Rev. Calisto Odede is Senior Pastor of Nairobi Pentecostal Church and holds a special place in his heart for Ignite, as it was at Urbana 87 that he joined the staff of the Fellowship of Christian Unions (FOCUS), the Christian students’ movement in Kenya. His task was to understand the planning and organization of Urbana conferences and then reproduce a similar one in Kenya. He was the first director of the triennial Student’s Missions Conference in Kenya, COMMISSION, which he led three consecutive times. The convention now brings together students from more than 16 African countries. Having birthed it in Kenya, his vision was to see something similar in South Africa. He played a key part in inspiring us to Ignite 2013!
Calisto continued to serve students with the International Fellowship of Evangelicals Students (IFES) in the English- and Portuguese-speaking Region of Africa. He has given Bible expositions at numerous conferences, including the third Lausanne Congress, Cape Town 2010.
Calisto and his wife Elizabeth are blessed with three sons.