Portrait of Douglas Knapp. IMB Photo
Douglas Knapp, an International Mission Board missionary emeritus who shared the gospel in Tanzania, died April 8, 2026. He was 99.
Doug was born March 1, 1927, in Lakeland, Florida, to the late Edson W. Knapp and Louisa M. Knapp. He graduated from H.B. Plant High School in Tampa, Florida, and received the Bachelor of Science from the University of Florida in Gainesville and the Master of Science from Ohio State University in Columbus. He attended Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Kansas City, Missouri.
In 1945, Doug enlisted in the U.S. Navy and served in the Philippines. He was discharged in 1946 and immediately began his college education. He married Evelyn Brizzi on Aug. 27, 1948. In 1950, Doug and Evelyn moved to Tampa to manage his father’s flower farm. Doug also taught adult evening classes in horticulture through local vocational schools. They moved in 1953 to Miami, where Doug worked as a salesman for Swift and Company. In 1954, while attending Missions Night during the Southern Baptist Convention, they sensed God’s leading toward agricultural missions and interviewed with Elmer West, the foreign mission personnel secretary. Seminary requirements kept them from moving forward at that time.
In 1955, Doug took a position as agricultural extension worker in horticulture at the Miami county agent’s office, where he organized and taught courses in horticulture, conducted a daily 15-minute TV program, ‘City Farmer,’ and wrote a column for the local newspaper. In the summers, he served as a tour conductor for various horticultural tours. In 1960, he accepted a sales position with Geigy Chemical Corporation.
While seeking missionary appointment, Doug wrote, “In the summer of 1962 our family attended Ridgecrest with our pastor, Dr. John Wheeler, and his wife. I went with a strong sense of searching for God’s will. During the week, God seemed to be speaking to me through many of the messages and through private conversation with various people. I began to realize that he was leading me toward some type of Christian educational work. As I prayed about the matter, I had the definite impression that there would be something in the mail waiting when I got home which would reveal God’s will.
“When I arrived home, there was a letter from Dr. West, asking if I would still be interested in appointment as a full-time missionary teaching in one of our schools overseas. Surely this was God’s answer to my prayer! … God has continued to lead in a wonderful way, and I am convinced that ‘All things work together for good to them that love the Lord.’”
In 1963, the International Mission Board appointed Doug and Evelyn missionaries to Tanzania, where they served in agricultural ministries, planted churches and led many people to saving faith in Christ during a time of unprecedented spiritual growth for the Tanzanian church. They later wrote about their experiences in the book Thunder in the Valley: The Amazing Spiritual Harvest in Tanzania.
Doug was preceded in death by his wife of 64 years, Evelyn Knapp; his son, Walter Henry Knapp, and his daughter, Suzanne Groce.
He is survived by his sons, Richard Knapp, Seale, Alabama, and Edson Knapp, Homer, Alaska; 16 grandchildren, 34 great-grandchildren; and one great-great-granddaughter.
A funeral service was held May 16 at Hamlett-Dobson Funeral Homes, Kingsport, Tennessee, with burial in Oak Hill Memorial Park & Mausoleum, Kingsport.
Read an obituary here.