Joe Consford
Baptist Missionary · Author · Storyteller
Joe Consford spent thirteen years in West Africa before he came home to Center, Texas, ran a hardware store, and still couldn’t stop thinking about Ghana. He and his wife, Laura, are Baptist missionaries who have served in Ivory Coast and Ghana since 2001, planting churches, training national pastors, and building Bible institute ministry across West Africa.
He has written two books. That’s My Goat – And Other Missionary Stories (August 2025) comes out of his own years on the field — the funny moments, the hard ones, and the kind that stay with you long after you get home. His second book, Missionary on Fire: Fire Built on the Mission Field (April 2026), draws on interviews with veteran missionaries including Frank Drown, Don Sisk, and Rick Martin. These are men who gave decades to the Gospel in places most people have never heard of. Joe wrote their stories down before those stories disappeared.
After more than a decade back in Texas, Joe and Laura are returning to Ghana in January 2027 to continue the work alongside missionary James Ruckman and the churches God has built through Hope of Africa Baptist Mission. He also hosts the Morning Meditation Podcast and the Missionary on Fire media ministry.
Book One
That’s My Goat – And Other Missionary Stories
Published August 2025
True stories from more than two decades of missionary life in West Africa. Funny, honest, and rooted in real faith — the kind of moments that only happen on the mission field.
Get the BookBook Two
Missionary on Fire: Fire Built on the Mission Field
Published April 2026
Twelve stories drawn from interviews with veteran missionaries including Frank Drown, Don Sisk, and Rick Martin — men who gave decades to the Gospel and whose stories needed to be written down before they were lost.
Get the Book