As the deadline for the Aug. 6 edition of The Baptist Courier arrived, an “Innovator” resort missionary from Spartanburg remained in critical condition at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Billings, Mont., following a one-vehicle accident that injured four.
Suzanne Bachelor, the associate campus minister for Spartanburg Baptist Campus Ministries, told the Courier that 21-year-old Jeremy Vangsnes still was the most seriously injured of the four. She said that his parents, Mark and Kathy Vangsnes, members of First Baptist Church in Spartanburg, are asking for prayer concerning their son who is in a coma as measures have been taken to relieve pressure on his brain and relieve swelling.
The Courier first reported this story on its Web site on July 24.
Jeremy’s brothers, 24-year-old Dan and 19-year-old Ryan, also were injured in the accident. According to the latest available information, Dan still was hospitalized, but making progress. A Baptist Press report said that he was “talkative and lucid.” Ryan’s injuries required only stitches. He was treated and dismissed from Deaconess Hospital in Bozeman, Mont.
Another of the missionaries, 21-year-old Scott Minear of Marietta, Ga., also is in critical condition and is in intensive care, but with no significant spinal or neck damage, according to Baptist Press.
They were four of 17 Innovator missionaries who had arrived at Yellowstone National Park on Memorial Day to minister to resort visitors for 10 weeks. They had been scheduled to return home on Aug. 3.
Brad Lartigue, a full-time resort missionary with the North American Mission Board, told Baptist Press that both the Vangsnes and Minear families flew to Montana immediately after the accident. He described them as “strong Christian families who are holding up well.”
The Vangsnes brothers were nominated as Innovator missionaries by NAMB. Innovator missionaries are self-funded student missionaries who are assigned by NAMB or a state Baptist campus ministry to serve in resort ministry at various tourist venues throughout the United States.