American Baptist International Ministries

Water, a source of sustenance, has been flowing through the life journeys of Duane and Marcia Blinkley from the time they were children growing up in the Cleveland, OH area. They met at Camp Koinonia, an American Baptist camp in Ohio, and after graduation from college, Duane and Marcia were married. (Duane earned a degree in soil and water conservation, and Marcia majored in psychology and sociology.) The Blinkleys applied to become ABC missionaries, and in God’s timing, a new irrigation and water project began among the Karen people in Thailand, which they were assigned to. The result of their labors on the project brought running water to the Karen. In the meantime, the Blinkleys began assisting the Thailand Karen Baptist Convention’s evangelism program. Later, they also worked in the fields of education and administration. As part of his responsibilities, Duane also served on the board of Thailand Burma Border Consortium, an international organization that ministered to Karen refugees who were fleeing from war-torn Burma across the border into Thailand. The Blinkleys made it back to the states where they began meeting Karen refugees who were being resettled in the U.S. Thus began their ministry to the thousands of Karen being resettled in America. Duane says, “Now we minister to refuges in America. And we marvel at how those we minister to also minister to us. Each of us is being refreshed with Living Water as God uses all of us in building His kingdom!” (excerpted from On Location, Autumn 2010)