Dr. Cheryl Decker

Director

My first trip to Burkina was in 2002 with a team from First Baptist Clermont FL. We brought the first translation of the Jesus Film to the Dagara people and we traveled from village to village evangelizing with missionary Lynn Kennedy. As a physician, I was prepared with my medical bag in case of a team medical need. I was unprepared for the overwhelming medical needs of the African people. During this trip the Lord told me to ‘stay alongside the missionary’. She and I were up before dawn to make rounds verifying meeting times, buying bread at food stalls, and sharing our faith stories. Lynn Kennedy became a spiritual mentor and my faith grew as I witnessed her living faith in our Lord. That trip led to over a dozen return visits to provide medical care in Jesus’s name. Now, 20+ years later, after Lynn’s going home to Jesus, I am still ‘staying alongside’ her son Patrice and the ministry she started, Shattering Darkness.

 I am firm in resolve that ‘healing physically for a day is best coupled with God’s healing spiritually for eternity’. Unrest and terrorism in Burkina has made it impossible to bring medical teams to the country in recent years but I still see God at work in evangelism, discipling, church planting and educating through Shattering Darkness.

 On a personal note, I retired from the practice of emergency medicine in 2024. I share my blessed life with my husband Larry and our 6 cats and 5 dogs in Tucson Arizona where I am involved in my church and BSF. In my spare time I frequent the pickleball courts or scout the beauty of the desert for places to plein-air paint.