IN LOVING MEMORY OF

Michael Paul

Michael Paul Halcomb Profile Photo

Halcomb

November 24, 1941 – August 31, 2016

Obituary

Michael Paul Halcomb was born on November 24, 1941 to Paul and Evelyn Halcomb of Mansfield, IL. He graduated from Mansfield High School in 1959, and attended Wheaton College, receiving his degree in Sociology in 1963. Michael met his wife Bonnie Lou (Ver Steeg) Halcomb at Wheaton, and they married on August 8, 1964.

Thanks in large part to the mentorship of Wheaton College Chaplain Evan Welsh during his college years, Michael felt a strong call to ministry and devoted more than 40 years of his life to serving the cause of Christ in various pastoral leadership positions around the USA. He received his Master of Divinity degree from Bethel Seminary in 1969, and was the Pastor of Chandler Park Drive Baptist Church in Detroit, MI from 1969 to 1973. Michael then served as the Senior Pastor at Salem Baptist Church in New Brighton, MN from 1973 to 1980. Following his tenure at Salem, Michael accepted a call to become the Senior Pastor at Mayflower Congregational Church in River Hills, WI from 1980 to 1986. During this time Michael completed his Doctor of Ministry degree from Bethel Seminary in 1983, with his doctoral dissertation on The Use of Metaphor in Preaching published in 1983. Michael had a tremendous passion for missions, and following his ministry at Mayflower Congregational Church, he accepted a position as the Executive Secretary of Missions for the National Association of Congregational Christian Churches in Oak Creek, WI, where he was responsible for mentoring missionaries and supporting mission fields for the more than 600 NACCC churches around the globe. He served in this leadership capacity from 1986 to 1996, and then served in various interim ministry leadership positions until his retirement from ministry in 2011. Michael is the author of "Imprisoned for Christ", the biographical story of Pastor Christo Kulichev describing Christo's dramatic imprisonment for his Christian faith by the Bulgarian government.

Michael was a lifelong supporter of Wheaton College and served on the Alumni Board from 1990-1994.   He also loved to spend quality time with his family and friends attending Wheaton College events.

Michael was preceded in death by his parents, Paul and Evelyn Halcomb and his brother Larry Joe Halcomb. Michael is survived by his beloved wife of 52 years Bonnie Lou (Ver Steeg) Halcomb, his sons Jonathan, Joel (Sonja) and Jeremy (Amy) Halcomb, and his five grandchildren: Emma, Eric, Brian, Grace and Abby Halcomb, and his sister Charlene (Kent) Durbin.

Services will be held at Barrows Auditorium in the east wing of the Billy Graham Center at  500 College Ave, Wheaton, IL 60187 on Saturday, September 3 at 2:00 p.m.  A visitation will be held prior to the service at 1:00 p.m, with a reception to follow the service.

A burial service will be held at the Blue Ridge Cemetery in Mansfield, IL on Sunday, September 4 at 3pm. Following the burial service, a visitation will be held at First Baptist Church of Mahomet.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to The Halcomb Endowed Scholarship at Wheaton College benefiting students who would otherwise not be able to study at Wheaton ( http://wheaton.edu/Giving ), the Milwaukee Rescue Mission ( https://www.milmission.org/donate ) or the Windsor Park Benevolent Fund .
To order memorial trees or send flowers to the family in memory of Michael Paul Halcomb, please visit our flower store.

Funeral Services

Visitation

September
3

1:00 - 2:00 pm

Memorial Service

September
3

Starts at 2:00 pm

Guestbook

Visits: 3

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the
Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Service map data © OpenStreetMap contributors