Portrait of Lewis Wayne Frederick. IMB Photo
Lewis Wayne Frederick, an International Mission Board missionary emeritus who shared the gospel in the French West Indies, France and Bosnia, died May 1, 2025. He was 90.
Wayne was born Nov. 3, 1934, in Shannon, Mississippi, to the late Lemuel Wilbur Frederick and Ruby Irene Snipes Frederick. He graduated from Nettleton (Mississippi) High School and received the Bachelor of Arts from Mississippi College in Clinton and the Master of Religious Education from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, New Orleans, Louisiana.
While seeking missionary appointment he wrote, “While a sophomore in Nettleton High School, I became aware that God was speaking to me. I rededicated my life in a revival that summer, but I soon realized there was something else I needed. By the time I finished high school I was deeply conscious that God was calling me for special service. This awareness was kept alive by Miss Pearl Caldwell, veteran missionary to China and a member of my dad’s church. … I was convicted of the Lord through her many times, when she would say, ‘Aren’t you supposed to be a preacher?’”
During college, while attending student week at Ridgecrest in 1956, he surrendered his life to Christ for full-time service. On Aug. 17, 1960, he married Florence Edith Blush. The following month, he started seminary while serving as pastor of a mission church and working at various part-time jobs. After graduation, he served as pastor at several churches in Mississippi before attending the 1968 Mississippi Baptist Convention where he heard the speaker tell of the needs of the mission field. Wayne and Florence made the decision to seek missionary appointment.
In 1969, the International Mission Board appointed Wayne and Florence missionaries to the French West Indies. He planted and pastored new churches. They later served in France and Bosnia.
Wayne was recently preceded in death by his wife of 64 years, Florence Frederick.
He is survived by his daughters, Edith Wilhite of Blue Springs, Mississippi; Amy Griffin (Eric) of Clayton, North Carolina; Iris Horne (Steve) of Oxford, Mississippi; and Jeanne Curry (David) of Midlothian, Texas; 12 grandchildren and 10 great grandchildren.
A funeral service was held May 4 at Camp Creek Baptist Church in Guntown, Mississippi, with burial in Camp Creek Cemetery.
Read an obituary here.