Oryn Gene Meinerts

April 23, 1937 ~ May 22, 2024

Oryn G. Meinerts, 87, George, IA, died Wednesday, May 22, 2024, at the Good Samaritan Home in George.

Visitation will be 5-7pm, Tuesday, May 28, 2024, at the Tabernacle Baptist Church, George, IA. Funeral Services will begin at 10:30am, Wednesday, May 29, also at Tabernacle Baptist Church. Burial with Military Honors will follow at Evergreen Lawn Cemetery. A Livestream link to watch live or in the archives is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SHylp7yErU

Oryn Gene Meinerts was born on April 23, 1937, in a snowstorm in rural South Dakota to his parents, farmer Jacob and Sunday School Teacher, Rudolphine Meinerts. Four years later, his sister, Alvah Rose, joined them. The family was active in the First Baptist Church of Emery and when Oryn was 8 years old, he accepted Christ at a revival service. Oryn went to Emery Schools through 8^th grade and then decided that was enough school. For a year, he herded cattle on the roadside. Then the school superintendent visited him and his parents and they decided, he would continue school. He did through high school, college at Augustana and Dakota Wesleyan in Mitchell, and the North American Baptist Seminary in Sioux Falls. During college he served in the SD Air National Guard, for 6 years.

When finishing his Master’s degree in 1964, he was single and did not feel good about going into a pastorate as such.  He was offered a job with the North American Baptist Missions Department as a Missionary to Cameroon and gladly accepted that.  He was immediately ordained by his home church and entered missionary service in Cameroon.  He served as a teacher and principal of a high school, field missionary, national director of evangelism in the Cameroon Baptist Convention, church planter, interim senior church pastor, and for 27 years, as Field Director.  During his tenure of service, he had the privilege of seeing the National Cameroon Baptist Convention grow from a body of 250 to 800 churches and from 12,000 to 80,000 members.  His service on the field was interrupted from 1982 to 1985 by doctoral studies at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, where he earned his Doctorate of Missiology, and administrative duties in the International Missions Department of the North American Baptist Conference.  In 2001, Oryn was decorated by the Republic of Cameroon with a medal: “Knight of the Cameroon Order of Merit”, the highest honor given by the Cameroon Government to any civilian.

Oryn also met his future wife, Patricia Anne, who was serving as a nurse midwife in the same organization. They continued to meet at various mission conferences and eventually got married on furlough, on August 10, 1968, and continued to serve together in Cameroon for over 30 years. He was always thinking ahead, preparing for the next steps and he liked things to go well. He was willing to work hard to achieve this.

Oryn stated his life purpose as follows: By the grace of God, through faith in Jesus Christ and in the power of the Holy Spirit, I will strive to be a person of integrity and faithfully endeavor to fulfill the Great Commandment and the Great Commission, thereby partnering with Jesus Christ in building up His Church, both local and universal, and advancing His kingdom in the world. This he did as proven by the work he did after returning from missionary service. The Meinerts’ finally came home from Cameroon in 2001 and in 2003, Oryn accepted a position with the Tabernacle Baptist Church as Pastor to the Seniors until 2022 when he fully retired.

Oryn’s memory will remain with his wife, Pat; his sister, Alvah; and many relatives and friends from the United States and Cameroon.

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