Most people want to take time off after retiring, but not Don Gentry. And when he decided to tackle his next assignment, it was in an area most people only dream of visiting.
Gentry retired Dec. 31 from Pleasant Hill Baptist Church, Decatur, ending 38 years of full-time ministry. Less than two weeks later he began an interim assignment on the island of Kauai, Hawaii.
Gentry was planning his retirement when a pastor at Lihue Baptist Church in Hawaii contacted Jere Patterson, director of missions for the Morgan Baptist Association, asking if Patterson could recommend a replacement.
The Morgan association has had a five-year partnership with Kauai, and Patterson had developed a close relationship with the Garden Island Association.
“Jere called and asked if I would be interested,” Gentry said. “I have never been to Hawaii before and did not know a soul there.”
After a few weeks, Gentry agreed to tackle the job for six months.
Even though the church is located in the United States, Gentry describes his work as “a cross between foreign and home missions.”
“There are many Buddhists, Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses and other sects on the island,” he said. “Many families know nothing but Buddhism, and it is difficult to talk to them about Christ.”
Gentry said the church supports Filipino and Korean congregations and makes facilities available for them.
Gentry is also teaching English to the Korean pastor and his wife and supervising the pastor at Kapaa, a sister church supported in part by the North American Mission Board.
Gentry has accomplished a number of tasks in a short time. He has set up a church council and established a deacon family ministry in the church. He also preached at a funeral attended by 300-400 people, many of them Buddhists.
“Although there were many Buddhists in the service, I still preached the gospel,” he said. “Who knows what God will do with it?”
Although Gentry’s wife Venita was unable to make the trip with him, he was accompanied by his 10-year-old grandson, Bradley Gentry, who has enrolled in an elementary school on the island.
Bradley said he considers the work in Hawaii with his grandfather “a great adventure,” with the elder Gentry describing his grandson as “an asset to the work here.”
Gentry said Bradley has invited several of the children and adults he has come in contact with to church, including an elderly gentleman who lives around the corner from the church.
“He told me he came because my grandson invited him,” Gentry said. “Bradley is just 10 years old, but his invitation meant a great deal to this man. He has been to church every Sunday since then. I believe [Bradley] has made a difference.”
Gentry said he and Bradley plan to stay in Hawaii until his interim ends June 27. He said he is unsure what he will do after that, but has been asked to stay on longer if the church has not found a pastor by the end of June.
Gentry said there are 17 churches on the islands without pastors and he may consider serving at one of them later.
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