Zambia Hunt

Louise was a faithful mentor, friend, and prayer warrior to us. She and Darrell “adopted” Lori and me when we joined Independent Faith Mission as missionary appointees to Zaire. 

I first met Darrell and Louise in Atkinson, New Hampshire, in 1986. Pastor Dan Sherman had invited Darrell to preach at the annual missions conference at Pentucket Baptist Church. I remember the afternoon that Pastor Sherman brought Darrell into Barons TV & Appliance, where I was working as a salesman. In that brief conversation, Darrell invited me to travel to Zaire with them in November 1997 – this would be their first time back after being evacuated from the country during the Simba Rebellion in 1964.

In November and December 1997, I traveled for six weeks with Darrell and Louise. By then, I was engaged to Lori, and our wedding was being planned for September of the following year. Lori would later say that her prayer for the time I was away in Zaire was that God would bring me back safely… she did not want our marriage to end before it even began. 

During the month we spent together with the Champlins in Zaire, I watched their fearlessness born from confidence in a God who is all-powerful and ever-present. We spent time together visiting Bob Grings in Kinshasa and then flew with MAF to the interior, where we were picked up by Missionary Steve Bell. Steve drove us further into the interior in a large all-wheel. We drove a Unimog truck, visiting village after village along the way, finally arriving in the village of Longa, along the Sankuru River in Central Zaire.

After returning to the United States, the following August, Lori and I were accepted as missionaries with Independent Faith Mission in Greensboro, NC, the mission where Darrell served as President. During those two weeks of orientation and training, a relationship was forged that would stand the test of time. The Champlins took two young, eager missionaries under their wing, mentored us, counseled us, encouraged us, and prayed for us.

A Missionary Commitment

Louise May Grings was born on June 12, 1928, in Lynn Haven, Florida, to Herbert and Ruth Grings. Shortly after her birth, her parents dedicated her to the Lord in a Presbyterian church, with the service conducted without sprinkling baptism at the consent of the minister.¹ From her earliest days, Louise’s life was set apart within a household deeply committed to gospel work and missionary service.

A Childhood in the Belgian Congo

Herbert Grings writes:

“We had three bicycles. Ruth took little Mark on her bicycle, and I took Bessie and Louise on my bicycle. Bob and Roy rode their one bicycle in relays. The porters followed, and so we started back into the jungles.”²

That first night was spent in a cramped government rest house. The following morning, Christmas Day, the children opened their few presents while villagers looked on. Herbert preached the Christmas story in Lingala, interpreted by the local headman. Louise thus experienced Christmas not as a domestic holiday, but as a public proclamation of Christ among an unreached people.²

The Center of Life

Years later, reflecting on her upbringing, Louise described a home where Scripture shaped every aspect of life. In an interview recorded on the Champlin–Grings Heartbeats blog, she recalled that the Bible was central to their education and spiritual formation:

• The children learned to read using the Bible.
• They memorized five verses per week for approximately 15 years, totaling an estimated 3,750 verses, or roughly 125 chapters of Scripture.
• Each child read through the entire Bible every year in personal devotional time.
• Family worship and early teaching ministry were integral to daily life.³

As the writer summarizes, the children were “truly planted by the rivers of water” from the beginning, knowing the Holy Scriptures from childhood (Ps. 1; 2 Tim. 3:15).³

“We Were Missionaries”

Louise emphasized that the call to missions was understood as a family calling. When counsel was given at one point to send the children back to the United States, the children themselves resisted:

“We are missionaries, we cannot go to the States.”³

They were not spectators to their parents’ calling; they were active participants. Louise later reflected that involving children directly in gospel work enabled them to share in the vision and burden for the lost. This principle, she believed, was a major reason all the Grings children continued in missionary service as adults.³ 

This principle was not lost on Lori and me. We sought to involve all of our children directly and appropriately in the missionary work God gave us in Zambia.

Prayer, Discipline, and Love

Prayer was woven deeply into family life. The children were taught to pray daily in personal devotion, to participate in continual prayer for the needs of those around them, and to observe a monthly day of prayer and fasting. On these days, the family evaluated the labors of the previous month and sought God’s direction for the month ahead. Herbert Grings, later in life, mentioned how he prayed daily for his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.³

When asked about discipline, Louise summarized simply:

“We learned to obey.”³

While biblical discipline was practiced, she noted that it was seldom necessary because obedience was learned early. Though the family lived in dozens of different houses during years of itinerant work, true security did not come from stability of place, but from a prevailing spirit of love within the home.³

Sing and Work

Music played a vital role in the children’s formation. Hundreds of hymns were memorized and sung day and night, even in difficult circumstances. Singing was understood not only as worship but as a spiritual strategy in the midst of frontline gospel work.³

Daily life required constant labor. Louise described “missionary chores” such as washing clothes in the river, carrying water and firewood, caring for animals, and maintaining village life. Though outsiders might view such a childhood with pity, Louise’s perspective was clear:

“They were missionaries, and nothing else mattered.”³

Lori and I learned from Louise and Darrell that all work done in the course of missionary duty should be viewed as our obedient labor for Jesus Christ and of equal value. One task was not more spiritual or garner more reward than another, so long as we do what is our duty in that moment, and carry out the task from a heart of devotion and love for Christ. In war, who is more important, the mechanic who repairs the fighter jet, the man who pumps the tanks full of fuel, or the pilot who maneuvers the aircraft in a dogfight? Each must do his duty to achieve a successful mission.

Suffering, Compassion, and Trust

Sickness and hardship were normal realities. Louise recalled that there was always someone ill – malaria, dysentery, parasites, and the dangers of insect, snake, and scorpion bites were routine. These sufferings, she believed, molded the children into “soldiers of Jesus Christ.”³

Growing up among suffering and neglected people also cultivated deep compassion. Guided by their parents, the children learned to respond to pain and poverty with empathy rather than fear. Missionary life required continual self-denial, including simple food and voluntary poverty for the sake of the gospel, lessons Louise believed were essential in shaping character and submission to God’s will.³

Above all, Louise testified that God was experienced as living and active. The children witnessed His protection in dangerous encounters, His provision in times of hunger, and His timely deliverance from storms and threats. For them, God was not merely taught, He was known.³

Final Homegoing

Louise May Grings Champlin went to be with the Lord Jesus Christ in December 17, 2025, at the age of 97. According to her son, Jonathan Champlin, she passed away peacefully, rejoicing to be reunited with her husband, Darrell, and to spend Christmas in the presence of her Savior. She was remembered as one who dearly loved the Lord and who faithfully testified throughout her life to Christ’s love, death, and resurrection. ⁴

Funeral services were held on Tuesday, December 23, with a public service at 2:00 p.m., followed by burial at 4:00 p.m. Louise was laid to rest at Moengo, Suriname, among the people she and her husband had served and loved for many years. In keeping with local Christian custom, believers also gathered the evening prior for a singi neti (song night), a time of testimonies and congregational singing. Jonathan Champlin preached during this service, and Pastor Abana, pastor of the church at Ricanau Moffo and a man trained years earlier by Louise’s husband, Darrell, preached the funeral service.

These gatherings drew many from the surrounding community, including individuals who had not yet placed their trust in Christ. The services thus bore witness once more to the gospel Louise had lived to proclaim—a fitting testimony at the close of a life committed to gospel advance among the least reached.

Final Thoughts

For us, an era has come to an end. I am grateful for the life and ministry of Darrell and Louise Champin. Though Darrell preceded Louise to heaven in 2015, she would remain faithful to her calling, serving her people in Suriname, South America, until ill health kept her bedridden. 

What would be her last email to us before losing her health was written to us from Surname in 2022 at the age of 94. She concluded her email with these words:

“Sorry! It’s taken this long to get the reply back to you, but I am resting in the certainty that God is in charge and He will bring His will to pass.  My life is an assurance of this, so I’ll just keep on TRUSTING and RESTING in Him!  

Again, THANKS SO MUCH for your LOVE and PRAYERS, and sending mine,  

Louise Champlin⁵

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Sources

1. Herbert Ernest Grings, The Autobiography of Herbert E. Grings: His Testimony and Missionary Service in the Belgian Congo, Kindle ed., p. 38.
2. Herbert Ernest Grings, The Autobiography of Herbert E. Grings, Kindle ed., pp. 53–54.
3. “Principles that Mold Missionary Children,” Champlin–Grings Heartbeats blog, interview with Louise Grings Champlin, https://champlin-gringsheartbeats.blogspot.com.
4. Jonathan Champlin, personal communication announcing the death and funeral arrangements of Louise Champlin, December 2025.
5. Email correspondence with Louise Champlin, August 22, 2022

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