From Tim Neufeld

We have many good memories of your dad.  First, he was the man who attracted us to Grace Baptist Church in Bellingham when we were just married.  It certainly wasn’t that old building that smelled so moldy.  But we came to love his preaching, and while he was preaching on revival, the Lord moved Esther and me to come forward to publicly declare that we wanted to live our lives for the Lord.  That didn’t mean at the time that we wanted to become missionaries, but that we would live life in the future for the Lord.  We promptly went home and destroyed a lot of record albums that we felt were not honoring to the Lord.  A small sacrifice, but it was an important statement at the time.

Your dad gave me the first opportunity to teach publicly in the church, and when I look back on that, he must have cringed.  I know I wasn’t ready, and really had no idea about how to prepare and present a message.  I was in over my head, but never heard a discouraging word from your dad.  Later, he encouraged us to attend Western Baptist Bible College, and that must have been difficult for him.  The church was small, and to lose a young couple shortly after we had joined must have hurt.  He stood with us, and I think he was thrilled when God called us to the mission field in Togo.

I remember the foster kids who lived with you, and the trailer hauled by your old vehicle that allowed you to travel.  You never had much, but you made the most of what you had, and it looked to us like you were having fun.  You dad always served small churches and often had to hold down jobs on the side to make ends meet, but I think he looked at it as God’s work, and as what the Lord had for him to accomplish.   Surely he has already heard, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”  We thank God for him and for the influence he was in our lives.

 Faith has now become sight, and we praise God for your dad's faithful ministry over so many years.