Former Editor, Pastor, Missionary Dies

Bobby Eugene Bowman, 88 of Conway, passed away Jan. 12. He was a member of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Greenbrier.

In 1954, at 19, he voluntarily enlisted in the U.S. Navy and was trained as a physician’s assistant. He was a veteran of the Vietnam War. He answered God’s call to serve in ministry in 1966 during his military service. He served as music director for Calvary Baptist Church (1962-1966) in Amarillo, Texas and Skylake Baptist Church (1967-1968) in Memphis, Tenn. While stationed in California, he served as interim pastor and was ordained by Gethsemane Baptist Church in Sacramento (1966) before assignment to Vietnam. After retiring from the Navy in 1969, he served as pastor of Skylake Baptist Church (1969-1972) in Memphis, Tenn., and Westwood Baptist Church (1972-1976) in Fort Walton Beach, Fla.

In 1976, Bro. Bowman and his wife, Ruth, were elected to serve as BMA missionaries to Honduras. The Bowmans helped meet a great need for the people of Honduras by providing medical treatment. Over their years of ministry there, they helped plant nine Baptist churches where there were none before.

After leaving the mission field in 1995, Bro. Bowman founded Baptist Medical Missions International (BMMI) in 1996 and served as director. The ministry continues to offer physical and spiritual healing worldwide by partnering with missionaries through coordinated medical teams to provide health care and share Christ.

In 2002, after the death of David Tidwell, his good friend and the Baptist Trumpet’s longest-serving editor, Bro. Bowman was elected as the new editor and served at the Baptist Trumpet from 2002-2005.

Beginning in 2005, Bro. Bowman served as an evangelist with Evangelistic International Ministries (EIM) and other individual evangelistic ministries while also serving as interim pastor at West Race Baptist Church (2005) in Searcy and pastor at Kaley Hill Baptist Church (2010-2013) in Quitman until failing health forced his retirement from the pastorate. He continued to accept preaching appointments as long as he was able.

He served as chaplain for the Veterans of Foreign Wars post in Conway while also serving as a VA Accredited Claims Agent to assist surviving family members with their claims for benefits.

In 2023, the Bowmans were honored as BMA Legacy Missionaries. At that time, Bro. Bowman shared this about his missionary legacy:

“If you’re there in service for God, you need to be doing His service. Be totally involved in it — there’s no partial commitment. There has to be that up-front commitment to the Lord. If you devote yourself to that, you’ll be successful because God will see that you are. For Ruth and I, if we are to be recognized for the success of the ministry, it’s all because we were willing to follow the Lord wherever He led us.”

Survivors include: his wife of 69 years, Leta “Ruth” Bowman; four children, Blenda (Dwight) Smith of Potts Camp, Miss.; Dr. Gary Bowman of Greenbrier, Lisa (David) Martin of Conway; and Thomas “Tommy” (Casey) Bowman of Greenbrier; 10 grandchildren and 17 great-grandchildren.

A celebration of his life will be announced at a later time. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to three organizations dear to Bobby and Ruth’s hearts: Water for Christ, 240 Skyline Drive #204 Conway, Ark. 72034; Baptist Medical Missions International, PO Box 878 Conway, Ark. 72033; and the Baptist Trumpet, P.O. Box 192208, Little Rock, Ark. 72219.