Howell was born in Memphis, TN and has been married to Mary (Leath) since 1983. They have three married children and eight grandchildren. After graduating from Memphis School of Preaching (1984) and Freed-Hardeman University (1992), he attended and graduated from Bear Valley Bible Institute (2007). He was also awarded an honorary doctorate in missiology from the World Bible Institute (WBI) in 2017. Howell has been preaching since 1982 and has served churches full-time in Tennessee, Mississippi, and Kentucky. In 2000, Howell and Mary moved to Arusha, Tanzania with their children and served there for over three years. In addition to preaching he served as Bear Valley’s stateside coordinator for the Chimala Bible Institute in Tanzania and the Bear Valley Bible Institute in Gorlovka, Ukraine. Howell has taught in a number of overseas schools of preaching, and has taught and preached in the countries of India, Tanzania, Panama, Peru, Ukraine, Nigeria, Ghana, Uganda, Philippines, and Hong Kong. He also served as director and vice president of WBI.
Mary was born in Montgomery, AL, one of six daughters whose father was a 20-year veteran of the US Air Force and a gospel preacher. For over three years she lived in Frankfort, Germany while her father served in Vietnam. Mary has been teaching children and ladies classes for well over 35 years and has successfully taught children using the Swahili language. In addition to homeschooling their children for a number of years, she has made innumerable trips with Howell all over the world and has worked by his side teaching people about Jesus Christ and His church.
Howell assumed the role of Stateside Coordinator in January 2019, and he and Mary will be a vital part of this work at the Chimala Mission.
