The three slain missionaries, from left: Physician Martha Myers, hospital administrator William Koehn and purchasing agent Kathleen Gariety.
Tuesday, December 31, 2002 - The slayings of three Baptist missionaries Monday in Yemen stiffened the resolve of the group that sent them to work across an often-hostile world.
The murders - apparently at the hands of a Muslim militant who slipped into the missionaries' hospital cradling a rifle as if it were a child - marked the second recent attack on American missionaries in the Middle East.
But rather than retreat, leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention - and other groups in the growing evangelical hub north of Colorado Springs - said they will work around new obstacles that range from deadly traffic in teeming cities to hostile surveillance.
A missionary's task "is one that the world really needs now. It's a world full of danger and hate and evil. But there is a God who loves people. We are committed to taking that message all over the world," said Wendy Norvelle, spokeswoman for...