New Wilmington Mission Conference

2008 New Wilmington Mission Conference Speakers

July 19-26, 2008

You can also download, print and distribute our list of 2008 speakers.

Rodger Nishioka, Morning Meeting and Sunday Evening Meeting speaker, returning to NWMC by popular demand, is a dynamic speaker and visionary. Conference-goers still re-tell some of the stories he shared with us the last time he came in 2000. He served for 12 years as denominational staff in youth and young adult ministry for the PC(USA) and is currently Associate Professor of Christian Education at Columbia Theological Seminary in Atlanta.

Rodger’s broader focus is on equipping pastors for their roles as teachers and leaders in the educational ministry of the church. He is particularly interested in building a congregation’s youth ministry and is currently researching and writing a book on what attracts young adults to the church.

Dr. Negaso Gidada, an Oromo, served as president of Ethiopia from 1995 to 2001. He will be our Saturday Evening Meeting speaker. Dr. Gidada, became the first President of Ethiopia following the overthrow of the communist government and served a four year term before breaking with the first Prime Minister when he began to abuse the constitution — which Gidada helped write.

Dr. Gidada’s father , Kas Gidada, was a famous blind Ethiopian evangelist and church planter and spoke at NWMC 50 years ago. However, Dr Gidada went through an anti-missionary period and an anti-Christian/church period in his later school years and during his exile in Germany. He is married and has 3 children and is an opposition member in the Ethiopian parliament.

Sunday 11:00 am Worship

Dr Scott Sunquist, Professor, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, Pittsburgh, PA – Anderson Auditorium

Rev. Joan Gray, former moderator, PCUSA – New Wilmington Presbyterian Church

Monday Evening, Jim Martin of the International Justice Mission will point us towards actions Christians can do to make a difference. IJM is a U.S.-based Christian non-profit human rights organization that operates in countries all over the world to rescue victims of individual human rights abuse, working to combat human trafficking, forced labor slavery, illegal detention, unprosecuted rape, police brutality and illegal land seizure. Based on referrals of abuse received from relief and development organizations, IJM conducts professional investigations of the abuses and mobilizes intervention on behalf of the victims. The four-fold purpose of IJM is victim relief, perpetrator accountability, structural prevention and victim aftercare. IJM was founded in 1997 by Gary Haugen, who currently serves as the President and CEO of the organization. The organization grew out of a group of Christian lawyers. Check them out at http://www.ijm.org/.

Tuesday Evening we will have the opportunity to experience Global Worship. Rev. Corey Nelson has served as a Young Adult Volunteer in Belfast, Northern Ireland and Ghana, West Africa and on the staff of the Worldwide Ministries Division as a mission educator and worship leader. Afterwards, he worked for six years as a mission educator and worship leader for the PC(USA)'s Worldwide Ministries Division. He created and directed six seasons of the "Thuma Mina Mission Theatre Company," an ensemble made up of former mission workers who shared their personal stories of transformation through story-telling, song and movement. In 2000, he developed the Global Worship Initiative to encourage congregations to raise global-consciousness through their corporate worship. "Global worship," he says, "can not be about us here or them there, but must affirm our membership in the global, ecumenical, organic, dynamic and transforming family of God." See more at http://www.emergingworship.org/nelsonglobal.

Rev Nelson is a mission pastor at First Church of Lake Forest in Illinois. When he's not working, Rev. Nelson plays piano and his djembe (though rarely at the same time), drinks way too much coffee, and tries to travel to at least one new place every year. He is a graduate of McCormick Theological Seminary.

Dr. Ken E. Bailey is a Research Scholar and Lecturer in Middle Eastern New Testament Studies. For fifty years Dr Bailey has been engaged in trying to better understand and communicate the person and teachings of Jesus from the point of view of the culture of the Middle East.

Dr. Bailey spent 40 years teaching New Testament in seminaries and research institutes in Egypt, Lebanon, Jerusalem and Cyprus. An ordained Presbyterian academic, he also serves as Canon Theologian of the Diocese of Pittsburgh of the Episcopal Church. He is the author of eight books, more than 150 articles, the scripts for two feature length films and two published Biblical plays. His records include 82 thirty-minute DVD lectures on the New Testament. He lectures in America and around the world and we love it when he shares with us at Conference as he will at Evening Meeting Wednesday. Dr Bailey’s newest book is Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes and is available on Amazon.com.

Thursday Evening we will hear a talented musician from Central Asia with a compelling story of ministry. Old Conference-goers will remember when she came to NWMC in 2003 and spontaneous dancing broke out. It is a special opportunity for us to learn about a place where it takes great courage to be a Christian.

The Summer Service Team will share their experiences at the Friday Evening Meeting. We will hear about their opportunity to help with the first Malawi Youth Conference sponsored by Ministry of Hope in Malawi. See info about the team on the NWMC website.

Carl Anderson, this year’s High School Speaker, was born and raised in Omaha, Nebraska. Until the age of 27, he lived in three physical locations his entire life. He attended the University of Kansas and earned a degree in Business Administration. Carl worked with Junior High students at West Hills Church in Omaha and met his wife, Natalie, while she was attending Creighton. From Omaha, they moved to the Philly-area for a few years and we now live in Iowa City where Natalie will be graduating from Medical School. He'll also be graduating this spring from Dubuque Seminary.

They have two Old English Sheepdogs, Rufus and Gertie, love movies and pretty much anything that allows them to spend time together. He has been shaving his head for 14 years and also has an extra bone in his left foot! He says he’s in love with Jesus and believes that He has a special calling for this generation and that some pretty cool stuff is about to happen.

Charles Harvey, this year’s Young Adult Speaker, and his wife Yoke Fong are co-directors of Grace Ministries North East Thailand also known as Anakot Quamwang. Anakot Quamwang provides alternatives to prostitution and child labor exploitation by giving children from poor backgrounds quality secondary education via a residential scholarship program in a nurturing and sheltered environment. It also provides specific and targeted support to the poorest in their community via basic agricultural support schemes, and in some cases assistance with medical and educational expenses. Learn more at www.graceministriesthailand.com.

Charles Harvey comes from Ireland and was formerly an Irish Army officer who served with the UN in Lebanon from 1982 to 1983. He and Yoke Fong have managed this program in Thailand for over 10 years and have lived in Thailand since 1993. The Harvey’s three children are Jonathan, Hannah and David

Dr. Edith M. Humphrey, who will be leading an Adult Bible Hour, comes to us from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary where she is a professor of New Testament. Her research interests include rhetorical and literary studies, biblical theology, Eastern Orthodoxy, and current issues in the Church. She also has a passion for music, singing in the PTS choir and playing the oboe and the organ.

Dr. Humphrey and her husband reside in Pittsburgh, PA. They have three children and three grandchildren. She is now beginning work on worship in the Bible and in the church and will be talking about this at NWMC. You can learn more about Dr. Humphrey on her website: http://www.edithhumphrey.net/.

Rev. Dr. William Crooks, pastor of Trinity Presbyterian Church, Mercer, PA will be an Adult Bible Hour speaker. He became involved in Conference through the participation of young people from Trinity Church. Many college age persons from the church have been part of NWMC’s Summer Service Team over the past decade. The pastor followed the young people to Conference and has been "hooked" ever since.

Dr. Crooks serves on the Board of Managers of Conference and is the Vice-Chair of the Board. He graduated from Grove City College (1973) and Pittsburgh Seminary (1976) and was granted the Doctor of Ministry degree in 2004 with a project paper focusing on "The Missional Church". For the past twenty-nine years he has been the pastor of Trinity Presbyterian Church. His wife, Karen, teaches first grade in Mercer and they have two grown sons, Nathan and Aaron.

The Rev. Hunter Farrell, director of the World Mission Unit for PC (U.S.A.), will be an Adult Mission Hour speaker. Rev. Farrell and his wife, Ruth, are career missionaries with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) having served in the Congo and Peru. He currently oversees mission service and recruitment, including national and international calls, as well as other forms of direct mission involvement.

In addition, he coordinates the denomination’s missionary work with ecumenical and international church partners. He senses “an urgent call to bring together the newly emerging energy, creativity, resources and commitment of thousands of congregations across the Church with our denomination's remarkable mission history,” One of the things he’s learned is, “There’s a cost to being missional.” He is challenging Presbyterians to think in new ways. He feels Americans need to learn to see the people of the developing world as equals, people with vital lessons to teach. “They’re partners in Christ’s mission with us.” Rev. Hunter is a church leader that speaks about radical transformation.

Ruth is a missionary in residence working on fair trade issues with the Relief and Development program unit of PC (U.S.A.). They have three children, Ndaya, Billy, and Andrew.

Also during the Adult Mission Hour a team of mobilizers will share about God’s plan for the Unreached People Groups of the world and what you can do. Rev. Jen Haddox of World Mission Initiative will be the host for the week.

Rev. Haddox serves with WMI as a regional coordinator for Perspectives on the World Christian Movement and coordinates cross-cultural experiences for students at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. She also currently serves as a part-time pastor at Utica Presbyterian Church in Utica, PA. She is married to Mike, a youth pastor and a NWMC Junior High Counselor, and cares for two big lovable basset hounds.

Thirty-three additional Mission Staff members will be on hand to lead and share during the week.