DAVAO CITY, Philippines—Southern Baptist missionary Bill Hyde was killed and a missionary with ties to Kentucky and her two children were injured when a bomb exploded March 4 at the airport in Davao City, Philippines.

Bill Hyde, 59, of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, died in surgery from severe head and leg injuries. Barbara Wallis Stevens, 33, a former member of Hunsinger Lane Baptist Church in Louisville, was slightly injured.

Her 10-month-old son, Nathan, was hit by shrapnel in the liver. He was removed from intensive care March 5. Husband Mark Stevens was uninjured in the blast, and daughter, Sarah, 4, was treated for minor injuries and released.

Mrs. Stevens told Associated Press in a telephone interview from the hospital that her family had just arrived from Manila when the bomb went off.

“I just heard it explode to my side,” she said. “I was carrying my infant son, so I grabbed my daughter and picked her up and ran away. I was afraid there could be more bombs.”

Hyde had met the Stevens family at the airport as they returned from a family trip. He becomes the fourth Southern Baptist missionary to be killed during the past three months. Three workers were killed by a gunman in a Yemen hospital in late December.

Hyde, who served in the Philippines since 1978, was an extra uncle to many of the missionary kids in the Philippines, according to Karl Babb, who served there with the Hydes for 12 years.

“As you think about them as a couple, they lived out what it meant to be an aunt and an uncle to the other MKs,” said Babb, who now serves as family ministries director for the Kentucky Baptist Convention.

“There will be a tremendous impact on the lives of MKs,” he added.

“Bill loved people. … Very comforting in his connections with folks,” Babb recalled. “And very committed to the Lord. That was very evident all the way along.”

Hyde and his wife, Lyn, have helped train nationals in evangelism, discipleship and church planting, according to a biography on the Web site for Prestonwood Baptist Church in Dallas. The church is linked as “missionary partners” with the Hydes, according to the site.

Hyde was establishing church planting teams throughout the island of Mindanao, according to the biography. Lyn is the prayer coordinator for all the ministry being conducted throughout Mindanao and the Visayan Islands.

The pair also have led Bible studies in homes and taught Bible classes in churches and the Southern Philippines Baptist Theological Seminary in Davao City.

An August 2000 newsletter from the Hydes listed multiple hazards on Mindanao Island:

“Kidnappings, bombing, burning of villages, ambushes, killings, injuries, threats, evacuations and other forms of terrorist activity have become the norm for people living on our island of Mindanao,” they wrote.

The newsletter went on to explain that the primary reason for hostilities were Muslim militants who want the island to be independent, functioning under Islamic control rather than the Philippine government.

“Although there have been a few small bombs and a lot of bomb threats in the city where we live, we feel quite safe,” they added. “We pay attention to news reports and are cautious in moving about. Traveling in the province is restricted at times, but the Lord’s work continues.”

Hyde and his wife, Lyn, were appointed by the International Mission Board in October 1978. The Hydes have two adult sons.

The Stevenses joined Hun­singer Lane Baptist Church when they arrived in Louisville to attend Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, according to pastor Charlie Davis.

“They considered this church to be their home church,” Davis said, adding that the Stevenses were back at the church for a visit two years ago.

“Actually I was supposed to go over there this summer,” Davis noted. “We e-mail them regularly.”

Mark Stevens has a passion for evangelism that has been lived out in seeking to take the gospel to unreached people groups, Davis said.

“He’ll hike sometimes for six to eight hours to get to where these tribes are, and then he’ll stay with them for several days,” Davis explained.

The Stevenses were appointed by the IMB in September 2000. Mrs. Stevens serves as a church and home outreach worker.

They were the first students from Southern Seminary to enroll in IMB’s “2 plus 2” program. The program combines two years of classroom work with two years of service as a missionary apprentice. After graduation, the IMB appointed the Stevenses as career missionaries.

“Our hearts go out to these families and their coworkers,” said Larry Cox, a spokesman for the IMB in Richmond, Va. “We are moving quickly to assist the missionaries affected by this tragedy. We ask Christians everywhere to pray that God would show Himself strong for these families, their coworkers and the other members of the Southern Baptist missionary family.”

At least 21 people were killed and 100 injured in the attack, which occurred outside the arrival terminal of the Davao airport in the Philippines’ second largest city.

The blast ripped through a shelter outside the terminal in which scores of people were huddled to escape a downpour.

Compiled from reports by Mark Kelly of the International Mission Board, Erin Curry of Baptist Press and News Director David Winfrey