First Presbyterian Church sets annual World Mission Conference

Published 10:00 am Wednesday, February 22, 2023

A longstanding local tradition continues in early March as First Presbyterian Church (FPC) marks its 2023 World Mission Conference (WMC), and the congregation is inviting the community to participate.

Beginning Thursday, March 2, and extending through Sunday, March 5, the World Mission Conference will highlight both global and local missions and ministries, sharing how lives are being transformed in this community, across the country and around the globe.

“Like each of the conferences which came before, this one is a celebration of an amazing God who is using this church in amazing ways to share His love and grow His kingdom… here in Thomasville and around the world,” said Mike Bixler, who co-chairs the 2023 World Mission Conference with his wife, Steffi.

“This year’s theme, We > ME, is a reflection and a reminder of what is possible when we work together as the body of Christ,” Bixler added. “The success of our local outreach ministries and global missions is in large part attributed to our strong and enduring partnerships, some of them spanning a few years, many of them spanning decades.”

 One example is the local church’s long relationship with its mission in Belloc, Haiti, which began 12 years ago with a Thomasville mission team that initially went to the small village to host a children’s summer Bible camp. Over the years, the FPC-Belloc mission has grown to include an outreach ministry to Belloc’s widows and an English school, and construction is under way now on a new center to provide advanced educational and vocational training.  

Additionally, a mission team from First Presbyterian has just returned from Mexico, where church members worked alongside longtime partner Todd Luke in his ministry of evangelism and community development in the Xpujil region. FPC teams and conference funds support the construction of much-needed, family-owned rainwater cisterns that provide safe drinking water for residents of the area. The team that just returned built four large cisterns that will provide life-giving water for more than 30 years.

Visiting conference speakers include Rev. Dr. John Wood, interim pastor, Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Annapolis, MD; Tom Logan, founder and president, Marion Medical Mission; and Chris Granberry, executive director, Sacred Road Ministries. Other mission partners, such as Pastor Yoelkis Sierra Gonzalez of the Reformed Presbyterian Church  of Guanabacoa, Cuba, will participate virtually. 

World Mission Conference attendees can also hear first-hand from past FPC mission team members Mike Grimsley, Barbara Lee, Ben Lindquist and Jay Stauffer about their experiences in various parts of the world, along with FPC’s Rev. Dr. Timothy Filston, senior pastor; Rev. Tyler Wilson, associate pastor and director of student ministries; Kelli Vanduyne, children’s ministry assistant; and Bryan Watt, contemporary worship director. 

This year’s conference offers a number of gathering opportunities, with the church hosting evening dinners with worship and missionary talks; morning breakfasts and lunches, each highlighting ways to become more involved in various missions and ministries; a Saturday morning local service project; and Sunday morning services and programs highlighting specific missions.

Over the years, members of Thomasville’s First Presbyterian Church – including the youth and more senior members – have traveled on mission trips to Africa, Mexico, Haiti, Cuba and many other regions investing their time and talents for the Kingdom of God. Today, FPC provides significant support for the work of its mission partners around the world, across the country and locally.

FPC’s World Mission Conference traces its roots to the mid-1970s, when then-Pastor Wilson Nearing encouraged the local church to bring a particular focus on its mission outreach activities. Church member Louie Porter volunteered to chair the first conference and, with a theme of “By all means… around the corner, around the world,” the church set a goal of $6,000.  When gifts and pledges were tabulated following the first conference, First Presbyterian had raised $12,000.

This year’s base fundraising goal is $177,000 to support world mission partners and mission projects, with a challenge goal of an additional $12,000 to further support mission work in Washington and Oregon, Haiti and Ethiopia.  

The conference will be held at the First Presbyterian Church campus at 225 E. Jackson Street. A full schedule of conference events and more information on FPC-supported missions are available on the church’s website.  To access the 2023 World Mission Conference calendar, log onto www.fpcthomasville.com/wmc