EMPOWER EVANGELISM CONFERENCE: Program Personalities

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January 17, 2006
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TIM LAHAYE

Tim LaHaye is best known as co-author with Jerry Jenkins of the best-selling “Left Behind” book series and the author of dozens of non-fiction books on diverse topics such as marriage, personality and temperament. A minister and educator, LaHaye is president of Tim LaHaye Ministries and founder of the Pre Trib Research Center, an organization dedicated to the study of the end-times view that Christ will rapture Christians prior to a seven-year tribulation on earth.

LaHaye’s wife, Beverly, is the founder of Concerned Women for America, a Christian women’s organization dedicated to upholding Judeo-Christian values in the culture.

PAT SUMMERALL

Pat Summerall, a Dallas-area resident and a former NFL tight end and kicker, is best known as a signature voice in American sports broadcasting.

A member at First Baptist Church of Euless, Summerall was a state tennis champion and All-State basketball player in his native Florida before starring in football at the University of Arkansas and later with pro football’s Chicago Cardinals and New York Giants. He also played pro baseball briefly in the St. Louis Cardinals organization.

Summerall’s broadcasting career has spanned 45 years, working with CBS and FOX Sports, covering 16 Super Bowls, five heavyweight boxing championship fights, the NBA, PGA golf and pro tennis.

BOBBY WELCH

Bobby Welch is in his second term as president of the Southern Baptist Convention. He is the longtime pastor of First Baptist Church of Daytona Beach, Fla., and the author of the FAITH Sunday School evangelism curriculum used in many Texas churches. Welch served as a Green Beret in Vietnam and was wounded and left for dead. He was awarded the Bronze Star with “V” device for bravery, Purple Heart, Air Medal, Combat Infantryman Badge and other decorations.

Welch has challenged Southern Baptists to witness to, win and baptize one million people in the coming year?a challenge that coincides with the SBTC’s challenge to its churches to double baptisms.

KELLY GREEN

Evangelist Kelly Green of Brandon, Fla. grew up in the California counterculture before stumbling into an Oklahoma City church in 1970 and being saved. He preached his first sermon barefoot before 3,000 kids at an outdoor “Jesus Festival” at his church.

After joining the staff at Dauphin Way Baptist Church in Dauphin, Ala., Green went on to earn degrees from the University of Mobile and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Green is the founder of a spiritual mentoring ministry called “Frontliners,” which trains and equips thousands of high school students each year for a lifetime of evangelistic ministry.

STEVE GAINES

Steve Gaines was called last year as successor to the late Adrian Rogers as pastor at Bellevue Baptist Church in suburban Memphis, Tenn. Previously, he was pastor of First Baptist Church of Gardendale, Ala., which baptized 3,251 people during his 14 years there.

A Corinth, Miss., native, Gaines served at Lake Shore Baptist Church in Lake Dallas, Texas from 1981-88, and was pastor there from 1983-88. He earned a Ph.D. from Southwestern Seminary in 1991. Gaines was a member of the study committee that drafted changes to the Baptist Faith & Message confessional statement, adopted by the Southern Baptist Convention in 2000.