Christian Mission Designated Fund

Charles H. Kostors started the Christian Mission Designated Fund in September of 2011. He started this fund with the purpose of benefiting the international and domestic missions of Word of Life Church. Kostors volunteered for Word of Life, where he was also a member. In his capacity as a care elder, he spent a significant amount of time caring for, and praying with, members of the congregation who were in the hospital or other care facilities. He cited Word of Life Church’s dedication to the gifts of the spirit as a guiding principle for the fund. These principles are found in 1 Corinthians 12:8-11. 

“To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.”

In addition to his work with the church, Kostors was well-known as a mechanical engineer working in the field of power turbines. He held two patents and was a 1960 graduate of Carnegie Institute of Technology, now known as Carnegie Mellon University. He wrote multiple journal articles that were published in Turbo Machinery International as well as Solar Energy Engineering. In addition to his engineering career, he served as a first lieutenant in the United States Army.

Kostors died in April of 2017. In his Tribune-Review obituary, he was described as private and someone who “didn’t trumpet his good deeds.” In his fund’s first decade of operation it contributed over $45,000 to Word of Life.