World’s most ‘inept motivational speaker’ will welcome participants to conference
By Paula R. Kincaid, Staff Writer, May 30, 2007
Sir Arthur Dimworthy, described as “possibly the world’s most inept motivational speaker,” will welcome participants to the Presbyterian Lay Committee’s annual Faith and Life Conference on June 29-July at Waynesburg College in Waynesburg, Pa.
Registration still open
call 1-800-368-0110
or e-mail conference registrar
Deb Corley at dsc@layman.org. Dimworthy describes himself on his blog Web site as “a man who ‘sees into the future but way off to the side.’ With his ‘non-parallel’ sense of vision and his gift of verbal confusion, you can be assured that once your organization has been ‘Dimworthied,’ it will never be the same again. Sorry about that.”
Dimworthy is actually Mark Jennings of Face to Face Theater Company in National City, Calif. He and his wife, Ilona, began the company in 1992. They blend the dramatic arts with worship and evangelism and have performed in churches, schools and Christian conference centers, including the 1994 C.S. Lewis Summer Institute in Cambridge, England.
“Mark and Ilona have a deep personal walk with the Lord Jesus Christ. They have a deep understanding of the truths of Scripture,” said Mark Snelling, senior pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Yakima, Wash. “This, added to the fact that the spirit of God has clearly empowered their ministry of mime and drama, enables them to be some of the strongest communicators of the Word of God to which I have ever been exposed.”
“This was Christian drama like I had never seen before,” said Brad Long, executive director of Presbyterian Reformed Ministries International. “There was excellence in dramatic skill, and it was governed by the Holy Sprit. It mediated the presence of Jesus Christ and embodied the Word of God.”
Jennings, a native of England, previously served as a member of Dr. David Watson’s Church Renewal Team, a U.K.-based drama, music, dance and worship team that performed throughout England, Europe and the U.S.A. He is a coach and player for San Diego Theatresports, where he teaches an after-school improv program for at-risk teens.
He and his wife were artists-in-residence at First Presbyterian Church in San Mateo, Calif., and currently are the drama directors at North Park Baptist Church in San Diego, where they write, perform and direct others in dramatic presentations.
While Dimworthy’s only scheduled appearance is at the opening plenary on June 29, Jennings will perform five more times at the Faith and Life Conference, which has a theme of “First Things First: God’s Vision for His Church,” and a Scriptural foundation of Acts 2:42: “They devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and to the fellowship to the breaking of bread and to prayer.”
Conference details
Speakers at the conference include John Snyder, Robert Slocum, Robert Pitman, Margo Elliott and Parker T. Williamson. The weekend will include Biblically based teaching, preaching and praise. According to the conference agenda, “the result will be an empowered commitment to see the Gospel proclaimed to our secular society in an inviting and convincing manner.”
Music for the conference will be led by longtime conference musician Jane Bartholomew and Knox Fellowship musicians Bill Schahn and Ronn Ealy.
For more information about the conference, call 1-800-368-0110 or e-mail conference registrar Deb Corley at dsc@layman.org.
Conference brochures, bulletin inserts and articles can be found on The Layman Online.
Waynesburg College is located approximately one hour south of Pittsburgh.
Paula R. Kincaid is a staff writer for The Layman and The Layman Online. She can be reached at prk@layman.org.