The International Mission Board honored 39 retiring Southern Baptist missionaries for their ministries July 17 during a special service of recognition at the IMB's Missionary Learning Center in Rockville. The missionaries represented a combined total of 1,215 years of sharing the gospel around the world.
Jerry Rankin, International Mission Board president, praised the missionaries for their “faithfulness in service all these years.”
“You have been obedient to God's call,” he said. “You went and labored in Latin America, entered those opened doors in the Middle East. When doors opened in Eastern Europe, you seized that opportunity to share the good news there. You've gone and dared to penetrate the massive cities of Asia with the good news of Jesus Christ.”
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