Pastor hopes conference will encourage people to join
The Rev. Linda K. Peterson hopes the upcoming mission conference being presented during Holy Week, March 21-27, in Uniontown by I Am Ministries, will encourage people to enter the field. “I think everybody who is a Christian should go on a mission trip at least one time,’ said Peterson, director of I Am Ministries. “I believe they will be changed.’
A native of Brownsville, Peterson was ordained in 1980 at Greater Works Outreach in Monroeville. She was a co-founder and co-pastor of two churches in Brownsville. Six months ago, she became associate minister at Antioch Baptist Church in Edenborn.
Peterson also works as project manager at Meridian Point apartments in Uniontown and has a bachelor’s degree from Penn State University in letters, arts and sciences with a minor in psychology.
She founded Here I Am Ministries in 1990, which stopped its work after some people involved with Peterson moved out of the area. A few years ago, she began I Am Ministries, taking its name from Exodus when Moses asks God whom should he say sent him to Egypt and God as the burning bush answers “I am that I am.’
It’s been two years since the organization hosted a mission conference and Peterson has lined up a slate of speakers that include the Rev. Christine and Oswald Kapande from Zambia, Africa, who are in the United States while Christine Kapande is attending nursing school.
The conference is called “A Week of the Nations Conference,’ and will be held Monday, March 21 to Saturday, March 26, at the Uniontown Holiday Inn. The conference will begin at 7 p.m. Monday through Friday with the following speakers: Monday, the Revs. LuAnn and Allen Johnson; Tuesday, Prophet Olga Cooper; Wednesday, the Rev. Pete Moretti; Thursday, the Revs. Marva and Leonard Kirby; and Friday, the Rev. Carl Jackson.
On Saturday, March 26, the service at the Holiday Inn will be held from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and focus on youths with the Rev. Terry Davis as speaker.
On Sunday, March 27, the conference will move to Shiloh Church of God in Christ, located on Butler Street in Uniontown. The concluding service begins at 11 a.m. with the Kapandes as speakers.
Peterson said several of the speakers have been on missions, including Allen Johnson who has been to Zambia, Moretti who has been to South America and China, and Davis who has been to Canada. She noted that Leonard Kirby will be going on a mission to Russia.
Peterson herself is a veteran of many missions, including Bulgaria, China, the Bahamas, Indonesia, Mexico and to the Crow Indians in Montana. This fall, she plans to go to New York City and Jamaica.
She talked about poverty in many of these places and the high percentage of diabetes among the Crow Indians. She will hand out blankets and personal items in New York City. Usually, the missionaries attend to the physical needs of the people first. That includes cooking for the Crow Indians and helping to build a church in Mexico.
But bringing the word of God is a significant part of the job – so important, in fact, that Peterson helped bring Bibles to an underground church in China.
Asked why she enjoys mission work, Peterson said, “I love meeting new people and finding out about new cultures. I always liked history and geography in school. I like learning to communicate with people in their language.’
While there are many people involved in missions, Peterson said there needs to be more.
“People think when they go on a mission, the people are changed by them but you are changed. Your heart is broken,’ she said. “I was at a clinic in Mexico where parents carried their children in because they couldn’t walk – they were four or five years old. When you hear that their child will never walk, you cry with them. You realize how blessed you are.’
Peterson networks with mission organizations to help people who want to participate to learn about upcoming projects. For example, she pointed out that Missions Alive! is hosting mission trips this year to Kenya in July, the Crow Nation in August, New York City in October and Jamaica in November.
For more information on I Am Ministries and the “Week of Nations Conference,’ contact Peterson at 724-785-9770 or by e-mail at begin I-am-ministries@yahoo.com I-am-ministries@yahoo.com end
. Participants may register for the conference in advance or at the door.