In the past several months, the Mission Society community has grieved the passing of four men who have played an historic role in The Mission Society’s ministry. These men leave enormous legacies, and The Mission Society is grateful and privileged indeed to be marked by them.

Dayton Graham, Missionary
Dayton Graham died on August 1, 2004. A business owner in Bayou la Batre, Alabama for 31 years, Dayton, along with his wife, Ann, spent six years in ministry in Kazakhstan. At the time of his death, Dayton was the Coordinator for Children at Risk on the Mission Society’s Global Resource Team. “God through Jesus Christ became known to me,” he said, remembering his first reading of John 3:16-17 when he was 22 years old. Graham’s Christian journey would take him (at age 59) to minister to children half way around the world.

The Rev. Dr. Edmund Robb, Jr., Mission Society founder
Dr. Edmund W. Robb, Jr., died on December 14, 2004 in his hometown of Marshall, Texas. A pastor, theologian, evangelist, missionary and author, Robb founded the Ed Robb Evangelistic Association and was one of the founders, not only of The Mission Society, but also of the Institute on Religion and Democracy and A Foundation for Theological Education.

The Rev. Clarence Yates, Mission Society founder
The Rev. Clarence Yates died on March 5, 2005 in Orlando, Florida. Yates became a licensed preacher at age 12, and 15 years later was ordained an elder in The United Methodist Church, where he and his wife, Charlotte, served for the next 43 years. He is a much-beloved “spiritual father” to many now in full-time ministry, and was heard by thousands through a regular radio and TV ministry. Yates was one of the Mission Society’s 34 founders.

The Rev. Dr. Jim Moye, President of Youth Leaders International
Jim Moye died on July 2, 2005, at age 45, following a long battle with brain cancer. Prior to his founding Young Leaders International in 2001, Jim had served two years as the Director of the Young Leaders Initiative with the International Leadership Institute, a then-ministry arm of The Mission Society. He had come to The Mission Society following years in youth ministry and a five-year stint as professor of youth ministry at Eastern University in St. David’s, Pennsylvania. Loved and widely known for his passion for evangelism, in 1991 Jim received the Harry Denman Award for Evangelism from the North Georgia Conference of The United Methodist Church, in which Jim was an ordained elder.

The Service of Remembrance and Resurrection was held on July 5, 2005, in a packed-out congregation. “The thing that I am most grateful for is the resounding impact Jim has had on my life and the foundation he laid for my faith,” said Matt Goodwin, who had been a sixth-grader in Jim’s youth group and was, this day, one of six speakers. When Matt then invited any who felt “Jim Moye had had a life-long impact on them” to please stand, the congregation stood in unison. During the service, a lone arrangement of flowers stood by the casket. Although the Moye family had requested no flowers, a group of young leaders in Ghana had pooled their money—all they could afford—to send flowers to honor Jim Moye who had forever marked them. “Jim always spoke life into my being,” remembered the Rev. Mike Mozley, Mission Society missionary to Ghana. “And he would want to say to us today: Love Jesus. Listen to the Lord. And devote your life to pouring into people, because they desperately want to go deeper.” Jim and his wife, Fran, have four young sons: James, Daniel, Jonathan, and Stephen Moye. For more information, visit (www.youngleadersinternational.org).