It is fitting as we close out another year of publishing The Baptist Record that we pause to memorialize the missionary martyrs who gave their all to Southern Baptists’ Great Commission service around the world.
Life in the field for many Southern Baptist missionaries and their families is often not easy. That’s not to say there is no joy for them, because there is indeed great joy in the service of the Lord. They have been called by God and have surrendered to His leading of their own free will, and there is no greater thrill than helping lead people to salvation through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Some of them have paid the ultimate earthly price for obeying God’s call. During this season of international missions emphasis across the Mississippi Baptist Convention and the Southern Baptist Convention, may we pause long enough to remember those servants who were faithful unto death.
— March 14, 2018: Randy and Kathy Arnett. Died from injuries sustained in an automobile accident in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
— March 15, 2004: Larry Elliott, his wife Jean, Karen Watson, and David McDonnall. Murdered in northern Iraq in a drive-by ambush of their automobile. McDonnall’s wife Carrie was critically wounded but survived.
— March 4, 2003: Bill Hyde, working in Philippines. Killed by a terrorist bomb planted at Davao City Airport.
— December 30, 2002: Bill Koehn, Martha Myers, and Kathy Gariety, working at Jibla Baptist Hospital in Jibla, Yemen. Murdered inside the hospital by a Muslim extremist.
— April 21, 1998: Charles W. Hood Jr., working in Colombia, South America. Shot to death in his front yard by robbers.
— March 23, 1995: Chu Hon and Kei Yi, working in Khabarovsk, Russia. Murdered in their locked apartment.
— March 27, 1991: Lynda Bethea, working in Kenya. Beaten to death by highway robbers near Kijabe. Her husband Larry was also brutally beaten but survived.
— October 2, 1990: Mary Anna Gilbert, working in China. Killed in crash of hijacked Chinese jetliner near Guangzhou. She was a teacher with Cooperative Services International.
— November 26, 1986: Libby Senter and her daughter Rachel, murdered in Liberia. No details available.
— October 11, 1985: James Philpot, working in Mexico. Shot dead during a confrontation after a minor automobile accident.
— June 15, 1978 — Archie G. Dunaway Jr., working in Rhodesia (now known as Zimbabwe). Killed by guerrillas seeking an African-majority government in the white-ruled, former British colony.
— March 11, 1973: Gladys Hopewell, murdered in Taiwan. No details available.
— January 16, 1972: Mavis Pate, working in the Gaza area of the Middle East. Shot by Arab guerrillas in an ambush as she drove near a refugee camp.
— July 7, 1971: Paul E. Potter and his wife Nancy, murdered in the Dominican Republic. No details available.
— February 10, 1951: William L. Wallace, working in China. Died in a communist prison. Many people familiar with Wallace’s case believe the physician was tortured to death.
— February 1, 1942: Rufus F. Gray, working in China. Died in Japanese camp for war prisoners in Baguio, Philippines.
— December 24, 1912: Lottie Moon, the first single female missionary appointed by the Southern Baptist Foreign Mission Board (now the International Mission Board), died on Christmas Eve as a result of starvation when she gave away all her food to hungry Chinese women and children during a famine.
— December 21, 1880: John Westrup, working in Mexico. Murdered by a band of Indians and Mexicans while traveling from Santa Rosa to Monterey.
— October 1, 1861: J. Landrum Holmes, working in China. Murdered while attempting to dissuade invaders from attacking the village of Chu Kia on Shantung Peninsula during the Taiping Rebellion.
Since the first generation of Christians, there has been a constant element of danger in spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but there’s still a critical need for people willing to answer the Great Commission in hostile areas of the world.
All they’re asking of us is to support them sacrificially through prayer, giving, and going. We can do that.
