Conference Speakers
Fr. Luke A. Veronis
Fr. Luke serves as the Director for the Missions Institute of Orthodoxy Christianity at Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology, teaches as an Adjunct Instructor at both Holy Cross and Hellenic College, and pastors Sts. Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox Church in Webster, MA. He also taught missiological courses at St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary (2005-2008).
He has been involved in the Orthodox Church’s missionary movement since 1987. He and his family served as a long-term cross-cultural missionary in Albania more than 10 years (1994-2004), and as a short-term missionary in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Ghana for 18 months (1987-91). Since 2010, he teaches a summer course “The Missiology of Archbishop Anastasios of Albania,” which includes taking 10 students to Albania for two weeks. He has led five mission teams from his church to build homes for the desperately poor through Project Mexico.
He has also led his Sts. Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox Church in a renewal. Since 2005 the Church has grown from 90 to 170 families, and become a vibrant, healthy parish. His published books include: Go Forth: A Journal of Missions and Resurrection in Albania (2010); Lynette’s Hope: The Witness of Lynette Katherine Hoppe’s Life and Death (2008); and Missionaries, Monks, and Martyrs: Making Disciples of All Nations.
Fr. Luke is married to Presvytera Faith Veronis, and they have four children.
Fr. Evan Armatas
Fr. Evan is the priest of St. Spyridon Greek Orthodox Church in Loveland, Colorado. He received his Bachelor’s Degree in Philosophy from Boston College with an emphasis in business management and Christian apologetics in 1991. He earned his Master of Divinity from Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in 2002 and served as an assistant priest for five years at St. Catherine Greek Orthodox Church in Greenwood Village before being assigned as St. Spyridon’s first full time priest in August of 2007.
In 2002, Fr. Evan founded the St. Nektarios Education Fund a non-profit student education program. The fund, which he still manages, established five schools in Africa with another one on the way, while also providing over 450 student scholarships delivering close to $850,000 in student aide through its network partners of IOCC and OCMC. He is the Metropolis of Denver Program Director of Camp Emmanuel, its summer youth camp program, and currently serves as the Metropolis Clergy Syndesmos President. You can find his podcasts at St Spyridon Greek Orthodox Church, and you can listen to his live call-in radio show, called “Orthodoxy Live,” on Ancient Faith Radio.
Fr. Evan and his wife Presvytera Anastasia are the happy parents of three daughters, Alexia, Eleni, Maria, and a son Spyridon; they live in Fort Collins, Colorado.
Fr. Theodore Dorrance
Fr. Theodore is a native of Denver, Colorado, who converted to the Orthodox Christian faith during college. Fr. Theodore received a B.S. from Colorado University in Boulder with a double emphasis in Organizational Management and Human Resources. He worked in the corporate world for a couple of years before moving to Boston with is wife Stacey (Maniatis) to attend seminary. He graduated from Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in 1990 with a Masters of Divinity.
In September 1991, Fr. Theodore was ordained to the priesthood at Ascension Cathedral in Oakland, California. He and his family served in Oakland for two years and then at St. Katherine in Redondo Beach, California for four years. In 1997, with the blessing of Metropolitan Anthony of blessed memory, the Dorrances relocated to the Portland area to start the parish of St. John the Baptist in Beaverton.
Fr. Theodore has served on the C.O.M.E. Board since its founding in 1991 and is now the Director of C.O.M.E.
Fr. Theodore also serves as a Vicar of the Northwest.
Fr. Theodore and Presvytera Stacey have four children and three grandchildren.
Fr. Barnabas Powell
Fr. Barnabas (Charles) Powell is a native of Atlanta, Georgia. He was raised in a small Pentecostal church and served there as choir director, youth director and in other ministries.
Fr. Barnabas received a theology degree from Toccoa Falls College, an Evangelical Protestant school in North East Georgia, in 1988. He then went on to establish a new Evangelical congregation in the Atlanta area and became involved with Evangelical Christian media. He pastored this church for several years and saw the congregation grow from two families to over 200 in the space of a few years.
During this time, he became interested in the history of the Church, and began a reading program that would eventually lead him to enter the Orthodox Christian Church. Several of the families from his parish entered the Orthodox Christian Church with him in November of 2001.
In 2003, he joined the staff as the director of development of Orthodox Christian Network, a national media outreach for Orthodox Christians.
In 2007 Fr. Barnabas was given the blessing of Metropolitan Alexios of Atlanta to study at Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology. While there, Fr. Barnabas assisted teaching the Preaching course for senior seminarians. After completion of his seminary studies in 2010, Fr. Barnabas was ordained and assigned to the parish of Sts. Nicholas, Raphael and Irene in Cumming, Georgia.
Fr. Barnabas and Presvytera Connie (Demas) Powell have two daughters.
The 2016 National Missions & Evangelism conference will take place in Portland, Oregon. Spend three days learning from experts in the field. Speakers are clergy and laity with a wealth with proven experience in bringing a missions-minded spirit to their parishes. Listen to their stories, collaborate with them, and gain practical knowledge to implement in your own parish.
Presented by Greek Orthodox Archdiocese Department of Stewardship, Outreach & Evangelism, Metropolis of San Francisco Commission for Orthodox Missions & Evangelism (C.O.M.E.) and Leadership 100.
Conference Schedule
The conference will be start Monday, October 3rd at 4:30 p.m. and conclude Wednesday, October 5th at 11:00 a.m. For further details of the schedule, hotel accommodations and Portland travel information, please visit the conference page.
Registration
Registration Is Now Closed
Other Questions? Please contact C.O.M.E. Assistant Director Thomaida Hudanish (503-277-3928 or come@sanfran.goarch.org) or Fr. Jim Kordaris at the Department of Stewardship, Outreach & Evangelism (jkordaris@goarch.org).
