We will send an invite after you submit!
In memory of
Phill Butler
Phill's timeline
1936
Born
August 11th, 1936
Southern California
Phill was born to Christian parents who gave him a desire for God, an awareness of beauty in its many forms as well as God’s awesome creation, and a perspective that looked beyond the ordinary.
1936
Southern California
1948
Harold Lutz, band teacher, taught Phill the value of intense discipline and hard work resulting in 1st chair trombone and Rose Parade twice.
1948
Southern California
1949
Phill spent many hours in neighbor Ralph Sawadee's garage where he was introduced to auto mechanics. He worked actively on cars as a hobby through high school and formed a car company called Psnerdquas Engineering Company with 4 friends.
1949
1954
1954 Bob Jones University, BS in Business - Being a news reporter at radio station WMUU dominated his college years and set the trajectory for Phill's life.
1954
1956
Phill met Jeanne when she along with another girl from her hometown (Tucson, AZ) needed a ride home at Christmas his Junior year in college. They would drive home 2,495 miles one-way from Bob Jones University and bring others along to help pay for gas.
1956
1957
Phill goes on a 4-person, 7-country, 13,000 mile evangelistic trip with Los Segadores de Christo that included 300+ meetings, concerts in village squares, fording rivers, sleeping in hammocks and much, much more.
1957
1958
Got married to Jeanne Curd
1958
1959
Phill began working at KHOF-FM (99.5) in Los Angeles as News Director. But they never had enough money for the news department and so he had to go to work in sales. Los Angeles was a tough city to learn sales!
1959
1962
Biola was building a radio station, had heard about Phill, and asked him to come over to their new station KBBW, 102.9 in San Diego to help develop their sales program.
1962
1963
Phill joined the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) road racing association. He took first with his own Abarth Allemano Coupe.
1963
Had a child, Shelley Dianne Butler
1963
1965
Phill was active in the National Religious Broadcasters and founded first regional (Western) Chapter.
1965
Phill won the Pacific Regional Division championship for his class in road racing. The last car he raced actively was supported by the English Ford factory - a Stage III Lotus Cortina.
1965
1966
Moved to Seattle with Jeanne and the girls as Phill was offered the position of Broadcast Division Director at a place called King's Garden (now Crista Ministries).
1966
1967
Phill joined Kings Gardens because of the opportunity to develop a truly evangelistic broadcast operation. During his time with King's Garden Phill rebuilt one radio station, built a news station, and got them a television license.
1967
The vision for Intercristo begins at Urbana during a missions event with 9,000 students. Phill met and pitched the conference director, Paul Little, on the potential of matching students’ interests with possible mission options.
1967
1970
Phill founds Intercristo
1970
1974
Phill’s 40+ year involvement with Lausanne begins with the first Lausanne event in 1974 where he worked as the Associate Program Director for all plenaries and workshops associated with the topic of communications. https://lausanne.org/
1974
Interdev founded. Helping identify staff for assignments in Iran and Afghanistan. The International Development Organization set the stage for Phill's life and work through 2002.
1974
Launched the Cambridge Radio Course with Rupert Neve, a one month summer course that included 30+ int’l participants through 1989.
1974
1976
Met Douglas Malton chair of Interservice UK Board and Far East Broadcasting Assoc UK. Asked to join FEBA Board responsible for Far East Broadcasting’s activity in Pakistan & India. Resulting in initial communications training in Pakistan & India.
1976
1978
Phill meets Dale Smith on a trip to Geneva. Smith was an active writer and AOG missionary serving as a correspondent in Germany for ABC News. Thus began a 14 year history as one of ABC Radio News’ three international correspondents.
1978
Launched Interdev-India with Prem James as Director, beginning nearly a 50-year engagement with work in India related to communications and partnership development.
1978
1980
Phill resigns as head of Intercristo to more actively engage in initiatives connecting media & evangelism.
1980
Phill begins to lead Interdev, a Christian communications training/consulting organization working all over the world - helping organizations do all kinds of projects; from small village development to regional and international Christian broadcasting.
1980
1983
Jeanne dies.
1983
1984
Phill helped launch a Soviet Union broadcasting cooperation project to address more effective, partnership-based use of assets being invested in the USSR.
1984
1985
Got married to Sybil Stanton
1985
Phill and Sybil decide to try to help God's people (churches, Christian organizations, and mission agencies) work together. Like players in a ball team, they felt God's work would progress much more effectively if Christians would work together.
1985
1986
Following 12+ months of in-person conversations with national believers, missionaries on the ground in North Africa and ministry leaders in Europe focused on North Africa - the North Africa Partnership is born.
1986
1988
The Pakistan partnership is launched. This partnership linked radio, Bible correspondence course center, Bible Society, Church of Pakistan, FEBA radio and five other agencies.
1988
1989
“Partnership Training” events were held in the UK as Phill and others began to understand that ‘replication’ of this model of partnership was needed in order to multiply the vision and address the challenge of reaching the unreached.
1989
1990
Phill led the first regional “advisors” consultation of North Africa, Pakistan, and India partnership facilitators and related Interdev team members at a meeting in Kathmandu.
1990
1996
Interdev, through Phill’s leadership, developed a Gateway Peoples Strategy. This was a clear, intensely focused strategy with regard to staffing/team development, clarity of objectives, and ability to evaluate and report on progress.
1996
2002
Retires from Interdev
2002
2003
Phill begins consulting work for emerging SRG initiatives, actively working with Paul Schultheis. Initially working on SRG’s initiative to buy a chain of Christian book shops in the MENA region.
2003
2004
Phill founds VisionSynergy. Moving from a vision for individual unreached people initiatives to larger, macro collaboration issues.
2004
2005
Phill releases the book 'Well Connected.' A groundbreaking resource for collaboration and network building. It is currently published in 11 languages including abridged and unabridged formats plus on-line ‘downloadable’ versions.
2005
2008
Sybil dies.
2008
2009
Tree of Life oral partnership training is launched with Jim Bowman of Scriptures in Use. Phill met Tim Brown with SIU and Chandan Sah, translator for the training, both of whom become an integral part of VisionSynergy moving forward.
2009
Phill invites his daughter, Kärin Butler Primuth, to join VisionSynergy as a consultant to design and develop a higher education initiative for partnership training which became the International Partnership Institute.
2009
2010
Phill's work continues with Lausanne Movement as Sr. Associate for International Partnerships working on engagement in partnership-related program design and materials for Cape Town 2010. Over 5,000 total attendees from 197 countries.
2010
2011
Phill passes the baton to his daughter Kärin Butler Primuth to become CEO. Phill becomes Strategic Advisor for VisionSynergy.
2011
2012
For the next 5 years Phill works on a range of issues including: Higher Ed Curriculum; Training initiatives: Sudan, India, Thailand; Vision 5:9: Consultations in England, Thailand, Nairobi, Stuttgart, Bangalore, etc.
2012
2016
Phill begins work with SRG on the “Last Mile" initiative focused on seeing churches in the Middle East go beyond evangelism to become established, mature, discipling and multiplying.
2016
2019
Never intending to retire, Phill continues to coach, consult, collaborate with colleagues, and advise the VisionSynergy team on various projects - even after diagnosis and cancer treatments for Multiple Myeloma.
2019
2021
Still writing articles for publications like IBMR, Christianity Today, Lausanne Global Analysis, etc. Phill launches a new website www.kingdom-resource.org.
2021
2022
After 55 years in Seattle, Phill relocates to Pasadena, CA to be near Kärin’s family as he continues to undergo cancer treatment.
2022
2023
‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’ Matthew 25:23
April 2nd, 2023
Passed away
April 2nd, 2023
Southern California
Share this memorial website
Created with love by
VisionSynergy (Deb Adams),
Karin Butler Primuth (Phill's daughter),
Holly Fox,
David Thoresen and
Rachel Yee.
