Alumni Spotlight
Dr. Ken Turnbull ’85 and Lisa (Mitchell) Turnbull ’86
Major: Chemistry and Elementary Education
Occupation: Missionaries
“It was love at first sight” says Ken Turnbull when he met Lisa Mitchell at Evangel College in the spring of 1985. After Lisa slowly came to the same conclusion, they were married in July 1986 and set out in pursuit of their dreams.
Lisa taught school while Ken earned a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of California-Riverside. After receiving his Ph.D., they moved to Pasadena, where Ken did a three-year American Cancer Society postdoctoral fellowship in DNA-related research at California Institute of Technology. He then obtained a faculty position at the University of Arkansas-Fayetteville as a National Science Foundation Career Award recipient. The arduous task of receiving tenure and developing a successful and highly enjoyed research program in bioorganic chemistry then consumed their lives.
The year after Ken received tenure, he began teaching a yearlong study on Matthew 6:33 – "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things shall be given to you.” – in the college and career Sunday school class. During this study, God’s word worked deep within his heart. In June 2001, as he embarked on a trip to Washington, D.C. to participate on the review panel for prioritizing research funding of the National Institutes of Health, nothing could have prepared him for what God had planned for the meeting.
Around a table with several of the top researchers in his field, Ken’s initial awe for his colleagues slowly turned to a surprising realization. A different perspective began dawning in his heart as he thought, “I am Christ’s and He is mine ... Scratching at His nature through our childish scientific hypotheses is of no comparison to knowing HIM. ... What relationship is paramount to me? ... What am I seeking first?”
This began the Lord’s leading Ken and Lisa three years ago to their current position as church planters with New Tribes Mission en route to Northern Mozambique, where they will do Bible translation and extend the body of Christ to one of the unreached people groups. According to Operation World, “this area has the highest concentration of people unreached by the gospel in the southern hemisphere.”
Along with their five children: Damarise (14), Hannah (12), Sarah (10), Ian (8) and Andrew (6), Ken and Lisa desire to live as a testimony of God’s love and convey His desire for reconciliation through Jesus Christ to those in whom He will build His church.
They covet your prayers, as they offer their lives for God to use for His purpose as He seeks to draw in those who are His in Mozambique. http://www.ntm.org