Martyr

A long-time friend and faithful supporter of mine passed away recently. I first met Will Coker when we both came to serve in Kenya at CGA with a missions team in 2003. We became close friends and even shared the same tent. When our team returned home to Charleston, Will was instrumental in helping me decide to leave my college basketball coaching career and serve in Kenya full-time. After I quit my job and was beginnging to fundraise, he invited me to move in with him for several months to help me save money. He even hosted a garage sale at his house.

In the time that I lived with him I saw his strong, genuine faith in Christ. He spent many nights studying the Bible carefully, praying and worshipping God. Almost every day when we would meet, he would share with me something new God was teaching him. His faith deeply impacted my life and he became a mentor to me in so many ways. With Will there were very few "shallow" conversations; most of them get very deep very quickly. He was bold about his faith and shared it with just about everyone he came into contact with whether it was in America or another country.

After building many strong relationships with the children and staff at CGA, he returned to Kenya several times to invest more in those relationships. He had also done mission trips to other places such as Burundi.

Recently, Will was living and working in Afghanistan as an engineer. We had been emailing each other right up to the day before he was taken captive. That day he had told me that he would be travelling to Charleston on September 15 for a short break and then returning to Afghanistan to work until next June. True to his character, he was leading Bible studies in his workplace and also evangelizing outside of the workplace.

More details of his death are still coming out, but apparently he was kidnapped from work around September 2nd and held hostage for several days. Sometime later his body was found in a cave. He had been strangled with a belt and also beheaded.

We can’t be sure of the reasons why, but most likely it was because of his outspoken faith in God. He was a mighty man who was never shy talking about his faith, and surely he must have stood strong up until the time his life was taken.

Will had just turned 59 last week. He will be missed dearly by his three grown children, grandchildren, newly married wife and all of his friends throughout the world. His life impacted many others while he was alive and also now through his death. The CGA family will miss him, but we know that he is before the throne of God now and we will meet again someday.

I am thankful for the contribution he has made to my life in helping me come to serve in Kenya and drawing closer to my Lord and Saviour. I hope that when my time here is finished I will have impacted the world for God's Kingdom as much as he has in the 59 years God granted him.