GLORIETA, N.M. (BP)–As a missionary kid growing up in Lebanon, Jonathan C. King remembers huddling under the dining table because of gunfire near the mission house.
As an orphan in Saigon, Loi Elisabeth Nguyen King remembers being put on a boat to flee her native land when North Vietnam succeeded in overrunning South Vietnam. That journey eventually ended in Texas, where she lived at one of the Buckner Baptist Benevolences homes for children.
Today, those childhood terrors are memories as the two, now married to one another, prepare for a new life as Southern Baptist missionaries in East Asia. They were among 43 people appointed during a special service at Glorieta (N.M.) Baptist Conference Center July 31.
In testimonies brimming with emotion, each of the 43 told about how God has called them to leave comfortable lives in the United States for mission fields encircling the earth.
Like many other recent International Mission Board appointees, four of the 43 are Asian-Americans, three are MKs (missionary kids) and at least 14 had previous experience overseas as journeymen, International Service Corps volunteers or short-term mission trip volunteers.
The appointment service included a special drama depicting the life of famed Southern Baptist missionary Lottie Moon, who spent 39 years in China and for whom the annual SBC Christmas offering for international missions is named.
Portraying Lottie was Patti Lytle of Longwood, Fla. Her husband, Kirk, portrayed key figures in Moon’s missionary work, including John Broadus, who led her to Christ.
The Lytles researched and wrote their drama, “Lottie Moon: Daughter of Destiny.” Scenes from the drama intertwined with the testimonies of the appointees during the service, which concluded with the Lytles singing, “So Send I You.”
About 54 decisions were registered during the service.
