Ron & Joy Hemsworth

As a child, I trusted Christ as Savior at a five-day Bible club held in my home in Pasco, Washington. Joy grew up in Minnesota, and was also saved as a young child. We met in Bible college and were married in 1985. God gave us five children and, for 26 years, I pastored churches in the Pacific Northwest and Minnesota. During many of these years, I had a part-time job and became skilled in carpentry, maintenance, and emergency medical services.

In 2013 we volunteered at Missionary Acres Retirement Village for a week with a group from our church. Even then, I began to sense that God was calling us to join the staff at Missionary Acres. The next year, we joined Baptist Mid-Missions, sold our home, left the pastorate, and began deputation.

We reached full support and moved to Missionary Acres as new staff members in 2019. We worked in a variety of areas: maintenance and repairs, construction, emergency medical care, office/technology, guest services, and marketing. From 2022 to 2024, I served as the director and Joy was the office coordinator and bookkeeper.

In 2024, we narrowed our focus to advancement for Missionary Acres. We now work out of our home in Oskaloosa, Iowa. We travel to churches, conferences and ministry events as MA representatives and as a missions speaker. We seek to build and strengthen relationships with donors, short-term and long-term volunteers, future staff, and future residents. We stay connected with Missionary Acres via weekly on-line meetings and visits several times a year.