US missionary who served Assembly of God church here dies

A US missionary who spent 14 years serving several churches in Guyana has passed away.

The news site postcrescent.com is reporting that Milton J. Kersten, minister, missionary, and educator died at his home in Waupaca, Wisconsin on November 17, 2010. He was 86.

The website said he was born in Appleton, Wisconsin on June 9, 1924, the second of five children to Adolph William Kersten and Sarah Leona Tompkins. The family moved to Wausau, Wisconsin in 1927.

He established two Assemblies of God Churches, one in Seymour and a second in Oneida while supporting his family as a house painter and decorator. His two sons were born at this time.

The website said that in 1962 the family moved to Guyana where they served as missionaries until 1976. In Guyana, it said he served as pastor of Wortmanville Assembly of God in Georgetown, then as Superintendent of the Assemblies of God in Guyana, and as Principal of the Assemblies of God Bible School in Guyana.

Kersten became the Area Director of Assemblies of God missions in the Caribbean in 1976. At the invitation of the Bahamas Council, he and his wife Dorothy moved to Nassau, Bahamas from where he oversaw missions in Suriname, Guyana, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and the Bahamas. They transferred their home base to Hollywood, Florida in 1979.

Funeral services will be tomorrow at 11 am at First Assembly of God Church in Waupaca.

Milton J. Kersten
Milton J. Kersten