B. L. Turner

Following the typical American primary and secondary education, the writer graduated from San Jose Bible College with a Bachelor of Theology Degree in 1947. In 1956, after having served nine-and-one-half years in evangelistic Christian ministry at Vancouver, Washington, and having taught four years in a Portland, Oregon-based Bible college, he entered the graduate school of the University of Pennsylvania, where in 1959 he completed his M.A. Degree in South Asia Regional Studies. His thesis was "A Contribution to the English Historical Cartography of Iran in the Early Islamic Period."

Following the completion of his studies at the University of Pennsylvania, he and his family sailed to Pakistan in August 1960 where they spent the next fifteen years in Christian evangelism, both urban and rural. During the early part of his stay in Pakistan, he also studied history and political science at the University of the Punjab in Lahore, Pakistan.

While living in Pakistan, Turner made several study and preaching trips to various sites throughout much of India. Also, due to a war between India and Pakistan in 1971, he and his family spent six months in Afghanistan during which he became acquainted with further aspects of that country’s history and geography.

Toward the end of 1975, the Turners were no longer allowed to renew their visas and consequently had to terminate their residential mission work in Pakistan. On their way back to America, Lee and his youngest son Jonathan, traveling by Jeep, made a six-month study-tour of the Middle East which included Afghanistan, Iran, Turkey, Jordan and Syria. During that tour Lee sent a series of letters home entitled "Travel Letters From The Center Arena of History." Since 1975, Lee has made 22 trips back to Pakistan and several additional trips to India. As a board member of IDES, a U.S. Christian relief organization, he visited Sudan and Egypt several times, and in India he traveled to war-torn Imphal in the remote, far northeastern corner of that great country, to help implement relief projects.

The ministry continues to the present day in the form of radio and internet broadcasting of the Gospel, along with staff visits to Pakistan. While still in Pakistan, in 1971, the Turners began a shortwave radio outreach in the Urdu language in order to reach more people for Christ. Those broadcasts have continued uninterruptedly and go out under the name of Awaz-e-Haq (The Voice of Truth). The work has expanded so that the programs can be heard on internet radio (available 24/7 all over the world!) and is carried on by a small group of dedicated and skilled brethren under the name of Key Communications, directed by Jonathan Turner. Urdu Christian literature and Bibles are also made available to listeners through local Christians in Pakistan.

For additional information, see www.KeyCom.org.