2012 SGI Conference Speakers

General Session Speakers

Dan Brooks is the Senior Pastor of Heritage Bible Church in Greer, SC. Dan has ministered at Heritage since 1992, serving as Senior Pastor since 1998. Heritage has had the opportunity to plant eight churches in upstate South Carolina and across the country. In addition to his pastoral responsibilities of preaching and shepherding the flock, Dan loves spending time with his wife, Kristen, and his four children.

Dave Doran is the pastor of Inter-City Baptist Church, the president of Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary, and the president of Grace Baptist Mission. He has travelled to Africa numerous times and has taught seminary classes in India, Poland, and East Asia. Dave authored a booklet (God’s Sovereignty and the Spread of the Gospel) and co-authored a book (For the Sake of His Name) on missions. He blogs at Glory & Grace. He and his wife, Claudia, have four sons and a daughter-in-law.

Tony helps coordinate the training of pastors in East Asia. Previously, he ministered as a missionary in Poland and served at a Bible college in America. (Tony’s image is not available due to the nature of his ministry context).

Steve Pettit has served on a church staff, directed a Christian camp, and ministered the Gospel as an evangelist for over 30 years. Steve and his ministry teams have conducted hundreds of evangelistic campaigns throughout the United States and numerous foreign countries since 1985. Steve and his wife, Terry, have four children.

Workshop Speakers

Tim Aynes has served as Director of Missions Mandate and Student Global Impact in conjunction with a role as pastoral assistant at Inter-City Baptist Church for the last three years. Aside from mobilizing others for missions involvement, he is pursuing seminary training. Tim and his lovely wife, Anna, are rejoicing in the recent birth of their first child, Chloe Louise.

Matthew Bixby was born in Spain to missionary parents, Matthew spent most of his growing up years on the mission field. While attending college in the United States, Matthew developed a burden for training nationals at a high theological and practical level. In 2002, Matthew and Susan moved to Monterrey, Mexico, to minister at the Christian University of the Americas, where Matthew serves as executive vice-president and the chair of the theology department. Matthew and Susan and their three children are also involved in planting a church in Santa Mónica, a neighborhood on the outskirts of Monterrey.

Susan Bixby’s family moved from North Carolina to the mission field of Chile when she was 16. There she learned Spanish and developed a burden for missions. After college, she married Matthew, who grew up in Spain as a missionary kid, and together they have been serving for almost 10 years training nationals at the Christian University of the Americas in Monterrey, Mexico. Though most of her time is spent at home with their 3 young children, she also enjoys teaching classes and discipleship groups on a regular basis.

Birch Champeon has been the Technical Coordinator for Bibles International since 2001. He develops software to assist with Bible translation and has worked in S.E. Asia, South America and Africa training nationals to use technology to assist with their Bible translation projects. In addition to training in technology, he has conducted training for national colleagues on numerous topics from time management to family issues. He and his wife, Connie, have twin sons. Much of the time they are able to travel as a family and minister together.

Connie Champeon is the Literacy and Linguistics Coordinator for Bibles International. She has worked with Bibles International since 1993. As an MK she served in Brazil and the Philippines, and as an adult she has worked with over 32 language groups throughout S.E. Asia, South America and Africa. She and her husband, Birch, have twin eight year old boys. She enjoys the balancing act of many women - wife, mother, teacher, ministry – as well as managing short-term teams and equipping others for service.

Ben Edwards serves as the Director of Urban Ministry at Inter-City Baptist Church. He leads the evangelistic and discipleship efforts of the campus ministry team at Wayne State University and coordinates outreach into the Midtown area. He convinced a wonderful young lady, Jo, to move down from her beloved country to the north to be his wife.

Mike is the Director of Arabic Bible Outreach Ministry, an online resource focused on evangelism and discipleship among the Arabic Muslim world. Mike resides on the East Coast where he splits his time between a full-time engineer position and directing ABOM.

Pearson Johnson serves as Pastor of Missions and Evangelism at Inter-City Baptist Church. He is responsible for leading ICBC’s efforts to reach out into the metropolitan Detroit area with the gospel and to help further church-planting missions around the world. Pearson co-authored the missions book For the Sake of His Name. He and his wife, Amy, have two children.

Amy Johnson is the wife of Pearson and serves as a homemaker and mother of their two children. Amy is currently involved with coordinating the Women of the Word Bible study for the ladies of Inter-City. She coordinated the Seminary Wives Institute for wives of students attending Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary for several years. She enjoys teaching God’s Word to women.

Glen Kerr, chief translation consultant for Bibles International, part of Baptist Mid-Missions, has worked for 16 years with translation projects involving over 30 people groups, working in francophone west Africa, south America, and southeast Asia. He and his wife Becky reside in Grand Rapids, Michigan. They have three married children (two sons and a daughter), and six grand-children.

Dave McNamara, a retired engineer from Ford Motor Company, serves as a consultant and analyst in the field of automotive technologies. He launched his consulting business, McNamara Technology Solutions, in 2006. Dave offers consultation to Christian universities and tentmaking workers regarding their organizational structure and business strategy. Dave and his wife, Nancy, reside near Ann Arbor, MI and are members of Inter-City Baptist Church. They have two sons, a daughter-in-law, and a grandson.

Jay Searcy recently planted Grace Baptist Church of Hamtramck, MI where he serves as pastor. Hamtramck is a multi-ethnic urban community within the city of Detroit. Jay and his wife, Kristin, have six children.

Kristin Searcy is the wife of Jay and serves as a homemaker and mother of their six children. Kristin counsels and teaches women at Grace Baptist Church in Hamtramck, MI, a recent church plant that Jay pastors.

Marian Townes served for seventeen years with her husband, Dr. William E. Townes, in the former Belgian Congo and Central African Republic. When they returned from Africa in 1972, she taught at Inter-City Baptist Elementary School and was the principal there for twelve years before her retirement. She is currently actively involved in teaching women at Inter-City Baptist Church. Marian and her husband, Dr. Townes, have four children.

Joel Weaver sailed with his parents out of New York harbor to Africa as a missionary kid in 1957 at the age of two. Almost all of his life has been spent in Kenya, East Africa where he and his wife have been working in church planting, training national pastors and operating a Christian camp ministry. Currently, they are working in the capitol city, Nairobi, in a church plant not far from city center.

Mary Ann Weaver was born and raised in a Christian home in Dayton, Ohio. She trusted Christ as her Savior at 9 years of age. She met her husband, Joel, her freshman year of college. They married in August, 1976. Mary Ann has spent 33 years in Kenya raising four sons and ministering in churches and camp ministry through music and ladies outreach. She has five grandchildren. One of her sons, Paul, is also a missionary with them in Kenya.