2024 Missions Conference | October 16th — 20th
We pray you can join us for our annual Missions Conference from October 16th-20th.
2024 Speakers Announced!
KEYNOTE SPEAKER: DEREK AND JULIE THOMAS: SERVING IN LAOS
Derek and Julie Thomas have been serving the Lord in fulltime Christian ministry since 1995. They were missionaries in Lithuania until 2007. There the Lord allowed them to begin two churches and a Bible institute. After returning to the states in 2007, Derek led a church plant/restart in the Kansas City area. He would pastor Faith Baptist Church through 2014. While pastoring, Derek received a call to become president of Slavic Baptist Institute in Ukraine and began serving in this role in 2013. They moved to Ukraine in 2017 and later would begin Living Hope Baptist Church of Kyiv. Since the full-scale invasion of Russia in February 2022, their ministry has expanded to focus on raising funds for their Ukrainian charitable organization, “Compassion for Ukraine.” Monies raised are used to purchase and distribute aid within Ukraine primarily through their network of churches associated with Slavic Baptist Institute, SBI. These churches distribute the aid to areas of Eastern Ukraine where the need is often the greatest. Another door was opened for them to the country of Laos. It was through a Ukrainian national and his contact in Laos, that the door to this restricted access nation was opened. From this the Lao Bible Institute was founded in 2020 to meet what one Laotian pastor described as their greatest need – Bible training.
WILLIS AND GEORGINA HACKSHAW: SERVING IN ST. VINCENT
Willis Hackshaw was born in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. He was led to Christ in his home village, South Rivers, at Emmanuel Baptist Church, of which he later became a member. Willis attended the Baptist Bible College of the Caribbean where he gained a Bachelor of Arts degree in Bible in 2005. A year later he started preaching at his home church. He gained a Master of Biblical Studies degree from Northland International University in Wisconsin in 2009. Upon returning home, he resumed preaching in his home church and became the pastor in 2011. Willis was also a teacher and Dean of Discipline at the Baptist Bible College of the Caribbean from 2005 to 2018. Willis first met Georgina in 2003 when she visited St. Vincent. A friendship was kindled when Willis made repeat trips to her home country of Barbados for young preacher’s conferences. They eventually married on July 6, 2013. From a young age it was her desire to work with children. Since 2016 she has been teaching in a secondary school in St. Vincent. Willis and Georgina are the parents of three energetic boys: Jelani (8), Jair (6) and Jayce (1).
DAN AND JEANNE HERMAN: SERVING IN IRELAND
Dan was saved at a young age and called to ministry as a teen. Jeanne Ann was saved at a camp as a teen out of Catholicism. Both were educated at Northland Baptist Bible College and married in 1989. Dan was on staff at Brookside for a number of years. They’re blessed with seven children and four grandchildren and had almost 22 years in full-time ministry before being called to foreign missions. They’re raising support as long-term missionaries for church planting in the Republic of Ireland; sent out by Gretna Baptist Church in Gretna, NE; and approved by Central Missionary Clearinghouse in Houston, TX. Find out more at ServingInIreland.com.
CURT AND MARIA LAMANSKY: SERVING AT PACIFIC RIM MISSIONS INTERNATIONAL
The Lord has called Curt and Maria Lamansky to serve with Pacific Rim Missions International. Mark Kittrell is the president of our board and has asked Curt to serve as the Coordinator of Education and Missions Representative. PRMI has six seminaries in three countries: three locations in the Philippines, two in India, and one in Myanmar. We exist to train national pastors, church planters, and missionaries to more effectively preach God’s Word and shepherd their flocks. We will travel to each location every year where Curt will teach a class, disciple the students, mentor seminary leaders, and develop the schools. This role requires teaching, administrative, and pastoral experience. Since Curt was a professor at Northland Baptist Bible College for 17 years, the Dean of the School of Biblical Studies for 12 years, and a pastor for 20 years, he fits this role well. The need for pastoral training in these areas is great. These are healthy, growing churches that are planting other churches in the Philippines without funding from the United States. They are also sending Filipino missionaries to countries in Africa, the Middle-East, and South-East Asia. What they are asking for is training, and what PRMI exists to do is fulfill that need.
DEAN AND LORIE LOFTUS: SERVING AT RED CLIFF BIBLE CAMP
Dean Loftus grew up in the big sky country of Montana. While in college in Minnesota, he was recruited by Red Cliff’s founder to counsel at camp for a summer. That was 39 years ago! Through the providence of God, Dean and Lorie (a Wisconsin native) met at Red Cliff while serving on staff together, pursued a relationship to marriage (1991), and after rearing four children, enjoying four weddings, and celebrating seven grandchildren, continue to serve together in camp ministry at Red Cliff Bible Camp! Dean has served as general director since 1993, and Lorie has headed food service since 1991. Dean and Lorie both enjoy hiking and hunting and hanging out with family! Red Cliff Bible Camp celebrates 50 years this summer as a ministry tool to churches and families in the inter-mountain West. After recovering from a devastating fire in 2017, we plan to dedicate the new Lodge during Family Camp! Sitting at 8,600 ft. elevation, Red Cliff is a three-season camp operating during summer, fall, and winter. The camp ministry primarily reaches adults and children from a 5-state region through week-long camps, three-day retreats, and wilderness trips. Partnering with churches in proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ and encouraging campers in obedience to Christ for God’s glory is Red Cliff’s mission.
NATHAN AND BECKY RUECK: SERVING WITH ETHNOS 360
Nathan and Becky Rueck serve with Ethnos360. They spent 23 years in Thailand where Nathan served as the Field Bookkeeper and Business Manager for the Southeast Asia Mainland region or SAM.
They returned to the USA in 2019 for a regular home assignment and remained here to care for the special needs of their son, Timmy, and their two teenagers. As of January 2024, he now serves full-time in the payroll office from their home in Indiana. As of January 2024, Nathan now serves full-time in the payroll office of Ethnos360 from their home in Indiana.
Nathan & Becky’s story began in Waukesha, WI while they were students at Ethnos360 Bible Institute (formerly NTBI) in 1989/1990. Both chose, independently, to attend Brookside Baptist Church. In fall 1990 their courtship began, and they were married in Aug 1991. Not long after that, they joined Brookside Baptist church as members until fall of 1995 when they realized that they needed a home church closer to family. They have 4 children. Andrew, Timmy, Samuel and Sarah. Andrew is married to Joy and they have 2 boys, Daniel 7 and Ezra 5.