A. Kent Faris, 1927-2021
IMB Photo

A. Kent Faris, an International Mission Board missionary emeritus who shared the gospel in Brazil, died Dec. 9, 2021. He was 94.

Faris was born Oct. 3, 1927, in Madisonville, Ohio, to the late Pearl Gooding and Alvin Faris. He grew up in the Cincinnati suburb of Bellevue, Kentucky, where he graduated from Bellevue High School. He received the Bachelor of Science from the University of Kentucky, Lexington, and the Bachelor of Divinity from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky. Faris married Sarah on June 18, 1955.

Faris was associate pastor of Pritchard Memorial Baptist Church, Charlotte, North Carolina, and served as a missionary at the Laguna-Acoma Baptist Indian Mission, Budville, New Mexico, under the Southern Baptist Home Mission Board (now North American Mission Board.)

He then accepted a call to be pastor of a Baptist mission in Albuquerque. When he applied to be an international missionary two years later, Eastern Hill Baptist Church had grown to 350 members during his service there.

The Foreign Mission Board (now International Mission Board) appointed the Farises to Brazil in 1966 and they served as missionaries for 22 years.

He is survived by his wife, Sarah; children Stephen Faris (Vicki), Tamara Nuboer (Michael) and Bart Faris (Cindy); six grandchildren; and 10 great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his daughter, Ruth.

A service was held Dec. 17, 2021, at French Funeral & Cremations, Wyoming & San Antonio, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, with burial at Laguna-Acoma Baptist Mission.

Read an obituary here.