Speakers
Larry Martin
Larry Martin serves International Justice Mission as the Senior Vice President of Education and Dean of the International Justice Mission Institute. IJM is an international human rights agency that rescues victims of violence, sexual exploitation, slavery and oppression. Based on referrals of abuse received from relief and development organizations, IJM conducts professional investigations of the abuses and mobilizes intervention on behalf of the victims.
Rev. Martin received his B.S. from Fresno State University, an M.A. from Fuller Theological Seminary and a Masters of Divinity from American Baptist Seminary of the West. Reverend Martin is an ordained American Baptist minister.
Prior to working with IJM, Rev. Martin served 16 years on the staff of Young Life in Northern California and Colorado, eight years as a Baptist pastor and four years as a denominational executive with the American Baptist Churches of the West.
Rev. Martin joined IJM in October of 2001. As Senior Vice President of Education, he is responsible for developing relationships and tools for communication in order to further IJM's goal to deepen the church's level of understanding, passion and commitment to seeking justice for those who suffer abuse and oppression in our world. Rev. Martin travels throughout America and abroad as IJM's chief speaker in churches, colleges and universities. He has also traveled to South Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America to see firsthand the work of IJM.
He currently resides in Springfield, Virginia with his wife Nan. Their two grown children, Beth and Adam, reside in Atlanta and Denver respectively.
-Courtesy of International Justice Mission Official Website
Kimberly Smith
Kimberly L. Smith is Co-Founder and President of Make Way Partners. Kimberly has experience from both Corporate America, where she served as Vice President in a financial institution for a number of years, and the mission field. She has lived in The Caribbean, Asia and Europe with extensive service in Sudan, Africa. As a wife, mother and grandmother, the protection of and provision for oppressed women and children are especially important in her leadership toward biblical justice. Kimberly loves to read, write and kayak with her husband, Milton.
"While serving as a missionary with my husband and children in Europe, our family became painfully and personally aware of the evil of human trafficking. The Lord led my husband and me to co-found a Christian agency committed to alert the Body of Christ to what we had experienced, and to call upon the Body to respond with Christ's love and action.
As the President of Make Way Partners, I am compelled to communicate to the Body of Christ what I have seen of the suffering of hundreds of thousands of young women and children forced to become child soldiers, sold into sexual slavery, professional begging, or manual labor camps which are rising up around the West. This is a horror of which most of us Western Christians cannot begin to comprehend. Yet, we must open our eyes to see, and our hearts to help those who suffer in it.
As a woman and a Believer, who is part of the Body, I am compelled by the Spirit to do all He has empowered me to do in order to prevent and combat this evil, to seek justice on behalf of those held captive, and to invite YOU to step into action with me.
As Christ's Body, it is our time to respond. In His power, we are to stand for the oppressed, storm Hell's rusted gates and release the captives! We are His arms to hold and His hands to help the suffering here on earth. We are beyond the day of looking to our (or any other) government for such answers but accept His invitation to live out what Christ has called and equipped us to do.
We partner with Christian churches of all denominations, individuals and businesses who seek to be involved in interdenominational missions to spread the incarnational Hope of the Gospel to the most bitterly oppressed."
-Courtesy of Make Way Partner Official Website
Chet Lowe
Pastor Chet and his wife, Andrea, have dedicated their lives for the sake of the Kingdom. Having grown up in a Christian home, he watched and learned the foundational truths of practical Christianity. At the age of seven he began his first ministry in the garage of his parents' house by having a Vacation Bible School for the neighborhood children. Feeling God's call on his life, at thirteen he joined a team of teenagers and traveled to South Korea to build a church and at fourteen to Liberia, West Africa, to build a school house. These trips solidified in his mind his desire to serve the Lord no matter the calling or the place.
This passion led him to return to Liberia in 1995, married and with a four month old child, to minister to the Liberian nation in the midst of civil war. For several years he and his family worked diligently to bring peace to the hearts of men in the midst of such turmoil and strife. Threatened with war, ambush, disease and hunger, Pastor Chet and his family were able to overcome by the blood of Lamb and see the fruit of planting seventeen churches. These churches co-labored with his desire to minister to the children who were fighting in the civil war. Thus, Pastor Chet, working in conjunction with the local church, opened seven rehabilitation homes known as Joseph's Brethren. These homes ministered to over 1,500 child soldiers (ages 5 - 18) by taking them out of combat, showing them the love of Christ through a well-structured, six-week ministry and placing them in foster homes until their biological families could be found.
Upon return to the United States Pastor Chet joined the staff of his home church of 15 years, Calvary Chapel Fort Lauderdale. There, under his Senior Pastor Bob Coy, he had the privilege to serve the Lord as the Adult Family Pastor and oversee the Couple's Ministry, Pre-Marital and Weddings, Biblical Counseling, Women's Ministry, Free Indeed (a sin deliverance ministry), Singles, Parenting and the Foster Care Ministry.
Pastor Chet and his wife are blessed with eight children, five through natural birth and three adopted Liberian children. At the age of 35 he realizes his family to be his greatest ministry as to "...whom much is given, much is required." In the same way, he desires to know Christ better, which led him to complete his Masters Degree in Christian Counseling. Finally, he longs to see himself and others grow in the knowledge of Christ in order to produce fruit as believers, love the brethren and abide in His Word. He now works with Adventure Learning Center in the Bahamas.
-Courtesy of Potter's Field Ranch Official Website
K.P. Yohannan
K.P. Yohannan is the founder and president of Gospel for Asia, a mission organization involved in evangelism and church planting in the unreached regions of Asia. Currently Gospel for Asia supports over 16,500 church planters in the heart of the 10/40 Window.
Born in a remote village of South India, K.P. Yohannan's personal journey toward spiritual reality began at the age of eight when he gave his heart to Christ. While he was still a young boy, his mother began fasting each week, praying God would call one of her six sons into full-time Gospel ministry. Her prayers were answered in 1966 when 16 year-old K.P., her youngest, volunteered to serve in North India with Operation Mobilization.
From 1974 to 1979 K.P. attended Criswell Bible College in Dallas, Texas, where he earned his B.A. in Biblical Studies. He was also awarded an honorary doctor of divinity degree from Hindustan Bible College in Madras, India.
During the time he attended Criswell, he pastored a local church in Dallas. However, he was unable to forget the millions still lost without Christ in his homeland of India, and knew God was calling him to reach his own people. In 1978 K.P. resigned his pastorate and he and his wife, Gisela, organized what is now Gospel for Asia.
GFA has grown rapidly and has quickly become one of the most effective mission forces in Asia today. The ministry has expanded beyond India to support native missions in Nepal, Myanmar, and many other Asian nations. At the 54 Gospel for Asia missionary Bible colleges, over 8,000 church planters are being trained to reach the unreached.
In addition to traveling and speaking in North America, K.P. spends half of his time in Asia, consulting with Christian leaders and speaking at missionary gatherings. He's also heard throughout India by millions of people on a daily Christian radio program.
K.P. has authored more than 200 books published in India and five in the United States, Revolution in World Missions (ISBN 0-88419-195-8), The Road to Reality (ISBN 0-88419-250-4), Why the World Waits (ISBN 0-88419-303-9), Living in the Light of Eternity (ISBN 0-9632190-6-5), and Reflecting His Image (ISBN 1-56599-999-1).
He lives near Dallas with his wife Gisela. They have two grown children, Daniel and Sarah, who are serving the Lord.
-Courtesy of Gospel For Asia Official Website