The 47th Annual Missions Festival at Ebenezer Mennonite Church, Bluffton, will feature Dr. David E. Draper as speaker for both Sundays.
The conference will be held Nov. 14 through Nov. 21. Dr. Draper is president of Winebrenner Theological Seminary, Findlay. He is an ordained pastor with the Eastern Regional Conference of the Churches of God and served as pastor of Mt. Pleasant Church of God (Ohio) and Pleasantville Church of God (Maryland).
He has preached in more than 200 congregations including Haiti and Tanzania. He has written numerous articles for "The Church Advocate" and "The Gem." He is a member of the Fellowship of Evangelical Seminary Presidents and a board member of WLMB Christian television, Toledo. He co-authored, with his wife, Linda, "Bound but Free," a study of Philippians published by the Churches of God.
Mrs. Draper will also be part of the festival. She is a spiritual director/formational counselor and serves as a communications consultant for Winebrenner Theological Seminary. She taught school in Hagerstown, Maryland, and was an elementary school reading specialist in Mt. Victory.
The theme of the conference is "Reaching Up and Reaching Out" based on II Corinthians 5: 14-21. The conference verse is II Corinthians 5:19 "...God was reconciling the world to Himself through Christ...and He has committed to us the message of reconciliation." Dr. Draper will be speaking at both the a.m. and p.m. service on Sunday, Nov. 14 and Sunday, Nov. 21.
Nightly meetings will be held at 7 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 14 through Wednesday, Nov. 17. Sunday, Nov. 14 has been designated as youth night. Friday, Nov.19 will be a family fellowship meal beginning at 6:00 p.m. A program with the missionaries will follow.
Saturday, Nov. 20, will be a men's breakfast at 7:30 a.m. and the ladies will have a refreshment hour at 10 a.m. A Children's Missionary Adventure will be held each evening.
Several other missionaries involved in the conference are:
- Tom and Dora Becker, serving in the Czech Republic with Reach Global;
- Laverne Busenitz worked for many years with Biblical Ministries Worldwide in Germany;
- Pablo and Jeanette Corpas from Spain, have worked with Norm and Gwen Bowman;
- Brad and Debbie Dukes are with Campus Crusade for Christ working on the Toledo University campus;
- Fred and Dorothy McGinley serve with SIM USA;
- Daniel and Lynn Plett work with TransWorld Radio in the Slovak Republic;
- Nick Powell is with Avant Ministries serving at Echo Ranch Bible Camp in Alaska;
- Joe and Jeanie Stucky work with Brazil Gospel Fellowship;
- Les and Verla Unruh work with SIM USA;
- Bryden Wiens is with Avant Ministries at Echo Ranch Bible Camp;
- and Dennis and Cindy Wiens work with SAT-7 in Arab Ministries.
All services are free and open to the public, but reservations are suggested for the Friday night dinner, the Saturday morning men's breakfast and the ladies refreshment hour.
For more information call the church at 419-358-8588.
