Unstoppable Call to Missions

Veteran AGWM missionaries, Stephen and Karen Jester, are unstoppable. They never give up, whatever the circumstances.
Yet a senseless tragedy in 2014 assaulted their faith and nearly jettisoned their calling.

Nevertheless, the couple will return to Africa next year, when most people their age anticipate retiring. They will train new pastors and leaders in Lomé, Togo, at the West Africa Advanced School of Theology teaching missions and church planting.

Teaching has been a solid linchpin of Stephen Jester’s ministry. His academic credentials include - a B.A. degree in pastoral ministry and evangelism from Southwestern Assemblies of God University (now Nelson University), and a Master of Divinity degree and a Ph.D. in intercultural studies from the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary.

Jester sensed his call to missions while pastoring First Assembly of God in Glenwood, Arkansas. Visiting missionaries had stirred his heart to bring the gospel to unreached people groups.

In 1991 the Jester family, including their three young children, landed in Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone, bordering the Atlantic Ocean in West Africa. About 79 percent of the country’s 8.6 million people follow Islam; 21 percent are Christian.

Their ministry included planting churches, teaching at Evangel Bible College in Freetown, and supporting local evangelists conducting tent crusades attracting hundreds of children. Many Muslim children had accepted Christ.

They stayed until 1997 when a civil war ravaged the country. Rebel gangs from Liberia joined in the fighting and raided Sierra Leone’s diamond mines. Boys as young as 12 years old staffed military checkpoints flashing automatic (AK-47) assault rifles. Nightly gunfire frightened families. Rebels invaded villages torturing adults and children. 

Eventually mission agencies had to leave the country. The Jesters moved to Senegal as part of an English-speaking (anglophone) team of six AG missionaries representing The Gambia, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Ghana. They focused on planting churches, supporting local pastors, hosting leadership conferences, and working with Africa’s Children.

The Jesters returned to the U.S. in 2000, serving the next 14 years in various missions roles with Life Publishers, Africa Harvest, and Africa's Hope.  

Jester honors the faith of African Christians who serve under harsh conditions, and at times, severe persecution.

During a seminar in the Republic of the Congo, many of the 40-50 pastors walked miles to attend. When the meeting ended, the missionary speaker who preached on suffering invited hurting pastors to come forward for prayer. After 10 responded and nine returned to their seats, one stood alone, bowing his head. Burdened for the man, Jester embraced him for personal prayer. The Congolese pastor collapsed into his arms, weeping uncontrollably.

Jester learned that he had walked 30 miles to the meeting and his wife and children had been recently killed by rebels raiding his village and destroying his home. The pastor refused to flee. Instead, he invited eight children orphaned by the fighting to live with him in his church.

“When I see what pain my brothers endure for the gospel, my own efforts and experiences seem so small,” Jester says. “They have been beaten, stoned, disowned by families, and jailed, but refuse to give up and continue preaching Jesus and planting churches.”

Then on Dec. 7, 2014, the Jester’s own world imploded. Their son Benjamin, 30 years-old and raised on the mission field in West Africa, was murdered.

Benjamin ran a successful painting business in Springfield, Missouri, yet struggled with ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) issues and random drug use. Devastated by their loss, the Jesters almost froze in despair. “I was extremely depressed and angry. How could God have let this happen?” Stephen Jester admits.

Professional Christian counseling did not work initially, until he connected with the right person who gave him permission to vent his real feelings, the first steps in recovery.

Needing time and space to heal, the couple resigned from AGWM and left Springfield to help their son Jacob plant Compel Church in Glendale, Arizona, a suburb near Phoenix. Stephen also worked for an insurance company handling disability claims.

“We learned that God’s ways are not our ways,” he says. “God knew our pain and he did not abandon us. Slowly and surely, we trusted him and his plans for us.”

Yet their continued burden for the people of Africa will lead them back to the continent in 2025.

Jacob Jester, 43, reflects the holy determination of his parents and their burden for Africa. He and his wife Kristin, 40, were appointed AGWM missionaries in 2019 and founded Africa Call as a mobilization and advocacy group for new missionaries.

He sees a strategic opportunity for the Holy Spirit to impact the continent’s 1.4 billion people with the youngest population in the world; 70% in the sub-Saharan region are under the age of 30.

“Our goal is recruiting 200 new AG missionaries within the next 10 years,” he says. “We want to lead a team to mobilize the next generation to plant a healthy church within walking distance of every African.”