in global missions: A team trained for 12-weeks before leaving in September 2009. Within four days, the team provided various services to over 1,200 individuals. “These individuals walked for days to reach the camp. There were 90-year-olds who had never received medical attention in their lives and to see the looks on their faces was a blessing for us,” remembers Crawley. The medical team also addressed the systemic problem of HIV/AIDS. According to Avert, an international HIV/AIDS agency in the United Kingdom, Kenya has an estimated 1.5 million people living with HIV, and 1.2 million children have been orphaned by AIDS. Shockingly, only 1 in 3 children who need treatment are receiving it. This clearly demonstrates that countries are neglecting to provide universal access to HIV treatment and prevention.

With excitement stirring in Charlotte, the men’s mission team was created to evangelize nations. The Men of the Park served in the slums of Nairobi by fixing up dilapidated shanties, and working side-by-side with Isiolo men to build a multi-purpose center for villagers and children. Then they worshiped on a Sunday morning by sharing their personal testimonies, “The same six men did the altar call and prayed  over those who came forward,” Crawley recalls. “Six men gave their life to Christ.”

The Park Ministries also has a growing partnership with nearly 25 pastors in Isiolo offering leadership development training, church planting, and mission opportunities, “We want to train pastors to be able to train others. We want to teach people how to fish, not hand them a fish,” says Pass.  By way of the Faith Forward in Action movement extending the Love, Life, and Lordship of Jesus Christ, Reverends Crawley and Pass hope to expand more global mission opportunities to young adults and the women’s ministry. Prayerfully, they are planning to move permanently to Kenya in 2012 actively ministering in Isiolo, “We want to work to equip and empower the people,” says Pass. “The focus is to make disciples in other nations.”