Forrest Critser, full of faith and bravado, stood before his church youth choir and announced, “If any of you girls want to go steady with me, catch this.” Then he threw his class ring over his shoulder.

Sally met and fell in love with Dickie Moore at her small town church in Mulberry, Florida. Together, they shared 60 years of marriage, faithfully serving in ministry while raising their four children.

More than 50 years ago, Michael was working a government job in Tennessee when he felt a clear tug in a different direction. “I knew God was calling me to preach,” he says. So, he left his job and headed to seminary with his wife Sandra and their toddler.

Sara Palmer and Shirley Dismukes met in the 1950s at Headland Avenue Baptist Church in Dothan, Alabama. Shirley was dating Robert Dismukes, and Sara, Robert’s cousin, was being pursued by George Palmer. All four were young, in love and stepping into lives of ministry.

At age 17, Sam Parsons felt God’s call to preach. Growing up in a preacher’s home in North Carolina, he had known the Lord since childhood, but in 1966, he renewed his faith during a Billy Graham crusade. That summer, he stood before his church and declared that God was calling him to carry the Gospel wherever the Lord led.

Betty still remembers 1978, the year she and her husband, Paul, left Taiwan with their two little girls to follow God’s call to plant a Mandarin-speaking mission church in Los Angeles.

For 51 years, Brenda and Jim Collins lived a beautiful love story that unfolded in small church sanctuaries across Arkansas, Missouri and Oklahoma. It wasn’t just a marriage; it was a ministry partnership that touched countless lives.

After years of running a successful business, Larry Fackler surrendered to full-time ministry, a decision that led to more than three decades of faithful service across the Pacific Northwest, Missouri and Texas.

Growing up on a farm in Missouri, she often told others just that. So, when a young preacher named Henry came to her rural church, she prayed, “Lord, I’d sure like to iron that man’s shirts.” By that summer, they were married.

In 1978, two young hearts met while serving at a hospital in Haiti built by missionaries. Lise and Jean did not know that moment would begin a ministry spanning decades from Haiti to Miami and eventually to Orlando, where their Haitian Baptist church began in their own living room.

Randall Ingram pastored churches across Alabama and Florida for more than 50 years. His wife, Patricia, served alongside him while also working in banking to support their household. Like many faithful servants, they followed where the Lord led — often in small congregations with limited financial means.

With many years of seeing faithful pastors and staff leave churches (by their choice or others’) and struggle to find housing and basic essentials, Pastor Russell Adams and his wife Susie were always avid supporters of Mission:Dignity.