Refugee children sprawled in the dust of a Senegalese camp touched Doug West’s heart, and he reached out his hand to them not just once, but four times in short-term mission trips.

He and his wife Carrie planned to return again this fall to spend two months in Senegal. They were to have assisted with the international refugee center there as well as with other projects. But Doug West died Aug. 3 on another mission trip, this one in London.

“He just lived full out for God; that was his consuming passion,” said Jean Krause, secretary for 25 years at Jefferson (Ore.) Baptist Church, where the West family were members. “When he received a call for help from our missionary friend, Tom Ward, even though he wasn’t feeling 100 percent, he didn’t hesitate a minute about wanting to go.”

At one point West cancelled his mission trip to London , which had been set up to help with a prayerwalk for Conservative Baptist Missionaries Barbara and Tom Ward, but then his health improved, and he decided to proceed.

West had just finished praying July 31 at Woodgrange Baptist Church in East London when he crumpled to the ground. Life support was removed after his wife and their children – Rebecca, Joel and Mackenzie – arrived and received the results of a second cat scan, which showed no brain activity. The London hospital gave 3 a.m. Aug. 3 as West’s time of death.

“Doug and Carrie came here only months after we arrived in 1998 to help us focus on prayer before outward ministry began,” said Barbara Ward in recalling West’s impact on their lives. “They were a part of the foundation of this ministry, and then Doug came two other times to help with short-term teams in continuing the focus on prayer.”

Doug had left July 27 for his fourth London mission trip. His specific destination was a one-square-mile “patch” populated for the most part by about 35,000 South Asian people from Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. It’s a community with at least 10 mosques and Islamic learning centers.

The activities planned by the Wards, to be undergirded by the prayers of West and other prayerwalkers from Bethany Baptist Church in Peoria, Ill., were to build relationships among children from Sikh, Hindu and Muslim homes in the “patch.”

Despite the personal sadness of West’s passing, the mission project continued, Barbara Ward reported.

“None of the week was cancelled,” she said. “Everyone has pulled together in amazing ways. Either Tom or I were with the [West] family most of the time, but the others on the team have kept things together and the Lord is blessing their faithfulness.”

Prayerwalking the area known as “Little Pakistan” takes place mornings, afternoons and evenings. Holiday Clubs akin to backyard Bible clubs take place in the afternoon. In the evenings they have a Party in the Park.

“Doug knew the real work of missions is prayer,” Ward said. “We and Doug believe in the power of prayer and the impact God makes when we pray. Doug was passionate about getting people to pray and to see God at work as we partner with Him.”

West’s belief in and reliance on prayer spread out from his personal time with God each day, to his church, where he facilitated a prayer team, and to Corban College, where he started and led a noontime prayer each Wednesday.

A handwritten note he’d posted to a classroom door before he left on his London mission trip – PRAYER HERE WEDNESDAY NOON – brought tears to the eyes of some who saw it the day his death was announced.

“Our noon prayer time was a very meaningful time,” said Virginia Cross, chair of the music department. “We were blessed by our encounter by God and encouraged by each other. Today was a good time of remembering Doug and praying for his family and praying for the work he did at the college.

“He was a mighty man of prayer and a godly man who had a great influence on a great number of people,” Cross continued. “I think Doug helped us train students to make a difference in the world for Christ because he helped people of my generation connect more effectively with 18- and 19-year-olds. I think his work was very valuable to the college in helping students get a good start in going to college.”

Memorial services were held Aug. 23 at Camp Tadmor.

-By Karen L. Willoughby