Griffin to address missions celebration

Following a tradition begun 13 years ago, Dalton First United Methodist Church will host a Foreign Missions Celebration today through Sunday.

There will be a barbecue dinner at 6 o’clock tonight, followed by groups hearing from several missionaries. For the Saturday night banquet which starts at 6, the keynote speaker will be Wes Griffin, founder and international director of the International Leadership Institute. The public is invited to attend both nights and reservations can be made by calling the church office at (706) 278-8494.

Griffin leads an organization that trains more than 10,000 leaders each year. These leaders return to their homes in more than 70 countries where they train local leaders who minister in more than 200 languages.

Formerly a missionary in Estonia in the Baltic region of Europe, Griffin was founding dean of the Methodist Theological Seminary in Tallinn. He served in Estonia following the collapse of Soviet Communism. Griffin also previously served as a senior pastor at churches stateside and was assistant director of evangelism for the World Methodist Council. He is joined in ministry by his wife, Joyce, and their two children, Hannah and Caleb.

Thirteen years ago, a group of church members who wanted to be more effectively involved in spreading the good news of Christ to the world contacted the Mission Society for United Methodists based in Norcross and a successful partnership was born. As church members learned about the work of missionaries around the world, they saw how they could be a bridge to the world and fulfill God’s call to “make disciples of all nations.” Some are led to share the Gospel by actually going as missionaries. Others serve by praying and financial giving.

In the ensuing years, many members of Dalton First have traveled at their own expense to remote regions of our world. Mission work has also taken place in Dalton, and across the U.S.

Several of the missionaries will participate in dinner and informational gatherings beginning at 6 p.m. today. Doug Neel, director for Agrimissions of The Mission Society, will talk about Agrimissions’ work empowering local missionaries and improving the lives of those to whom they minister by providing agricultural training, services and workers. He will be joining the Abundant Life class in the church parlor.

Meeting with the Bo Thompson class in the Youth Lounge will be Esaho Kipuke, who serves with The Mission Society in Togo, West Africa.

Ron Griffith and Dick Weber, who work with Life for Children Ministry in Kenya, will join the Susan Thomas and Wesley classes in the Susan Thomas classroom.

Following dinner, The Fellowship Class will hear about the work of Ed and Linda Baker in their classroom. Co-directors of the Global Resource Team for The Mission Society, the Bakers provide specialists to work supporting missionaries in the field, as well as indigenous churches and other people groups all around the world.

The Celebration class will gather in the home of John and Ann Bryant in Rocky Face to hear Mark and Marybeth Leavell and Bob and Rita Payne. These couples work with the West African Theological Seminary. WATS, located in Nigeria, is the largest Christian theological school in Africa.

Missionaries will continue to arrive on Saturday. At noon on Saturday there will be a luncheon at The Filling Station and hosted by Stephanie Davis Strain for missionaries, host families, the Missions Committee at Dalton First, along with its pastors and their wives.

Among the missionaries arriving on Saturday will be Daltonian Donna Petrel. She works with Shevet Achim in Israel, providing non-Israeli children from the Middle East with lifesaving medical care in Israel. In recent months, she has worked with families in Iraq, traveling to meet them in their hometowns, accompanying them back to Israel for surgery and treatment, and then returning home with them.

Returning to Dalton for another visit will be Ron and Belinda Tyler, who call Marietta home. They moved to Nairobi, Kenya, in 1988, where they established Evangelism Explosion.

Jack and C.J. Wehmiller will be making their first visit to Dalton. Jack works with Rivers of the World, a Christian ministry that targets remote river basins, serving the people who live there.

Prior to Saturday evening’s banquet, all the visiting missionaries and their representatives will be at exhibits they have set up in the Atrium of the church to explain their areas of work. There will be brochures, pictures, literature, etc., at each display where people will have an opportunity to ask questions and meet the evangelists they are supporting.

Missionaries will be introduced at church services at 8:30 and 11 a.m. on Sunday. At 9:45 a.m. they will make presentations in the adult Sunday school classes.

Other missionaries supported by Dalton First who are not in the country at this time are Billy and Joanna Coppedge in Uganda, Tim and Dania Datwyler in Ecuador, Arthur and Mary Alice Ivey and Ash and Audra McEuen from Peru, Alfred Kalembo from Zambia, Jay and Donna Maxfield who serve worldwide, Peter and Esther Periera working in India, Bob and Ann Rosser working with Kenyans, Dan and Katy Beth Searls spreading the Gospel in Hungary, and Daltonian Chrissie Shaheen, whose ministry with women and families takes place in Jerusalem.

Mission committee members who have been working for almost a year on the Missions Celebration Weekend include Priscilla Brown (chair), Cindy Ray (co-chair), banquet chef Greg Renz, Shirley Siegle (decorations), Todd Ray (emcee for the banquet, Ava Embry and Ann Bryant (local missions reception), Patti Coppedge (publicity), Elaine Coleman (registration), Stephanie Davis Strain (Saturday luncheon) and Bryan Morton (website and posters).

The theme for the 2012 celebration is “That All May Know Him.”

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