Eleven years ago, Earl Witmer suffered a heart attack. Lying in the emergency room at 2:30 a.m., he greeted friend and pastor Dick Cain by removing his oxygen mask and saying: “Dick, if this is my time, I am ready to go meet my Lord.” That day wasn’t God’s time for Earl. But, Monday, September 7, at 11:30 a.m. was God’s time. Earl was ready.

Although Earl’s physical heart faltered with age, his spiritual heart was young and vibrant to the end. One friend observes, “In the last few years, when others his age would be enjoying retirement, Earl became a leader and trainer of Stephen Ministers at our church.” Earl’s heart of mission and care characterized his entire 81 years of life.

Born in 1928 to a family immersed in Mennonite tradition, Earl graduated from Lancaster Mennonite High School in 1945. He continued his education at Grace College and received his M.Div. from Grace Theological Seminary in 1958. After a brief time of study at the University of Indiana in Bloomington, Earl joined the staff of Child Evangelism Fellowship in Grand Rapids, Mich. Eventually, this move to Michigan led to the Reformed Presbyterian Church (RPC), Evangelical Synod, where Earl served as director of the Board of Home Ministries.

When the RPC joined the Presbyterian Church in America in 1982, Earl brought his compassionate leadership to the PCA’s Committee on Administration. Earl presided over the Herculean task of bringing all the PCA’s agencies together under one roof, leading to the purchase of the first PCA headquarters building. 

Following their move to Atlanta, Earl and his wife, Marguerite, joined the fledgling Intown Community Church. Intown’s founding pastor, Bob Cargo, remembers the humility with which Earl came alongside the young church: “Though he served with a pastor and fellow elders young enough to be his sons, he served with humility and a servant’s heart. His legacy in the church extends primarily from two areas: a missional heart, believing that Christ is for all the world, and a pastoral heart to care for every individual and family who found a home at Intown.”

This sentiment is echoed by the multitudes influenced by Earl. “Earl has been one of the true ‘father figures’ amongst a tribe of youngsters that has been Intown over the years,” says Intown ruling elder, Jim Wert. “For me personally, Earl has been an example of what lifelong commitment looks like: to Jesus, to his wife and family, and to his co-laborers in the gospel.”

Earl will be missed not only by his wife of 61 years, three surviving children, 11 grandchildren, and a great-grandchild born last year, but by hundreds of people who experienced his heart of mission and care. Believers around the world mourning Earl’s death share the sentiments of Intown ruling elder Kevin Wade, who says, “We can only hope that God will allow us to leave a legacy like Earl’s.”