Meet Ken and Jayne Cash, IM Missionaries to Bulgaria

Approved as career missionaries to Bulgaria in May 2020, Ken and Jayne Cash serve in the city of Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria. Their presence in Veliko Tarnovo is motivated by the presence of a major university there with an intensive Bulgarian language program.  Language acquisition has been a big part of their lives as they seek to engage the culture around them. Ken, a natural extrovert, loves people and isn’t afraid to try out his new language skills. Jayne, a natural introvert, works very hard at learning the language and equally hard at engaging people to actually speak the language! The second motivation for living in Veliko Tarnovo is to seek to establish a Protestant evangelical presence in the heart of this ancient orthodox city.  The need for the gospel is great!

Ken and Jayne have been blessed with two daughters, Rachel and Rebekah, two great sons-in-law, Ed Goode and Jeremy Huff, and two precious grandsons, Hayden and Hudson.

Ken and Jayne’s story

Jayne and I are both first-generation believers. I was led to the Lord by my bi-vocational pastor who was also my boss. His influence and testimony led me to recognize my need of a Savior. As a new Christian, I attended Free Will Baptist Bible College (now Welch College) where I graduated with a B.S. in Christian Education.

Jayne grew up outside Charleston, WV and accepted Christ as Savior as a result of the church bus ministry of Loudendale FWB Church. Jayne followed the Lord’s leading to Bible college in Nashville, Tennessee. She graduated with a B.A. in Bible and English. Jayne also recently completed a master’s degree in Educational Leadership.

We met at college and married in 1982 serving at Woodbine FWB Church in Nashville before moving to Kinston, North Carolina in 1991. There we served under Pastor Archie Ratliff at Bethel FWB Church. We credit Archie and his wife Portia with 14 years of modeling, shepherding, and mentoring us in ministry.

Over the next 20 years, I served as senior pastor in three North Carolina churches. While serving as senior pastor, we met Tim and Lydia Awtrey when they were new missionaries.  A friendship and partnership quickly formed, and I traveled to Bulgaria for the first time in 2006. Over the next twelve years, we would return to Bulgaria six different times.  Each time we went to Bulgaria, our hearts were impressed with spiritual darkness, a people with no hope, and the great need for the gospel.

How they are ministering to the people in Bulgaria

How you can pray for Ken and Jayne

• We are currently on a summer home assignment where we will be traveling a lot. Pray for safety and for refreshing as we see many friends and family over the next few months. This is another transition for us and a different kind lifestyle. Ask God to give us peace in all the changes we experience over the next months.
• Pray for clear direction for our return to Veliko Tarnovo. We hope to continue the current Bible study group as well as seek other opportunities to share the gospel. We need wisdom and God’s direction to know what is next.
• Language learning is ongoing. Pray that we will find the right avenue of learning that will also give us opportunity to share the gospel.
• Building relationships. We hope to continue the friendships we began in the past year and continue reaching people with the hope that lies within us.
• Please pray that God will use us as He sees fit in Bulgaria.  We love Bulgaria and we love the Bulgarian people. It is our desire to see Bulgarians know and love God.