ST. LOUIS (ABP) — Southern Baptist student missionary Gregory Gomez IV died July 5 in a bus crash in Peru.
The 22-year-old Gomez was serving as a short-term field worker with the Southern Baptist Convention’s International Mission Board.
According to Baptist Press, the SBC’s news outlet, Gomez was traveling with fellow IMB student missionary Lydia Shivar and a Peruvian translator when the accident occurred near the town of Abancay. Shivar, of Crawford, Ga., and the translator received minor injuries.
Gomez graduated in May from the University of Mississippi with a degree in mechanical engineering. He was an active member of the Baptist Student Union, Phi Kappa Psi fraternity and served as president of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.
Gomez was a member of Bethel Baptist Church in Troy, Ill., near St. Louis.
"Greg was on what they call an Extreme Team, and they were going to some of the most rural, rugged areas of Peru, finding what they call micro-people groups," Bethel Baptist Pastor Tim Lewis told KSDK-TV, the St. Louis NBC affiliate in nearby St. Louis. "They were finding out where those communities are, the kinds of language they speak and then preparing the way for other missionaries who try to come in and plant churches."
Mo Baker, director of the Baptist Student Union at the University of Mississippi, told the school paper, the <i>Daily Mississippian</i>, that he remembers Gomez as an inspiring person with great character and enthusiasm about God.
"His smile would brighten up a room the moment he stepped in," Baker said. "He influenced people by being an encourager. He led by serving others."
Gomez is survived by his parents, Elida and Gregory Gomez III, of Glen Carbon, Ill., and two sisters.
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