As told by Carrie Liles
The Kenneth D. Liles family story would not be complete without mentioning his parents, Ralph and Ruth Liles. In the fall of 1950, when Baptist Bible College opened its doors at High Street Baptist Church, Springfield, Missouri, Ralph Liles was in that first class. Ruth audited many classes. Dad Liles had answered God’s call to ministry under Lester Singleton, Ramseur Baptist Church, Paris, Texas. He graduated in 1953 in the first class that went all the way through BBC.
After ministries in Bowling Green, Kentucky, and Lewisville, Texas, around 1960, all four of their children, Linda Burgess Capella (attended in ’61), Kenneth Liles (’64 and ’80), Kay Liles Beall (’72), and Paulette Liles Walker (’77) and Dalton Walker (’80) went to BBC. All are attending church or serving in full-time ministries.
Grandpa and Grandma Grape, as the great-grandkids call them, worked in full-time ministry until they retired in 2000 with grandpa at 80 years of age. They now faithfully attend West Division St. Baptist Church, pastored by Charlie Bell (’87).
One of the children, Kenneth D. Liles, surrendered to be a missionary to Pakistan while still a teenager. The rest is a part of his story.
Ken married Carylon Morgan (’67 and ’86) in 1964 and did an internship under Lon Stewart (’56) in Chicago, Illinois. They were approved as missionaries to Pakistan in September 1966. After trying to enter the country from the United States, they attempted to enter Pakistan via Iran. After dozens of trips to the Pakistani embassy, they were refused, so they remained in Iran. Little did they know they would be there for more than a decade and that God, through the language and knowledge they gained in Iran, was preparing the Liles for “such a time as this” in the 21st century.
In 1979, with the war, the doors closed and God again changed their direction. Carrie has been affectionately called a gypsy — because she decided God knew better than she and goes with Ken wherever God leads.
Upon leaving Iran, BBC invited Ken to teach in the missions department until the war ended and there was stability. Thus, they have never been able to return. During his 13-year tenure at BBC, Ken developed 32 hours of mission courses and Carrie developed 12 for the ladies. Ken also chaired the department before moving on to Topeka, Kansas, to pastor South Knollwood Baptist Church. They were reinstated as RAN workers in 2000.
Ken and Carrie continued raising their six children here in the United States. All six went to BBC. David (’87 ) and Tonya Liles Williams (’91) are missionaries in Lima, Peru: Daniel attended from 1985-86 and is in music ministry in Plano, Texas; Mychelle Liles Garrison (’93) and Brian Garrison (’94) are team missionaries in Lima Peru; Jonathan (’95) and his wife, Rebecca Hillenberg Liles, (’99), are missionaries to Rome, Italy; Rebecca Liles Day (’98) and Eric Day (’98) work with Berean Baptist Church, Pastor David Mills (’00, ’02, ’07), Mesquite Texas; and Ruth Anne Liles Doss (’01) and her husband, Steve (’01 and ’04), are youth ministers at Antioch Bible Baptist Church, Gladstone, Missouri, pastored by Bob Baier (’79). As of this writing, there are 20 grandchildren 13 years and under.
“We are so thankful for what the college taught us through the discipline of classes and homework. They helped instill character into our lives. In this article, there are 22 former students of BBC connected to our family, including four pastors and five mates of our children. This does not include all of the other relatives who also attended or graduated. That is a lot of influence.
And now…we are praying for the fourth generation of Liles to live their lives to honor the Lord and prepare to serve Him if He calls. We are thankful for BBC, and highly recommend it as a viable Bible college to train future missionaries and pastors for tomorrow,” says Carrie.