Mike Kinner has served in missions with the Church of God (Anderson, Indiana) for more than 23 years in several capacities. He and his wife, Debbie, first went to Kobe, Japan, as special assignment missionaries where they taught English as a second language and ministered in a local congregation. After returning to the States for additional education, Mike served as the warehouse and shipping clerk for that mission agency for a year and a half. In the summer of 1981, the Kinners were commissioned to go to Hong Kong as church-planting missionaries where they served until 1991. At that time, Mike was asked to take the assignment as regional coordinator for the Asia/Pacific region, which he continued through 2000. God led Mike in another direction in 2001 when he began a four-year assignment with World Gospel Mission, serving as program coordinator for Men With Vision.
Following the call God placed in his heart as a teenager to serve in missions, Mike became aware of the opportunity to minister with OMS International in the central region of the United States. His ministry takes him to churches in the northern part of the region, which includes Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin.
Mike graduated from Anderson College (now Anderson University) in 1976 with a bachelor of arts degree in religious studies/Bible. Debbie graduated in the same year with a bachelor of arts degree in social work. The Kinners returned from Japan in 1978 at which time Mike enrolled in the Anderson University School of Theology. He graduated in 1982 with his master of divinity degree with a concentration in Christian missions. While in Hong Kong, Mike studied the Cantonese language at Chinese University’s Yale-in-China Chinese Language Institute, from which he earned a diploma in 1984. Just prior to going to Hong Kong, Mike was ordained into the ministry of the Church of God in November 1981. Mike and Debbie continue their Church of God involvement in a variety of ways through their local congregation in Anderson, Indiana.
By God’s grace, Mike looks forward to the challenge of serving Him in missions through another channel. He is excited to see what God will do in and through the lives and ministries of missionaries and churches as they partner together to take the message of the love of God to a world that desperately needs to accept and embrace it. He is eager to assist the missionaries and churches as they develop those ministry relationships.
Debbie has a master’s degree in education. She now teaches sixth grade in Lapel, Indiana, as well as a master’s level class in education at Anderson University. The Kinners have three children. Scott and his wife, Janna, reside in Loveland, Colorado, where Scott is an editor at Group Publishing, and Janna is a master of social work student. Chad and his wife, Ashley, reside in Nashville, Tennessee, where Chad is a drummer for a number of Christian music artists, and Ashley is an art education student. Christie is a senior at Anderson University, majoring in athletic training/sports medicine.
Life Verse: 1 Peter 3:15 “But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be ready to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,” (NIV)
Missionary ID #802333
