Mathison

John Ed Mathison, pastor of Frazer Memorial United Methodist Church in Montgomery, Ala., will preach the evening of Feb. 2 and the morning of Feb. 3.

Richard Vera, pastor of Emmanuel at Riverside Church in Denver, Colo., will lead a seminar in Spanish on reaching Hispanics in North Carolina at 10 a.m. and preach at 3:15 p.m. on Feb. 2.

Vera

The theme of the conference is "Go make disciples -- Share Christ's love." The conference, which begins at 2 p.m. on Feb. 2 and ends at 9 p.m. the next day, will be at War Memorial Auditorium in Greensboro. "Early bird seminars" at Immanuel Church across High Point Road from the auditorium complex begin at 10 a.m. on Feb. 2.

Other speakers at the conference include Charles Page, pastor of First Church, Charlotte; John Sullivan, executive director of the Florida Baptist Convention; Phil Roberts, the director of the interfaith witness department of the North American Mission Board; Bobby Welch, pastor of First Church, Daytona Beach, Fla.; Ralph Douglas West, pastor of Brookhollow Church, Houston, Texas; and Raymond Whitfield, vocational evangelist, Nebo.

Music and worship leaders for the State Evangelism Conference will be Dick Baker, McKinney, Texas; Becki Smith, Acworth, Ga.; Vernard Johnson, Fort Worth, Texas; the Melody Masters, Bessemer City; and a mass choir from area churches. Conference organist will be Patricia Long of Mooresville and pianist will be Mark Stamper, Mount Holly.

Mathison is senior minister at Frazer. More people attend the church¼s Sunday School than any other United Methodist church in America. Frazer emphasizes lay people ministry, with 83 percent of its members involved in a specific area of ministry.

The church also focuses on missions, allocating about 35 percent of its budget to missions. Mathison was named national clergyman of the year in 1994 by the Religious Heritage Foundation. He has written three books, including Tried and True which focuses on 11 church growth principles used by Frazer. Vera has helped start about a dozen Hispanic churches. He has helped form four of the those since he became pastor of Emmanuel at Riverside in August 1994.

Vera preached at the Southern Baptist Convention Pastor¼s Conference in 1987 and at the meeting of the Baptist General Convention of Texas in 1985. He has spoken at a number of other evangelism and ministers¼ conferences across the United States and in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.