Two retired International Mission Board missionaries from Alabama passed away recently.
John Martz, a Southern Baptist missionary in South Africa for 17 years, died Sept. 22 after a battle with cancer. He was 59.
Helen Sherer, an emeritus Southern Baptist missionary to Japan, died the following day. She was 81.
Martz, a native of Birmingham, and his wife, the former Sarah Mays of Birmingham, were appointed by the Foreign Mission Board (now International Mission Board) in 1986. He served as a general evangelist in Namibia and, since February 2000, South Africa.
Martz was a graduate of Samford University in Birmingham and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky. Prior to missionary service, he was pastor of Liberty Baptist Church in Morris (North Jefferson Association), New Liberty Baptist Church in Kentucky and Bethel Baptist church in Tennessee.
Martz is survived by his wife and two children.
Sherer, a native of East St. Louis, Ill., lived in Birmingham with her husband, Robert C. Sherer. Now members of Mountain Brook Baptist Church, they were appointed by the Foreign Mission Board (now International Mission Board) in 1948. The Sherers served as general evangelists in Kobe, Japan, where they held home Bible fellowships. She directed a nationwide ministry for international families, participated in team pioneer evangelism projects through Kobe-West Church, taught conversational English and cooking classes and conducted weekday ministries to schoolchildren and women. The couple retired in 1984 with a total of 32 years of overseas ministry.
Sherer was a graduate of William Jewell College in Liberty, Mo., and Central Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Kan. She is survived by her husband; three children and six grandchildren. She was preceded in death by a daughter and a granddaughter.
(BP, IMB)
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