Meet our Board
,VIK MARBALLI
Executive Committee Board Chair
New Albany, OH
Vik Marballi retired from New Balance Athletics Inc., based in Boston, Massachusetts, where he was Vice President, Global Quality Assurance. Previous to this, Vik worked for The Procter & Gamble Company as Global Director, Paper Division. Vik earned a B.S.M.E. from Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai, India, and a M.S.M.E. from The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio. He now serves as Chairman of the Board of The Prayer Covenant. He resides in Columbus, Ohio, with his wife, Candy Marballi, of 39 years.
Elias Apetogbo
Executive Committee President
Africa
Elias Apetogbo is a Togo Baptist Convention-trained Pastor from West Africa Baptist Advanced School of Theology. While serving as the Senior Pastor of The True Life Baptist Church of Vakpossito, the Lord called him to serve as the General Secretary of the All Africa Baptist Fellowship (AABF) and one of the six Regional Secretaries of the Baptist World Alliance (BWA). Elias is passionate about the Youth and Children Ministry. He served the Youth Department of AABF as its General Secretary before becoming the chairperson of the entire BWA Youth and Children Leaders training program called Horizons.
Founder of Guinos Foundation Association, a 15-year-old ministry that engages Youth and Children in interacting with Scripture through Bible championships and competitions. Elias, having more than 32 years in Children and Youth Ministry, has a large experience in Inter-Denominational Ministry. In fact, he has served in the International Fellowship of Evangelical Students, Full Gospel Business Men’s Fellowship International, and PureHope Coalition, and in 2014, he met Candy Marballi, the Director of the Children Ministry of The Prayer Covenant. Since then, he has served The Prayer Covenant first as national coordinator, and from 2016, he began leading Prayer Covenant for Africa until March 14, 2023, when he became the President and CEO of The Prayer Covenant.
Elias, 45, and a former mathematics teacher in High School serves with his wife Denise, a sociologist and Children’s Ministry Director of All Africa Baptist Fellowship; the couple is blessed with four beautiful children.
CANDY MARBALLI
Executive Committee
New Albany, OH
Candy Marballi currently serves as President Emeritus of The Prayer Covenant whose mission is making disciples among the children and youth of the nations. She has served in children’s ministries for over 35 years in the United States, Japan, and the Philippines
She developed and launched the children’s version of The Prayer Covenant in 2013 and authored The Power of the Prayer Covenant for Children, which was launched at the 4/14 Best Practices Conference at Promise Ministries, NYC, in October 2014. The book was awarded GOLD for Education by Illumination Book Awards for 2015 and is presently being used to disciple, transform, and evangelize children and youth in over 71 countries throughout Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, North America, and the Middle East.
Her newest book, He Hears Her Voice, the Prayer Covenant for Women, was released by Hachette Publishers/Worthy Books in 2022.
She is the wife of 40 years to Vik Marballi, and they have two married children. Vik and Candy reside in New Albany, Ohio.
BILL TRICK
Board Member
Tuscaloosa, AL
Bill is a graduate of The University of Alabama with a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance, majoring in Real Estate, and has been working in the real estate industry since 1973. Bill has been a board member of JH Everlasting Adventures since 1995. With his leadership skills, JH Ranch was able to take their ranch experience to the local level and JH Outback held its first weekend event in Tuscaloosa in 2000. His passion to transform cities one family at a time has helped the growth of Outback expand across the US and around the world. Since 2016, he has also been actively involved with Jerry Kirk and The Prayer Covenant, helping adults and children know and understand God’s love for them. In his free time, Bill enjoys spending time fishing with his grandsons and playing golf. He and his wife, Sherri, live in Tuscaloosa, AL, and have two adult children and two grandsons.
RACHEL WILLIAMSON
Board Member
Grove City, Ohio
Rachel Williamson has spent 30 years in retail, most recently as the Vice President of Store Operations, North America for a multi-billion dollar retailer. She is the Founder and President of Running Great Stores, a boutique retail consulting firm focused on guiding direct-to-consumer brands on their journey to operating in the brick and mortar space. Beyond her passion for retail, she is also passionate about children’s ministry and has spent two decades leading Sunday school programs.
Rachel and her husband, Vic, reside in Grove City, Ohio, with their two Scottish terriers. They have one grown daughter.
FORD TAYLOR
Board Member
Cincinnati, OH
Ford Taylor is a leadership solutions trainer, strategist, and speaker. With a primary emphasis on the people that serve an organization while simultaneously maintaining a clear focus of the business or organization itself, Ford shares straight-forward, practical solutions through authentic leadership training and individualized leadership consulting. With an empathetic intelligence derived from decades of experience with an array of people, personalities, and companies both large and small, Ford helps to both define and navigate leadership in the business culture of today. He is the founder of FSH Strategy Consultants and Transformational Leadership. He is the author of Relactional Leadership and directs a charitable international effort to provide transformational leadership to emerging countries worldwide. Ford is married to Sandra and they have three daughters—Whitney, Emily, and Quincy.
RAFFOUL NAJEM
Board Member
Lowell, MA
Raffoul Najem was born in Beirut, Lebanon, and was saved in 1971 through a Foursquare Church missionary. He is a graduate of Life Bible College, Class of ’74. He immigrated to the United States in 1976 and was ordained by Middle East Gospel Outreach Ministries in 1980 and by Faith Christian Fellowship International in 1994. In 1982, he co-founded Community Christian Fellowship, one church in eight locations. Rev. Najem is the co-founder and administrator of Community Christian Academy, providing families with a solid Christian education. Rev. Najem also co-founded the Citywide Church of Greater Lowell—a movement of unity and solidarity for churches in the area. As a visionary, he has traveled to the nations proclaiming the good news of the Kingdom of God for the past 40 years. Having an apostolic calling, he is a mentor and a father to pastors and Christian leaders across the globe who seek to transform and influence the world with the message of the Kingdom of God. He moves under the authority and power of the Holy Spirit with a message that is practical, relevant, and life-changing. He is the father of three adult children and a proud grandfather.
SHEKHAR KALLIANPUR
Board Member
Mumbai, India
Shekhar Kallianpur comes from a staunch Saraswat Brahmin family.
He has been preaching the gospel for over 40 years with signs, wonders, and miracles. His credentials are: (a) Former Chairman of New Life Fellowship Association, Mumbai, India; (b) Founder/President of Shekinah Global Ministries involved in television; (c) Founder/President of Project Aashray, catering to the needs of 120 widows and 300 orphans, providing a monthly ration, education, counseling, and medical assistance; (d) Founder/President of Friends of Israel, which reaches out with rations to poor Jewish families and also supports them through financial donations to facilitate their return to Israel (aliyah). Thousands of Jews have been helped in making aliyah.
Shekhar is the Senior Pastor of New Life International Church with a vision to
win one billion souls and train 10 million laborers to reap the harvest and to raise up a billion home altars.
He has initiated the 4 AM Dawn Worship Challenge, which encourages people to pray for their city, their beloved nation, Israel, and the nations of the world.
Has authored two books: You Are Born Natural to Walk Supernaturally and Wedding Is for a Day; Marriage Is for Life.
Shekhar has been married for 33 years to Lavina, and they are blessed with a daughter, a son, and a grandson.
LAVINA KALLIANPUR
Board Member
Mumbai, India
Is the Senior Co-Pastor of New Life International Church and Vice-President of Project Aashray, which caters to the needs of 120 widows and 300 orphans, providing a monthly ration, education, counseling, and medical assistance. She has sponsored orphan children to an English medium school at Panchgani.
Lavina is a prophetic intercessor and has a citywide pastors’ wives network for prayer and intercession. She has been a prophetic teacher and passionate preacher of God’s Word for the last 32 years and has co-authored a book with her husband Shekhar: Wedding Is for a Day; Marriage Is For Life.
Lavina is also the Co-Founder/Vice President of Friends of Israel, which reaches out with rations to poor Jewish families and also supports them through financial donations to facilitate their return to Israel (aliyah). Thousands of Jews have been helped in making aliyah.
She has been married for 33 years to Shekhar, and they have been blessed with a daughter, a son, and a grandson.