Butch and Leatha Jenkins
Butch and Leatha Jenkins have served in Papua New Guinea on work teams, as volunteers, and as global workers since 1979. They retired in 2021—Leatha at the end of April and Butch at the end of October.
Butch was born into the home of a pastor, the last of six children. Leatha grew up on a farm in central Ohio. They met at Circleville Bible College, now Ohio Christian University, and were married in 1974.
In 1979, Butch had an opportunity to go on a work team to Papua New Guinea. Their eyes were opened to a people half a world away. Within a few years, the Jenkins applied to go back to PNG full-time and spent ten years as global workers there. The highlights of those years for Leatha were teaching MK school and village children’s courses, and for Butch, training carpenters to help build approximately thirty local churches.
Butch and Leatha returned to the States in 1994 to support their children as they were getting their education and starting families. They began organizing work teams to WGM fields, including teams from OCU while serving as Student Involvement Directors.
Once again, on a work team, God renewed His calling, and the couple were on a plane back to PNG in 2011. This time, besides building projects, they focused on being a support to the younger global worker families, organizing a traveling bookstore, Bible storytelling, investing in local people, and initiating media cards with Bibles and songs in three languages.