User talk:Kennyandjo

Originally Published on December 26, 2006

Kenneth Paul Burchard – aka: Ken Burchard, Kenny Burchard, Pastor Kenny Burchard –currently resides in Hanford, CA with his wife MaryJo (Davis) Burchard.

Kenny Burchard was born in Los Angeles on June 4th 1969 at the California Hospital in Los Angeles, CA. His actual birth-name was Brian Galicki. His birth parents Jeanette Galicki and Joseph P. Buccheri (both of Baltimore, MD) allowed him to be adopted at birth. For the first 8 months of his life he remained in foster care until he was adopted by Elden W. Burchard and Romey A. Burchard.

At the time of his adoption his adoptive parents legally changed his name to Kenneth Paul Burchard. Both Kenneth and Paul are traditional Burchard family names. Kenny was raised as the eldest son of the Burchards, along with his older sister Shawna Marie Burchard (Derry), and his younger brother Eric William Burchard, who is the natural-born son of Elden and Romey.

Early Years / School Kenny was raised for two years in Los Angeles. After that time his family moved to Commerce City, Colorado. Kenny attended Kemp Elementary School in Commerce City until the age of nine. Just after his 9th birthday his father accepted a job transfer to Salt Lake City, Utah. The Burchard family moved to West Valley City, Utah in the Summer of 1978. Kenny finished elementary school at Stansbury Elementary School. Early in his childhood Kenny took an interest in music and dance. His parents enrolled him in dance classes and accordion classes during elementary school. After elementary school Kenny went to West Lake Jr. High in Granger (now West Valley City). During his time at West Lake Kenny was involved in band and drama classes and was involved in the Social Dance Troop. During his years at West Lake he continued accordion lessons as well as learning drums, French horn, and bass clarinet. He was awarded “best male dancer” in the social dance troop. Kenny attended high school at Cyprus High School in Magna Utah until his graduation in 1987. During his years at Cyprus he continued to be involved in band, drama, and madrigals. He participated in the schools “dance company” under the instruction of Lori Rupp. At that time only two other male dancers had ever been involved in the dance company. As a result of bullying by some of his classmates (because dance was seen as less than masculine by some of his male classmates) Kenny enrolled in Martial Arts classes in the Matsumura Seito (Sho-Ryn-Ryu) style of Japanese Karate. He eventually achieved the level of Sho-Dan (1st Degree Black Belt) at the age of 21.

Faith / Spiritual Journey During the summer after Kenny’s Jr. year of high school he began a spiritual journey to understand his questions about God and spirituality. His search led him to investigate both Mormonism and orthodox Christianity. His Karate Teacher, Rick Rose, was instrumental in helping him to understand the essential gospel message, as well as help from a YWAM missionary named David DeGrazia who was doing short-term missions in Salt Lake City during Kenny’s spiritual journey. He accepted the claims of Jesus Christ and became a Christian at the age of 17 during the summer before his senior year. He spent his senior year trying learn his new-found faith in the midst of a pervasive Mormon influence. During this time he made many mistakes and experienced many ups and downs as he tried to learn how to live out his faith. The caused incredible tension with teachers, friends, girlfriends, and family members.

Post-High School / U.S. Naval Service Kenny graduated from Cyprus High School in June of 1987. He co-wrote and sang the class graduation song with his choir instructor, Kerry Moore (“We’re Sailing On”). He was Baptized on July 6th 1987 at the Vineyard Christian Fellowship in West Valley City, Utah (Pastor Darrell Evans), and immediately reported to the Naval Recruit Training Command / San Diego, CA on July 7th, 1987. After completing boot camp he attended the Naval School of Health Sciences in San Diego where he was trained as a Naval Hospital Corpsman. After a three-month period in the Naval Reserve unit in Salt Lake City Kenny opted to become active duty for a four-year enlistment. He was immediately given a two-year term of service in Lemoore California. After a two-year tour in Lemoore Kenny was promoted to the rank of E-4 (HM3) and accepted orders to the Naval Hospital on Okinawa Japan. He worked at the Camp Foster Evans Clinic as a sexually transmitted disease clinic director for the majority of his term on Okinawa.

Family / Marriage / Children In December of 1991 Kenny attended a Christmas Party at the Okinawa YWAM base where he met MaryJo Davis. One year later Kenny and MaryJo were married (December 12th, 1992) at the Camp Foster Chapel on Okinawa.

Kenny and MaryJo returned to the United States in the Summer of 1993. They spent 1 year in Clovis, New Mexico working at the KIJN Christian Radio Station. After this time they decided to return to Kenny’s home town of Salt Lake City. Kenny and MaryJo attended the Metro Fellowship Assembly of God (Pastor Jim Schaedler). Kenny went on staff for two and a half years as the Assistant Pastor and director of worship and Christian Education. After this time Kenny and MaryJo decided to move back to the Lemoore/Hanford California area to re-connect with the church that Kenny attended while stationed there. Kenny accepted the position of Worship Leader, and MaryJo worked as the director of the Children’s ministry under the leadership of Blake Cromwell. After four years at Koinonia, Kenny and MaryJo left Koinonia to start another church in Hanford California.

After 12 years of marriage Kenny and MaryJo decided to adopt their first Child, Victor from an orphanage in Belgorod Dnestrovsky, Ukraine. Victor Michael Burchard (born Viktor Ivanovich Dimov) was born on April 22, 2001 in the Village of Artsiz (Odessa / Ukraine) and adopted on July 7th, 2005. See their blog regarding this endeavor at:

Current Residence / Ministry / Educational Pursuits The Oasis Church was begun on September 29th 2001 at the Monroe Elementary School in Hanford. After six months the church was brought into the denominational covering of the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel (Foursquare). The Church met for nearly six years at the Hanford High School West campus, but now meets at the Kings County YMCA..

Kenny Burchard and his family currently reside in Hanford, California where they serve as Pastors of The Oasis Foursquare Church. Kenny holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Organizational Leadership (emphasis in small-group ministry) from Fresno Pacific University.

Contact You may send email correspondence to [kenny@hanfordoasis.org]