Celebrating the Life of Doug Priest Sr.

Doug Priest Sr., a faithful servant in God’s mission and a long-time CMF missionary, passed away on Sunday, January 2.

Doug, his wife Marge, and their two kids, Doug Jr. and Janice, left for Ethiopia in 1966 where they served with the CMF team there working in church planting and evangelism and operating a number of health clinics. In 1977, the Marxist revolution forced the evacuation of all missionary presence in the country, so Doug and Marge relocated to Kenya, where they began producing radio programs that were beamed into Ethiopia. They served there faithfully until 1993 when they returned to their home in Oregon and continued to produce teaching and training tapes.

Marge shared that her husband “spent over 30 years as a missionary in Ethiopia and Kenya where he did many jobs such as Bible teaching in homes of Ethiopian nationals, going by mules or horse back on trails to teach God’s Word to people hearing this message for the first time. He sewed up wounds, and many similar types of care where no doctors existed. While in Kenya, he wrote and produced Bible lessons which were translated and voiced by Ethiopian refugees and broadcast back into Ethiopia over the radio waves.”

In 1993, Doug and Marge returned to the original area of Ethiopia where they had served before the Marxist revolution and were able to reflect on the people who came to Christ because of their team’s work. Doug said that “I saw personally, yes, we did leave a lasting impression on the people. The fact that there are now many churches in places where there were no churches is evidence. Thousands of believers are now worshipping God where there were barely any back in the sixties.” Little did he realize how the gospel would spread through that whole area because of their efforts.

Doug and Marge are among the select group of those honored as CMF Emeriti because of their exceptional service through CMF. Our Executive Director, Kip Lines, shared that he is “thankful for the lives of faithful servants in God’s mission like Doug Priest Sr. The ongoing transformative work of CMF International today is the legacy of these servants.”

We join Marge, the Priest family, former teammates and countless people in Ethiopia who were impacted by Doug’s work, in celebrating his life and legacy.