
Founding Bishop & Senior Overseer

Bishop
Bishop Elisha Odero
“The mustard seed may be the smallest of all seeds, but when planted in faith, it grows into the greatest of trees. That is the story of MCC — a small seed of faith that God has grown into a tree of refuge for thousands.”
Bishop Daniel Omondi Oboka was born on March 14, 1960, in a small village in Kisii County, Kenya. The fifth child in a family of eight, he grew up in a household where hard work, community, and a reverence for God were the pillars of everyday life. His father, a schoolteacher, and his mother, a homemaker, instilled in him a deep love for learning and an unwavering moral compass from a young age.
In 1968, at the age of eight, a visiting evangelist held a crusade at the local school grounds. It was there that young Daniel first encountered the gospel of Jesus Christ in a profound way. Though he was baptised as a child in the local Catholic parish, it was during this crusade that he made a personal, conscious decision to follow Christ — a decision that would define the entire trajectory of his life.
Daniel excelled academically and was awarded a scholarship to study at Alliance High School in Nairobi, one of Kenya's most prestigious secondary institutions. His time there broadened his worldview and deepened his faith as he connected with a vibrant Christian fellowship on campus. After completing his A-levels, he enrolled at the University of Nairobi, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in Education.
After completing his university education in 1983, Bishop Oboka spent two years as a high school teacher in Kisii while actively serving in his local church's youth ministry. It was during this period that he felt an unmistakable call to full-time pastoral ministry. In 1985, he enrolled at the Nairobi Pentecostal Bible College, completing a three-year Diploma in Theology and Pastoral Studies in 1988.
Following his theological training, Bishop Oboka served as an assistant pastor in Nairobi for three years. During this period, he participated in multiple evangelistic missions across Western Kenya, developing a particular burden for his home region of Kisii. He witnessed firsthand the spiritual hunger of communities that were often overlooked by established church networks.
In 1994, Bishop Oboka undertook further studies at the International Correspondence Institute in Brussels (now Global University), earning a Bachelor of Ministry. His academic formation was complemented by an intensive mentorship under Bishop Thomas K. Arunga, a pioneering Kenyan church planter who would become his spiritual father and model of ministry leadership.
In 2005, armed with a vision for a church that would plant churches — a network of congregations radiating from Kisii Town to the entire nation — Bishop Daniel Oboka founded Mustard Christian Centre (MCC). The name was inspired by the parable of the mustard seed in Matthew 13:31-32, a passage he had meditated on for over a decade.
Beginning with a congregation of just 47 people who gathered in a rented school hall, MCC grew rapidly under his leadership. By 2010, the church had moved into its own purpose-built facility in Kisii Town Center and had already planted its first satellite branch in Marani. The growth continued steadily, and today MCC comprises seven thriving branches spread across multiple Kenyan counties.
Bishop Oboka serves as the Senior Overseer of the entire MCC network, providing spiritual oversight, theological direction, and strategic leadership. He chairs the MCC Apostolic Council and mentors all branch pastors personally. Beyond MCC, he is a respected voice in the broader Kenyan church, serving on the board of the Evangelical Alliance of Kenya and frequently speaking at national conferences and leadership forums.
His leadership philosophy is rooted in the conviction that every believer is called to be a minister, and that the role of the church is to equip saints for the work of ministry (Ephesians 4:12). Under his guidance, MCC has developed one of the most robust discipleship and leadership development programmes in Western Kenya.
Bishop Oboka is married to First Lady Margaret Akinyi Oboka, a minister in her own right and the founder of the MCC Women's Fellowship network. They have been married since 1987 and are blessed with four children and seven grandchildren. The Oboka family resides in Kisii Town.