Speakers at this year’s conference will challenge conference goers to look to the future of the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches. Beginning with the fellowship moderator, Bob Fetterhoff, pastors who take to the platform will look at church planting, the glory of God, the church, prophecy, and leadership.
Bob Fetterhoff
Born in Jackson, Miss., Bob has been married to Roxanne since 1976. They have two children: Kristin and Kara. Fetterhoff has been a believer since 1958 and has been on the staff of the Wooster, Ohio, Grace Brethren Church since 1980, and senior pastor since 1981. His hobbies include jogging, golf, basketball, jet skiing, and gardening. His ministries include hosting a weekly radio broadcast entitled “Minute with the Master,” being the founding pastor of Wooster Christian School, and serving as chairman of the board of directors, Grace Brethren North American Missions.
Brad Powell
Brad Powell is the senior pastor of NorthRidge Church in Plymouth, Mich., with satellite locations in Ann Arbor-Saline and Brighton-Howell. Powell’s ministry purpose focuses on four areas of impact: life change, leader change, church change, and culture change. His passion lies in helping churches realize their full potential and leading them to transition from where they are to where God is uniquely calling them to be in order to bring Christ and His change to the world.
A conference speaker at both national and international leadership events, Powell shares real-life examples, inspiring stories, and his own experience with leading transition ministries of various shapes, sizes, and philosophies.
He writes a regular leadership blog on his website, bradpowellonline.com, and has authored Change Your Church for Good (Nelson). Brad is a contributing editor for Outreach Magazine, where his question-and-answer column, “Leading Change,” appears in each issue. NorthRidge Church is the No. 36 largest and No. 98 fastest-growing church in America (2010 Outreach 100 list of largest churches in America).
Dan Allan
Vision and the Glory of God
Dan Allan is the senior pastor of the Ashland, Ohio, Grace Brethren Church, where he has been on staff for 26 years. He is a graduate of Grace College and Grace Seminary and has served on the CE National Board of Directors for nine years. Allan presently serves on the board of trustees for Grace. He was moderator of the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches in 2005. Dan is married to his best friend, Holly, and they have two children, Sara and Jon. Dan loves to play golf and tennis.
Jim Brown
Vision and the Church God Uses
Jim Brown has been the senior pastor of Grace Community Church, a Grace Brethren church in Goshen, Ind., for 15 years. Grace Community Church is known in Goshen and throughout the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches as a community of people who are passionate about sharing Jesus with others. He and his wife, Anne, have been married for 23 years and have three children, Joshua, 19, Hannah, 17, and Isaiah, 12.
Brown has A.S., B.S., and M.Div. degrees from Grace College and Seminary. He has served on the board of the Brethren Missionary Herald Co., as moderator of the Heartland District, and as chairman of the Heartland Ministerium. Jim is presently member of the CE National Board. He was the 2007/2008 moderator of the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches. He has been involved in four GO teams (to Cambodia, Vietnam, China, and Thailand). Jim spends his free time coaching basketball and baseball teams and is an avid runner. He loves to read and to ride his Harley Davidson motorcycle.
Jim Custer
Vision and Prophecy
Jim Custer, teaching pastor at the Grace Brethren Church of Columbus, Ohio, says, “By God’s grace, I have lived a rich full life.” He served as senior pastor at the Columbus congregation from 1968 to 2006, during which time he saw a church of 95 people grow to a congregation of 4,000, and he helped build a private Christian day school that annually enrolls 1,230 students and has awarded diplomas to more than a thousand graduating seniors. He has also seen more than 150 men and women from the church enter full-time ministries all over the world, and 12 sister churches started as an outreach of the Columbus church. Custer is a graduate of Grace College and Grace Theological Seminary and currently serves as chair of the Grace board. He is married to Triceine and they have three grown children and nine grandchildren.
Jeff Bogue
Vision and Leadership
Jeff Bogue is a graduate of Grace College and Grace Seminary. He is the senior pastor of Grace Church of Greater Akron, a thriving multi-site Grace Brethren congregation of more than 5,000 in Ohio, where Jeff has served with his wife, Heidi, since 1993. Bogue’s newest book, Living Naked: How an Ordinary Person Can Live an Extraordinary Life, was released in January 2010. He travels nationally and abroad speaking to youth and lay people and training ministry leaders. He has served the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches for many years in various capacities on both district and national levels. Jeff has a deep passion for the local church and strongly believes that Christ still works through His church to build His kingdom. Jeff’s proudest title is that of husband and daddy. His and Heidi’s six children, Josiah, Isaac, Micah, Gabriel, Elias, and his princess, Naomi, are the pride and joy of their lives.