Portrait of Jeff Chestnut. IMB Photo

Jeffery Chestnut, an International Mission Board missionary emeritus who shared the gospel in North Africa and the Middle East and South Africa, died April 22, 2024. He was 63.  

Jeffery was born August 11, 1960, in Marion, South Carolina, to the late James B. Chestnut and Eleanore Z. Chestnut Barlow.  He graduated from Marion High School; and received the Bachelor of Arts from Newberry College, Newberry, South Carolina; and the Master of Religion from Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary. 

Jeffery moved to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and began a career in banking. He met Cyndi Moeller, and they were married February 10, 1985. 

Jeffery wrote when seeking missionary appointment that during a mission trip to Haiti, God began to draw him to international missions. 

“God’s call on my life has been constant and growing. It has been inward and personal. God placed a burden and a desire in my heart for missions in 1988 which has not weakened but grows steadily stronger.” 

In 2000, the International Mission Board appointed Jeffery and Cyndi missionaries to North Africa and the Middle East. They later served in South Africa. 

He is survived by Cyndi, his wife of 39 years; and his children, Rachel Chestnut Duran (Jabez), Andrew Clayton Chestnut, Jessica Brooke Chestnut Whitesell (Austin); and three grandchildren. 

A funeral service was held April 27, 2024, at Lakeside Baptist Church in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.  

Read an obituary here.