BY CANDICE GOFF

JOSEPH L CANNON was an unlikely figure to become a global missionary. He spent his early years in a gang in Canada. Yet, God broke into Joe's life, changed his heart, and gave him a calling that would take him to four foreign mission fields over 60 years.

It was 1947, shortly after WWII, that Joe and his first wife, Rosabelle, began mission work in Japan. Then, in 1971, Joe and Rosabelle moved their family to PNG. Over a 13-year period they established several schools including the Melanesian Bible College in Lae.

After the death Rosabelle, Joe married Betty Dollar. Betty had left full-time work in Memphis to do mission work in the Ukraine in the 1990s. She laboured there for years and was joined by Joe in 2002. Few have given their lives to strangers like Joe and Betty.

They were recently honoured by the congregation at Highland Church of Christ in Cordova for their years of mission work in Japan, PNG and Ukraine.

Source: Memphis Commercial Appeal