Notable Missionary Deaths in 2025
By Marv Newell
As the Missio Nexus community, we pause to remember these faithful servants of Jesus whose lives advanced the gospel among the nations. Their scholarship, innovation, evangelistic courage, and pastoral care shaped churches, mission agencies, and communities across continents.
Herb Purnell (1934–January 11, 2025)
Dr. Herbert Charles Purnell, Jr. passed away on January 11. Born in Hackensack, NJ., Purnell attended both Philadelphia Bible Institute and Wheaton College, where he earned an undergraduate degree in anthropology. Further studies led him through Hartford Seminary and Columbia University, culminating in a doctorate in linguistics from Cornell University.
After joining OMF in 1959, Herb worked among the Mien people in North Thailand along with his wife, Elsie, and held an active role in the development of a globally unified script of the Mien language. He moved to Bangkok in 1978, working at Union Language School as a curriculum developer, allowing non-native speakers to learn the Thai language.
Moving to California in 1982, he served as the chair of the Applied Linguistics and TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) program at William Carey International University, a program that he helped transfer to Biola University in the early 1990s. Purnell influenced the lives of many in southeast Asia as well as in the United States. He published Iu-Mienh – English Dictionary with Cultural Notesin 2012, a professional undertaking that spanned an impressive twenty-five years. He retired from OMF in 2013.
Mark Eldon Wilson (March 3, 1953–January 30, 2025)
Mark went home to be with the Lord on January 30, due to complications of lymphoma and kidney disease. He was born in Sioux City, Iowa, and grew up on his parents’ farm in nearby Lawton. A graduate of Dallas Theological Seminary, a short-term mission trip to Haiti ignited his passion for global ministry. After graduating, he joined SIM. He returned to Sioux City, where he was ordained and commissioned as a missionary. During this time, he met his future wife, Rae Riley. SIM sent them to Kankan, Guinea, in 1990. Throughout the 1990s, Mark and Rae served as church planters, building relationships among the Maninka people of Guinea.
In 2004, Mark founded Maninka Audio Media Outreach (MAMO), a recording studio dedicated to producing dramatic readings of the Bible, as well as evangelistic tracts and other Christian materials, all voiced by native Maninka speakers. He continued directing MAMO in Kankan until his lymphoma diagnosis in October 2017. Mark and Rae returned to the Midwest to seek treatment at Mayo Clinic. Afterward he and Rae relocated back to the Sioux City area where they continued to serve and minister until his death.
Juan Samuel Escobar Aguirre (November 28, 1934–April 29, 2025)
Renowned Peruvian theologian and missiologist Samuel Escobar passed away April 29 at the age of 90, leaving behind a significant legacy in the global evangelical community. Born in Arequipa, Peru, Escobar dedicated his life to the church and the theological engagement of Latin America, becoming a pivotal figure in shaping evangelical thought on the continent.
Throughout his extensive career, Escobar was instrumental in introducing a contextualized approach to Christian theology, reflecting deeply on the social, political, and cultural landscapes of Latin America. His influence extended beyond the continent, impacting the broader evangelical movement globally.
Escobar was a key figure at the 1974 International Congress on World Evangelization in Lausanne, Switzerland. Working closely with René Padilla and John Stott, Escobar contributed significantly to the Lausanne Covenant, a seminal document that redefined evangelical missions by integrating evangelism with social responsibility. Escobar championed the idea of integral mission, emphasizing the importance of addressing both spiritual and material needs through the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Throughout his life, Escobar authored several influential texts, such as The New Face of Latin American Protestantism, The Evangelical Faith and Contemporary Culture, and A Time for Mission. These works tackled essential issues like integral mission and the believer’s role in society, contributing to a more comprehensive understanding of faith in complex social contexts.
George Robert Kilgore Jr. (1938–July 12, 2025)
Bob Kilgore entered the presence of the Lord on July 12 after a long battle with pulmonary fibrosis. Born in Bristol, VA, Bob grew up in a blue-collar family in Florida. He trusted in Jesus Christ as his personal Savior early in life which set him on a long journey of serving the Lord.
After graduating from Philadelphia College of Bible College, he received degrees in Bible and Theology from Columbia Bible College and Seminary, Dallas Theological Seminary, and Trinity Divinity School. Under CAM International, Bob served as a missionary in Guatemala for many years where he led a Bible institute. He then went on to teach at Philadelphia College of Bible (now Cairn University) for 25 years, training many to become missionaries. At the same time, he was Chairman of the Christar US board of Directors and even served briefly as the Christar US Director. He served as a professor, pastor, elder, and mentor, always pointing people to the need of reaching unreached peoples.
Greg Livingstone (1940–July 19, 2025)
The founder of Frontiers, Greg Livingstone, passed into glory on July 19. While studying at Wheaton College he attended a prayer meeting at Moody Bible Institute in 1959, where twenty-year old George Verwer pointed his finger into Greg’s face, “What country are you claiming, brother?” “I was speechless,” Greg remembers, “But I pretended I knew what the fellow meant. ‘What’s left?’” I asked. “Libya!”, Verwer said, “You’ve got Libya,” which became the title of Greg’s book published in 2014.
God changed the direction of Greg’s life that night of prayer. For the rest of his life, Greg’s every thought, every heartbeat, and every prayer was for missionaries to go for the sake of the gospel to save the millions living in Libya and all the Muslim countries of the world. Through the vision that God gave him, hundreds of Christians have given up their smaller ambitions and moved to countries to present the gospel. Livingstone mobilized thousands of missionaries and was known for his unwavering commitment to reaching the least-reached areas.
In 1983 Greg founded Frontiers. At 60 years old, in the year 2000, Greg resigned as International Director of Frontiers so he and his wife Sally could go to Malaysia as missionaries. That turned out to be a brilliant idea, because from then on younger leaders had to lead. Today more than a thousand Frontiers missionaries serve in Asia, Africa and the Middle East. But Greg always said, “It’s a good beginning. But it’s too soon to celebrate, too soon to quit.” Greg was a past recipient of the Missio Nexus Lifetime of Service Award.
R. Keith Parks (1928–August 26, 2025)
R. Keith Parks, missions leader who played a key role in opening Southern Baptists’ eyes to the millions of unreached peoples worldwide, died Aug. 26 at age 97. A native of Memphis, Texas, Parks got his first taste of international missions as a student summer missionary to Colombia’s San Andrés Island. He spent 45 years in international missions, serving as ninth president of the IMB from 1980–1992. He and his wife, Helen Jean, were missionaries to Indonesia for 14 years before he joined the home office staff, where he served in several administrative roles.
Todd Lafferty, IMB executive vice president and chief operating officer, also served on the mission field in Indonesia, in addition to other countries, before joining the U.S. staff. “Keith Parks’ visionary and strategic leadership led us from familiar mission stations to unmarked roads in the missionary task to reach the least reached,” Lafferty said. “His legacy lives on as we continue to seek to reach the remaining unengaged, unreached peoples in the world today.” Parks retired as IMB president in 1992 and became the first missions coordinator for the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.
Alexander and Serena Wurm (November 10, 2025)
On November 10, Evangelist Alexander Wurm (53) and his daughter Serena (22) passed away in a plane crash while transporting humanitarian aid to Jamaica following a devastating hurricane that hit the island. Alexander was piloting the plane at the time of the crash. Their final moments reflected exactly how they lived, serving others with courage, compassion, and unwavering faith.
Alex, founder of Ignite the Fire Ministry, travelled throughout the Caribbean and beyond, dedicating his life to sharing the gospel, strengthening local churches, and bringing hope to those in need. He was a man of deep prayer, humility, and extraordinary generosity. Whether as a husband, father, minister, counsellor, or friend, he carried a grace and wisdom that touched countless lives.
Serena shared her father’s heart. She was compassionate, thoughtful, and committed to helping others. She was already stepping into ministry and service, following the example she witnessed at home every day. Their final mission, bringing aid to those in need, was a true reflection of who they both were.
Alex leaves behind his wife Candace, and their children James (17) and Christiana (20). Ignite the Fire Ministry equips and mobilizes young people across the Caribbean through missions, evangelism, and practical outreach.
We give thanks to God for the lives and witness of these men and women, and we recommit to the work they championed. May their example continue to cultivate deep relationships, shared learning, and innovation among those engaged in cross‑cultural evangelism, discipleship, and church planting.
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