November 9, 2007
Shirley Paul passed into glory on October 20, 2007. Before retiring, Shirley worked in International Ministries at the C&MA National Office. Her husband, Bill Paul, is director of the Church Leadership Academy, a program designed to prepare people to minister through basic and specialized training as well as the Ministerial Study Program.
Born on November 9, 1938, Shirley was the oldest of six children born to George and Helen Zimmerman in Geneva, Indiana. She accepted Christ as her personal savior when she was about 6 years old and was baptized when she was 8 or 9.
Shirley heard God’s call to serve as a missionary and enrolled in Fort Wayne Bible College (now Taylor University), where she met Bill. A month after graduation in 1961, the couple wed, and they moved to Chicago where Bill served as assistant pastor of the Jefferson Park Bible Church. In 1962, the Pauls moved to Tampa, Florida, where Bill served as pastor of Hope Alliance Church, a bilingual congregation.
In 1964, Bill and Shirley were appointed by The Christian and Missionary Alliance to serve as missionaries in Colombia, South America. Shirley served as secretary in the mission office and was hostess in the mission guesthouse. Bill and Shirley also worked with the youth and directed the correspondence office of the international radio program, Alianza en Marcha.
The Pauls returned to the United States and lived in Indiana, where their daughter, Betty, was born. In 1970 they moved to McAllen, TX, where they developed an itinerant Bible teaching ministry on both sides of the Texas-Mexico border.
Two years later, the Lord led Bill and Shirley to Guatemala, Central America, where they served for the next 15 years. The Pauls were the first C&MA missionaries in this country. Shirley worked with the national women’s organization, and also volunteered in a school for missionary children.
They moved back to the United States in 1987, and Bill directed a small missions organization that his grandfather had started. Shirley was the office manager in a dental practice. In 1997 they moved to Colorado Springs to work in the C&MA National Office. Shirley retired in 2002 to help with the care of her grandsons, Ian and Sean.
Shirley served the Lord faithfully for many years. She shied away from the limelight, and preferred to minister behind the scenes in many different capacities. She is survived by her husband, Bill, daughter, Betty Prieditis, and two grandsons, Ian and Sean.
Memorial services were held at North Springs Alliance Church in Colorado Springs, CO, and the West Missionary Church in Berne, Indiana.