Joe Lemon

Joe Lemon grew up in a small town in Wisconsin where he received religious training at a Lutheran church. After being confirmed at the age of 14, Joe soon turned away from having any religious desires. He got a job out of high school and then tried college for a semester. Figuring that neither one of these was really for him, Joe enlisted in the United States Air Force.

Eventually, Joe received an assignment to South Korea. Here he was given a gospel tract that separated all of his religious training as a youth from true salvation as taught in the Bible. At a servicemen's center after a Sunday evening service, Joe received Christ as his personal Savior. A few months after being saved Joe surrendered to the call to preach.

Shortly after answering the call to preach, Joe received an unexpected deployment to Alaska. It was here that God brought Joe into contact with Kristin who would become his wife and return to South Korea with him for his last one-year tour of duty. This last tour ended with an assignment to Anchorage, Alaska, where the Lemons began attending Independent Baptist Church led by Pastor Stan Roach.

While at Independent Baptist Church, God spoke to Joe about surrendering to the mission field. Upon surrendering, Joe was given an early discharge from the military for medical reasons and after much prayer and wise counsel came to Fairhaven Baptist College in the fall of 1999.

Joe came to Fairhaven intent on following the advice of Pastor Roach to "get everything you can get and give back everything you learn." Thus Joe has not only striven to take good notes and file them but also has served in the ministries of Fairhaven Baptist Church. During his college years, Joe has been involved in Awanas, a bus route, Saturday soul winning, nursing home, and second grade Sunday School. Involvement in these ministries, Joe says, helped him learn how to balance compassion with biblical wisdom.

Although college life has been difficult at times for a married student with three children (Abigail, Joseph Jr., and Jonathan), Joe says the key that keeps him from quitting is that he came with an understanding of God's will for his life. In knowing God's will, he realizes that nothing he has encountered at college has been a surprise to God, so all he needs to do is trust God and be faithful.

Joe graduates in May, and he is planning to return to Independent Baptist Church in Anchorage. He is seriously praying about returning to South Korea to work in the military ministry there.