First Presbyterian hosting missions conference beginning Friday
The First Presbyterian Church of Demopolis is hosting its annual missions conference beginning Friday, Feb. 24 and running through Sunday, Feb. 26. The keynote speaker for the event will be Rev. Matthew Carr.
The conference opens at 6 p.m. Friday with fellowship, followed by worship with Jimmy and Nadia Dukes. For a complete schedule, click here.
Special Guests
Rev. Matthew Carr, Back Creek Church
Matt Carr grew up at First Presbyterian Demopolis and considers it his home church. He has been married to the incomparable Shannon for 12 years and they have four wonderful children: Avery (10), Ella (7), Noa Kate (5), and Isaac (3 months).
Matt is a graduate of Covenant College (BA) and Reformed Theological Seminary (M.Div.), and has served in ministry as a missionary (MTW – Chiba, Japan), Source Baptiste, Haiti, youth director (Grace PCA in Dalton, GA), associate pastor (First ARP in Gastonia, NC), and is now senior pastor at Back Creek Church (ARP) in Charlotte, NC.
Matt loves and desires to live the mission of Back Creek Church: connecting people with the hope of the gospel.
Jimmy & Nadia Dukes, Presbyterian Evangelistic Fellowship
Jimmy was raised in a Christian family, and he is a member of First Presbyterian Church of Demopolis, Ala. After many years of living a rebellious life, he participated in a mission’s trip to Peru where he met his wife and felt a real call to serve as a missionary.
Nadia was born in Lima, Peru and moved to the mountains of Peru after her parents divorced. She received Jesus at the age of 17 and became involved in different ministries in her local church. She studied law for six years but decided to leave her career to pursue her calling to serve The Lord as a missionary in Peru.
Jimmy and Nadia married in 2007, and have 3 little girls : Ana, Isabela and Sara (6, 5 and 2).
As a family they moved to Huanta, Peru in order to come alongside local Peruvians to help establish healthy churches and to bring the light of the Gospel to the unreached peoples of the Andes Mountains.
Chris & Katie (Kirkpatrick) Gill, Soldier’s Heart Ministry
Chris and Katie Gill began Soldier’s Heart Ministry in Birmingham, Ala., to minister to Veterans with PTSD and Moral Injury. They minister to those affected by the invisible scars of war and/or struggling with their new identity in life after the military.
Their mission is to deliver a message of healing love through the power of Christ to men and women quietly suffering from the effects of war, while trying to find their new identity in a lost and broken world.
Chris served in the U.S. Marine Corps for 12 years and was deployed to several places around the world, including a year in Iraq. He recently returned to school with goal of gaining a PhD in Sociology, in order to influence military policy in regards to how they transition personnel back to civilian life. Chris continues to work with Birmingham Veterans and is establishing an outreach on the UAB campus.