Peter V. Balzer: missionary, born 22 May 1891, died 6 July 1985. Born at Inman, Kansas, Peter Balzer was the son of Henry Balzer. Peter was a Mennonite Brethren missionary in India for 38 years. A graduate of Tabor College (BA) and Central Baptist Seminary (ThB), he later completed an MA degree at Phillips University, Enid, Oklahoma. Following several years of evangelistic ministry, he married Elizabeth Kornelsen on 1 January 1922, and was ordained in 1923 before leaving for India. His ministry at Devarakonda, Wanaparty, Narayanpet, and Shamshabad consisted of village evangelism and Bible training, the latter in Devarakonda and Shamshabad. After his formal retirement in 1961, Elizabeth Balzer's death, and his marriage to Margaret Willems (1967), former missionary to India, he returned with her to India to develop a new work among the caste converts at Kavitam in the coastal part of Andhra Pradesh State.

Bibliography

Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, and Waterloo, Ontario, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 5, pp. 50-51. All rights reserved. For information on ordering the encyclopedia visit the Herald Press website.

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