Marty Howell, 57, went to be with his Lord October 27 after contracting bacterial meningitis. His funeral and burial were held in Honduras on October 27 and 28, respectively. Several hundred people attended each of these events, a powerful testimony of Marty’s impact for Christ during his life and missionary service.
Marty and his wife Cheryl joined Baptist Mid-Missions in 1982 to serve in Honduras, where many generations of Marty’s family have lived since the 1800s. Marty was the third generation of his family to proclaim the gospel in Honduras. His grandfather, Edward Howell, was a lay preacher whose evangelical zeal was passed on to Marty’s father, Robert. Robert and his first wife Dorothy joined BMM in 1954, serving on the northern coast of Honduras.
When in the sixth grade, Marty became convicted by the fact that he knew Spanish, Honduras’s language, and that missionaries were needed there. He surrendered his life to the Lord in the eleventh grade and grew on fire for God during his senior year. Before he left to attend Tennessee Temple University, he preached in Honduras. One of the ladies present told him she would pray that he would come back to preach and to be their missionary. God used those words to impress on his heart the desire to serve God.
After he and Cheryl had raised their support, they attended language school for Cheryl in Texas. In their nine months there, they started a Spanish-speaking church in McAllen, which they turned over to another missionary.
Once in Honduras, Marty and Cheryl worked their first eight years to reestablish Bethel Baptist Church in Puerto Cortés, a work started earlier through Marty’s father and uncle but which had since declined. Marty and Cheryl emphasized that a church plant must not only be self-supporting and self-governing, but also self-propagating. Before concluding their work at Bethel Baptist, they left it in the hands of four ordained Honduran pastors they had trained. The church has since sent out several church planters of its own, three of whom were the pastors Marty ordained.
Marty and Cheryl’s next work was Lighthouse Baptist Church in San Pedro Sula, which they started with Carlos Estrada, one of the pastors they trained at Bethel. This church is currently led by Sam and Maria Conover, who also serve with BMM. In 2001, the Howells started Gethsemane Baptist Mission in San Pedro Sula, where they had been serving with fellow missionaries Johnny and Carol Binzel until the present time.
Marty’s heart was deeply rooted in Honduras, and he loved its people. When Hurricane Mitch struck Honduras in 1998, many small towns were swept away, thousands died, and livestock and crops were destroyed. Marty and his father sprang to action to open their churches to the newly homeless people. Passing out food and supplies, they shared the love of Christ with the people and offered them tracts. Within a short time, 21 people made professions of faith. Marty’s brother Paul organized relief efforts from the US and later helped in Honduras. Marty and the other missionaries used relief money that poured in from the US to construct dozens of homes on land donated by the mayor of San Pedro Sula and the village of La Democracia. More than 450 people trusted Christ as a result of the Hurricane Mitch relief effort.
Honduras has lost a diligent worker, passionate to win its people to the Lord and establish strong, reproducing churches. Please pray for the Howell family and for the many lives that Marty touched in his 25 years of ministry there.
Marty is survived by Cheryl, their children Amber, April, and Erik and by four grandchildren, in addition to Marty’s father and four brothers and sisters.