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ARLINGTON?The annual Ladies’ Session of the Empower Evangelism Conference will be held from 1:30 ? 4 p.m. Monday, Feb. 15 at the Arlington Convention Center in Arlington, Texas. The speakers include former international missionaries and the wife of a seminary professor who will share life lesions from the ministry.
CARRIE MCDONNALL
McDonnall and her husband David served together as missionaries in Iraq. In 2004, the couple, along with three coworkers, was ambushed in the northern city of Mosul. The attackers killed her three friends instantly.
The McDonnalls were able to get to medical help, but David eventually succumbed to his injuries. Due to the physical trauma of the attack, Carrie McDonnall would not find out about her husband’s death until many days later. Once awakened from her coma, she began a journey she never dreamed she would have to endure.
Her testimony expands beyond the events of that day and beyond the boundaries of missions to remind believers to live out their faith intentionally in every area of life.
In her book “Facing Terror,” Carrie tells her story in detail.
She lives in Rowlett and is the founder of Carry On Ministries.
REBEKAH ANN NAYLOR
Naylor’s remarkable career as a Southern Baptist missionary and physician spanned from 1973-2009 following graduation with honors from the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in 1968 and then Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1974 following a general surgery residency at Dallas’ Parkland Hospital.
From being valedictorian of her high school class to the Weinstein Prize in Medicine at Vanderbilt to being named missionary of the year by the Christian Medical and Dental Association, Naylor has committed her life to excellence and Christian sacrifice. She served the poor and needy as a surgeon and administrator at Baptist Hospital in Bangalore, India for 35 years prior to retiring last year. Naylor is also an adjunct professor of missions at Southwestern Seminary and associate clinical professor of surgery at University of Texas Southwestern Medical School.
DIANE NIX
Nix is a popular speaker and women’s Bible study teacher. She often shares her journey of lessons learned while being a pastor’s wife for 21 years and experiencing the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina after living in New Orleans for only three weeks. She also survived a difficult battle with meningitis.
The last four years she has enjoyed being a professor’s wife, traveling, teaching the Word of God to women and being a mom. She is married to Preston L. Nix, director of the Landrum Leavell School of Evangelism and Church Health and associate professor of evangelism and preaching at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.
ALLISON DURHAM SPEER
Allison Durham Speer was raised in Kentucky, where a concert by The Imperials was Speer’s earliest introduction to Christian music. She watched as Russ Taff performed the songs, “Praise the Lord” and “New Creation,” and was instantly passionate about the gospel word set to song. Later, she would perform alongside Taff and as a regular on the Gaither Homecoming videos and tours.
Speer communicates the gospel wherever she perform, from mega-churches in large cities to small, rural churches across America. She has been the guest soloist at the Southern Baptist Convention and has toured with Mark Lowry and Wayne Watson, as well as keeping a hectic schedule of solo appearances.
Her consuming desire, she says, is “to help others identify with the suffering of Jesus and bring clarity to the Word of God through music.”
