It seems that almost everyone who knew Dennis Kinlaw or sat under his ministry has a story to tell! Whether it was the words he shared, the look in his eyes, the hilarity of his laugh, or the wag of his finger, many of us want to share how his life impacted ours. We need to share these stories! This blog post is dedicated to that purpose. Let’s share our stories with each other. To tell your story, please enter a comment here. We look forward to reading them all!
We had been missionaries in Burundi but were expelled in 1979. I then taught missions at Western Evangelical Seminary. Dr. Kinlaw came to be our chapel speaker 1981-1982. As faculty we invited him to our homes for an evening meal. Two of our kids were in high school at that time. Most of the time when the meal would be over the kids would excuse themselves and go to their rooms to study or do something else. They were so fascinated with the things he was sharing that they stayed at the table until he left that evening. He was able to communicate to the scholarly and to young people. I thank God for his godly life.
I remember so well the times he would preach
in chapel from the Old Testament and translate from his Hebrew Bible as he read the scripture to us. (His command of languages was so impressive to me.) And then he proceeded to explain it and enlighten us. Those were life changing services and there was never a question that his motivation was anything other than helping us ‘get it’ about following Jesus. Nothing meant more to him than his own relationship with Jesus and he wanted everyone to have the same experience.
We came to know Papa as we fondly called Him through the Keys, while I was in Wilmore for summer school at Asbury. I never got tired or wanted to leave his presence because he radiated with such life giving wisdom and insight, and a strange laughter that spoke of the Joy within in spite of his physical limitations.
On one occasion, I asked him, what would be your advice to a young minister like me from Cameroon to succeed in ministry? In reply he said, “You are doing the right thing to get academic preparation for ministry, get all the education you can get but remember, it is not about another book, or another certificate, its about the BOOK where you can find Him, Never exchange that for anything” I am saddened because I was looking forward to seeing him this May, He has gone to be with his Maker, so sad I will not see him when I come, However, I will see some day with the Lord. What a saint!
Preacher, teacher, comforter, mentor, and friend. My freshman year, Dr. Kinlaw lead the Holiness Conference. Can you imagine such a beginning? I first came to know Elsie personally. Her guidance and love walked me through some stormy days. Her prayers undergirded me continually.
It was through my relationship with Elsie that I began to come to know Dr. Kinlaw in a personal way. He would arrive home as we were studying or praying. After graduation, they once visited my home. What fun it was to discover that Shaker Lemon Pie was one of his favorite desserts! He lead a series in my hometown. His preaching continued to challenge & feed my soul. His intellectual brilliance allowed my mind to soar.
But is perhaps the quiet, personal conversations that meant the most to me. When my marriage ended due to devastating mental illness & the threat of violence, many in the Christian community condemned & shunned me. Literally shunned me. But not Dennis & Elsie. They welcomed me (and my young daughter) once again in to their living room. Dr. Kinlaw shared a passage of the Psalms with me that became my ray of faith & hope.
And then we lost Elsie. I know none of the family knows me, but that loss was as physically palatable for me as when my own precious, faithful mother died. Dr. Kinlaw was again in my home state just a few months later. We had the opportunity to chat for a few moments in the midst of a very busy preaching schedule (for him). We talked about our Lord. We talked about Elsie. We talked about how much we missed her. And then he said something to me that to this day touches my heart with amazement. He thanked me for being Elsie’s friend. Amazing love! Such grace. I am blessed beyond measure to have walked a few steps of this life with those two precious souls.
Letter written to Dr. Kinlaw in November, 2016
On Sunday morning, September 11th, 2016, at Sharptown Church in Pilesgrove, New Jersey, Pastor Doug Smith gave a message about revival and showed a 5 minute video clip of you and your witness of what took place in the 1970 revival that took place in the Hughes Chapel (auditorium) in Wilmore, Kentucky. It stirred my heart so much, when I got home, I looked it up and watched the entire video clip of you. I also looked up other videos of the revival and watched videos of some of the students that were there and their testimonies and how they had repented of their sins and surrendered their all to Jesus! Little did I know that the Lord God was preparing me. After watching your video clip, I told my husband Jim, that the Lord was prompting me to go to Wilmore and I had to go. And, eleven days later, I was on a plane headed for Wilmore, Kentucky to attend the Priscilla Classes.
I arrived on Thursday, September 22nd, settled into a room at the Asbury Inn and then Sharon Ruff gave me a tour of the grounds. I wanted to see it all! We went into the College dorm, the Seminary, and then found ourselves walking towards the Hughes Chapel (auditorium). As I started my way up the stairs, I started to weep and didn’t know why. The closer I got to the doors, the more the tears came. I remembered you saying that you did not rush up the stairs, but walked slowly up the stairs and you didn’t know what you were walking into but you knew you were walking into the presence of God. You were thinking what your role was going to be as President when you opened up the doors and the students would see you. Were you to go to the platform; were you the President to involve yourself. And what really moved my spirit is when you said, you walked in and sat in the back corner seat. As far away from the center as you could get. There was the awesome sense of the presence of God and you didn’t want to be an unclean instrument or an unclean presence in any of it.
As I opened up the door and went in, the first thing my eyes were drawn to where the words that were displayed above the pulpit and organ pipes – “Holiness unto the Lord”. Could I be experiencing His full Holiness? The chapel was empty. I walked down to the front of the chapel and literally fell to my knees humbly. I poured myself out to Him; my hurts my sins, my unforgiveness, my everything! Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Psalm 51:10. What was happening to me; I couldn’t figure it all out but that was ok. I was in His presence and I was all His.
I feel blessed beyond any earthly words that I could ever muster up.
And then on Sunday, your granddaughter Cricket gave a wonderful message in the Chapel and again I was in tears. As I walked up to the altar and knelt down to pray, I heard a sweet soft voice next to me saying Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. The more she whispered His name, the more I wept. She even reached over and touched my arm. And when I finally lifted my head and looked over, it was your daughter Bethy. Oh how my heart swelled; oh how my cup runneth over; oh how precious our sweet Jesus is! I went back to my seat and the women were starting to depart. I needed to talk to Beth but a lot of the women were coming up to her and I didn’t think there would be time. I’m sure Beth was exhausted as I was, but God nudged me and pushed me and before I knew it I was out of my seat walking towards her like I was a magnet drawn. I asked her if I could talk to her and so she took me away from the crowd and we sat and talked. She prayed with me and shared some bible verses. She talked quite a while with me and I can remember thinking, Lord, please don’t let me forget not even one word that she is speaking to me about. Let her words settle into my soul forever. And, I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to talk to your daughter Beth that Sunday before I left.
I truly believe I felt the fullness of the presence of God and it knocked me down to my knees. I’m still not sure what to do with all of this, but I told my husband that I hope and pray that I NEVER lose what I was given on that transforming day! You see, God is still using you Dr. Kinlaw as a vessel unto Him. And even though we have never met person to person, I am eternally grateful to have met you through a video clip that you were so faithful and obedient to deliver.
This place that I visited; this place that I encountered the one true God; this place called Francis Asbury University is truly a holy place!
2 Chronicles 7:14
If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
I continue to lift you Dr. Dennis Kinlaw to God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
In Jesus Love,
Lisa A. Gillespie – New Jersey
In 1982 when the Continuing Medical & Dental Education Commission of the Christian Medical & Dental Association held its third conference in Africa we invited Dr. Kinlaw to be our first daily Spiritual Speaker. During his applicatory prayer closing his sermons i notiiced that there was some distinctly appropriate well known hymn unique to the message he had just delivered. I offered to replace his final Amen by starting to sing the hymn the Holy Spirit was telling me we should sing together. He wholehearted agreed, and that is what we did the rest of that conference and also in the 1983 Conf. in Malaysia and 1984 in the African. I was so impressed with his trusting the Holy Spirit to guide my choice of this aggregate Amen we were thus able to express in song. My problem was persuading the audience to limit our singing to just the most connected verse of the song, since missionaries knew by memory all the verses and felt a bit compromised by not singing all the verses of the songs. When Elsie died, he called my to say “Marvin now I realize how truly I have been loved!?
His preaching refilled the spiritual vessels of the missionaries who pour their spiritual vessels empty in their ministry.
His preaching set the standard for all our preachers since.
What a great contribution he made to the ministry of the hundreds of medical missionaries over the years.
Marvin Jewell, MD, CMDA Past President
It was my privilege to introduce Dr.Kinlaw in Estes Chapel at Asbury Theological Seminary when he was the speaker for our Holiness Week in 2006. Here is what I said about him then:
I was a junior at Asbury College, when Dr. Dennis Kinlaw left the seminary where he was having an incredible ministry teaching OT, to assume the presidency of the college.
And I wish I could adequately convey to you the profound way God used him during those formative years of my life. There was no one apart from my own father who influenced me more. And his deep influence on my life has continued ever since There is so much that I could say about that, but let me focus on two things.
Dr. Kinlaw has challenged and encouraged me as much as anyone I’ve ever known to love God with my mind. As I would listen to him speak in college chapel, so often I would find myself thinking, “Unlike some Christians that I know this guy isn’t afraid to think deeply about the Christian faith. Not only is he not threatened by it, he seems to have fun doing it. He turns it into a joyful delightful occasion.
Dr. Kinlaw helped me to glimpse the intricate beauty of orthodox Christianity. He helped me to grasp the intellectual coherance of the Christian worldview. He made the Wesleyan vision of scriptural Christianity compelling.
Over the years, whenever I have engaged in a conversation with Dr. Kinlaw, I always go away excited about the ideas he’s shared with me. What a joy it is to experience a bit of the overflow of his creative, scintillating mind
But not only did Dr. Kinlaw challenge me to love God with all my mind. He also has challenged me, like few others to love God with my whole heart.
I have heard Dr. Kinlaw say on numerous occasions that self-giving, self-sacrificing love is at the heart of God, and the most powerful redemptive force in the universe.
But not only is that disposition something in God, because of Christ’s redemptive work and the work of the Holy Spirit, that same disposition, that mind which was in Christ Jesus, can rule in our hearts as well so that we too can begin to pour ourselves out in sacrificial wholehearted love for God and for others..
Through his preaching, and through the embodiment of that disposition in him, I became hungry to experience that reality in my own life.
I remember when it began to happen. It actually was the culmination of a process where the Lord had been leading me into deeper and deeper levels of self-surrender. But it came to a head in September of 1970 during the Holiness Emphasis Week in my first year as a student here. And guess who was leading Holiness Emphasis Week that year?
Thank you for being such a blessing to me and to so many others. Thank you for being a credible witness, one whose life embodies the message of holiness you have so faithfully proclaimed.
I live on a street in Wilmore named after you. Everytime I walk or drive on it. Everytime I write my return address on an envelope, I am reminded of the great debt I owe to you.
I attended Asbury College from 1974-1978. These were great years but I often felt out of place and like a misfit among the many gifted and talented students at Asbury. My gift was not campus leadership, academics, nor speaking; it is was running.
During my senior year, Dr. Kinlaw attended one of the College’s Cross Country Meets. Following the race, Dr. Kinlaw asked me a question. With his intense and gentle look, he asked, “Why do you run? I see the discipline, cost, and pain that this sport requires but I also see that it provides little reward in public recognition. Why do you train and discipline yourself for this sport?”
I then shared with him how God had used running as a tool to draw me closer to Him and as a means to share Jesus Christ.
He looked at me and said, “This campus needs to hear this. We need to be reminded that God works not only in the classroom, chapel, and in the typical religious way. Would you share your story in chapel?” Then in the spring of 1978, I received a phone call from Dr. Kinlaw asking me to be the main speaker at an upcoming chapel.
The confidence and support that Dr. Kinlaw showed to me that day changed my life. I concluded that if Dr. Kinlaw had enough confidence in me to turn over a chapel service that there must be more in me than I realized. After that day, I began to open myself up for God to change how I viewed myself. Since then I have gone on to receive two Masters and a Doctorate. Dr. Kinlaw opened the door for me to believe in myself and to accept the reality that God could use even me.
Today, thirty-nine years later, when I feel depressed or like a failure I find myself listening to the tape of that chapel. In hearing Dr. Kinlaw introduce me, I am reminded of his confidence in me and in God’s ability to take a college misfit and to use him for His glory.
Dennis Kinlaw was a fellow graduate student at Brandeis University, while we pursued our doctorate degrees in Mediterranean Studies under Dr. Cyrus Gordon. Even though he was pastoring a church in the Albany, NY area, he would stay with us in Maynard, MA about three days a week while we attended classes together at Brandeis. His love and concern for my wife, Joan and I, were very precious.
Thank you, Lord, for allowing us to experience Dennis’ presence with us during those years.
George Giacumakis
California State University Fullerton
I wrote tribute to him on my blog: http://anebooks.blogspot.com/2017/04/graduation-of-mentor.html
James
Dr. Kinlaw had a profound impact on my life. I remember sitting in chapel with anticipation each time he spoke. He enhanced my ability to walk with the Father. You see I had never considered having a deeper and deeper walk. Dr Kinlaws’s easy way of talking was just what I needed. Many college educators speak in ways ordinary men and women have trouble understanding. Dr Kinlaw seemed to truest enjoy breaking a topic down to the level that anyone could understand. Some years ago at a celebration for Him and Else at the college I was able to introduce him to my young son. I remember him hugging him and saying “he had the eyes of an angel.” I very special moment for me. I always hungered to hear or read anything I could by Dr Kinlaw. I know you are with the Father and have no doubt He has said well done my good and faithful servant.
Dr Kinlaw led in worship of Christ Jesus and living out His love to others. I sat under his teaching and preaching while working as a Staff Nurse for the Asbury Clinic. He was a godly man of holy influence and faith!
Dr Kinlaw led in worship of Christ Jesus and living out Christ’s love to others. I sat under his teaching and preaching while working as a Staff Nurse for the Asbury Clinic. He was a godly man of holy influence and faith!
I am so grateful for the influence of the Kinlaw family on my life. I was a Warrior, the first class under Dr Kinlaw’s presidency at Asbury College. Beth Kinlaw Coppedge was our woman’s freshman sponsor. I was privileged to be at Asbury College for the 1970 Revival. My years at Asbury had a profound affect on my life. I was at Asbury because in high school God called me to be a missionary and I was there to prepare to be a missionary teacher. During college I became engaged to a ministerial student. I shared with him my call to be a missionary and he said that we could go together.
We had a senior retreat Friday and Saturday before graduation on Sunday. Dr. Kinlaw shared at our retreat from the book of Deuteronomy. He asked us as seniors: How many of the thousands who started out for the Promised Land made it to the Promised Land? How many? Only two : Joshua and Caleb. Why? Because they were a grumbling people—how many of you have grumbled and complained today? They didn’t believe God. Joshua and Caleb also had the Spirit with them, they took God at His Word and believed what God said He would do. Dr.Kinlaw then shared that many Christians do not receive God’s best for their lives but receive 2nd or 3rd because they don’t wait on Him but say: this is what I want—approve it God. God is gracious and a kind Heavenly Father and does not force Himself on us. Yes, He will allow us to go our own way. So that night I bowed my head and prayed and said: “Jesus, I want your best and perfect will for my life. I trust you Jesus.” It seemed like He took something from me and gave me such a peace that only He can give. That was Friday night. Sunday after graduation in 1972 my finance said he wanted to talk to me. It was going to be the last time we saw each other before the wedding which was in three weeks. He said to me: “Linda I have not been honest with you. I will not go to the mission field.” I then said to him, then we cannot get married. God was preparing my heart Friday night for what my fiance would say on Sunday. I knew beyond a shadow of doubt that Jesus best for me was the missionfield even if I had to go single. I went with OMS International (now One Mission Society) to Haiti and Indonesia as a single missionary. I met my husband Jay Six at Asbury Theological Seminary and we have served for over 35 years with OMS. We are grateful for Dr. Kinlaw’s leadership on the Board of OMS many years.
Something else that Dr. Kinlaw said to me was that it wasn’t the choices between good and evil that would trip us up spiritually but it was the choices between the better and the best. Oh may we always seek His best.
Dr. Kinlaw and Elsie were a wonderful godly couple. Elsie was such a prayer warrior and prayed for all the students at Asbury. I had the privilege of praying with her. They are now reunited together in Heaven. Looking forward to that day when we will see Jesus face to face and see all those great cloud of witnesses who have gone on before us. May we continue to seek His best for our lives in every area as Dr. Kinlaw challenged us.
Will share just one short anecdote about Dr. Kinlaw’s impact on my life as a teenager when he was Pastor at Loudonville Community Church. When I was a junior in high school, I had been wondering if it was all right to join the ballroom dances at my high school. So, I asked Dr. Kinlaw what he thought about it. He looked me right in the eye ( which is always how he talked with anyone) and said, “Cynthia, I am not going to tell you what you should do. You need to ask Jesus, and then obey whatever He tells you.” This pointed me in the right direction for my life, to seek primary counsel from Christ and seek to obey His direction. No doubt he has said the same to many “young people” throughout his long life, and set many of us on the right track to a life of submission to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
I first met Dr. Kinlaw in the Fall of 1981. It was my privilege to be the singer for the Church of Christ in Christian Union Annual Minister’s Conference. Dr. Kinlaw and Dr. Earle Wilson were the speakers. Little did I realize, at the time, the spiritual and educational stature of Dr. Kinlaw. He was a contemporary of my father’s, Dr. J. Harold Loman. Over the next 36 years our lives would intersect at conferences and retreats. His story of when he returned from a speaking engagement and he was telling his wife how well he did and she simply asked, “Did He come?” I will never forget that! At the last Francis Asbury Retreat my wife and I attended, we sat with Dr. Kinlaw, and this wonderful man just talked about social security and knee replacements. What an honor to serve as an approved speaker under the banner of The Francis Asbury Society, founder, Dr. Dennis Kinlaw.
While serving as a missionary in the Philippines a fellow missionary introduced me to Dr. Kinlaw by loaning me dozens of preaching cassettes (yes this was in the 90’s and 2000’s). While traveling countless hours through the country Dr. Kinlaw became my mentor and friend! He still is, through his writings. Words cannot express what his life, testimony and teaching has meant to me and my wife, Becky.
Back in my days at Asbury Seminary I was one of the few lucky fellows who had parallel theological training at Dr. Kinlaw’s home. In 2005-2006 I would come every 2-3 weeks to his house and we would sit across from each other “just talking theology”. Well, on my part, mostly listening to him and hearing the patristic wisdom (about the Trinity, perichoretic personhood vs. the self, Incarnation etc.) accumulated, rethought afresh and adapted for modern minds and needs. He was able to creatively link the thoughts of St. Basil, St. Augustine, Richard of St. Victor, St. Athanasius with the ideas of John Zizioulas, Emile Cailliet, Blaise Pascal, Joseph Ratzinger, John Paul II and his favorite Tom Torrance. Once he said, “Sergey, I really regret that I started reading the fathers after I turned 60”.
He opened my mind to the beautiful world of theology and all I have been teaching since then to my students in Russia is shaped by Dr. Kinlaw’s thought. He showed me a model theologian, incessant in prayer and research. Indeed, as Dr. Steve Seamands once said, “When you talk to a person like Dr. Kinlaw, there is a feeling that you are talking with the two — the person himself and the Spirit who lives in him”.
Thank you, Dr. Kinlaw, for your heart, your wisdom, your knowledge, your prayers, and your trust in me.
“Remember those who led you, who spoke the word of God to you; and considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith” (Heb 13:7).
It is easy to look back on a time when Dr. Kinlaw’s influence changed the course of my life. It was while I was in seminary in the late 80’s. My mind and heart were in such conflict. Sitting in my seminary classes I was hearing things I had never heard before, things I was not prepared for. Things like, the Pentateuch was not written by Moses but by four different authors. I had never even heard of the JEPD theory or higher criticism. I had no tools to work this out. Who was I to challenge a man with a doctorate? The class continued and other classes like it that eroded away at my faith in Scripture. I remember one Sunday evening going to church with such a heavy heart, with a battle waging between faith and reason. What was I to believe? I sat on the far side of the church that night, behind the “Kinlaw” pew. As Dr. Kinlaw and Dr. Coppedge filed in it was like I was shaken awake from a nightmare. Here in front of me were two men who had both faith AND reason. As I looked at the backs of their saintly heads the Holy Spirit nudged me. “They know My Word and believe it completely”. Because of Dr. Kinlaw’s Old Testament scholarship it was the affirmation I needed at that desperate hour. I felt relief and hope. Yes, if they, who knew every argument that I have heard, and more that I have not encountered yet, and still believed, than it is good enough for me. I am so grateful for the stance that Dr. Kinlaw always took to uphold the authority of Scripture. And even more than that the love relationship he had with the Word. I just don’t see that in those who hold to higher criticism. The awe, reverence and unwavering faith in which Dr. Kinlaw held the Scriptures continues to impact my life as I teach the Bible here in Brazil. May God find me as faithful.
Former Francis Asbury Society Founder and President, OMS International Board Chairman, Asbury University President, and Asbury Theological Seminary OT Professor passes onto Glory.
Dr. Dennis F. Kinlaw, beloved senior statesman of OMS as longtime Trustee and Board Chair, passed away on the morning of April 10, 2017 at the age of 94. He was one of the longest serving chairmen of the international OMS Board of Trustees in the mission’s history. Dr. Kinlaw was the most warm hearted, intellectually sharp, and passionate follower of Christ whom we ever had the privilege of knowing. The number of people that he influenced for Christ around the world would be unfathomable. He was a Christian educator, insightful philosopher, published author, popular retreat and conference speaker, camp meeting evangelist, Bible teacher, academic scholar, institutional administrator, missionary statesman, reliable friend, faithful father, and devoted husband.
Personally, Dr. Kinlaw was instrumental in counseling Celia and me during our time of discerning God’s call on our lives, and then paving the way that we would be accepted on probation at Asbury College. During those college years, he and Mrs. Kinlaw demonstrated ‘lavish love’ towards us to such a degree that our duplex neighbors thought we were ‘somebody’ when in actuality we were nobody. And lastly, Dr, Kinlaw helped me, while serving as an executive officer in administration, to understand that when dealing with disciplinary matters, non-compliance with doctrinal distinctives was tantamount to ‘breaking covenant’ with OMS as a religious order. All in all, Dr. Kinlaw was one of the most influential leaders in our Christian life, helping to inform our spiritual faith, frame our ministerial competency, and foster Christ-like leadership in every aspect of our cross-cultural careers. And what he did for us can be multiplied over and over in the lives of so many other OMS missionaries and Christian leaders around the world.
Case in point, years ago, when former STU President, Dr. John Chongnahm Cho, was studying in Wilmore, he became acquainted with Dr. Kinlaw. After returning to Korea, then OMS missionary, Mr. Richard Capin, noted that a significant monthly contribution was included in the regular wire transfers earmarked for the then Rev. Cho, Chongnahm. With this financial assistance, Rev. Cho was able to continue his educational preparation, eventually earning his doctorate and becoming the foremost Wesleyan scholar in Korea and throughout Asia, serving as one of the longest tenured Presidents, and leading Seoul Theological University to becoming one of the premier theological educational training centers in Korea and the entire Far East.
With much honor and great thankfulness to God, organizationally, we celebrate the life of Dr. Kinlaw and the many ways he served God through OMS.
He began his relationship with OMS at Asbury in the ’40’s when he sat in chapel alongside the founding Kilbourne’s grandsons, Edward, Erny and Elmer.
He served with 5 out of the 10 presidents of OMS, including Eugene Erny, Wesley Duewel, Everett Hunt, Ed Erny, and J. B. Crouse.
He served on the Board 35 years, 30 years as chairman.
He has been a pillar of strength.
He has helped keep OMS true to its Wesleyan heritage.
He has helped steer the mission through troubled waters.
He has given of his love, prayers, finances, time, children, and grandchildren.
His counsel, vision, and passion for reaching the world have had a great impact on making OMS what it is today.
His preaching, teaching, and writing on holiness were the extension of his sanctified life.
He exemplified the essence of a holy life over the years not only through his administration and leadership, but also through the spiritual messages he has etched on the OMS family and constituency.
Dr. Kinlaw was an eminent scholar, visionary leader and minister of the Gospel. He is remembered in the OMS worldwide family as one who modeled a commitment to academic riogor, spiritual vitality, and personal holiness. The OMS leadership team and our worldwide missionary family as well as our international brothers and sisters in Christ are grateful that Dr. Kinlaw was a part of OMS and that his values and influence have been woven into our very core. Our deepest appreciation, gratitude and respect is due this man who influenced OMS missionaries and international coworkers around the world for decades.
We offer our sincerest condolences to Beth, Denny, Katy, Sally, and Susy, your children, and grandchildren upon the loss of your father, grandfather, and great grandfather. In a lesser way, your loss is our loss, but we do not grieve as those without hope. Because Christ lives, we can face tomorrow. May the hope of the Resurrection be your strength and comfort in the days ahead.
Exerpts from Bob Fetherlin Tribute synthesized by
David E. Dick
VP at Large
When Celia and I first met Dr. Kinlaw at Cherry Run Church Camp in 1975, little did we realize what an impact his life and ministry would have on our lives as a family and as missionaries. He spoke at that camp meeting on the life of Abraham, and just as one of his devotionals from ‘This Day with the Master,’ entitled: “Sweet Surprises” outlines, we have never regretted following the sense of call that God made on our lives, because our missionary career has been full of ‘sweet surprises’ ever since.
We made copious notes, and recorded every public message from you that we had access to down through the years, and took those tapes and notes with us around the world. There are a handful of people whom God has used to most influence my spiritual life, and I am sure that it comes as no surprise, that he was one of the most influential. His Biblical preaching has inspired, motivated, corrected, encouraged, and sustained us spiritually down through the years. Little did we realize that one day, God would give us the privilege of serving with OMS during the period of time that he was also serving as our Chairman of the Board. Once again his life, witness, Godly counsel, and instruction continued to encourage, and strengthen us for the ongoing fulfillment of our sense of call.
Our words are inadequate to express our deep sense of indebtedness and heartfelt gratitude for all the ways that God used Dr. Kinlaw as an example, counselor, and friend in our lives. We thank God for who he was to us, and the many thousands like us, who needed that laser beam of Scriptural truth to keep us centered in our lives.