Eric Swanson

Eric has a passion for engaging churches worldwide in the needs and dreams of their communities toward the end of spiritual and societal transformation. He served with Campus Crusade for Christ for twenty-five years before joining the staff of Leadership Network where he currently works as a missional leadership specialist, serving as Leadership Community Director for Externally Focused Churches, Missional Renaissance and Global Connection Churches working with scores of missional churches around North America. He also works with leaders around the world who are focused on kingdom transformation. He holds a D.Min. degree in “Transformational Leadership in the Global City” from Bakke Graduate University and is co-author of The Externally Focused Church, The Externally Focused Life, The Externally Focused Quest (March 2010) , and To Transform a City (August 2010), and numerous articles on churches that are transforming their communities. Eric has been married to Liz for over 30 years, has three married children, three grandchildren and resides outside of Boulder Colorado.

Workshop:
The Externally-Focused Church: Becoming An Externally-Focused Church (Part 1 of a 3-Part Series)

Workshop:
The Externally-Focused Church: Evangelism and the Externally-Focused Church (Part 2 of a 3-Part Series)

Workshop:
The Externally-Focused Church: Getting Started (Part 3 of a 3-Part Series)

Lurone "Coach" Jennings

Lurone was born in Lafayette, Alabama, but grew up in the South side inner city of Chattanooga, Tennessee. During his coaching career Lurone had the pleasure of coaching NFL Star, Reggie White, former Green Bay Packer, All-Pro Defensive End. He also coached Olympic Gold Medallist, Venus Lacy, who starred on the US Women’s Olympic Basketball Team.

In 1983 Lurone became a committed disciple for Jesus and in 1986 he was licensed and ordained as a Baptist Minister. He attended Beraccah Bible Institute and earned a Certificate of Study in 1988. In 1992 he received a Master’s Degree in Education, with a concentration in Administration and Supervision, from Trevecca Nazarene College in Nashville, TN.

In 1992, Lurone became Principal of his alma mater, Howard School of Academics and Technology, the largest inner city high school in Chattanooga. He later moved to the school system’s Central Office as Director of Drug Education and Athletics, with responsibility for programs in forty-one schools.

After much prayer and 18 years of working with youth in the public schools of Chattanooga, in 1995 Lurone heard the Voice and felt the hand of Jesus calling him into full-time ministry. He was appointed founding pastor of the Bethlehem United Methodist Church, now known as Bethlehem-Wiley United Methodist Church. He serves as the Executive Director of the United Methodist Neighborhood Centers, Inc. otherwise known as the Bethlehem Center. He is one of the founders of the Bethlehem Community Development Credit Union, the first of its kind to be chartered in the State of Tennessee. The credit union is now known as the Church Koinonia Federal Credit Union: Bethlehem Branch, due to a merger that strengthens the two credit unions. He is the founder and Head Coach of The V-Team Leadership Network providing a "VOICE with VISION and VICTORY for the Game of Life." He is the Associate Publisher for the Chattanooga News Chronicle, an African American owned newspaper. Lurone is also a member of the National Association of United Methodists Evangelists (NAUME) and is an affiliate Leadership Coach with the International Leadership Institute (ILI).

In 2005 Lurone released his book, "Crisis in Urban America", which reveals his vision for dealing with the many problems plaguing our inner city communities.

Lurone is married to Glinda H. Jennings and they have adult 3 children, Lurone Jr., Luronda and David, as well as three granddaughters, Ania, Tymber, and Nadia. Lurone also shares his faith and ministry through his revivals, conferences, workshops, and sermons in other churches, schools, and ministries throughout the country.

Workshop:
Developing the VISION for Urban Missions

Workshop:
Culturally Relevant Leadership for Urban Missions

Workshop:
Businesstry in the Kingdom for Urban Missions

Bob Lupton

Bob Lupton has invested the past 39 years of his life in inner-city Atlanta. In response to a call that he first felt while serving in Vietnam, he left a budding business career to work with delinquent urban youth. Bob and his family sold their suburban home and moved into the inner-city where they have lived and served as neighbors among those in need. His life’s work has been the rebuilding of urban neighborhoods where families can flourish and children can grow into healthy adults.

Bob is a Christian community developer, an entrepreneur who brings together communities of resource with communities of need. Through FCS Urban Ministries – a non-profit organization which he founded – he has developed three mixed-income subdivisions, organized two multi-racial congregations, started a number of businesses, created housing for hundreds of families, and initiated a wide range of human services in his community. He is the author of four books (Theirs is the Kingdom, Return Flight, Renewing the City and Compassion, Justice and the Christian Life) and the widely circulated Urban Perspectives – Reflections on the Gospel, Grace and the City. Bob has a PhD. in psychology from the University of Georgia. He serves as a speaker, strategist and inspirer with those who seek to establish God’s Shalom in the city.

Workshop:
No Longer Servants

Mary Hughes Gaudreau, LPC

Rev. Mary Gaudreau is a consultant with the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) domestic Emergency Services Office. As an ordained United Methodist Deacon and Licensed Professional Counselor based in Oklahoma, her focus with UMCOR is primarily in the areas of disaster spiritual and emotional care and congregational crisis intervention.

Rev. Gaudreau has more than twenty years experience in church staff, conference staff, clinical counseling and disaster response settings. She has worked with survivors and congregations affected by numerous disasters in and beyond Oklahoma including the 1995 Oklahoma City Murrah Building bombing, the massive 1999 Oklahoma tornado outbreak, numerous Atlantic and Gulf Coast hurricanes and other disasters. Mary is the designer of the national UMCOR “Care Team” program as well as other disaster spiritual and emotional care curricula. She provides leadership in several state and national committees that determine best practices for offering spiritual and emotional care following disasters and serves as the chairperson of the Emotional and Spiritual Care Committee of National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (NVOAD).

Workshop:
Care Ministry in Disaster Response: A compassionate opportunity

Daniel Rickett

Daniel Rickett is the executive vice president of Sisters In Service (SIS). Prior to joining SIS, Daniel was the director of research at Geneva Global and associate professor of leadership at Eastern University. In pursuit of his life-long passion, authentic mission partnerships, he has served with Partners International and co-founded the Coalition on Support of Indigenous Ministries (COSIM). He holds a Ph.D. in adult and continuing education from Michigan State University, and an M.A. in intercultural studies from Wheaton College. Daniel is the author of Building Strategic Relationships, 3rd ed., (2008), Making Your Partnership Work (2002), co-editor of Supporting Indigenous Ministries, a Billy Graham Center Monograph (1997), and co-author with his wife Michele of Ordinary Women: Developing a Faithwalk Worth Passing On (2001), and Least-Valued No More: Research and Recommendations on the Plight of Women (2007). Daniel has served as advisor to businesses and Christian ministries throughout the world for the past three decades. His e-mail address is drickett@sistersinservice.org.

Workshop:
Value: The Key to Collaboration

Workshop:
Short-Term Missions That Heal: Ministering across the wealth divide means giving up our savior complex

Rev. Martin Durham

Coming from a banking background, Rev. Martin Durham has been the director of Kerygma180 since it was established in May 2001. Alongside his call to actively proclaim the gospel ‘on the streets’, Martin is presently on the leadership team for the BGEA (Billy Graham Evangelistic Association) UK 'Emerging Evangelists Institute', and is the European Director of the 'International Leadership Institute'

Martin is ordained as a Baptist Minister (Evangelist) by the Baptist Union of Great Britain, and lives with his wife Rachel, and daughters, Annie & Eliza, in London, where they are members of South Hanwell Baptist Church.

Workshop:
Peter did. Wesley did. Billy Graham did. But is taking the Gospel to the streets really relevant in the 21st century?

Workshop:
Accelerating the Spread of the Gospel through Leadership Training

Workshop:
Funding Strategies for Missions

Workshop:
When God Calls Your Name: Discerning God’s Vision for your Life

Workshop:
Accelerating the Spread of the Gospel Through Leadership Training

Dr. Warren Lathem

Dr. Warren Lathem is President of the Wesleyan Seminary of Venezuela which he co-founded in 2002. He is the former District Superintendent of the Atlanta-Marietta District of the North Georgia Conference of the United Methodist Church. He has pastored churches since 1972. His experience includes numerous seminars, training events, church consultations, mentoring, teaching in semnaries, crusade evangelism, ministry pioneer, camp meetings, and revivals on a national and international basis. His last pastoral appointment was to the Mount Pisgah UM Church which he served for over 17 years. During his tenure, it grew to be the fourth largest UMC (based on average attendance) in the U.S. More importantly, during those years over 60% of the 5000 new members (net) who joined were by Profession of Faith. He has always been committed to reaching the unchurched with the Good News of Jesus Christ. This led him to start many innovative ministries, e.g., Lay Missionary Training, The Journey, Recreation Ministry, Beacon of Hope Women’s, The Summit Counseling Center and the first AID’s ministry outside the perimeter of Atlanta. He began an After School Program, a Pre-school , an Elementary school, Middle school, and High school, enrolling over 900 children. He co-founded the Aslan Group, a national church consulting firm. He also started what became the largest Hispanic ministry in the North Georgia Conference. In his last year as Senior minister, Mt Pisgah led the Conference in net new members. Thus, his ministry has been marked by transformed lives. He has always been committed to the ministry of the laity and has partnered with the laity in most effective ways.

Workshop:
Developing mission leadership in local church

Winston Worrell

Winston Worrell serves as Director of the World Methodist Evangelism Institute, a ministry of the World Methodist Council and Emory University. With a doctorate in evangelism from Emory University and a masters degree in media communications from Georgia State University, he organizes and leads evangelism training seminars nationally and internationally. He teaches worldwide church leaders in evangelism, mission and faith-sharing. He is a clergy member of the North Georgia Conference, and has served in pastoral positions in the United States and as circuit superintendent minister in the Caribbean. He is married, and he and his wife have one son.

Workshop:
Reach New Persons: Become More Missional

Craig Maxwell

Craig Maxwell is the Director of Ginghamsburg Global Missions, a church of 4000 just north of Dayton Ohio. Craig provides vision, leadership and administration for adult mission trips around the globe. More than 40 mission experiences are planned each year including opportunities to serve in the local community, large inner cities, hurricane-devastated neighborhoods in the Gulf region, and abroad in Europe, Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, and Central America. Before coming to Ginghamsburg Church, Craig led multiple mission trips via Reign Ministries, Inc. and the Heart to Honduras as well as served as a youth pastor for two churches in Florida and Michigan. Craig, who is a member of the Dayton Area Missions Pastors Network, the United Methodist Largest Churches Missions Pastors Network, and the Most Influential Churches in America Missions Pastors Network, also coordinates missionary partner support for Ginghamsburg. Craig himself is an active “missionary” who has personally led 40 plus mission trips to 56 countries all over the world.

Workshop:
Magnetic Missions - The Blueprint to growing a missions ministry

Workshop:
Microcredit in a Box

Elizabeth Montgomery

Elizabeth is the Director of Outreach Ministry at West Market St. United Methodist Church in Greensboro, NC. West Market is a vibrant 2000 member church in the heart of downtown with a passion for local and global missions. Elizabeth has led this ever growing ministry for five years. She was previously a coordinator for Outreach Ministry on a volunteer basis at University Park UMC in Dallas, TX. She has a B.B.A. from the University of North Texas and an M.B.A. from Southern Methodist University.

Workshop:
The Christmas Store: The Faith Community Unified, Relevant, & Making a Difference

Dr. Daniel F. Slagle

Dr. Dan Slagle is a United Methodist pastor, currently serving on the staff of Faithbridge UMC in Houston, Texas. Dan received his education at Toccoa Falls College (BA) and Asbury Theological Seminary (M.Div. and D.Min.). Dan provides leadership for the missions ministry of Faithbridge, both locally and globally. He has a passion for serving the poor and reaching the world for Christ. Dan is an advocate of ministry partnerships and is blessed to partner with various ministries both in Houston and around the globe, including Honduras, El Salvador, and India. Dan and his wife, Becky, have three daughters - Georgia, Adeline, and Vivian.

Workshop:
Takin' It To The Streets

Dr. Bryce Norton

Bryce worked as a CPA for an international accounting firm for 11 years in SC, NC, and TX before leaving this profession for vocational ministry. Bryce completed his Master of Theology degree with a focus on cross-cultural studies from Dallas Theological Seminary in 2004 and his Doctor of Ministry degree from Asbury Theological Seminary in 2008. His dissertation provided research for the impact of short-term mission trips on the prayer behavior of mission goers. Bryce oversees the local and global mission ministry at Mount Pisgah UMC and has traveled to over 30 countries. Annually, Mount Pisgah UMC will send several hundred people on short-term trips and invest about one million dollars in missions. Bryce met and married his wife Vio in Romania in 2001. They have three young children.

Workshop:
Making the Most of Your Moment….. Before and After Your Mission Trip

Workshop:
Making the Most of Your Moment to Grow Disciples of Jesus while in the Field

Workshop:
Loving the Persecuted Church in Persia

Rev. John R. Moeller Jr

John has served as MUST's Executive Director since 2001 and through his vision has helped MUST grow into one of Georgia's premier servant-leader organizations. As executive director, John manages 50 employees across 3 counties and a $3.25 million annual operating budget (80%+ of which is raised directly from the local community).

Paulette West

Paulette West became Executive Director for United Methodist Volunteers in Mission, Southeastern Jurisdiction (UMVIM SEJ) in July 2009. Prior to that, she was a Connectional Ministries Consultant with the North Alabama Conference serving as the director of Mission and Advocacy; Conference Secretary of Global Ministries and Conference UMVIM Coordinator. She is the first lay female director for UMVIM SEJ.

Paulette has a member of Trinity UMC in Birmingham, Alabama for over 23 years with her husband, John West, a certified public accountant. They have two children.

Paulette enjoys scuba diving, reading, and relaxing at Logan Martin Lake.

Workshop:
What to Know Before You Go to Haiti

Laura Dill Warner

Although most of her time is now spent unwrapping Fruit Roll-ups, mixing baby formula and applying princess band-aids, Laura is passionate about her neighbors and the nations. Prior to having children, Laura served 9 years as the Mobilization Director at Perimeter Church in Duluth, Georgia. Through her involvement with the Fellowship of Short Term Mission Leaders, Laura was involved in the developement of the Standards of Excellence in Short Term Missions. Laura has spent time in over 30 countries, but now makes her home in Sugar Hill, Georgia with her husband, Drue and two children, Grace and Micah.

Workshop:
SOE 101

Darrell Whiteman

Darrell Whiteman is Vice President and Resident Missiologist of The Mission Society in Norcross, Georgia. Prior to joining the staff of The Mission Society he served as Dean of the E. Stanley Jones School of World Mission and Evangelism, and Professor of Cultural Anthropology at Asbury Theological Seminary, in Wilmore, KY. He grew up in the Free Methodist Church, preparing to become a medical missionary. However, his initial mission experience in Central Africa convinced him that he should study anthropology instead of medicine. He served as a United Methodist missionary in Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific before joining the faculty at Asbury Seminary in 1984, and The Mission Society in 2005.

Brett DeHart

Brett DeHart is Pastor of Austell First United Methodist Church. Over the last three years, this 170-member church in a western suburb of Atlanta has dramatically turned its attention outward to its demographically and economically changing community. Living out its BLESS AUSTELL vision, the church was recognized as its city’s “Business of the Year” in 2009, the first time a church had been so honored in the award’s 50+ year history. The church offers a 5-day-a-week, tuition-free preschool for low-income families, a weekly free Community Dinner (Grace Café) and a weekly free aerobics class. The church is heavily involved in its community food pantry, clothes closet, and public schools. The church continues to play a vital role in recovery efforts following devastating and historic flooding in the city in September 2009.

Brett holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Communications from Florida State University and a Master of Divinity from Emory University's Candler School of Theology. The second-career pastor previously was a sportscaster, salesman, and politician.

Workshop:
BLESS – Reviving Your Church While Transforming Your Community

Stan Self

After thirty-seven years in management with BellSouth, Stan took early retirement to join the staff of The Mission Society. He currently serves in the Ministry Operations division of The Mission Society as Senior Director of Church Ministry. His duties include directing the church mobilization efforts to assist local churches to be strategically engaged in reaching the world for Christ. Additionally, Stan oversees missionary itineration and the Missions Representative program.

Workshop:
A Global Outreach Process for the Local Church

Melissa Crutchfield

Melissa Crutchfield is the Assistant General Secretary for International Disaster Response for the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR). She is responsible for coordinating UMCOR's emergency response globally, focusing on regions in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Central and South America. She works closely with local partners and United Methodist members, clergy and congregations to provide relief for those in need in the wake of disasters.

Prior to joining UMCOR, Ms. Crutchfield worked with the Academy for Educational Development (AED) and Aurora Associates International on several USAID-sponsored scholarship programs for children in Sub-Saharan Africa and young adults in the West Bank and Gaza. Prior to this, Ms. Crutchfield worked with the International Rescue Committee (IRC) to monitor, evaluate and develop curriculum for girls’ and adult refugee education programs in refugee camps and communities in Guinea, and taught English in Cameroon for the U.S. Peace Corps.

Ms. Crutchfield has a Masters Degree in International Training and Education, with a focus on gender in development and education in emergencies, from the American University in Washington, DC. She also holds a BA in French from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Tex. Ms. Crutchfield is fluent in French, has lived or worked in 19 countries, and is a lifetime United Methodist.

Workshop:
Mission Praxis in Disaster

Fred Price

The Rev. Dr. Fred W. Price serves as the Executive Secretary for Itineration with the General Board of Global Ministries and is an ordained elder in the Greater New Jersey Annual Conference. Along with his wife, Lanie, he served as a United Methodist missionary for thirteen years through Global Ministries: nine years in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a year in Kenya and three years in Atlanta, GA. He and his wife, who pastors St. John’s UMC in Hazlet, NJ, are the parents of two children: Jonathon David who is married and lives in Washington DC and Joy Malaika who is fifteen and lives with her parents.

Workshop:
Covenant Relationships with Missionaries

Patrick Friday

The Rev. Patrick Friday is Director of In Mission Together for the General Board of Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church. In Mission Together is a partnership program which assists churches in engaging in shared mission and ministry with a developing congregation or in the development of a relationship that could lead to a new congregation. It encourages and affirms the role of local congregations, districts, and annual conferences to be in mission in a global setting. The 400 Fund is the channel for funding this engagement. Patrick is an ordained elder of the North Alabama Annual Conference.

Workshop:
New People for New Places: To the Ends fo the Earth

Jong Sung Kim

The Rev. Jong Sung Kim is Executive Secretary for the Asia/Pacific Region in the Mission and Evangelism staff unit of the General Board of Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church. He oversees the United Methodist Mission Initiatives program which establishes and nurtures new congregations in Asia, including Cambodia, Laos, Mongolia, Nepal, Thailand, and Vietnam. In this capacity, he works with GBGM missionaries and local leaders in addressing both the spiritual and physical needs of these congregations and thus works to ensure clergy and lay leadership programs and community/outreach ministries. Rev. Kim is an ordained elder of the New York Annual Conference having served local churches in the New York Annual Conferences for 13 years before beginning his ministry at the Board of Global Ministries in 1997. He received his Master of Divinity from Drew University. He currently resides in Wilton, Connecticut with his wife Dr. Grace Kim and son Joshua.

Workshop:
New People for New Places: To the Ends fo the Earth

Reverend Rob Rollins

The Rev. Rob Rollins is the pastor of First UMC in Wadesboro, NC. Rob has served as a local church pastor since 1979 and in his current appointment since 2004. He holds degrees from UNC-Greensboro ( BM-Voice 1972) and Duke University Divinity School.( M.Div. 1983). His wife, June, is a watercolor artist and he has two grown children. In addition to his responsibilities as a pastor, he is the Coordinator of Circles of Anson, a member of the Anson County Board of Education, Anson County Partnership for Children and the Executive Director of Hands for HOPE a non-profit CDC.

Workshop:
Inspiring and Equipping Communities to End Poverty

Wilma Dunbar

Wilma Burren Dunbar is a missionary with the General Board of Global Ministries of The United Methodist Church serving as the Circles Coach for Circles of Hope for Anson County, North Carolina. As the Circles Coach, Wilma’s primary role is to “coach” or support these relationships to thrive and to contribute to the efforts to engage the community in the Circles program. Wilma has served as a missionary in Liberia, and with Gulfside Assembly in Waveland, Mississippi and several mission interpreter assignments, all since 1988. A native of Texas, Wilma is a graduate of Prairie View A&M College and Central Michigan University.

Workshop:
Inspiring and Equipping Communities to End Poverty

Rev. Nancy C. Yarnell

As the Program Consultant for Food Security for America, a program of Georgia Avenue Community Ministries, Rev. Yarnell’s passion is to fulfill its mission of “Enough good food for everyone, everywhere in the country, all the time.” As an ordained Deacon in the United Methodist Church, she is dedicated to accomplishing this mission with a spiritual perspective and dignified regard for the program participants. Rev. Yarnell is a native of Chattanooga, graduated summa cum laude from Vanderbilt University, and left a business career in software development to answer a mid-life call to work with people who are homeless in downtown Atlanta. The former Executive Director of Trinity Community Ministries (Trinity Table, Trinity House-Big Bethel) jokes that she’s been promoted from the “homeless” to the “working poor.” The Northside UMC member is the mother of a college student and a high school senior, and enjoys dogs, scuba diving and slow jogging by the river.

Workshop:
Beyond the Food Pantry: Creating Christian Community

Stephen Soulen

Stephen is the pastor of Manchester United Methodist Church. He has lead teams to Brazil, El Salvador, Guatemala, Liberia, Mexico, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Africa, and Ukraine. He is the Chair of Bridges of Mission and Vice Chair of Outreach of the North Georgia Conference. He has organized the collection and shipment of over 8,000 cleaning buckets while serving as an associate at Peachtree City United Methodist Church for six years. Most recently, he has been with teams to Uganda and El Salvador. He has degrees from Baylor University and Emory University. Also, he has received a rich education from his marriage of 27 years to Rev. Melanie Stanley-Soulen and from the raising of their two sons, David and Stan who are young adults. He enjoys playing most sports, especially golf when he has time.

Workshop:
The Bridges