Mark Zook: he finished the race, he kept the faith

Mark Zook

On October 17, our dear brother in Christ, Mark Zook went Home to be with the Lord. He was 66. Mark and his wife Gloria have spent the greater part of their lives in church planting, missionary training as well as serving as consultants for other missions organizations.

To many believers around the world, Mark and Gloria are best remembered for their work among the Mouk people of Papua New Guinea. Their time there was captured in two docudramas: “EE-TAOW!” and “EE-TAOW!”—The Next Chapter.

These films tell the story of Mark and Gloria’s beginnings as dairy farmers, then of their ministry among the Mouk people, climaxing with the Mouk church’s maturity and outreach to neighbouring villages and people groups.

In the years since the docudramas were released, Mark has worked tirelessly to translate and create Bible study resources for the Mouk people. And, this remote tribal group has certainly grown in its walk with the Lord. When we last spoke to Mark, he informed us there were now more than 20 Mouk churches and the Mouk were now missionaries to other people groups who spoke languages completely foreign to them.

As we reflected on Mark’s life, we were filled with a quiet joy because we could picture the great reunion in Heaven where scores of Mouk brothers and sisters, who have gone on ahead, are now reunited with the man they love. For them, Mark represented the bridge God used to bring them from spiritual darkness to light. What a wonderful testimony and what a race Mark has run.

So much of what we do in GoodSeed is a reflection and echo of the way Mark taught the Mouk: laying foundations by explaining the character of God and telling key Old Testament stories to provide a person with the background and context necessary to understand who Jesus is and what he did on the cross.

We are thankful for Mark’s unfailing service to the Lord and for setting an example. We pray the Lord will bring comfort and peace to Gloria and the family during this time.