Operation Crossroads
In 1962, while attending Hood Theological Seminary, he joined Operation Crossroads Africa (a progenitor of the Peace Corps) and spent a summer building student housing and dining facilities in Tanzania. Dr. James Herman Robinson, founder of Operation Crossroads, encouraged him to return to Africa. Kinard did so after graduation, becoming a paid staff member of the organization. He worked in Kenya, Tanzania, and Zanzibar. He was later promoted to coordinator of all Operation Crossroads projects in eastern Africa (a region ranging from Cairo in the north to Zimbabwe in the south).