About us - Where we've come from

We are Duane and Marcia Binkley, currently living in the U.S. between Akron and Canton, Ohio. Marcia grew up in Cleveland, Ohio; and Duane grew up during his early years in Mentor (a suburb east of Cleveland) and later Stow (outside of Akron, Ohio). Both life-long members of American Baptist churches, Marcia was a member of Broadview Baptist Church in Cleveland as a child, while Duane's formative years were shaped by the Headlands Baptist Church in Mentor. Since marriage in 1979, Marcia and Duane have been members of the First Baptist Church in Jefferson, Ohio.

Duane graduated from Kent State University with a degree in Soil and Water Conservation. Marcia's major at Malone College was Psychology and Sociology. Marcia, the granddaughter of Presbyterian missionaries to the Sudan, had grown up with missions in mind. The idea of international mission work for Duane, however, was a growing process. After talking about it for several years, we finally decided if missions was to become more than just talk, it was time to act. Applications to International Ministries of the American Baptist Churches, USA (IM) were submitted in 1981, which began a process that took about 1 ½ years to complete.

About the time our application to IM was submitted, a new irrigation and water project was beginning among the Karen people in Thailand. It was felt that Duane's background would be of help to this project, and that Marcia could help in other ways. So in November of 1982, we left the U.S. as newly commissioned IM missionaries.

Our first year in Thailand was spent in Bangkok learning the Thai language. After that, we went to Chiang Mai, and completed a short course in the Northern Thai dialect, then began lessons on learning the Karen language. After about six months in Chiang Mai, we moved to Mae Sariang, about 160 miles southwest of Chiang Mai. It was in Mae Sariang that we spent most of our first and second IM missionary terms (an IM missionary term is generally four years in length), during which we really got introduced to the Karen people.

We were also introduced to the problems the Karen were having in Burma. Even from our home in Mae Sariang, we could often hear the rumble of artillery shells exploding as Burmese and Karen troops exchanged fire. In Thai Karen villages close the Burmese border, we sometimes heard the rat-a-tat-tat fire of machine-guns. Military action reduced some Karen villages and markets we visited on one occasion to rubble and ashes by our next visit.

Our Karen village water project helped build water-lines in remote villages so the women and children did not have to walk long distances to carry water. We also assisted in the building of small irrigation systems, and provided other kinds of agricultural help to the Karen. Since this project took us to the same areas the Karen evangelists were working, we also began assisting the Thailand Karen Baptist Convention evangelism program. Marcia helped coordinate a scholarship program for Pwo Karen children with limited or no educational opportunities as well.

In mid-1992, we returned to the U.S. for our second period of "U.S. Assignment", during which we contacted churches in America and let them know about the missionary work we do. Normally, a one-year U.S. Assignment period would follow a four-year term, but due to some family health issues, we remained in the U.S. for what turned out to be the next six years.

In 1998, we returned to Thailand as a family to renew our efforts as IM missionaries. This time though, we headed up the office of the Thailand Baptist Missionary Fellowship (TBMF). Our role was to encourage coordination and communication between the seven mission organizations that make up TBMF (where IM is one organization, and CBF is another), and the many local Thai churches, partners, and projects with whom the TBMF mission organizations relate to.

One aspect of this new role was that Duane served on the Board of the Thailand Burma Border Consortium, which is the organization that feeds, clothes, and houses all refugees that come from Burma to Thailand. Learning ever more about the plight of the Karen, we grew increasingly eager to become involved with the Baptist churches in the refugee camps and the people displaced by the Burmese government living on the run inside Burma. So at the end of our last IM missionary term in mid-2006, we made plans to return to Thailand in mid-2007. Our plan was to work half-time with the evangelism department of the Thailand Karen Baptist Convention, and half-time with the Baptist churches in the refugee camps. But, it seems the Lord had a different plan in mind.

Last year, as we visited churches around the U.S., we encountered Karen that had been in the refugee camps in Thailand and were now being resettled in America. In some instances, as many as 50 or 60 Karen would suddenly appear at a Sunday morning service at a local U.S. Baptist church. The church pastor and congregation were surprised by this because they had no knowledge of what had happened in Burma, who the Karen people are, and how they might be able to help them. In response to such Sunday morning surprises, and in light of the 200 year history of Baptists and Karen working together, we felt we could not be missionaries to the Karen and ignore the tens of thousands of Karen to be resettled in America in the coming years.

Now our plans have been revised. We will serve as missionaries jointly appointed by International Ministries of the American Baptist Churches and the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. We will remain in the U.S. until the wave of Karen refugees being resettled here slows down. Our goal is to be a bridge to connect the Karen with the Baptist churches here in the U.S. and to help the Karen stay connected with each other. Launching this Karen Konnection website and the Karen Konnection Blog begin to put the plans in motion.

(Last updated 4/9/07)