About Us
The Lord Jesus commanded his disciples to “go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature.” (Mark 16:15)
Our Purpose
The purpose and goals of Keys Evangelistic Ministries (KEM) are seen in our two fold approach to ministry. First, we do it. Evangelist Bill Welzien has been doing open air evangelism during the Sunset Celebration at Mallory Square in Key West for almost 30 years. It is in that venue that Bill has done most of his evangelism, among tourists from all over the globe and to the performers and local folk alike. He also travels to numerous locations throughout the United States and even to foreign fields such as Haiti to preach God's message of redemption. During these many years he has gained much experience and not a little skill in the matter of evangelism. That leads us to the second aspect of the ministry: we teach it. Training others as well as providing resources and opportunity for them to do evangelism is a vital aspect of KEM.
Our Beginning
KEM is the successor organization of Welcome Home Ministries (WHM) which was founded in 1975 as an evangelistically minded Christian ministry of mercy and outreach in Key West. By 1989 WHM had become more particularly focused on evangelizing the southern Florida Keys, and WHM's director had become the pastor of New Life Presbyterian Church of Key West which was a member congregation of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, an evangelical denomination founded in 1936 and embracing the same “Reformed” expression of evangelical Christianity as WHM's director.
In 1994, a partnership was formalized between WHM and New Life Presbyterian Church. At that time the two organizations pooled their resources to purchase and remodel a former business property at 1000 Coppitt Road on Big Coppitt Key with the help of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church Loan Fund. The property then became known as Keys Bible Center, which served as a meeting place for the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, a ministry base for WHM's operations, and a residence for the pastor of the church who also happened to be the director of WHM. It was at that time that New Life Presbyterian Church changed its name to Keys Chapel, and WHM changed its name to Keys Evangelistic Ministries.
Today
God has blessed the ministry and today Bill and his family live in their own home on Sugarloaf Key just a few miles up the road from the Bible Center. The four bedroom, two bath second floor apartment with a full kitchen, formerly the residence for Bill and his family, is now a ministry training center easily accommodating 12 guests. This excellent facility allows groups to come and stay a week at a time with minimal expense while they learn and practice ‘hands on’ evangelism with Bill Welzien. Bill also travels to various churches to do evangelism training and various open air venues to do evangelistic preaching. If you would be interested in having Bill Welzien visit your church or desire to bring a group to Key West for evangelism training please contact us, it's what we do!
KEM carries out its ministry responsibilities as a non-profit organization through an elected board of Directors which establishes policies, employs personnel as needed, admits Ministry Partners, and provides and supervises evangelistic ministries in the Florida Keys and beyond.