By Joan C. McKinney, news and publications coordinator
CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. – “Servant Evangelism in the 21st Century Church” is the theme for Campbellsville University’s seventh annual Pastors and Church Leaders Conference Sept. 25-26 featuring Dr. Frank S. Page, immediate past president of the Southern Baptist Convention, and Dr. David Emmanuel Goatley, executive secretary-treasurer of the Lott Carey Baptist Foreign Mission Convention and executive director of Lott Carey International and former pastor in Campbellsville.
“I believe the upcoming Pastor’s Conference will be the best Campbellsville University has ever offered,” said the Rev. John Chowning, vice president for church and external relations and executive assistant to the president. Chowning pastors Saloma Baptist Church in Taylor County.
There will be various breakout sessions during the two-day event that will be in the Ransdell Chapel on CU’s campus.
The first session begins at 2 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 25, with a second session beginning at 7 p.m. The breakout sessions begin at 4 p.m. Sept. 25.
The third session begins at 10 a.m. Friday, Sept. 26. Breakout sessions begin at 8:30 a.m. Sept. 26.
In addition to Page and Goatley, who was the former pastor at Campbellsville’s First Baptist Church, Dr. William Henard, pastor of Porter Memorial Baptist Church in Lexington, and president of the Kentucky Baptist Convention will give a presentation at 7 p.m. Sept. 25; Dr. Russell Awkard, pastor of Louisville’s New Zion Baptist Church and moderator of the General Association of Baptists in Kentucky, and Dr. Tony Cunha, assistant professor of music in the CU School of Theology, will be other conference leaders. Cunha is the worship leader for the conference.
Page, pastor of First Baptist Church of Taylors, S.C., and a prolific speaker, has spoken in revivals, Bible conferences, family life conferences, lecture series at colleges and seminary chapels and evangelism training conferences across the nation and oversees.
He has served as pastor of First Baptist Church in Taylors since 2001 and was the 2006 president of the Southern Baptist Convention.
As pastor of the 4,300+ member First Baptist Church of Taylors, located in suburban Greenville County, Page has seen tremendous growth, reaching an average worship attendance exceeding 2,400 and over 1,800 in Sunday School attendance.
Taylors First has dramatically increased its ministries and outreach to the surrounding community as well as national and international missions. The church’s purpose is to, “love the Lord as we lead others to the same love.” Taylors First has become a leader in the state of South Carolina in missions involvement as well as in missions giving. Its innovative community ministries are truly touching the Greenville area for the Lord Jesus Christ.
Page’s speaking experience includes revivals, Bible conferences, family life conferences, lecture series at colleges and seminary chapels and evangelism training conferences across the nation and overseas.
His speaking engagements have taken him around the world to such places as Germany, Norway, Mexico, Israel, Ecuador, Australia, Nigeria, Brazil, Canada and Africa.
He has also taught adjunctively for both Southeastern and Southwestern seminaries.
Page is the author of several books and many articles. Among his books is “Trouble with the Tulip,” an examination of the five points of Calvinism and Jonah, written for the Broadman and Holman Press release, The New American Commentary.
He wrote the Commentary on Mark for the Sunday School Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, as well as a booklet for the Stewardship Commission titled, “The Witnessing and Giving Life.”
He is the lead writer for the Advanced Continuing Witness Training material. Page has also written articles for several magazines, theological journals, etc.
Page holds the Ph.D. degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. This degree, received at age 28, is in the field of Christian ethics focusing on moral, social and ethical issues.
Prior to that, he received the master of divinity degree, also from Southwestern Seminary. He also received the bachelor of science degree with honors from Gardner-Webb University in North Carolina, with a major in psychology and minors in sociology and Greek.
He is a native of Robbins, N.C., and is married to Dayle Gibson Page of Huntersville, N.C., and is the father of three daughters.
Goatley is the former pastor of First Baptist Church in Campbellsville. His wife, Pamela, is from Campbellsville and has family in the area.
Goatley is the executive secretary-treasurer of the Lott Carey Baptist Foreign Mission Convention — an international Christian missions agency founded in 1897 that helps churches extend their witness to the ends of the earth — and the executive director of Lott Carey International — a global relief and development agency that helps improve the quality of life in marginalized communities around the world.
An ordained Baptist minister who has been a pastor, university professor and seminary professor, Goatley, as the CEO of these two agencies, oversees vision, administration and development efforts to invest in indigenous leadership and programs in more than two dozen countries throughout Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Europe, North America, Oceania and South America.
Goatley earned degrees from the University of Louisville (AAS and BS) and The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville (M.Div. and Ph.D).
In addition to journal articles and book chapters, Goatley is the author of “Were You There?: Godforsakenness in Slave Religion” (Orbis Books, 1996) and the editor of “Black Religion, Black Theology: Selected Writings of J. Deotis Roberts” (Trinity Press International, 2003).
A member of the 64-seat national board of directors of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) — the oldest civil rights organization in the United States, Goatley also serves as a member of the board of trustees of Memphis Theological Seminary, an ecumenical ministry of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church; a board member of the B. J. Maxon Community Development Corporation, a CDC that is working to build sustainable community development projects in the Gulf Coast in the aftermath of hurricanes Katrina and Rita; president of the North American Baptist Fellowship, the regional body of more than 20 Baptist denominations and organizations affiliated with the Baptist World Alliance with membership of more than 20 million Baptists in Canada and North America; and a ministry associate with The Columbia Partnership, a community of Christian leaders seeking to transform the capacity of the North American Protestant church to pursue and sustain vital Christ-centered ministry through coaching, consulting, speaking, presenting of seminars/learning experiences, future planning, publications, networking and brokering of knowledge and services.
Goatley, and his wife, Pamela, and their son, Atiba Emmanuel, reside in the Metropolitan Washington, D.C. area.
Chowning said attendance was strong in the “powerful breakout sessions” at the last conference, and he has received many positive comments from participants. He expects this conference to be one of the best.
Breakout sessions Sept. 25 beginning at 4 p.m. Sept. 25 include: option 1 – “Models for Christian Social Ministry” – An Urban Model, led by the Rev. Matthew Smyzer of Louisville; A Rural Model, led by the Rev. Karl Lusk and Misty Curry of Campbellsville, Technology Training Center, room 203; Option 2 – “Campbellsville University – Doing Servant Evangelism,” Christian Women’s Job Corps, led by Debbie Carter of Campbellsville University and Edwina Rowell of Campbellsville; Kentucky Heartland Outreach, led by the Rev. Todd Parish, Technology Training Center, room 105; Option 3 – “Servant Evangelism in Southern Baptist Churches,” led by Page and Dr. Skip Alexander, only on Sept. 25 at 4 p.m., Ransdell Chapel classroom; Option 4 – “Simple and Affordable Ways of Doing Servant Evangelism in the Local Church,” led by Dr. John Hurtgen, dean of CU’s School of Theology, and the Rev. Dennis Bickers, chair of CU’s Church Relations Council of Indiana, Technology Training Center, room 205;
Breakout sessions for Sept. 26, beginning at 8:30 a.m.; Option 1; option 2 or option 3, “Servant Evangelism in National Baptist Churches,” led by Goatley and Dr. Russell Awkard, pastor of Louisville’s New Zion Baptist Church and moderator of the General Association of Baptists in Kentucky, only at 8:30 a.m. Sept. 26, Ransdell Chapel Classroom; or option 4.
Registration begins at 1 p.m. Sept. 25; registration fee is $30 per minister with $20 per spouse. Continuing education units credit hours are 1.5.
Campbellsville University is a private, comprehensive institution located in South Central Kentucky. Founded in 1906, Campbellsville University is affiliated with the Kentucky Baptist Convention and has an enrollment of 2,405 students who represent 98 Kentucky counties, 25 states and 36 foreign nations. Listed in U.S.News & World Report’s 2008 “America’s Best Colleges,” CU is ranked 22nd in “Best Baccalaureate Colleges” in the South and eighth in the South for “Great Schools, Great Prices.” CU has been ranked 15 consecutive years with U.S.News & World Report. The university has also been named to America’s Best Christian Colleges®. Campbellsville University is located 82 miles southwest of Lexington, Ky., and 80 miles southeast of Louisville, Ky. Dr. Michael V. Carter is in his tenth year as president.