Chuck & Val Balik
Chuck grew up in Ottawa and as a teenager came to faith by responding to the gospel through an outreach of Church of the Way (now WOCC). He spent a year with Youth With A Mission, first in their Discipleship Training School in Dunham, Quebec and later traveling with them through Central and South America. In 1980 he enrolled with Elim Bible Institute in Lima, New York. The summer after graduating he met Valerie at an evening service at the Life Centre in Ottawa and a year later they were married. They have two grown children, Rebekah and Joel. Together they served Baptist congregations in Northern and Southwestern Ontario.
As a family, they spent the summer of 1998 working in a children’s home in southern Belize. During this time West Ottawa leaders approached them to consider joining the Pastoral Team. Chuck was officially called into Pastoral Leadership at WOCC in January of 1999. Along with the pastoral responsibilities, he has a heart for missions and sees the support and involvement in short term missions as a part of his calling.
Graham & Judith Brum
Graham was born in the UK and is married to Judith who was born in Ottawa, but attended high school in the UK. They both served in the British Royal Navy where they met. Graham and Judith moved to Canada in 1987 and immediately felt at home at WOCC, becoming involved in various ministry positions.
In 2002 Graham’s work took the family to Melbourne, Australia, for nearly 3 years, where they became members of CityLife church and served as Cell Group Leaders. Judith was a member of the CityLife worship team and worked as a weekly volunteer with their Creative Arts Ministry.
On returning to Ottawa, Graham felt that the experiences gained in Australia were to benefit the body at West Ottawa. In February 2009 Graham was invited to join the Eldership Team. Judith has been an inspirational speaker and singer for women’s Ministries. She is currently part of the prayer ministry team with Ellel Canada. She has a passion to see women built up in their walk of faith. Graham’s day job is as an independent consultant and teacher in systems’ supportability. He and Judith have one married son.
Their desire is to honour the Lord Jesus Christ through service.
Ken & Lois Hall
Ken and Lois grew up in Toronto in the same congregation. Lois trained as a teacher and Ken went to Seminary. They have been in ministry in Ottawa since their marriage in 1965. They first served in a Baptist congregation and then, since 1973 they served in this church community, which was originally called Church of the Way. Ken also did some graduate studies at Ottawa University in those early days.
They carried the idea of community in their hearts for some time before it became a reality. Lois’s vision resulted in the formation of Salem Storehouse where for twenty years she was part of the team which formed and led the bookstore. Lois brims with creativity and an entrepreneurial spirit that she has passed on to her sons. Together with four other families they also bought a farm near Carleton Place and built houses on it. Each family had a farm project and at one point there were 22 children on the farm many of whom still retain their attachments. The Hall family had many hilarious adventures with their flock of sheep.
Ken’s passion for unity in the Body of Christ led him to pursue relationships with other pastors and congregations for prayer and mission. Ken and Lois both long for the unity of the Body of Christ and desire to see the glory of God in the city. So “March for Jesus” grabbed their hearts. For several years Ken organized teams to carry it out and Lois made banners and taught others to envision and craft them.
In 2004 the WOCC leadership team released Ken from many pastoral obligations so Ken and Lois could travel more and pursue a supportive role in Watchmen for the Nations. Watchmen is a movement that seeks to hear together what the Spirit of God is saying to the church and to guard the right of the Lord Jesus to be Head of the church. As we walk together in humility and repentance we see many amazing instances of divine confirmation and reconciliation between people groups. Their sons are now scattered across North America and some of their travels are to keep in touch with 12 plus grandchildren. You can find Ken on Facebook and WordPress where he enjoys sharing encouragement from his study. Lois pursues many creative interests. They live with their youngest son and his family of four children in a suite attached to the family home they built in 1983.
Bob Narraway
Bob came to the Lord in Dec. 1973. He went to Canadian Bible College for a year and did several courses at Elim Bible College and Pinecrest Bible College. Bob has led several home groups and has been part of the Eldership at WOCC since the early 80’s. He retired from the Ottawa Fire Dept. after 29 years as a full time fire-fighter and fire inspector 2009. He completed his qualifications and was ordained the summer of 2017
Bob is married to his wife Barbara, both had been widowed. They have 4 married children plus one in Guatemala and 16 grandchildren. God has blessed Bob with many short mission trips , with West Ottawa, “Love made Real ” and across Canada with “Loving God Blessing Israel
Bob has a love for Jesus and the Bible and believes we should all be like the Bereans and continually search the scriptures. We need to not only know our Saviour but live Him out in society around us. His living verse from the Bible is: 1 Peter 2:16-17 Act as free men, and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil, but use it as bond slaves of God. Honour all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honour the king.
