Randy and Kathy Arnett haven’t stayed in one place too long since beginning their ministry in the early 1980s.

Randy, a Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary graduate, and Kathy are both attending classes this semester through the Billy Graham School but have been missionaries to the countries of West Africa since the mid 1980s. The couple is presently living on the campus of Southern Seminary but will be returning to their home in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, in January. Earlier this year, Randy became the International Mission Board’s theological education consultant for Africa.

Randy is one of four theological education consultants working across the world in Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Europe. Randy and his global counterparts will be finding ways to liaise U.S. seminaries and global theological institutes to offer support, help with curriculum development, and in some instances, provide professors and planning.

Arriving in Togo in spring 1988, the Arnett family found the West African people to be very warm and welcoming. Just a few weeks in, the Arnetts started working on a church plant. “We didn’t know what we were doing,” Randy said. “Nobody in seminary had told us how to start churches. I was trained to pastor First Baptist Church of County Seat town.”

God put the Arnetts in touch with a local Togolese man who had just graduated from a seminary in Ghana and moved his family to Togo. With that family, the Arnetts began leading Bible studies in a neighborhood on the outskirts of town. After three months, the Togolese attendees were asking to meet on Sunday mornings “like all of the regular Christians.”

In 1999, the Arnetts left Togo to return stateside for job training before heading back to West Africa, but this time to Abidjan, a city of around five million, in the country of Côte d’Ivoire which is known as the Ivory Coast.

In 2004, Randy became the IMB’s regional leader for West Africa, a position that allowed the Arnetts to travel more extensively across the region. Kathy continued with her HIV and AIDS work and began assisting Randy with administrative tasks. The couple returned stateside in August 2009 to attend classes at Southern and prepare for Randy’s new post.

The Arnetts could write a large book filled with words of wisdom to young missionary couples. They are passionate about encouraging and building up young missionaries that are awaiting assignment, awaiting deployment and even dealing with application denial, since they have experienced all these circumstances first-hand.

While on Southern’s campus, the Arnetts are opening their home to anyone that is contemplating or preparing for missions. To meet with the Arnetts, please contact the Billy Graham School for further information.

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