IMB Missionary Home Visit Inspires Renewed Focus on Global Outreach
By Sharon Mager
NEWARK, Del. — Ogletown Baptist Church (OBC) member and International Mission Board (IMB) missionary James Edinger visited his home church on Oct. 26 to share updates about his ministry and to introduce his friend, Nancy Ngunjiri, to the congregation. The two fellowship and serve together at the same church in Kenya.
James Edinger serves as an IMB missionary assisting other missionaries in Kenya. (Photo by Sharon Mager)
Edinger was appointed as one of 79 newly commissioned missionaries during an IMB Sending Celebration held in conjunction with the 2023 Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting in New Orleans. He expressed deep gratitude for God’s call and for Ogletown’s partnership.
He explained his role in facilitating other missionaries ministering in the Kenya region he serves, ensuring they are supported and equipped to share the gospel effectively. He also leads Bible studies throughout the week. “The better I do my job, the more time missionaries have to tell more people about Jesus,” Edinger said.
He expressed heartfelt gratitude to the OBC congregation — his home church for 40 years — for their encouragement and support. “Without your offerings to Ogletown and to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering — funds that go directly to missionaries on the field — I wouldn’t be able to serve in the way the Lord has called me.”
Edinger also reflected on God’s unexpected blessings since moving overseas. “I knew I’d be loving on the people of Kenya and my fellow IMB missionaries,” he said. Turning to Ngunjiri with a smile he continued, “What I didn’t know was that the Lord would allow me to meet the love of my life.”
Ngunjiri has served and led in various capacities in women’s and care ministries for 14 years, specializing in bereavement care. “I keep saying I feel like I came and had a two-week family gathering (with believers) across the world who have loved James through the years. I was able to put faces and names to stories. It has been very meaningful.”
Ogletown Senior Pastor Deepak Reju prayed for the couple: “Lord, we’re so grateful for James and Nancy and for the years that you used Ogletown to bless James and encourage him and build up his faith here so that he would be ready to go out and share the gospel. And thank you for Nancy and the providential intersection of their lives there. We pray a blessing on the two of them.” Reju said the church hopes to send short-term mission teams to Sub-Saharan Africa in the future.
OBC has had an ongoing passion for missions. In addition to serving its local community, including a thriving collegiate ministry, the church has several international missionaries on the field now or who recently returned. These include Edinger; Nick Fisher, who recently returned from serving as a journeyman in Mozambique and is now attending seminary; and career missionaries Joe and Elizabeth Blandeburgo, serving in the Philippines.
For more information about how your church can be involved in international missions, visit the IMB website. Additionally, WMU Executive Director Melody Knox is available to speak at your church about missions and provide resources, including missions curriculum. Visit our website to learn more.