RICHMOND, Va. (BP)—Jordanian authorities are investigating the death of Cheryll Harvey, a Texan whose body was discovered Sept. 4 in her apartment in Irbid, Jordan. Foul play has been confirmed in the death of the 55-year-old representative of the Southern Baptist Convention's International Mission Board.
Cheryll Harvey
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Harvey served the Jordanian people 24 years, teaching English and other subjects in connection with the Jordan Baptist Society.
"Cheryll was greatly loved by both our personnel in North Africa and the Middle East and by her many students," said IMB President Tom Elliff. "We are faced once again with a sobering reminder of the brevity of life and the importance of faithfully serving the Lord to the very end of our time on earth. Cheryll has left for us a great example that we should follow.
"She … will always be remembered for her quiet and unassuming spirit, as well as her passion for sharing the Good News."
Harvey was a member of College Heights Baptist Church in Plainview and grew up attending First Baptist Church in Sudan, in northwest Texas.
She had been back to speak at First Baptist Church in Sudan on several occasions during furloughs.
“She was a wonderful lady,” Pastor Robert Roecker said. “She was very soft spoken. When you hear the words ‘meek and mild,’ they applied to her, but she had a such an obviously strong faith in God, it was amazing.”
“She was very well liked in by the people in our church, and we’re all just in shock,” he said.
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Pastor Don Robertson of College Heights Baptist Church in Plainview said Harvey made reference to the danger she lived in during her last message to the Plainview church where she once served as a children’s worker.
“She knew she was putting her life on the line, but she also knew she was doing what God wanted her to, so she didn’t care. She wasn’t going to let anyone scare her away from those people she loved so dearly,” he said.
While acknowledging Harvey’s mild temperament, Robertson said she had a steel to her when she was convinced she was doing the right thing.
“Anything she set her mind to do, you better get not get in her way because she was going to do it.”
Robertson said he also is praying that the fruits of Harvey’s ministry will continue to unfold.
“If she could have chosen where she died, I believe it would have been there with those people she loved. I’m praying that somehow something will happen over there even through her death, and that something good can come from this.
“She was a wonderful lady,” he said. “She deserves all the plaudits that can come her way.”
Family and colleagues in the United States have been notified and await word about the circumstances surrounding her death. Harvey is survived by two brothers who reside in Texas.
"As with any event such as this, it is imperative that we remember Cheryll's surviving family members and friends, and that we lift them up in prayer during these days," Elliff said. "We best honor her by giving honor to the Lord whom she so faithfully served."
Staff Writer George Henson contributed to this report.
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