November-December 1988

My head was literally throbbing with pain from the intensity of tears and emotions I experienced during the memorial service held at the U.S. Center for World Mission for Lois Purnell Haro.

On October 18th Lois, 26, was kidnapped, robbed, raped, beaten and shot in the head. Police found her body within minutes of the shooting, but there was nothing they could do. She died a short time later.

During the service, many of us were asking, “Why? Why did this have to happen?” One glance at the anguish of her family tore my heart and left me breathless.

Out of all the testimonies and thoughts shared that day, the one that struck to the core of my being came from the Haros’ pastor, Steve Summerell. He said that after Lois’s death, the church came together for a season of prayer. Towards the end of that time, Steve made a simple but passionate plea: “Oh God, make the Enemy pay for this one!”

Events like this shock us, and rightly so, yet it should come as no surprise that people like the Haros and Purnells would come under such an attack.

For 29 years, Herb and Elsie Purnell, Lois’s parents, were active with Overseas Missionary Fellowship in Thailand. They did linguistic consultancy and church work among the Northern Thai and Iu Mien peoples. For the last few years, besides heading up the Applied Linguistics and TESOL programs at William Carey International University, Herb has been involved in a strategic outreach to an unreached people group; Elsie has been a USCWM staff counselor and been involved in a ministry to missionary kids.

Lois and Tony, both, were interested in cross-cultural ministry; Lois was preparing to be a cross-cultural marriage and family counselor while Tony continues to study agricultural biology.

We take it as an affront, not only to Lois’s and Tony’s families, but to our community as a whole, that Satan would lash out in this way. We are incensed at his wickedness.

By no means do we want simply to appeal to people’s emotions, but we do want to call God’s people to a disciplined, committed response to this attack. We ask you to join hundreds of others in retaliating through aggressive, consistent, strategic prayer.

Focus your efforts on three major targets:

1. Pray for the Haro and Purnell families. Weep with those who weep. Pray for a thorough work of God’s grace to wash over each one, meeting their deepest needs and lifting them up with renewed hope, vision, and faith.

2. Adopt a people group in Thailand. Pray for and give toward the establishment of a church among unreached peoples of Thailand. Or adopt the specific unreached people, the Iu Mien, who are on the Purnells’ hearts.

3. Pray for God to establish an Institute of Buddhist Studies. Until now, of the five major megaspheres of unreached peoples, Buddhists are the only one with no Institute focusing attention upon them.

Our prayer is that this tragedy will lead to Christians’ hearts being renewed and fervent prayers that will bind the Strong Man. Let us go in and take his spoils!

[ FRONT PAGE ] [ MEET OUR STAFF ] [ USCWM ] [ SEARCH ]
[ SUBSCRIBE ] [ MISSION RESOURCES] [ BACK ISSUES ]
[ SPECIAL INVITATION ] [ YOUR COMMENTS ]