GRAND PRAIRIE, TEXAS 91-year-old missionary still travels the world

He continually amazes people with his strength and speaking ability.
DALLAS MORNING NEWS
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas -- Perry B. Cotham quit his job as a church pastor in 1972 to do international missionary work. The kids were grown, he was relatively young at 61, and he wanted to "reach the world for Christ," he said.
Just shy of 92, he hasn't stopped reaching.
"I will do it until I die," he said.
Cotham, a longtime Church of Christ minister, returns to his home in Grand Prairie on Tuesday after three weeks of preaching and passing out Bibles in Malaysia and Thailand.
It's a trip he's made at least a dozen times -- and one of countless journeys, to 75 countries on every continent, over the last three decades.
"Perry is amazing," said his friend, the Rev. Jerry Perry, associate minister at Skillman Church of Christ in East Dallas. "When he gets back from a trip, he's always looking for the next trip. There's no slowing him down."
The 91-year-old missionary travels alone. His wife, Teresa, accompanied him occasionally, until she died in 1998.
On the go
He has contacts in every country to help him once he arrives. People like Dorsey Traw, a missionary who has been in Thailand for 42 years and hosted Cotham for 30. These local contacts shuttle Cotham to his engagements. In an e-mail, Traw said Cotham had just concluded a series of meetings in Chiang Mai, Thailand, before large crowds.
"All are amazed at his strength and ability in speaking at his age," he wrote.
His daughter, Nan Macleod, of Arlington, said Cotham has no plans to stow his suitcases.
"They keep asking him to come back, and they won't take no for an answer," she said.
She said she and her two brothers worry about their father's traveling overseas alone, but they don't stand in his way.
"That's his whole life," she said. "It would be, in a way, a tragedy to tell somebody not to do something they love."
Cotham, who teaches and preaches all over the country, saves money from engagements to travel overseas. He also collects donations, keeping note on a legal pad of everyone who has given him money to buy Bibles. Skillman Church of Christ has donated money to his ministry for years.
Church leaders used to worry about his traveling so much, but couldn't talk him out of it, the Rev. Mr. Perry said. They asked him if he would at least take a physical. One of the church elders, a doctor, examined him and found him fit.
Still, friends and family can't help but worry about him.
Macleod said that once, while her father was in India, a government official went to the home where he was staying and spent a long time quizzing his host. The visit apparently had to do with his missionary work. The host finally convinced the official not take Cotham in for questioning.
If Cotham has had more serious brushes with danger overseas, he's chosen not to talk about them. That's the way he is, said the Rev. Paul Sain, a longtime friend who preaches at East Hill Church of Christ in Pulaski, Tenn.
"We're concerned about his health and safety, but at the same time, if he died there, he'd die knowing that he was doing what he loved," said the Rev. Mr. Sain.
Faith in the Lord
Cotham has been sick plenty of times -- bouts of dysentery in India, fainting spell in the Australian bush. He's careful to drink only purified water. He takes along crackers, canned tuna, peanut butter -- and the inspiration he draws from Revelation 2:10: "Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life."
"I feel like it's the providence of God that the Lord is helping me to do his work," he said.
He eats lots of fruit and vegetables and drinks juice. He avoids bread.
"I try to take a little exercise every day," he said, walking or riding a stationary bike.
Cotham still mows the lawn and trims the bushes at the home he's owned for 33 years.
Busy schedule
And he still drives his 2000 Chevrolet Impala, taking himself to Brown Trail School of Preaching in Bedford, where he teaches once a week, and to preaching engagements around the state.
Cotham said he spends at least three hours a day reading the Bible. He has written 16 tracts, which have been translated into several languages.
He divides his worship time between Skillman and Turnpike Church of Christ in Grand Prairie, a church he led more than 40 years ago.
"You don't particularly think of him being 91," said Naomi Ford, who has known Cotham since his early days at Turnpike.
She said his friends at church keep telling him to cut back on his overseas travel.
"He says, 'Oh, well, I think I'm just going to go one more time,'" she said.
"Of course, he's been saying that as long as I can remember."
Started as a teen
A Kentucky native, he started preaching as a teen. Six men in his family were ministers, and he married the daughter of one.
He once read a book about a preacher who said he planned to keep going "for 1,000 years."
"I guess I feel the same way," he said.
He admits that he doesn't enjoy the long flights. Reciting his Malaysia and Thailand itinerary, he notes the time changes and says they can be unsettling.
"But I'll gain a day back when I return," he said. "At my age, it's good to gain a day when you can."