These photos—the winners of our 2019 Missionary Photo Contest—were entirely unplanned. Months of organization, discussion, and logistics didn’t create these moments. They were unexpected gifts of beauty, and we are thrilled to share them with you. 

’Light in the Darkness,’ by K.Z., undisclosed location

K.Z. and his wife have been in ministry for 16 years. They recently were forced out of the area where they had been working. He took this photo in the Kazan Cathedral in St. Petersburg.

“When I saw this young lady, the moment seemed perfect from a photographer's perspective (the light, the reflection of the candles, the side-lit face), and then her sincerity. She placed her candle and was so intent, so focused in that moment of prayer.

“I don't know what she was there for, who she was remembering, what she was going through, but I myself was in the midst of grief from a recent set of huge losses in my life, so I was drawn into this scene. I was praying as I captured scenes in the church, and asking the God who hears to open my eyes to his unending mercies that come through the Son.”

’Found While Lost,’ by A.K. in Taiwan

’Otherworldly,’ by John Edwards in Japan 

John’s main ministry is directing  D House Sendai , a discipleship-focused missions exploration program. He and his wife, Susan, also serve at Tsubamesawa Church. They have been in Japan since 1993 and in Sendai since 2013 — they moved there about two years after the earthquake and tsunami that devastated the northeast Pacific coast region of Japan in 2011. He took this photo of Mt. Fuji from the shore of Yamanaka Lake, not far from SEND Japan's Yamanaka Chalet facility.
"We were driving home from the Church Planting Institute conference with our four D House interns. We had hoped to give them the chance to see Mt. Fuji, but it was mostly clouded over when we arrived in the evening. In the early morning, before sunrise, I went for a walk along the lake, there it was—clearly visible and reflecting the pre-sunrise sky."  See 2019’s honorable mentions.
See winners of the 2016 Missionary Photo Contest.  
See winners of the 2017 Missionary Photo Contest.
See winners of the 2018 Missionary Photo Contest.
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