Speakers
MISSION SUMMIT
Ruy Oliveira is a respected Brazilian Baptist mission leader whose influence spans Latin America. As a coordinator for the Americas in the Junta de Missões Mundiais, he has dedicated his life to mission mobilization, leadership training, and advancing the Gospel through strategic and collaborative efforts.
Daren Davis is a Global Engagement Leader for the International Mission Board (IMB) based in Sub-Saharan Africa. Alongside his wife, Shawna, he works to support church planting, theological education, and missionary training across the continent, focusing on reaching unengaged, unreached people groups
Ben Sprankle has served in pastoral and missionary ministry for almost three decades, including 14 years of pastoral ministry in the United States before moving overseas with his family. Alongside his wife of 27 years and their four children, Ben has spent the last 13 years serving in Africa, including extensive ministry in Madagascar focused on leadership development, gospel engagement, and strategic mission efforts.
Ben holds several advanced degrees in ministry, including studies in leadership development, and is passionate about equipping pastors, strengthening local churches, and mobilizing believers for the Great Commission. His ministry is driven by a vision of seeing African churches equipped to send African missionaries to the ends of the earth, while developing sustainable strategies to ensure every and all people have access to the gospel. Through training leaders, strengthening church partnerships, and encouraging missions engagement, Ben seeks to help churches play an active role in global gospel advance.
Rev. Everton Jackson is the Director of Integral Mission (DIM) at the Baptist World Alliance (BWA), a position he has held since July 2020. He leads BWA efforts in evangelism, mission, leadership development, and theological reflection, with a focus on "Missional Koinonia" and partnering with global Baptist conventions
Dean L. Miller serves as the Mission Development Staff Coordinator with the Baptist General Association of Virginia, where he has led mission efforts and disaster relief initiatives since 1999.
Elijah Wanje is the co-founder and pastor of Ridgeways Baptist Church in Kenya, a vibrant congregation of more than 2,000 members with 24 church plants. He comes from a rich heritage of Southern Baptist mission work in Kenya, where his father was among the first converts in the late 1950s.
Elijah became a follower of Christ at the age of 12 and, at 22, surrendered his life to full-time vocational ministry. He holds a B.A. from Ouachita Baptist University and an M.A. from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Over the years, he has served as Principal of Kenya Baptist Theological College, twice as President of the Baptist Convention of Kenya, and as Vice President of the Baptist World Alliance.
Dr. Stephen Mutua is a Kenyan-based international evangelist, church planter, and mentor serving as the Africa Director of the GO Movement and Chair of the Global Taskforce on Evangelism
Rev. Emmanuel Kwabena Mustapha is a prominent Ghanaian Baptist missionary, founder, and Executive Director of the Global Missions Resource Centre (GMRC), based in Yendi, in the Northern Region of Ghana
BAPTIST FORUM FOR GOOD GOVERNANCE
Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, a two-time Nigerian leader and military general, is a prominent Christian theologian with a Ph.D. in Theology. A Baptist Convention stalwart, he champions the Bible Society of Nigeria and integrates faith into leadership. Today, he remains an active global mediator and author, promoting spiritual and moral governance.
AFRICAN BAPTIST CONGRESS
Karl B. Johnson is a prominent Jamaican pastor, evangelist, and global Baptist leader known for his dynamic preaching and strong commitment to mission and church leadership. He is the first Caribbean national elected as Chair (formerly President) of the Baptist World Alliance (BWA), serving from 2025 to 2030. Throughout his ministry, he has been dedicated to evangelism, leadership development, and fostering unity among Baptist bodies worldwide.
Terrence D Griffith is a former Senator of the Grenadian Parliament. He is currently the pastor of The FAB Church (The First African Baptist Church of Philadelphia) and the Executive Director of the Foreign Mission Board, National Baptist Convention USA