Teachers and students alike thank Kathy for a lifetime of service to the Lord
in MK education.

Kathy Miller:
ALL ABOUT JESUS
All Her Lifetime

Romans 10:13-15 ESV

For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed?
And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard?
And how are they to hear without someone preaching?
And how are they to preach unless they are sent?
As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet
of those who preach good news.”

Ever Faithful

Her lifetime long
sings a beautiful song
of praise to Him
who hid His purpose
clear deep inside
her heart even
as she played
still a little girl.

When she played
along with young
MK’s and learned
about their lives
so very far
away from home
God planted seeds
inside her heart.

Then He grew them
strong inside her
faith and gave
her teaching
as her tool
to serve Him
teaching in
His harvest field.

Ever faithful
she served them
 well missionary
families
in places
remote and
finally
at Sahel.

In my first real meeting with Kathy Miller, I made a very bad impression. As the Principal for Sahel Academy during the year of the First Great Flood, (I am sorry to say, there was a Second Great Flood, also.) I observed each elementary and high school teacher as they taught in two large houses adapted to serve as schools, with bedrooms and dining rooms used as makeshift classrooms. Somehow, in the midst of all our hectic schedules, I arranged to observe two elementary teachers at the same time. I kept the appointment with the fourth grade teacher who actually had her class squeezed into a small dining area for teaching and written work, while she expanded her classroom space  into a type of breezeway and outside balcony for more active learning. Anyway, we had a good time together, and then as I was leaving, I met Kathy outside her adapted bedroom turned classroom. She explained that we had agreed to that very same time, and I had missed her math class. Oops! Well, when I made that observation of her math class the next day or so, I was so impressed with her creative use of gummy worms (something of a luxury in Niamey, Niger). Kathy effectively involved her students in active learning—and they loved the gummy worms! At the end of the lesson, she asked the students what the Principal had missed in not showing up for the lesson the previous day. They giggled as she smiled and they announced to me all together, “M & M’s!” That hurt! M & M’s have always been my favorites.

In spite of COVID and other overwhelming obstacles, Kathy remained ever faithful to her calling and her trust in the loving God
who had called her.

I learned some important things about Kathy that day. First, she was an excellent, well-prepared and creative, energetic and fun teacher. Second, she expected the Principal to be more efficient at keeping his schedule. Third, she dearly love the give-and-take of teaching and making learning fun for these lucky-to-have-her third-grade students. As we got to know Kathy better and better our opinion of her teaching skills only improved. More importantly, we learned how her heart  truly rejoiced in using teaching as her crucial tool to introduce her students to the joys of getting to know Jesus as their own Lord and Savior.

Kathy’s enthusiasm for teaching began early. Her faithful Christian parents in Michigan raised her and her brothers and sisters to love the Lord. They also had many missionary families visit in their home for dinner—and Kathy had the opportunity to play with the children—the MK’s (Missionary Kids). God used these encounters to speak to her heart, calling her into teaching as a child, and then into missionary teaching for MK’s after earning her teaching degree, while she taught for ten years in the U.S. During that time she also worked toward her master’s degree in reading.

Kathy always had time to enjoy visits with her colleagues in
missions service.

Then in 1985 she joined the Evangelical Baptist Mission and began preparations to go to Mali in West Africa to work with a a few missionary families who needed a teacher for their children. As she prepared to go, Kathy made some hard choices; including leaving her family in the U.S., and going to Mali where there would be no phone nor electricity where she was going to live. On the other hand, she realized she would have the opportunity to keep families together, allowing the wives to participate in their mission work, thus contributing to the work of sharing the Gospel.

The Lord gave Kathy a very particular miracle early in her service which reminded her how closely He was watching over her. Kathy had mentioned to her roommate she was hungry for S’mores. Well, that only brought good-natured teasing, since they were living in the desert. About three days later, she received a package from her mother; and inside there were graham crackers, marshmallows and candy bars—everything she needed for S’mores. Now mail at that time took at least four weeks from the U.S. to Mali. So, the Lord had moved her Mom to put the miracle package together just about a month earlier before Kathy began craving those  S’mores.  This really encouraged her, as it spoke so beautifully of God’s care for her.

The chart says it all: A Life Given In Joyful Service To God On Behalf
of Missionaries in Four
West African Nations

Kathy’s years in West Africa allowed her to bless the lives of several missionary families. She taught the children of Don and Sue Marshall from 1989 to 1994. Their school days ran from 7:00 A.M. until Noon. The afternoon sun made the schoolroom too hot for teaching or for learning. During those years they were often evacuated to Bamako, the capital, due to attacks in the villages around them.

In 1994 and 1995 Kathy taught for Art and Becky Spaulding in Benin. While there the thatched roof classroom burned, but most of the school materials were saved. They just moved into another thatched roof classroom with no doors to close; so they were often visited by dogs, cats, chickens and even their horse.

From 1996-2001 Kathy returned to work with Phil and Alana Carmichael in Timbuktu, of all places. Remember the saying: “All the way to Timbuktu?” Well, Kathy lived and served there. During that time she also taught Rich and Anna Marshall’s children. Kathy also worked with two children with other international organizations. She rejoices still that one of those students came to know the Lord while he was in first grade. During this time Kathy also helped host mission groups coming to help build a church in Timbuktu. She even hosted mission conferences with her own parents coming out to help cook for and serve the missionaries. She also attended the Ladies Bible Studies and even hosted them at her house—again delighting in the Lord’s work as he blessed Malian families while they grew stronger in the Lord.

Some days in MK teaching can be messy.

From 2001 to 2002 Kathy taught at Ivory Coast Academy since there were no families needing an on-site teacher. Then from 2002-2008 she worked with Ken and Sarah Beckley. She was also able to teach English as a Second Language. She shared with these students French/English New Testaments. Ken was working on the translation of the New Testament in Songhai while the “Jesus” video was also translated into Songhai. Kathy  helped a Malian Songhai lady teach over fifty children each Sunday. These children were able to learn songs, Bible Stories and Bible Verses, which they could share with their families at home. Some of these  are now church leaders in this part of Mali, since there are no missionaries in the Timbuktu region, due to  ongoing security concerns.

Then in 2009 Kathy moved to Niger to teach at Sahel Academy. During her twelve years there, she taught in most of the elementary grades, and was the elementary principal for five years. Kathy rejoices that a number of students found Jesus as their Savior during that time. In fact, as she and I, as the high school principal, met together for prayer, she was constantly praying for individual students who needed Jesus.  During these years, there were two catastrophic floods which forced the temporary and then the final relocation of the school. Her sending mission, Evangelical Baptists, closed; and so she and her fellow EB missionaries, continued their service with the Faith Baptist Mission. Sahel had to close for a time, like schools worldwide, during the COVID pandemic. Through it all, good and bad, Kathy saw the Hand of the Lord, working through it all, to accomplish His Purpose through her life and service on the behalf of missionary families and their children.

Kathy stood faithfully for many years
along-side
other devoted
MK educators.

Since 2021 Kathy has been home in Michigan to care for her Mother. This is not an uncommon follow-up to missionary careers. It becomes a challenging, though rewarding, reinvestment in the lives of parents, who have played such an important role in bringing up children who answer the call to go abroad and serve the Lord with a great majority of their lives. As Scripture asks;

“And how are they to hear without someone preaching?
And how are they to preach unless they are sent?

Some of us are like Kathy, called for a greater part of our lifetime to take the Gospel where it has not been heard. Others of us are called to pray and to give so that those like Kathy can faithfully go. We are all called to make a difference in the world ALL ABOUT JESUS. I pray we will all obey as beautifully and as purposefully and as effectively as faithful folks like Kathy.

You can read stories like this one about people who have made their lives ALL ABOUT JESUS in the book
by that name.