Previous Speakers
Marilyn Laszlo: Marilyn was born in Valparaiso, Indiana, as the eldest of four daughters of Martin and Lois Laszlo. Marilyn grew up on a small farm. As a young girl, while plowing the fields of her parent's farm, she made a commitment to be a missionary. She graduated from Bryan College, Tennessee, which also recently awarded her a Doctorate of Letters (May 2003).
Marilyn studied linguistics at the University of Oklahoma and then kept her commitment to God by serving with Wycliffe Bible Translators. She traveled to Papua New Guinea, with a translation partner, to Hauna Village, home of the Sepik Iwam people. Marilyn, her sister Shirley, and their language helpers took an unwritten language and created an alphabet and reading books, and taught the people to read and write. Marilyn and Shirley did medical work, and trained indigenous people to operate a local school, store, and clinic. Now, a boat staffed by Sepik Iwam Christians shares the Gospel and offers medical work along the river.
George Verwer: George Verwer is the Founder and former International Director of Operation Mobilization, which is a ministry of evangelism, discipleship training and church planting. George led Operation Mobilization for over 40 years before stepping down in August 2003. George has a burning concern for vital, propagating and revolutionary Christianity in his own life and in those he meets. Saved at the age of 16 in a Jack Wyrtzen meeting in which Billy Graham spoke in Madison Square Garden, New York, George returned to his school in northern New Jersey. Within a year about 200 of his classmates had found a relationship with the living God through Jesus Christ. Shortly after his conversion he said to God, "Only one thing I want in life: I want to learn to pray, to love you, I want to know you and commune with you." He has not moved from that principle. Attending Maryville College after high school, he transferred to Moody Bible Institute where he met a girl, Drena, who was a fellow student and would later become his wife. They went to Spain where in 1961 the work of OM was born. The goal, always the same, is to get to know God together in discipling young Christians while concurrently carrying out a rigorous programme of world evangelism. Today OM reaches across the world through two ships and over 4,000 people working in over 80 nations to make Christ known in the lives of all they meet. George has raised up dedicated leadership to pursue this task across the world. George and his wife, Drena, have three adult children and five grandchildren. They make their home in England.
Grant Porter: Grant, a native born Australian has been living and serving in the Middle East for the last 26 years along with his wife and children. God has involved them in a wide variety of work, including street evangelism, door-to-door, tent-making, church planting, refugee work, and mobilizing young Arab believers into outreach. For the past eighteen years he has been a field director with a major mission agency and has also been involved in creating a network of church planters, businessmen, relief workers and intercessors focused on reaching the lost. Grant holds an M.A. in Missiology and has the opportunity to travel often teaching about mission and sharing the vision for ministry in the Middle East.
Dr. Barry Corey: Corey received a B.A. in English and Biblical Studies from Evangel University in Springfield, MO., in 1984. In 1988, he received an M.A. in American Studies with a concentration in literature and religious history from Boston College's Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. He received a Ph.D. from Boston College in curriculum, instruction and administration (a higher education program) in 1992. In addition to his educational experiences, Corey was a Fulbright Scholar with Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee and lived in Bangladesh among the rural poor from 1990 to 1991. He has served on a number of non-profit boards including the Board of Trustees of "Convoy of Hope," an international relief and development organization, and the Board of Trustees of "The Boston Theological Consortium" (a nine-member consortium of theological schools in the Boston area including Harvard University, Boston College and Boston University). He has also completed two Boston Marathons, one in 2004 and one in 2006. He has been married to his wife, Paula, for 16 years. They have three children: Anders, 15; Ella, 13; and Samuel, 9.