AFM Board

David Tower

David Tower, Chairman

In 1991, David Tower came to faith in Christ and immediately his passion for missions blossomed. Dave’s partnering with God has involved such diverse activities as working with non-believing youth in his community; discipling Native American youth and adults in North Dakota; ministering to the homeless in Philadelphia; working with the Dinka people in displacement camps of southern Sudan; teaching physicians in Eastern Europe how to put Christ in the center of their relations with their patients; and witnessing to the Acholi people in northern Uganda.

Tower’s secular career was spent in managing teaching hospitals. His particular specialties are strategic planning and managing turn around situations.

Completing the “Perspectives Course on the World Christian Movement” a few years ago was a life changing experience. The course focused Tower on God’s missionary nature and His desire to partner with us to share the Good News of Jesus with unreached people groups around the world.

Dave lives outside of Philadelphia and gratefully worships at the Church of the Good Samaritan in Paoli, PA.

Bob Thornton

Bob Thornton, AFM Treasurer

Bob Thornton is a Tidewater native who resides in Virginia Beach with his wife Pam. Bob and Pam have two grown daughters and four grandchildren, all of whom live in Richmond. Bob has been in the commercial real estate brokerage business for the past 35 years and is currently employed by Thalhimer/Cushman & Wakefield in their Virginia Beach office. Bob and Pam attend Trinity Church in VB and have been active in short term missions for the past 20 years.

Bishop Inyom

Bishop N. Nathan Inyom, Coordinator & Chairman, AFM-Nigeria Advisory Board:

Bishop Inyom came to the ministry as a schoolteacher. In 1980 he attended Immanuel College of Theology in Ibadan graduating in 1983 with a Diploma in Theology. He came to the US in 1990 and obtained a bachelors degree in Theology from Faith University, Columbia, Missouri and was later awarded a Doctor of Divinity from Honolulu University in Hawaii. He has traveled widely and took a course in advanced leadership skills at the prestigious Haggai Institute in Singapore, and a course in conflict resolution at Selly Oaks College in Birmingham, England. In Nigeria he also holds the position of National Coordinator, Ecumenical Commission for Justice and Peace (ECPJ). He enjoys a long relationship with AFM and has served as Chairman and Coordinator of AFM Nigeria since 2000.

Patrick Augustine

The Rev. Canon Dr. Patrick P. Augustine

Rector of Christ Epicopal Church, La Crosse, Wisconsin

Cynthia Darling

Cynthia Hearne Darling

Cynthia graduated from the College of William and Mary and holds an MSW in Social Work and an MPA in Public Administration. She also completed the Education for Ministry (EFM) program from Sewanee and has a Post-Master’s Family Therapy Certificate from Catholic University. She also completed the Perspectives in World Mission study sponsored by Fuller Seminary. She retired from the U.S. Department of Justice in 2003 as a Senior Program Specialist specializing in victims of crime on Indian reservations. Presently, she teaches English as a Second Language in the Fairfax County, Virginia adult education system.

A member of Christ Church, Alexandria, Cynthia started the missions committee there and has served on the committee for nearly ten years. She is on the Board of Our Little Roses Foreign Missions Society (Honduras) and Chairman of the Board of United College Ministries in Northern Virginia, whose aim is to reach international students.

She facilitates a weekly Bible study for missions-oriented people, especially those who have never read the Bible before. She is a member of the Virginia Diocesan Commission on World Missions and the Higher Education Committee of the Diocese. She has done over forty trainings of church groups in the Diocese of Virginia who went on short-term missions trips.

A widow, Cynthia has two grown sons living in Louisville, Kentucky, who attend the Episcopal Church. On Mother’s Day, she went to Louisville to see her latest grandchild baptized. She opens her home to all who have a need for hospitality.

Charles Echols

Dr. Charles Echols

Charles was born and raised in Covington, Virginia. He graduated VMI Class 1955 and University of Virginia Medical School, 1959. Charles served with the US Army Medical Corps Valley Forge General Hospital,Phoenixville, 1959-61. Then he served with the Faculty Departments of Neurology and Neuropathology, 1964-2003, Barrow Neurological Institute of St. Joseph’s Hospital, Phoenix, Arizona.

Charles is married to Judy. They attend St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, Fincastle, Virginia and Christ Church of the Ascension, Paradise Valley, Arizona. Charles is active in the Anglican Cursillo movement and has been involved with short term medical/construction missions to Honduras since 1995. He loves to travel and backpack whenever possible and wants more time to go fishing!

Frank McCarthy

Frank McCarthy

Frank McCarthy of Richmond and Kilmarnock Virginia has recently been elected as a Board Member of AFM. Mr. McCarthy, a member of St. Stephen’s Anglican Church in Heathsville, VA, has served on the vestries of St. James’s and St. Matthew’s Episcopal Churches, Richmond. While at St. James’s he served as Chair of its Stewardship committee and later served as Senior Warden of St. Matthew’s. Mr. McCarthy also served as delegate to several annual councils of the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia. McCarthy is the owner of Visiting Angels, a provider of in-home care services for seniors in the Northern Neck and Middle Peninsula of Virginia.

Julian Linnell

The Rev. Julian Linnell PhD, Executive Director

As a freshman student at Cambridge University, Julian came to faith in Christ and to an awareness of world missions. He heard speakers like George Verwer of Operation Mobilization, John Stott from the UK, Helen Roseveare from Africa and Hudson-Taylor III of China fame at various student worship meetings. Those seeds bore fruit after graduation when Julian went to the Peoples Republic of China to teach English (1985-87). His plan was to learn about the house church movement, but the Lord had other plans. In central China, Julian met his future wife, Kim Miller, an American who was similarly motivated to serve overseas. Together, they sensed a call to the Chinese people and returned to the US for further training.

Both enrolled in a Ph.D. program at the University of Pennsylvania and helped in international student ministry. After Julian received his doctorate in Educational Linguistics, he taught graduate courses and conducted research. Three daughters (Gabrielle, Madeline, and Sophie) were born in Philadelphia during that time and all of them went to Taiwan in 1997 to serve in a campus ministry at Tunghai University in Taichung. During their overseas’ service, the Lord redirected their path to pastoral ministry and they enrolled in seminary at Trinity School for Ministry in Pittsburgh, PA (2000-2003). Julian’s interests in biblical preaching, mission, and outreach were fanned into flame during his service as a missions pastor in Virginia Beach, Virginia (2003-2007). Now, as Director of Anglican Frontier Missions, he’s over-awed by the privilege of serving those who’ve never heard of the gospel. Julian and his wife have four daughters (Gabrielle, Madeline, Sophie, and Phoebe) and live in Richmond, Virginia.