There is a great line up of speakers. I will post pictures and highlights for the event. Pray for us as we travel.
Ronnie
Speakers
Bishop Robert Schnase
Episcopal Leader of the Missouri Conference
Bishop Robert Schnase, is the Bishop of the Missouri Annual Conference. Schnase has received the Circuit Rider Award and the Harry Denman Evangelism Award. His most recent book The Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations serves as a guiding theme for this year’s Congress on Evangelism.
Rev. Tyrone Gordon
St. Luke Community United Methodist Church
Dallas, TX
Rev. Tyrone Gordon is the Senior Pastor of St. Luke “Community” United Methodist Church in Dallas, Texas, where since his arrival, the church’s membership has grown from 5,200 to 6,000. He is an Ordained Elder in the United Methodist Church and a member of the North Texas Conference. He received his Bachelor of Arts Degree from Bishop College (Dallas, Texas) and his Master’s of Divinity Degree from Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University (Dallas, Texas). Prior to serving at St. Luke UMC, Rev. Gordon served at Saint Mark United Methodist Church in Wichita, Kansas, one of the fastest growing African American Congregations in the United Methodist Church.
Rev. Mike Slaughter
Ginghamsburg Church
Tipp City, OH
Rev. Mike Slaughter, Chief Dreamer of Ginghamsburg Church for three decades, is a catalyst for change in the worldwide church. Mike’s life-long passion to reach the lost and set the oppressed free has now made him a tireless and leading advocate for the children, women and men of Darfur, Sudan. Since initiating The Sudan Project in January 2005, Ginghamsburg has invested $2.8 million into humanitarian relief in Darfur. The resultant agricultural project, child development program and safe water initiative are expanding to reach a quarter of a million Sudanese refugees and villagers.
Locally, Ginghamsburg Church serves more than 40,000 people annually in surrounding communities via its food pantry, car, clothing and furniture ministries.
When Mike arrived at Ginghamsburg Church in 1979, worship attendance hovered at 90 with 118 members and an annual budget of $27,000. As of 2008, 4000 attendees on average worship weekly at Ginghamsburg and the multi-million dollar budget resources a faith community committed to serving the poor, lost and disenfranchised.
Mike’s call is to afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted and to challenge people to wrestle with God and embrace their own God-destiny to be “On Mission” as the hands and feet of Jesus in the world today.
Dr. Maxie Dunnam
Chancellor, Asbury Theological Seminary
Dr. Maxie Dunnam is Chancellor of Asbury Theological Seminary, where he served as President for 10 years. He served 12 years as Senior Minister at Christ United Methodist Church in Memphis, Tennessee. He also served as World Editor for The Upper Room, President of the World Methodist Council. Dunnam currently serves on the Executive Committee of the World Methodist Council and is the Director of the Board of Global Ministries of The United Methodist Church. He is recognized throughout Methodism for his commitment to evangelism, social witness, and renewal. Dr. Dunnam has authored more than 40 books.
Bishop William Hutchinson
Bishop, Louisiana Conference
Bishop William Hutchinson is the Episcopal Leader for the Louisiana Annual Conference and has served churches in the New Mexico Conference. Bishop Hutchinson will also serve as Episcopal Director for The Foundation for Evangelism beginning January 2009.
Dr. William Abraham
Perkins School of Theology, SMU
Dr. William Abraham is the Albert Cook Outler Professor of Wesleyan Studies at Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist Univeristy in Dallas, Texas. Dr. Abraham is an Ordained Elder in the Southwest Texas Conference and the author of numerous books. Dr. Abraham will deliver this year’s Denman Lectures which are funded by The Foundaiton for Evanglism.
Rev. Karen Greenwaldt
General Secretary
GBOD, Nashville, TN
The Reverend Karen A. Greenwaldt is the general secretary of The General Board of Discipleship (GBOD) of The United Methodist Church in Nashville, Tennessee. Prior to her election to general secretary in 2001, she was associate general secretary, administrator, and team leader of the Discipleship Ministries Division, The General Board of Discipleship. She is an ordained elder from the Central Texas Conference. Karen joined the General Board of Discipleship staff in 1981, serving as director of church leader development and director of education and ministries with young adults and single adults.
Before joining GBOD, Karen was the associate council director for the Central Texas Conference. She has served as associate pastor and as a hospital chaplain.
The Rev. Greenwaldt received her masters in theology degree from Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas. Her bachelor of science degree is from McMurry University, Abilene, Texas.
The Rev. Greenwaldt served as a clergy delegate to the 2008 General Conference, the highest governing body of The United Methodist Church. In addition, she will serve as delegate to the 2008 South Central Jurisdictional Conference. Previously, she was a delegate to the 2004 General Conference and the 2004 South Central Jurisdictional Conference.
Karen is the author of many books, including Singles Care One for Another, For Everything There is a Season, and Organizing in the Small Membership Church. In addition, she has a long list of published articles related to the vision and mission of the church. The Rev. Greenwaldt is a sought after preacher, speaker, small-group leader, and consultant with church leaders around the world.
The Rev. Greenwaldt is actively affiliated with East End United Methodist Church, Nashville, Tennessee, where she has served in various leadership positions, including teaching adult Sunday school and chairing the finance committee.
Karen is a bead and fabric artist specializing in making one-of-a-kind dolls, art quilts, beaded boxes, flowers, and jewelry. An avid reader and gardener, Karen enjoys engaging in conversation with young adults who do not associate in organized religious experiences.
She is married to Russell Harris, a full-time studio potter.
Johnathan & Pam Dow
Aldersgate Renewal Ministries
Jonathan & Pam Dow are both involved with Aldersgate Renewal Ministries in Goodlettsville, Tennessee. Jonathan serves as the Associate Executive Director, serves as a worship leader, and ministers at retreats and conferences teaching and preaching on Biblical worship. Pam serves as Event Registrar for Aldersgate Renewal Ministries, is a worship leader, and ministers in the area of dance and expressive worship. Jonathan and Pam come with a passion to see people deepen their intimacy with God through worship.
Paul Borden
Executive Minister, Growing Healthy Churches Network
Paul Borden currently serves as Executive Minister of the Growing Healthy Churches Network. Borden is the author of Hit the Bullseye: How Denominations Can Aim Congregations at the Mission Field.
Rev. Sue Nilson Kibbey
Ginghamsburg Church
Tipp City, OH
Sue Nilson Kibbey is the executive pastor for Ginghamsburg Church in Tipp City, Ohio. She holds a Master of Divinity degree and is an Ordained Elder in The United Methodist Church. Sue teams with Senior Pastor Mike Slaughter to create and deploy the vision of the church, leads human resources initiatives, coordinates the senior management team, and serves as team leader for the discipleship staff (children, student and adult).
Sue is the creator of “Ministry by Strengths,” which equips churches to deploy staff and unpaid servants into ministry. She is the author of Starting a Single Adult Ministry, and serves as a consultant to conferences, churches and clergy gatherings across the country. Her new book on the art of leading and managing the church, Ultimately Responsible, was released in fall 2006 (Abingdon Press).
Dr. Terry Teykl
Renewal Ministries
Dr. Terry Teykl has been actively teaching and preaching on one topic – mobilizing the local church to pray and win the lost. Having begun a church with only eight people who were committed to prayer, Aldersgate United Methodist church grew to a membership of over 1,000 in 5 years. He firmly believes in prayer-evangelism as a lost practice, yet working principle for church growth. His first book, Pray and Grow, along with its companion, Personal Prayer-Evangelism Guide, speaks about this theme and he has conducted hundreds of seminars and workshops on the topic.
Because Dr. Teykl pastored several small, rural churches before starting Aldersgate United Methodist Church, he writes and speaks practical and specific help for the local church in their efforts to win the lost. He has a burden to produce quality prayer resources that teach people how to pray with purpose and understanding, and how to make prayer exciting. Out of this burden have come many resources to guide people as they pray.
Dr. Teykl also sparked an explosion of prayer rooms with his book, Making Room to Pray, which outlines a plan for building a prayer room in a local church. Hundreds of such rooms all over the country have become strategic prayer centers targeting cities for spiritual awakening. Dr. Teykl encourages churches to make prayer a priority by setting aside a special place for prayer and recruiting, training and encouraging people to pray. He published a corporate prayer plan entitled, Acts:29. He believes that the 28 chapters of Acts are merely blueprints for what God wants to do in the church today. His book, Blueprint for the House of Prayer, from the Teach Us to Pray Series, is a wonderful resource for groups or individuals to learn how to master an effective prayer life.
Having been a pastor for 27 years and having worked with pastors from all denominational backgrounds, Dr. Teykl is aware of both the joys and pressures of ministry. He knows that pastors and their families need a prayer hedge around them for protection and blessing in order to fulfill their calling. In his book, Preyed On or Prayed For, he asks, “Could the pastor be the least prayed for person in the local church today? He teaches congregations how to protect their shepherds from Satan’s fiery darts.
Dr. Teykl has authored several books, including Pray the Price, Blueprint for the House of Prayer, Acts:29, Preyed on or Prayed For, Making Room to Pray, How to Pray After You’ve Kicked the Dog, and Outside the Camp. Whether writing on personal prayer or corporate prayer, the central purpose is to teach people to pray with power and confidence so that they might win this generation to Christ.
Dr. Teykl holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Sam Houston State University where he graduated summa cum laud. He earned his Master of Theology at Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University. He earned his Doctorate of Ministry with honors from Oral Roberts University. He and his wife Kathleen live in Houston, Texas and they have, 2 grown sons , 2 grown daughters and several beautiful grandchildren.