Speakers Bring God's Message to Denomination with Passion, Vision

Pastor Clarence Marks -
Sunday Evening
In grand style, Pastor Clarence Marks preached from Ezekiel 34, exhorting the denomination to believe that God can make dry bones live again. Accentuated by drums, keyboard and a choir, Marks' preaching and enthusiasm for Christ was contagious.

Marks has served as pastor at Los Angeles Second Free Methodist Church since 1998. Rev. Marks has led the urban church from an attendance of 50-60 to nearly 300 in five years. An ordained elder in the Free Methodist Church, he is bivocational, having worked as a night foreman at Ralph's Grocery in Glendale, CA, for 19 years. He is serving as a district superintendent under the leadership of Conference Superintendent Steve Fitch. His unique ministry style often includes singing at the piano and pulpit preaching. Rev. Marks and his wife, Preness, have four boys and reside in Los Angeles.

Pastor Jesse Carvalho - Monday Evening
Speaking in his native tongue, FM Pastor Jesse Carvalho preached in Portuguese to the Monday-evening crowd gathered in Royal Brougham Pavilion. Dan Owsley, FM missionary to Brazil, interpreted the sermon from Ephesians 2: "Breaking Down the Walls."

Carvalho was born a fourth-generation Methodist into the home of a Brazilian pastor. At age 16 he planted his first church in Brazil, which started a life pattern that has resulted in planting 38 churches in 32 years of ministry. In 1972 he graduated from Bible school and in that same year married Leda. The couple has three daughters and three grandchildren. In 1994 he came to the United States, where he has planted several Brazilian churches. He has a vision to plant 100 new churches in the next 15 years.

Pastor Badeg Bekele -
Tuesday Evening
Taking his text from the Great Commission, Pastor Badeg Bekele called the church to action. With great enthusiasm, Bekele drew from biblical exposition and his own personal experience to deliver the Lord's message to the church. The call to action includes taking risks while entering into a new realm of dependence on God so that He can take us to the ends of the earth.

Bekele, an ordained Free Methodist elder in the Southern California Conference, is senior pastor/founder of Amanuel Ethiopian Church of L.A. and national director of Free Methodist work in Ethiopia. With a base in Los Angeles, Rev. Bekele has planted over 20 churches in different parts of Ethiopia in the last four years. He has developed medical, educational and social services in various parts of Ethiopia. He is a sought-after lecturer and conference speaker. Rev. Bekele and his wife, Rachel, have two children and live in Hacienda Heights.

Ajith Fernando - Daily Biblical Teaching (mornings)
Biblical exposition by Ajith Fernando was a daily highlight at General Conference. Verse by verse and line by line, Fernando opened his deep well of biblical knowledge. The call to become flesh and blood and move into the neighborhood was the central theme of his call to passionate ministry. From John 12, Romans 5, 8 and 12, Fernando explored the themes of passion — for God and people; suffering as the primary pathway to holiness; the activity of the Holy Spirit; and what it means to be a passionate community.

Fernando is national director of Youth for Christ in his native Sri Lanka. A graduate of Asbury Theological Seminary, Dr. Fernando has traveled around the world as a Bible teacher and speaker and served as principal translator of the NIV-style Sinhala Bible. It is said of him, "even as a young man, he ministered to more people through his writings than any other Bible teacher in South Asia." In 1999 he received International Bible Society's highest award, the Golden Word Award, citing "his outstanding work over the past 20 years in promoting the relevance of Scripture in today's world."

Pastor Delia Nüesch-Olver - Wednesday Evening
With freshness of spirit empowered by the Holy Spirit, Pastor Delia Nüesch-Olver delivered the Word of the Lord to some 750 people gathered for the Wednesday-evening worship celebration at GC 2003. Taking her text from the "parable of the guy who got the stuff beat out of him" (The Parable of the Good Samaritan), Nüesch-Olver invited the Free Methodist Church to reconsider our North American understanding of "neighbor," to find healing from people-blindness, and to invest in our neighborhoods.

Nüesch-Olver is associate professor of Global & Urban Ministries at Seattle Pacific University. Before coming to SPU, she was director for Social, Urban, and Ethnic Ministries for the Free Methodist Church of North America. An ordained elder, she has planted several urban churches in her 29 years in ministry. She is a presenter at "World Inquiry" in Seoul, South Korea, in 2003, and the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization Forum in Pattaya, Thailand, in 2004. Born and raised in Argentina in a Swiss missionary family, Delia has lived and ministered in Buenos Aires, London, Zurich and several U.S. cities. She now resides with her husband, Dr. Paul S. Olver, in Seattle. She leads the small-group ministry at Rainier Avenue Free Methodist Church.

World Missions Executive Director Arthur Brown -
Thursday Morning
Deep conviction, personal illustration, godly passion and spiritual fervor came together as World Missions Executive Director Art Brown addressed the general conference assembly on Thursday morning. Using Abraham as an example of obedience, Brown called the church to respond with faith to God's call for radical obedience.

Brown has served as director of Free Methodist World Missions since March 2000. In this role Dr. Brown is responsible for the missions program in over 62 countries worldwide outside of the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. He came to this position following 27 years of ministry in Kentucky and New York, serving as pastor and conference superintendent. Throughout his ministry Dr. Brown has been a key proponent of the church's mission movement. Along with his wife, Sylvia, and their family, he has visited, taught and ministered on several mission fields. He is an ordained elder in the Genesee Conference, and with his wife, lives in Indianapolis, IN.

FM Communications Executive Director Doug Newton - Friday Morning
Combining passion, humor, frankness and humility, FM Communications Executive Director Doug Newton brought a prophetic word to the church Friday morning. He called our denomination to refuse to settle for that which is good, but instead, to do that which is best. Using God's Word as found in the Book of Acts, Newton brought a message that challenged conference participants and attendees to renew their passion for the overflowing of the Spirit into the neighborhood.

Newton is an ordained elder in the New South Conference and brings a rich and unique mix of service and experience. He was pastor of the Free Methodist Church in Bowling Green, KY, for 13 years and served five years as president of Oakdale Christian High School. He is currently executive director of Free Methodist Communications and senior editor of Light and Life magazine. Doug and his wife, Margie, feel a special calling to a ministry of encouraging prayer in all aspects of the church's life. They are prayer coordinators for this General Conference.