From Jerry Cain
Kearney, MO
I learned with sadness in the last edition of Word & Way that Carl Hunker had died. He was truly a Baptist saint if Baptists were to bless sainthood.
I met Carl back in the 1980s when Missouri Baptists worked together on Bold Mission Taiwan. Our first contact was in Dr. Hunker’s home at the seminary in Taipei just a few weeks before his wife Jeanette died.
I did not have time to get to know her but others would testify that she should be sainted also.
Upon Dr. Hunker’s retirement from international missions, he moved to Liberty and lived in College Place West adjacent to the William Jewell College campus. He regularly attended Thursday morning chapel and made use of campus resources to feed his always inquiring mind.
He was gentle and kind and patient and always brought a sense of tranquility to any gathering. We need him now.
Back in those days at Jewell I had a spiritual advisor each year, and three times over several years I asked Dr. Hunker to meet with me monthly for a year.
He insisted we meet in his home, where he would prepare Chinese jiaozi (potstickers) and we would talk and read and pray together.
When he prayed, we had to kneel on the floor and rest our elbows on the couch. I had never used that prayer posture before but have subsequently used it many times due to the influence of Dr. Hunker.
My soul rejoices at his eternal victory but aches at the loss of this spiritual giant.
Letter in response to Carl Hunker, longtime missionary to Chinese, dies at 99 years
